Week-end Travels

A Woodstock friend is moving to Minneapolis and was aiming to drive the U-Haul truck there on Saturday (yesterday). Earlier in the week I offered to drive her car there on Saturday and catch the train back on Sunday.

Then the moving truck plans faltered a little, and the loading did not get completed on Friday. I had already purchased an Amtrak ticket for Sunday's 7:50AM train, so I headed out in her car on yesterday morning. Got into Minneapolis with no problem, and my GPS took me straight to her door.

Then I back-tracked a little to the Amtrak station to pick up my ticket. The depot agent pointed through the doors to a train and said, "That's your train. Be here 30 minutes early. The train will leave on time at 7:50AM."

When the cab pulled up right on time this morning, I locked the car and house keys inside her new home and hopped in. A quick ride to the Amtrak station and I was there in plenty of time. Not that I needed it, because 7:50AM came and went; so did 8:50AM. Finally, the passengers boarded and the train left just before 10:00AM. First there had been some problem with adding a second engine, and then a brake problem on one of the cars.

Oh, well; better to have the problems in the station and not out in the middle of nowhere.

After a brisk walk right up Track 9 (I kept looking for Harry Potter's Track 9 3/4) and across the street to the Ogilvie Transportation Center, the Metra train left right on time at 6:30PM and pulled into Woodstock at 8:01PM.

The $81 fare was much better than the $350-440 for an airline ticket, and the Amtrak ride was (pretty) smooth. I wasn't brave enough to sample the food from the lounge car; it was pre-packaged and over-priced. $2.00 for a can of Pepsi? No way! But the seat was comfortable and there was plenty of leg room.

The train traveled south from Minneapolis along the west bank of the Mississippi River and crossed the river south of Winona; then we went eastward to Milwaukee and south into the Loop. The towns in Wisconsin looked clean and neat; how come Illinois towns don't look that way?

Would I ride Amtrak again? Sure!