Hooray (maybe) for the Farragut Crossing - a true story

Last week I went to an event near the Van Ness metro.  I started home about 10pm, taking the Red Line from Van Ness towards downtown DC.  Prior to the introduction of the Farragut Crossing transfer, I would have changed to the Orange Line at Metro Center.  However, with the advent of this potential time saver, I planned to exit at Farragut North, walk to Farragut West and catch the Orange Line from there.  If the timing worked out, there was a possibility I would catch a train that was one train ahead of the one I would have otherwise caught.  That could save me 12-20 minutes--well worth it.

What I failed to anticipate (and one of the disadvantages of the tunnel being "invisible.") was that it would be pouring rain at Farragut Square.  I mean just sheets of rain, with thunder and lightning.  Yow!  I stood for a moment with two dozen others at the top of the escalator shielded from the storm.  I could see the Farragut West entrance beckoning me just 500 feet away.  I retreated back down the elevator, figuring I would use the usual transfer.  But then I went back up to see if maybe the rain was slowing down.  It wasn't, so I went back down.  Next train to Metro Center: 20 mins.  Now I was regretting getting off my train at all.  Back up.

The walk signal turned in my favor on K Street, so I made a spontaneous decision and a mad dash, covering the total distance in under a minute.  It didn't matter, though, I got thoroughly soaked anyway.

The awesome outcome was that an Orange Line train going my way pulled up just as I got to the platform.  This was probably the same train I would have been on had I changed at Metro Center originally (only drier).  The first passenger I saw when I boarded the train said, "I just got a text from my friend saying it was raining, and I see she is right."