We were up nice and early and on the road by 7.25 am. I made my farewells to the animals and my roomie, Autumn, was not very happy. She almost did not want me to touch her to say farewell. 
I did have some good snuggles with her earlier though! I now know the names of all the cats and a wee bit about their different personalities.
We made good time to Rocky Mount but had some fun finding the cafe for breakfast. I had found it on Google maps, it was only five minutes from the station. It had rave reviews so it ticked all my boxes, lol!
Well, I could see the road was one way and we followed this narrow lane past a large building but could not see the cafe. Rocky Mount has a very complex one way system so we had to be very careful. I went back to Google maps and the cafe info state sit was open, so round the block we went again, lol!Finally, we saw the sign, it is in the large building we had passed! Who would have thought that the large old building would house such wonderful spaces inside. It is truly awesome, an old tobacco factory, and they have kept many of the original walls intact while integrating modern structures within. There is also a Children's Museum and Science Centre inside. When I went to the restrooms I passed the original furnace doors that have been left in the large modern foyer.
The cafe was clean and pleasant and the food was excellent, a definite must to revisit!
We then went round the loop again to travel to the station but it is very well sign posted so it was easy peasy!!
The train was about 12 minutes late so not too bad and then it was time to make farewells, oh boy I love travelling but I hate this side of it! Still, I will be back in late August and we already have some plans made, lol! So on to my next stop, Inwood WV via Washington and Martinsburg.
The guys in the seat behind talked non stop so I plugged my ears in and listened to my music, lol, thank goodness for my IPad!
Well, had a funny thing happen! The woman who sat next to me at Rocky Mount, call her A, went to the cafe car. I was engrossed in FB and other things on my IPad when a woman who got on at Richmond, call her B, sat beside me. I thought A must have detrained so did not think anything about it, until she turned up! B being of foreign extraction could not understand what we were saying, lol! A went back to the cafe car quite happy, mind you B had pushed her bag out of the way as I discovered, lol! Along came one of the attendants and said she had a seat, so all sorted! Usually when you get on a train they give you a seat number, all very odd!!
Once we were through Alexandria, I could see that I would make the Amtrak Capitol, departing at 4.05 pm. Accordingly, I booked my ticket to Martinsburg WV, this is quicker than MARC train with less stops. In spite of sitting at L'Enfant station for ten minutes to wait for a local train, we were in plenty of time for me to catch my next train even though we were 50 minutes late, lol!
I had time to grab a Starbucks and then waited by the Red Cap station. I can do the walking fine but sometimes have issues getting my bag on board, my shoulders not being what they were. We departed on time so hopefully we will arrive on time!
We only made two other stops and one of these was at Harpers Ferry, it looks to be a very pretty place nestled in a valley. The train was only three minutes late into Martinsburg and my friends were there to meet me. I met them on the Alaskan Cruise I did in 2012.
We went to a local Cracker Barrel and had a lovely tea, then to Walmart for me to purchase a few items, finally it was to my next base. I enjoyed a nice cup of tea, then it was time to shower and head to bed. When I was here last year, their house was only a frame, it is interesting to try and think of how it was then and compare it to the finished product. They have not been in for very long so are still sorting stuff out! I am sleeping in a four poster bed, there is a first time for everything, lol!
Tuesday
We had a quiet day today, although we went out to Target to buy some Ice, flavoured sparkling water drinks. Lo and behold, they have a Starbucks inside the store so I bought one on our way out, lol!!
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