Day 12: June 11th, Philly. Today, I made contact with some old friends from RPI: Donna and Michael. I recall meeting Donna years ago at the Troy Pub while I was dining with a fellow amateur radio enthusiast. We had our handheld radios out and Donna came right up to us and inquired about the hobby. We gave her some information about the RPI Amateur Radio Club, W2SZ. Soon after, she joined the club where she met her future husband Michael. Donna & Michael also participated in the ham radio contests that the club took part in from Mt. Greylock in North Adams, MA. It had been a while since I had seen Donna and Michael, but I had been in touch through Facebook and was invited to stop in to see them while I was in Philadelphia. 
I took the R3 regional rail from Swarthmore where I was staying with my sister-in-law and nephews to the University City stop in Philadelphia. Donna and I chatted on the cell phone and converged on each other near the train stop. They had their two kids in tow, Edwin and Zachary. They took me back to their office at University of Pennsylvania (U Penn), where they both teach and perform research in the Math department. We’re all mathematicians!
Their kids seemed very precocious, but being brought up by two mathematicians, they not only get to learn solution techniques to the Rubik’s cube, but they are taught that the cube is a polyhedron. I could hear Edwin saying polyhedron before I left. While Michael stayed in the office for a meeting, Donna, the boys, and I made our way to Naked Chocolate where we enjoyed European hot chocolate, which is basically like a melted chocolate bar, very rich. I was convinced to only get the small shot-glass sized portion, which was a smart move indeed. It's basically like drinking liquid chocolate.
On the way back to the office, Donna took me into the Computer Science dept. at U Penn where the original Eniac is on display. Eniac is considered to be the world’s first digital computer. It was developed to calculate ballistic trajectories for the US Army’s Ballistic Research Lab in 1946 and developed at U Penn’s school of Electrical Engineering in secret. It boasted over 17,000 vacuum tubes and could operate at clock speed of 0.1 Mhz or 0.0001 Ghz. Compare THAT to your 3 Ghz machine at home!
They also took me to the Reading Terminal Market, which I recall visiting once before with my brother and family years ago. Here, you can find almost any variety of food imaginable, made to order. You also see the Amish here, peddling their wares. Not being all that hungry, I toured the market, took some photos, and headed just next door to the Market St. station where I was able to take the R3 back to Swarthmore.
Once back in Swarth- more, I was treated to a wonderful dinner with the Bug family. Amy had some guests and we enjoyed a wonderful variety of fresh soups prepared in bread bowls. We also enjoyed corn and kielbasa. We then played outside with Mo for a while, a little whiffle ball and soccer. We curled up in front of the TV for the remainder of the evening and I prepared some blog entries before going to bed. Here, you can see Mo being licked by their Bijon Frise, Frank. I was very happy to have made this important stop on my trip before I headed south and the Bug family headed north to enjoy a reunion weekend at Williams college in Williamstown, MA.
The next stop on the trip is Gaithersburg, MD, just outside of Washington, DC. I will be visiting with good friends Jim and Jeanette. Jim is also a fellow ham radio operator. I spent many years working with Jim on radio contests for W2SZ. I’ve also had the pleasure of skiing with Jim and Jeanette when they lived in Colorado. I did some planning for the flight to MD, realizing that the biggest threat would be thunderstorms. Looking at the weather forecasts for the next day, it appeared that a good weather window would open up for the flight between 11am and 2pm. I also researched the train schedules and found the perfect ride from Swartmore. It turned out that the R3 train not only went into downtown Philadelphia, but continued on north all the way to a small station in West Trenton, NJ. This was incredibly convenient because I could board just one train and get within 1.5 miles of the Trenton airport, where my airplane awaited. Originally, on the way down, I got a cab ride to the Trenton transportation center in downtown Trenton. It turned out that the West Trenton station was much more convenient due both to its proximity to the airport and the fact that the train that starts here makes its way into Swarthmore. I went to bed that night intending to wake up at 7am and board the 9:08am train so that I would arrive in West Trenton at 10:40am. Some interesting twists awaited me on Day 13. Once again, these twists and turns are what have been making this trip more than just a jaunt to visit with friends. These unexpected turns are what transform it into a true adventure.
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