This is the fifth in a weekly series on my DC sabbatical (Sep 1 → Nov 30, 2026). Catch up on earlier posts if you missed them, and join my mailing list for future posts.
I acknowledge that this post is a few days late, but I hope y’all will cut me some slack! I have a good excuse. I spent nearly all last week out of town, first in Philadelphia and then in Toledo for RailNation, with a stop home in Cincinnati in between.
Before any of that, though, the week started with a bowl of Cincinnati chili, in DC of all places.
My friend India hosted a lunch (homemade Cincinnati style chili!) with her classmates Angelo, Esther and Bryce. She has some great friends! I loved hearing about Bryce’s work at WMATA (DC’s transit agency) and Esther’s at the DC Council. What struck me most was how passionate they both are about Washington itself, which I have found surprisingly rare here. It is one of the things I miss most about Cincinnati, where people are proud to live and will tell you about it. I fully intend to take them up on a DC history tour, which I suspect will rival my tours of Cincy :)
The ride home brought the first rain of the incoming nor’easter. I was skeptical it would be anything more than a typical Midwestern storm, but after three straight days of rain, I can confirm it is a real thing. Still, Midwesterners would not have panicked quite like some folks here did.
The rain did not stop me from biking to Union Station the next morning, duffel bag over my shoulder, to catch Amtrak to Philadelphia. Talk about multimodal! Waiting for me were Sujan and Ben, dear friends from my Ohio State days. South Philly blew me away, with its density, grit, and palpable culture. A highlight was Bok, an old trade school turned home to hundreds of small creative businesses, where we got delicious pastries. We closed out the night at Kalaya, a Michelin recommended spot with some of the best Southeast Asian food I have ever had. We waddled home to a proper greeting from Bruno Bear, one of the world’s friendliest dogs.
Bruno, head of the welcoming committee.
The next morning, I walked the Schuylkill River Trail while catching up with Chris from WisARP, Wisconsin’s state rail advocacy group, whose background in advocacy and fundraising has already shaped the national plan. Then I met up with my friend Andrew, a reporter for NBC’s Philadelphia station who covers transportation and infrastructure (the AAO mob got him drinking the Kool-Aid back when we met in Cincinnati). We took the train up to Manayunk for cheesesteaks, where the woman at the welcome center, 85 years old with 70 years working in town, dropped an f-bomb within five minutes of meeting us. I love Philly. Manayunk reminded me a lot of Pittsburgh, an old mill town tied to downtown by rail and a deep love of its football team.
With Sujan and Andrew on a trolley in Philly - couldn’t keep these nerds off the transit…
After breakfast the next morning with my college friend Riley, I caught the train back to DC for a stacked afternoon. First up was Kirby, the Ohio DOT manager for GoBus, the state supported intercity bus network my team rode on our Oxford field trip in August. Kirby is speaking at our virtual statewide meeting this Saturday, October 10th, and I encourage everyone to attend!
So great to see Riley!
Next was John Robert Smith from Transportation for America, who I really look up to for his decades of rail and community advocacy. I love how he works out the steps that actually need to happen to reach a goal, even if that means inventing something entirely new. Then came two AAO calls, one planning our 2027 Ohio Rail Summit with Liz Quigley, who continues to knock it out of the park, and one with John, in my last official meeting with him as executive director, where he taught me how to submit our lobbying ethics disclosure 🙈.
The following day, I was primarily focused on writing. Alongside the business plan for how a network of state advocacy organizations could be structured and funded, I have been building its foundation, the AAO plan. It lays out the steps to get All Aboard Ohio to its best possible setup, and once it is solid, it becomes the model framework other states would work through. I made huge progress, starting with a full audit of our structure against the jobs to be done I wrote out a few weeks ago at my mentor Alex’s recommendation. If you are curious about the details, reach out!
This has also been one of the most beneficial uses of generative AI I have experienced. Pairing my own critical thinking with Claude’s organization and inquisitiveness has made me more productive, and the key has been never accepting anything it outputs without serious debate. The result captures months of thinking in a form people can digest, without venturing into the scary place that is my brain.
That evening our advocacy committee, led by Matt, kicked off our organizational letter writing campaign, where businesses, civic institutions, and universities can submit their support for passenger rail in Ohio.
An early Thursday flight took me home to Cincinnati, where I called Dave from the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority from CVG to talk Corridor ID and rail advocacy in a rural state. Montana is one of the few states I have never visited, so a trip is now on my list. The rest of the day went to family, including my sister Megan, who moves to Chicago as soon as she is dismissed from jury duty, lol. I wrapped up with my weekly session with Joe Black from WSP, where a fundraising conversation added real urgency to getting the business plan to a final draft.
Bright and early the next morning, Ryan and Ryan, members of the Choo Choo Crew, picked me up for the drive to Toledo. At the opening science fair, AAO had a beautiful booth (shout out to Beth and the comms team!), and even more states asked us for advice and support. I also grabbed lunch with Liz Webb, a SPHINX friend from Ohio State who now works at MORPC, one of AAO’s main partners in Columbus.
The AAO team with Rep. Marcy Kaptur
After a happy hour drink (and a shot) to quell my nerves, I gave the welcome speech at AleNation. I welcomed everyone to Ohio and tried to fire people up about injecting youth and energy into this movement across the country. Once again, people came up afterward asking to collaborate. It seems this whole national playbook idea has some demand ;)
Welcoming the country to Ohio.
The main conference day was a whirlwind. Rock stars Ryan Pecaut and Sally Fish both knocked their panels out of the park, and I am so proud to lead a team of such incredible thinkers and speakers. I especially enjoyed connecting with Rusty from the Federal Railroad Administration and Amit Bose, who led the FRA during the previous administration. Closer to home, I met with leaders from five of our chapters, along with William and Joe from MORPC, John and Clyde from labor, and partners from across Ohio.
That night I boarded the Floridian, which left Toledo right on time at midnight with me and nearly 40 Toledoans aboard. After seven hours of surprisingly good sleep in an economy seat, I camped out in the cafe car and watched the Appalachians roll by.
Not a bad view from the cafe car.
My book of the week was a break from business reading, The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd, a novel that imagines Jesus had a wife. It is beautifully written and got me thinking about the unrecorded role of women in the ancient world. I recommend it!
For as physically busy as this week was, I feel accomplished from the thinking and reflection side as well. For All Aboard Ohio, it was a huge one. We welcomed a national conference to our state, made more connections than I can count, and the AAO plan is almost fully developed. For the national network, I met many promising people from across the country who will help drive it forward, and the ideas behind it were received positively. Seeing it all happen in Toledo made me especially proud of where we come from.
Next up, I am getting the business plan to a final draft so I can start pitching it in earnest, and I hope to see many of you at our statewide meeting with ODOT this Saturday. After that, I head to New York for the TransportationCamp conference on October 24th. Let’s keep this thing rolling!