Trip to Macomb
The Amtrak Experience
Am travelling to Macomb, Illinois this morning via Amtrak to meet with a client this afternoon. Will spend the night at the Inselhaus Bed & Breakfast. A fun adventure. First leg of the trip this morning is to drive to the Route 59 station to catch a Metra train to Naperville where I catch the Carl Sandburg to Macomb.
I get off the Metra at Naperville and make my way into the station. Ticket office closed. Self-service ticketing machine broken (I have a reservation but no ticket). Signs at Metra ticketing window rudely say they have no information about Amtrak. Don’t want to get my head bitten off if I were to ask. I’ve had bad experiences with Metra employees in the past. Only info I can get is from a sign that says call 1-800-USA-RAIL. My Blackberry has no alphanumeric keypad. Have to track down a pay phone to translate the letters to numbers.
Rep says that only choice is to refund my ticket (credit will show in 3-5 days) and for me to purchase new ticket on board. I await the arrival at the station, not knowing whether it’ll be on the north or south side. I suspect north, because that’s the track I see it on when it passes by at Route 59 but I’m not sure. Just no information available and that’s frustrating.
Turns out not to be a big deal. A semi-audible voice comes over the speaker as I am standing on the south platform in Naperville saying the train will be arriving and departing from the north track, so I wal under the tunnel and emerege on the other side. The train approaches quickly and about a half dozen or so people board. A woman tells the conductor that the ticket machine is broken, and the conductor is calm about it, reassuring us that we’ll be able to get our tickets. I ask which way to business class and am directed to the back of the train.
Nice accomodations. Large, comfortable leather seats, power outlets, tray tables. The conductor comes back and we take care of the ticket situation, with me purchasing my new one. Turns out I didn’t need to cancel my reservation, as my name was on the manifest and I could have just waited and it would have been taken care of. But I had cancelled it with the customer service representative and that was that, so I need to buy a new ticket.
In any event, I get settled in nicely, and the steward gives me the obligatory talk about the emergency exits and tells me about the complimentary beverage to which I am entitled. I get my Blackberry out and post to Twitter, by this time already being in Aurora, and having taken a short video clip as I passed by the Route 59 station where people are boarding the 8:12 train that I usually take. Neat to have this perspective, as I notice this Amtrak train nearly every morning when I’m boarding the Metra train there.
We pass through Aurora and I call Jill and the boys and talk to them. Austin was sad when he woke up because I am not there, and when Jill tells him that I’m going to Macomb, he is excited because he expects me to bring him a macaw. I’ll see what I can do about that.
We stop in Plano, Illinois. The train continues into the more sparse flatland, as we pass farm after farm. I am on the computer and catch up in my journal, get the pictures and video I’ve shot already off the camera and on their way up to Flickr (which started supporting video just yesterday). This is fun. A homogenous landscape punctuated by moraines and a huge wind farm! We stop at Mendota, then Princeton. I don’t notice anyone getting on or off. After Princeton the landscape becomes rolling. More like home in Southern Indiana, with rolling hills covered by agriculture.
We arrive in Galesburg at about 10:10 which, according to the conductor, is right on time. This is the biggest place we’ve stopped so far. My information tells me there will be another 35 minutes or so to Macomb.
But that news of being on time has now changed. We pass through the small town of Prairie City and come to a stop. Engineer comes over the speaker and says we’re going to be following freight traffic and that will delay us at least a half hour. I try calling Dorothee, the proprietor of the Inselhaus, who will be picking me up at the train station to let her know I’ll be late, but she doesn’t answer, and I fear she’s already left for the train station. In any event, I continue to enjoy myself while updating this entry, loading video and pictures off the camera, and preparing for the remainder of the trip.
The Afternoon in Macomb
I arrive in Macomb at about 11:15 or so, and about a half dozen people get off the train. Dorothee is there waiting for me and it is not difficult to discern that I am her guest. She insists on carring my luggage and we get into her white Ford station wagon for the short trip to the Inselhaus. She speaks to me in good English but with a distinct German accent.
We go in the back way and she shows me to my room, No. 5. We chat in the hallway upstairs for a few minutes about various topics like how she and her husbank Karl ended up in Macomb (they moved from Germany in 1998 and bought a farm north of town) and how her son who has graduated law school is looking for a job in Chicago.
Dorothee goes downstairs and I spend the next hour or so on the computer upstairs in my room, reading feeds, updating pictures, checking and replying to email, etc. I call the client and arrange that he’ll pick me up here at 6:30 and we’ll meet this evening. At about 12:40 or so I head downstairs and introduce myself to Karl Gossel, Dorothee’s husband who has arrived. I then depart out the front door and head south toward the courthouse square to the Secret Garden restaurant which Dorothee recommended to me for lunch.
I enter the Secret Garden restaurant which is not busy at all — maybe one other customer. The waitress offers me a table near the front with lots of natural light. I sit facing inside the restaurant, but turn around often to look outside to the courthouse square. The restaurant is situated on the west side of the square. I order iced tea to drink and after looking at the menu order a sandwich and cup of cream of broccoli soup. The sandwich was very good. On sourdough bread is swiss cheese, bacon, artichoke, avocado and tomato. Afterward the waitress talks me into blackberry cobbler with ice cream. Very good as well. Different from the cobbler I’m used to, in that it is more bread-like rather than having crust. Very good.
Pay the bill and leave, walking around the court house square, snapping pictures, then making my way back to the Inselhaus where I find the door locked but fortunately have a key to unlock it. I go upstairs and get my computer which I bring into one of the parlors downstairs. I get my most recent pictures and video off the camera, upload those to Flickr and get this entry up to date. Dorothy comes in the room and we talk about the history of the house for awhile and I look through her photo album of the renovations in 2003 and 2004.
I then go up and change into running clothes. First head east from Inselhaus and then swing back heading west, across 67 and on, down into a rolling area in which Western Illinois University is situated. Very pleasant run. Probably in the 50’s; would be a bit chilly if I were not running but with the increased metabolism from the run it feels nice to be in t-shirt and shorts. Take a swing through campus and then return back to Inselhaus, being gone for exactly a half hour. Extremely energized by the exercise. Dorothee is gone so I use my key to enter the house. I go upstairs, shower and get back into my work clothes. I call and talk to Jill for awhile, and to Austin, who has finished dinner. Tyler is taking his bath. Spend some time on the Internet getting caught up, then get caught up in this journal. Am anticipating the clients coming to pick me up at 6:30. It’s 6:12 as I’m typing this.
The Client Meeting
The clients picks me up at 6:30 as planned. We drive to the Red Ox which is on the west side of town and go inside. Good conversation. I order grilled salmon encrusted in peppercorn. Very good. After dinner we go to the clients’ office and have the meeting. Very interesting subject matter. A conundrum as well. I return to the Inselhaus at about 12:30 a.m. Get things packed up a bit, and head to bed.
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