03/06: Takin the A Train

I didn’t get any sleep before my bus up to New York but I sleep incredibly soundly along with most of the other passengers of the full DC to NYC red-eye. It took me a few minutes to remember where I was and where I had to go. The subway trip was long but I got a chance to relisten to all the audio book tracks I had slept through on the bus. Also pleasant was realizing that the A train went out to Ozone park and shuttled Kerouac back and forth to Manhattan some six or seven decades ago. I was headed to the Far Rockaways and the Skytrain shuttle to JFK airport with time to spare.

The trip from Penn Station to JFK took about an hour (some subway snafus), with the first 40 minutes or so in the dark of subterranean tunnels punctuated by stations decorated by tiny subway tiles reminiscent of Roman mosaics. Somewhere near Bayside Cemetery the train breaks ground and runs above Liberty Ave, with views of adjacent detached houses. The A train splits at 100th St, with the Far Rockaway branch turning south to run adjacent to abandoned elevated freight lines and passing the Aqueduct Racetrack on its way to the Howard Beach stop and transfer to JFK.