The dark cloud over my car

President-elect Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe "Amtrak" Biden, will add one more Lincolnesque touch to their inauguration as they travel by train on the Saturday before their Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony.

President-elect to Travel by Train to Inaugural Weekend
Monday, December 15, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama will board a train in Philadelphia on January 17 to make his way to Washington in the final leg of his incredible, nearly 2-year journey to the White House.

This inauguration belongs to the American people and President-elect Obama is interested in including as many people as possible in the inaugural celebration, whether you can make it to Washington or not. Before he begins his daylong trip, he’ll be doing an event in Philadelphia, then heading to Wilmington, DE to pick up Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family to do an event together in Baltimore.

The trip follows in the tradition of past inaugural journeys that included events along the way and pays homage to America’s rich history, beginning in the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Liberty Bell rung out.

All this change in the air was nice. Hearing about it lightened the cloud that hung over my car all day as I drove first to UC Davis Cancer Center, where the wife learned she may need a second surgery; and then to Rancho Cordova to drop the wife off at work; and then to American River College, where I had a final in my Flash animation class; and then back to Rancho Cordova to pick up the wife; and then -- finally -- home. Not a bus trip all day. All very untransitarian.