Wherein the the traveling Bobster leaves the Second city on his way back to his digs!
Had a good night in Chicago, slept well ( “well” is a relative term as there are the “nocturnal wanderings”) but well enough to say I am rested and ready for the rest of the trip. Not much in light of the length ( both space and time) that has gone before but enough. To Galesburg and hope the train is on time and then hope that the bus is there so I can make it to Moline. So what have I done on this trip? Well, I have eaten what the folks on Amtrak served up and (I should say since the menu is limited and the same on each train I had pretty much gone through it several times!)Stayed at some nice hotels of my choosing and seen a lot of scenery- if any one says that the US of A is boring have them take the train and see what wonders are out there. Not only are the vistas enormous but various to the point of not having enough words to describe them. It’s a big country and it takes time to see every thing and after the trip I just took its hard to believe I have seen just about 1/2 of it.
Then again I just came back from breakfast which was in the window of the bar/restaurant of the hotel. Breakfast wasn’t the attraction it was the Chicagoians passing the window. Everyone was “plugged in” not a surprise just an observation and from what I could deduce, in a big rush to get somewhere. What ever they were carrying in their backpacks must have been important because they sure were packed for “bear!” On thing I have known for a long time, I am a small town boy and the big city takes too much energy to survive. I would last maybe 5 or 10 minutes and the place would eat me alive! Just to visit a whole new persona must be devised and it’s just too much trouble to maintain.
Now I have to begin the next part of the trip and see if I can pull that off. One thing as I have mentioned to the point of tedium, I have to rethink what I am taking and how it’s packed, this time it barely worked and that was because I made it so. The concept of layers worked but I still need a way to sleep in my clothes and not look like I slept in my clothes! It is almost impossible to change on the train so you have to make do with what you are wearing and either put on something or take off something. And be prepared for the HVAC system to go haywire. The idea of “exercise clothes” comes as close to anything I can think of. No wonder the age of elegance in traveling has gone by the board. You just cannot change out of your tuxedo into your dressing gown on the train! Besides it would take too much luggage and you cannot pay a fare for a servant to come along to haul all your stuff! Besides he would have stuff too. It’s not “Around the world in 80 days” any longer.
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