By JanetheWriter
This past Shabbat, I spent more than four hours aboard an Adirondack Trailways bus from New York City's Port Authority to Albany and then, after a quick change, on to Saratoga Springs to surprise a friend for her birthday. 

Much to my own surprise and delight, the bus, together with my iPod, provided me with a most unique and enjoyable Shabbat.  For starters, it was a glorious day, and from the minute we pulled out of the bus garage, brilliant sunshine flooded the coach from a bright cornflower blue sky filled with fluffy cotton candy clouds.  As the city grew faint in the rearview mirror, we entered God's country--first the Ramapo and then the Adirondack Mountains, each covered with an abundance of lush, green foliage; summer at its peak.

With my iPod set on "shuffle," I tuned out the drone of the bus and the chatter of my fellow passengers and tuned into my "Jewish" playlist, which includes more than 360 different songs.  And, although the order wasn't quite right, the Shabbat "service" was, nonetheless, all there.  Thanks to the iPod's white ear buds, I heard and tapped along to Danny Maseng's Ma Tovu, Kol B'seder's La'asok B'divrei Torah, Elohai N'shamah from the Union's 2005 Biennial CD and more.  Barchu, Sh'ma, Mi-chamocha, S'fatai Tiftach and Mi Shebeirach, too, all piped into my head.  Oseh Shalom, Aleinu, Kaddish and one of my new favorite songs, Ein Keloheinu/Non Como Musetor Dyo, rounded out my iTunes Shabbat, leaving me spiritually refreshed and ready to enjoy the weekend.

* * *

If summer travel was good enough for Glikl bas Judah, Henrietta Szold, Joanna Eckstein and Ruth Gruber, it's certainly good enough for me. 

Following in the footsteps of these (and countless other) Jewish women, I'll be doing some additional summer travel of my own in the next few weeks.  I look forward to catching up on RJ.org--both reading and writing posts--when I return.

I'm outta here.  See you in a few.

Shabbat shalom.