Chicago and Westward bound

Day 2


It's 6 am,  and to be honest, I didn't have the greatest sleep. It can be those early vacation jitters, or I am trying to sleep on a train. Either way, it's time for some coffee and breakfast. So down to the dining car I go.

So your wondering what the food is like. The coffee is good, and the breakfast is fine. The potatoes were seasoned really nicely. The best part is that it is included in the price of the room. It was quiet in the dining car, so I spent around a hour there, enjoying the scenery and with free wi-fi, catching up on news, etc.


I spent the next couple of hours uploading pics and getting the blog together. It works nicely, do some typing, watch the world go by, and so on......

My first glimpse of Chicago, really it's there in the background, or I need to buy a new phone!

Trying out the selfie stick!

The Horseshoe Casino,  wow, Vegas already, NOT.

I know you can see Chicago in this one!

I get the 10 min announcement for arrival and pack up all my crap. Union Station in Chicago is one of those stations where the platforms are underground and rather depressing. So I stow my baggage in a locker for the layover and head into the station.

My train at the station, flash works!

Kind of like our Union Station in Toronto, only bigger.

Just another view of the station.

So I've got 3 hours in Chicago to waste, so I head down to Michigan ave and see a few sights.

Its still the Sears tower to me!

The chrome bean is good enough from here.

Not quite enough time for a show.

A nice St Patricks day display at Target. I love the boxes of "Lucky Charms", because after a night of drinking everything here, your going to want a bowl! These won't be the charms that you'll be spewing.

Still looking for the "Blues Brothers" Pisacco?

Funny, I've been here with my Piaggio MP3 500 scooter, my K1200lt BMW and now I'm walking!

I thought about going up the Sears Tower, but with clouds up at the top, what's the point!

I walked around a bit, had a nice and cheap latte, and slowly made my way back to Union station.

They have a nice business lounge that sleeper class gets to use, it was so interesting I forgot to take some snaps, anyway 1:30 pm rolls around and it's time to board. The trip on this second piece is 50 hours long, so this should be interesting, as it's going to be the longest I've ever been on a train. I've done the overnight Autotrain from Washington , DC to Orlando, Fl. (which by the way is great). So up I go to the second floor and up to my room.

It's a shame, the pics don't really do the size of the bedroom justice.

Really kind of a spare shelf, as who wants to ride backwards anyways!

Private bathroom, don't underestimate the value of it, especially late at night!

Time to get settled in and catch up with the blog, honestly the blog alone is making the trip go faster.

They make the usual announcements, and my car steward drops by to introduce herself. Also a dining car chief comes around and takes dinner reservations. I chose the last, at 7:30 pm as I won't feel pressured to finish quickly.


A little more time on the blog and I've caught up to where we are at, and that is, 2 hours outside of Chicago stopped so they can do a wheel inspection on the engine. Hopefully nothing to much. Funny thing is,  as I'm typing this I got an update. Looks like were ditching the lead locomotive and run with one until we can get a replacement. I'm just happy that we will be moving again soon (actually it took another hour before we got back underway). Anyway it's time to explore my new home for the next 2 days.

The train has two engines, which sometimes both work, a crew sleeping car, then 3 sleeper cars, which I'm in the first. Then the dining car, observation car, then coach.

I'll be back later when it get interesting, you can buy beer etc downstairs. Dinner was running late as we had some power issues with the exchanging of the engines. Instead of going for the steak, I went with the shrimp crab cakes. which were excellent (for Patti, they do offer a certified vegi dish) . No pics this time as I just plainly forgot. Remember, you get seated with some of the other passengers and you have to be social, which, once in a while I can be. During this time I asked the porter to make up my bed, and as I write this I guess I should have taken a pic, O well, I'll do it for tomorrow. Anyway, time to settle in and watch some of all of those tv shows that I downloaded. Goodnight!!!


ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

End of Day 2

Vegas, here we come, the longest way yet!

With my fall trip put on hold due to a fire in my apt, which more or less has been settled ( I got some money, upgraded appliances,  and a rather empty apt), So eagerly I've been awaiting my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, and of course, the annual Las Vegas Scooter Rally. Over the years I've flown to Vegas, driven the scoot to Vegas in the back of a minivan, and have ridden my bike there via Route 66 and the Pacific coast Hwy. Which by the way, was my favourite. Though, riding your scooter up and down Las Vegas Blvd with a kitted TS1 kit comes in at a close second.


So to start things off, my plans were to finally get down and visit Dave and see Rich. My luck being what it is, Dave has to work that Friday night, the only bit of luck I get is, that my work gives me the Kennedy Station (babysitting) duties instead. Just in case you are wondering what the "duties" are, it consists of the following, you're there (at Kennedy Station) between 1:30am - 5:30am. The first part is waking up the drunks and sleepers and getting them upstairs to the bus bay, ("where am I", and "what do you mean it's 2am" comes up a lot). Then after the last train is parked, I can relax and I'm available if the trains need to be moved. So after a uneventful night I head home to change and head out. Now it would have been nice to get some sleep before, but for anyone in the GTA (greater Toronto Area) knows, Saturday afternoon traffic just plain sucks, so I get out of Toronto and catch a few hours of sleep at my parents place in Ft Eire, which is just across from Buffalo, NY, and where I'm picking up my train to San Francisco.


As my bad luck streak continues, the dinner date I'd made with Leslie for Saturday night got cancelled due to Leslie having to put down one of her dogs. I totally understand, and it's not like I don't go to Buffalo enough. Unfortunately I didn't bother to check my facebook messages until I was at Duty Free, so yea, my lucky streak is just going on and on. I guess there's no hope on those powerball tickets I bought. So off to do some shopping that I had to do, otherwise known as what I forgot to pack. First was a new SIM card, as I left the old one on my kitchen counter top, then off to Best Buy for a half decent phone charger. I'm still trying to figure out how I forgot that one! Also over to the dollar store for some snacks and supplies for the long trip.

                       The one good buy of the day, a selfie stick, $2.88 and here's the test pic!!!




Now I'm off to Buffalo Airport to drop off the car for when I fly back, hey, I only have a week and a bit off of work! 25 minutes later the shuttle bus picks me up, since there are no flights leaving after 9pm they don't check for pickups in the lot (my luck strikes again). A quick cab ride to the train station, no Uber in Buffalo though.

A nice guy as I checked in, and I also enquired about a bedroom upgrade on my second leg (Chicago to San Francisco). Lucky for me the price came down and I decided to pay the extra. You'll get to see it later.

As you can see, just your usual 1970's train station, nothing special, but as long as it has free wi-fi, I'm happy. The train is close to being on time, so out I go to see the Lakeshore Limited pull in.

                                                   Wow, what a great action shot ;-)



Being a eastern train, they have single level cars, which I've never been on before. I'm pleasantly surprised as the Roomettes are bigger than on the dual level cars. You can actually fit a adult on the upper berth unlike the dual level Superliners. Upper berth sleepers even get their own cubby hole and window. Well it's time to settle in, as it's past midnight and I need some sleep.

                                                                    Almost sleeping

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


End of day one!