Chicago

Patrick and I did eventually make it to Chicago. Fully six hours after we were supposed to, and after nine hours of bus ride, dehydrated, with a headache, and completely exhausted, we got off the bus, found our luggage, let Meghan (Kate's daughter) know we were there. After Meghan picked us up, we all went to get an awesome frozen yogurt treat, and we then went to (Kate's sister) Becky's house. We had some pizza, watched The Day After Tomorrow, then went to bed. It was a fold-out couch, but it was such a relief, and a good night's rest after havinng been on the train and buses for so long.

The next morning, we decided to head out to see some of downtown, Millennium Park and one or two other things. It was great fun, seeing the Chicago skyline, the giant reflective bean thing, and the giant water fountain faces. We had lunch at a little place called the Corner Bakery Cafe, then went back to the car to get our stuff, and head to the train station.

I knew were running later than we should have, and that the cause for it was an error in my own memory, saying that we needed to be on the train at 3:20, when our actual departure time was 3:00. So we rushed back to the car, only to have some shoe shining guy take my brother against all of our will, and dob this "interesting" white shoe cleaning material on his feet. The crosswalk had just told us we had permission to cross the street, and here we were, having to wait for some maniac to finish with my brother's shoes. All the while I'm screaming about how "the train is at three o'clock! we have to go!" and my brother's shoes, which already had the exact appearance he wanted, are being visually altered against his will, by some maniac who has the gall to charge him $4 per shoe.

So it was at that point that I decided we were late. Most of my readers know about CoryTime, and it went absolutely crazy today, as we walked into Chicago Union Station at about 2:45 p.m. (CDT), which was just fifteen minutes before our train was scheduled to leave. Luckily, Meghan and Sean saw us all the way into the terminals, and we got on the train just in time. Not to be outdone by my schedule, I still managed to snap a few hundred photos of downtown.

So now we're on the train, heading to Lapeer, Michigan, where we'll see our grandmother. I'm pretty excited for our travels to nearly be over, and for our vacationing to start.

Rent, & Other Summer Plans.

Well, as a way to celebrate the end of the semester, Megan and I are planning on going to see Rent on Sunday, May 11th, down in Phoenix. I'm not sure of the details yet, but Megan really wants to go, and I do quite like Rent too. We're going down to Tucson on Friday after my last normal Spring2008 shift at the helpdesk, hanging out there for a bit, and then Rent on Sunday, and I'm taking the Flagstaff Express back to campus, in time to get some sleep before the first ACHD shift of Summer, 2008!

Also, I am still REALLY ready for the summer to begin. I've started having heartburn, VERY frequently, and I think it may be a result of the stress of almost the end of the semester.

This summer I'm working 20 hours a week at the helpdesk, and I'm not taking any classes. As far as I know I'm not going to be working any other on-campus jobs.

After Rent, I intend to reformat the ThinkPad R61i with a fresh install of Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, mainly because since I did the overlay from the included Home Premium to the Ultimate disc I have.

The other thing this summer I'm doing is taking a train trip from Kingman to Michigan for a few weeks to visit grandma. My brother's coming with me on the train, both ways, so I'm really not sure how that'll work out, but at least there's only one 23-hour layover, the one going East.

With the new backpack, the D300 and the R61i working properly, this trip promises to be pretty great. I can't wait to get daytime Amtrak photos, and of course it'll be great to have my photo workflow to use on my family members.

Another cool piece of technology I intend to bring is the EDGE data card for the R61i. I'm going to use the EDGE card to put photos on Flickr and make posts to the blog during the trip -- I may pre-write and schedule some posts for each end of the trip though, just in case I don't get any time to do so on those days. If I do get some time to write those days and need to go ahead and post something, it's really easy to use Blogger's interface to move something out even further in the future.

Other than that, my plans include "not having a roommate," "hanging out with Meaghan," and "lots and lots of photography." I also intend to "not move at all, the whole summer."

So I'm pretty excited about that.

Train Travel

Amtrak does a good job with the Southwest Chief. It may have been at one point in time, or it may even still be one of their least profitable routes in the entire system, but there are plenty of people who ride it from Chicago to LA and back again on a regular basis, plus the regular helping of people who ride it for shorter distances, such as my ride from Flagstaff to Kingman.

One of the first things I noticed, and something about which I was very pleased, was the fact that the waiting room in Flagstaff was very full - there were an amazing amount of people waiting to get on the westbound Southwest Chief. It makes me happy that there were so many people waiting on the train.

Engines number 5 and 98 pulled my train. One of the Heritage Fleet baggage cars, followed by a typical Superliner consist, of the Crew Dorm, probably three sleeping cars, the Dining Car, the Sightseer Lounge, and the three Coachclass cars.

I heard the comment in the station that it was a lot like Europe, where we were all waiting for the train, but I realized that this is a distinctly American experience. Here I am sitting in about the middle of the top deck of a two-level long distance coach. I have more legroom sitting in this behemoth of a transport option than I do in any of my classes, and while I realize that it isn't going as fast as the cars on the road, or an airplane would be - I'm partaking in a unique and relaxing experience. The gentle swaying of the cars as they roll along the tracks, the Eastbound freighters zooming by us at regular intervals, and the ability to get up and go to the restroom, and then wander over to the Lounge car and buy a snack or some milk. Despite the supposed awesomeness of bullet trains, I don't hear about anybody telling you their latest Shinkansen journey was relaxing, or that they were able to roam the train and buy a snack.

I am definitely glad I was able to take the train, even though the trip was so short. I may make it a point to do a longer and more comprehensive journey by rail at some later point. I would one day like to do the whole Southwest Chief journey, as well as as much of the Coast Starlight as possible - and I would certainly love to see some of the other Northern and Eastern routes.

Maybe one day I will buy one of those 30-day North America passes from Amtrak and VIA and take all of the various trains I've read about and seen pictures of.