Heading Home

2:10pm

I’m sitting in the Metropolitan First Class Passenger Lounge waiting for the Southwest Chief #3 to take me back to KC.  R and I have had a fun trip up here.  We did the usual, shopped on Michigan Avenue, saw some sights, and of course hit the bars.   I always enjoy my short trips up here, its a great short weekend trip to break up the hum drum.

From what I’m hearing KC has a snow and ice storm hitting and R just called to tell me his flight was cancelled.  R was flying back and forth because he doesn’t care for riding trains like I do, says it takes to long.  But while American Eagle is grounded, snow doesn’t stop Amtrak.  Hope he makes it back ok, he is supposed to give me a call soon to let me know what’s up.

6:45pm

Just got back from dinner in the dining car and had a really good time talking to a couple who were headed to Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  I had the flat iron steak and it was actually not too bad.  Were going to be crossing the Mississippi River any moment now which means I’m about half way home.

R called me back earlier and said that all the flights into KC were cancelled.  He was wanting to come down to the station to catch the train with me but there just wasn’t enough time.  I’ve tried to call him back a couple times but he hasn’t answered his phone.  Not sure what he’s doing.  Maybe he was lucky and found a flight.  Guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out .

Chicago Bound – Again

11:27am

Right now I’m sitting on the lower level of the observation car of the Southwest Chief. There’s no one down here except me and the snack attendant who is busy putting supplies away.

We just left Ft. Madison, Iowa and are still running on time.

I’ve been talking quite a bit to the guy sitting next to me back at my assigned seat. Didn’t take long for us to both clock each other as being gay. He seems like a pretty decent person and it’s always nice to find someone to talk to.  That’s the best part of taking a train, people are always so friendly.  Maybe its just because we all know we are going to be on here for a while and we might as well enjoy it.  Anyway, should be in Chicago in about 3 1/2 hours.  We may even get there early, that’s certainly never happened before.

Oh, and I didn’t mention that one of the car attendants is a hottie! Good scenery always helps the time pass! lol

8:00pm

Ok, so I got a better look at the hottie car attendant and I changed my mind. Not so hot.

I’m at the hotel now waiting for R to show up. His flight should be landing any time now so I imagine he will be here in an hour or so. The train trip went very well. We were on time to early the entire trip until the final hour. Freight delays and braking problems killed the early arrival but we still managed to get in just a couple minutes late.

Right before we pulled into Chicago Union Station, the electricity went out in our car. That wasn’t problem while we were out in the sun, but Union Station here is underground so as we pulled in the car went completely black! We practically had to feel our way to the stairs to go down as there were no emergency lights on. Several of us had our cell phones out using them as flashlights.  Was kinda funny and then of course as the last (including myself) couple of people were finally getting off, the lights came back on. Never a dull trip on Amtrak.

Hitting the Rails

Tomorrow morning I am once again climbing aboard Amtrak’s Southwest Chief for another trip up to one of my favorite cities, Chicago. R will be joining me this time although he will be flying up later in the afternoon after he gets off work. He took the train up with me a couple summers ago and really didn’t care for it anyway. That’s ok, I’ll enjoy the ride as I have many times before by myself.

So far, the Chief is running only 5 minutes behind which means I should be set for a 7:45am departure. It’s been running early into Chicago the past couple of days so hopefully that trend will continue. It’s always easier to carry the luggage on the El before rush hour starts.

Hope I get up on time, 6:30am will roll around awful quick and I’m always scared I will oversleep.

Where I’ve been

Found a website that helps you track where you’ve been by state or by country. Looks like I’ve been to 50% of the states here in the U.S. I’m hoping to add a couple more this summer. Would love to add some countries to that list in the near future also.

visited 25 states (50%)
Create your own visited map of The United States