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Jun. 7th, 2016 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chhotiiI am seriously considering taking the train from Boston to Pittsfield to get (most of the way) to the Abode.
Here is some data about that option:
The location of the Pittsfield Amtrack station is 1 Columbus Ave, Pittsfield, MA 01201, and the address of the Abode is 5 Abode Rd, New Lebanon, NY 12125. According to Google Maps, the driving distance between these points is just over 10 miles, or about 20 minutes. Perhaps I could persuade someone to come and pick me and my kid up at the train station on their way in, and drop us off on the way out, without putting them out of their way too much.
The Lake Shore Limited leaves Boston South Station at 12:50 pm and arrives at 4:39 pm. In June, that should leave plenty of time to still set up the tent during daylight.
The train back leaves Pittsfield at at 4:09 pm and gets back to Boston at 8:01 pm. This is a bit more challenging. Baitcon ends at 2 pm. Leaving at 2 pm would require cooling our heels in the Pittsfield train station for a couple of hours, not thrilling.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jbsegal said that I could stay on-site a little longer if I help with tear-down and clean-up. I would certainly be happy to help with tear-down and clean-up until it's time to go catch the train. (The kid would be not so helpful. Maybe I could send the kid home in someone else's car, I will ping friends about this... But that's not a show-stopper; I think if I'm being helpful she will be tolerated, and she will appreciate the time that she will get the swing all to herself.)
The round-trip cost for 1 adult and 1 child is $60. For this I would get about 6 hours of my life back (time spent on the train is time I can spend doing useful work, whereas time spent driving is a complete waste) plus I save the wear and tear on the car. Oh, yeah. Seriously tempting.
Of course the one drawback is I would have to pack light. Tent, sleeping bags, small backpacker air mattresses, pillow, and backpacks with clothes, towels, toiletries, flashlights... I have to see if we can carry all that. We would have to mooch camp chairs the whole time because no way am I lugging those to the train station (but I left at least one camp chair at the house by mistake and don't have time to go get it anyway.) We would have to skimp on books, toys, etc. This is of concern because we would have all that time on the train. For the kid, the iPhone and iPad pack the most on-train amusement for the least weight and volume (but if they don't get put away once we get on-site it kind of negates the point of going camping.) For me, the Macbook Air packs the most on-train productivity for the least weight and volume, as long as I get around to downloading a bunch of articles from PubMed before we go.
I think we can do this!
So, can someone pick up 2 passengers in Pittsfield on Friday evening? Can someone drop off 2 passengers in Pittsfield on Monday evening?
Here is some data about that option:
The location of the Pittsfield Amtrack station is 1 Columbus Ave, Pittsfield, MA 01201, and the address of the Abode is 5 Abode Rd, New Lebanon, NY 12125. According to Google Maps, the driving distance between these points is just over 10 miles, or about 20 minutes. Perhaps I could persuade someone to come and pick me and my kid up at the train station on their way in, and drop us off on the way out, without putting them out of their way too much.
The Lake Shore Limited leaves Boston South Station at 12:50 pm and arrives at 4:39 pm. In June, that should leave plenty of time to still set up the tent during daylight.
The train back leaves Pittsfield at at 4:09 pm and gets back to Boston at 8:01 pm. This is a bit more challenging. Baitcon ends at 2 pm. Leaving at 2 pm would require cooling our heels in the Pittsfield train station for a couple of hours, not thrilling.
jbsegal said that I could stay on-site a little longer if I help with tear-down and clean-up. I would certainly be happy to help with tear-down and clean-up until it's time to go catch the train. (The kid would be not so helpful. Maybe I could send the kid home in someone else's car, I will ping friends about this... But that's not a show-stopper; I think if I'm being helpful she will be tolerated, and she will appreciate the time that she will get the swing all to herself.)The round-trip cost for 1 adult and 1 child is $60. For this I would get about 6 hours of my life back (time spent on the train is time I can spend doing useful work, whereas time spent driving is a complete waste) plus I save the wear and tear on the car. Oh, yeah. Seriously tempting.
Of course the one drawback is I would have to pack light. Tent, sleeping bags, small backpacker air mattresses, pillow, and backpacks with clothes, towels, toiletries, flashlights... I have to see if we can carry all that. We would have to mooch camp chairs the whole time because no way am I lugging those to the train station (but I left at least one camp chair at the house by mistake and don't have time to go get it anyway.) We would have to skimp on books, toys, etc. This is of concern because we would have all that time on the train. For the kid, the iPhone and iPad pack the most on-train amusement for the least weight and volume (but if they don't get put away once we get on-site it kind of negates the point of going camping.) For me, the Macbook Air packs the most on-train productivity for the least weight and volume, as long as I get around to downloading a bunch of articles from PubMed before we go.
I think we can do this!
So, can someone pick up 2 passengers in Pittsfield on Friday evening? Can someone drop off 2 passengers in Pittsfield on Monday evening?
