11 Mar 2010 – Thursday morning I boarded the Amtrak Empire Service for Penn Station, NYC transferring to a NJ Transit Express for the trip to the Hamilton Station where Lin and Rich met me.

It was an easy and uneventful trip. The train was half an hour late into Albany but nearly on time into Penn Station.

The track from Albany down the Hudson is good. The train, according to my Garmin GPS [map 60CSx], with which I was tracking the trip, reached a top speed, between the two, of 112 mph.

The connection with the NJ Transit couldn’t have been better. I went up from track level to the expansive street level lobby. Purchasing a ticket on one of the many vending machines, I heard the final boarding call for an express train south on the Northeast Corridor.

It must have brought a smile to others watching me run with my suitcase and wearing my backpack. The many two level cars were full as I joined the last-minute rush to catch the train. Thankfully I found a place to comfortably – well sort of comfortably – stand.

It didn’t take longer than fifty-five minutes and soon meet up with Rich and Lin at the Hamilton station.