Bad Boys of Baltimore

Last evening Gary and Tammy organized an "adventure" into downtown Baltimore for a dinner on 1 of only 2 days off on the entire tour. We were told we would ride the "light rail" to the "harbor". My mind flooded with images of a seafood dinner seated along the bay after a short carriage ride thru the tranquil city.

Turns out the light rail was basically the inner city subway.

The ride over was unevenful but MUCH LONGER then expected. And it was clear that we were the "foreigners".

Tammy asked our waitress about the safety of riding the rail.

"Well, you know Baltimore is the murder capitol of the nations".

We were advised to take a cab back or ride in a very large group on the rail. An ex marine mother of a missing persons that was dining with us said that we should ride in front by the conductor,

"That way if you get into trouble you can alert them and they will stop at the next place and get the police".

I felt comforted. Especially as we walked to the rail after dinner at 11PM and a drunk skinhead fell into our group and stared at us maniacally while making casual conversation with Jannel. Tammy said to me, "Jeffrey, protect the ladies."

I searched my Indian heritage to see if I could recall the ancient Indian art of screaming and begging.

So the momment arrives and we board the train but we make a HUGE scene getting on because Eli is hugging and saying goodbye and the doors are closing and a man in the back is yelling "HEY HEY HEY GET ON THE TRAIN". Any chance of remainimg low key is gone and from that moment on my crew of pale faces does little to keep all eyes from remaining locked on us. We had cameras filming, Dana Woods talking loudly across the aisle to Tammy, and at one point they did a "gang routine" flipping signs and saying "Yo Yo". I calmly said to Ms. Woods "This might not be the best place to do gang signs".

In what seemed like 7 hours we arrived at our stop and Jannel saddled up next to me and said: "Guard your belongings and be aware of your surroundings." This because of the men on the train suddenly pushed to get off at our stop. Now, how would they know it was our stop? Because throughout the long, journey back, several in our party kept announcing how much further our EXACT stop was. That combined with our tourist shopping bags, loud talk of what state we were in before, and we were setup to go down.

As we exited the train (quiet for the first time) Gary took the camera out of Tammy's hands to use as a weapon.

Moral of the story: No one followed us and I will not go into the inner city with these pale faces that I love without the National Guard.