Dont stop me now

I'm havin such a good time, having a ball.

First of all, let me tell you. If you've never taken amtrak before and are trying to measure it against greyhound, or any bus system- stop. Amtrak is the fucking bomb. There's food, there's booze, the seats recline, you can take smoke breaks. the people are all totally fucking nuts and the sound and motion of the train is a soothing as a lullaby. my only complaint is the temperature inside one of those things is like 30 degrees. I was so cold I couldnt sleep. The really really nice hippy lady next to me covered me with one of her extra layers though, so all was well. I was able to bring my bike on the train for FIVE FUCKING DOLLARS because I packed it myself, in my own bag. It cost me $300 goddamn clams to fly with my bike, and the airlines fucked it all up. Amtrak was gentle with my bike, and nothing was tweaked when I unloaded it.
Okay.
So I got into richmond at about 11p on tuesday night, I assembled my bike in the parking lot and then wheeled it behind some bushes at the adjacent building and went to sleep. Pretty shitty, but whatever.
Next day, I woke up at about 8, rolled my way downtown. My initial goal, as always, was coffee. I found a cafe, Crossroads, ordered my customary 4 shots, got a sweet discount. Awesome.
Sat down, nice punk guy asks me about my trip, if I need a place to stay. I did. He wrote down his info in my notebook and told me about the anarchist library called the Flying Brick. Then he called the guy who owns it to let him know I'd be coming over, and told me if I need anything to let him know. Guys, Tim Barry is the nicest guy ever. (!)
I went to a bike shop to pick up some odds n ends, they let me store my stuff there while I ran 30 miles of errands. nice!
I got my stuff back, headed to the brick, secured a place to stay.
I went back to crossroads, befriended the discount-giving barista, went on an all ladies bike ride with a group of really nice gals.
For lunch the next day, Liz, a girl I met on the ride, fed me some chicken curry. We made cookies! Went back to the brick, delivered cookies, rode around aimlessly. Went over to Tim's house with Robert from the Brick, sat around a nice bonfire, then had a good night's rest.

I've had a really good time in Richmond. I'm starting to get back in the rhythm of this thought process. Today I'm going to try not to devote all of my time preparing for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm leaving.

I'll be in D.C. by monday, very very most likely.