This is the roadbed of the old Northern Central Railroad, which used to run from the central part of Baltimore County on up into Pennsylvania. Somehow, some way, after the railroad went out of business many years ago, the land where the tracks were once laid became park land.
It seems like a great idea. The path is wide enough for people to walk, jog, ride a bike, and even push one of those jogging strollers out in front. Yesterday the air was crisp and clean, the sky was the same sort of Cerulean blue that Vin Scully talks about over Dodger Stadium, and we had the time of our lives walking along, talking about the future, looking back over the past, and enjoying the happy feeling that comes from having your best friend also be someone you love.
But to think, when you're on the path, you're walking along the path that was ridden by people on trains over a hundred years ago, and the setting - thick woods along the Gunpowder River - is more or less unchanged since then. Sure, a few yards away, cars go racing by, some of them with heavy audio amplification systems that make an SUV sound like an oooompah band passing by.
And about a mile down the road there is a mall, excuse me, a Towne Centre, and big office buildings filled with people staring at computers. Some of them are making big business deals which will affect millions of lives, and some of them are making Facebook status changes which will affect far fewer.
Do you think they ever stop to think that just a mile away, there's a place where they could change into some Rockports and spend their lunch hour in another time zone...another whole zone entirely?
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