There is no return (or, more properly, this is the return). Basically, the flying leg was wedged into an otherwise all-rail trip due to calendar issues. My outbound leg is on Amtrak from VA all the way to Salt Lake City. When coming back, flying became inevitable due to timing; the question was really one of what I was going to do...and that slowly became a case of "What will I enjoy doing most?" since the cost between a bunch of options (I considered DC, New York, and a few others) was hovering in the same general range ($450 give or take for flying, though it did rise as booking came closer).

In the end, flying to FL was a compromise on cost (against taking Virgin, period; having to fly into somewhere like New York and likely do an overnight there or in DC; and dealing with a "DBA flight") and enjoyability (I have a friend I can visit with, I can justify a night there as insurance against lost luggage and the like, and I get a night on the Silvers on my way home as compensation for not being able to take the train all the way). It did not help that flying into one of my local airports was going to be absurdly expensive (i.e, $600+ for PHF and ORF for the most part, and not much better for RIC).