Traveling by Train Part 1

    As many of you know, I recently traveled West by train.  I kept notes along the way and decided to share some of what I saw and thought.

April 5:  Sue Sepich brought me from Washington to Bloomington.  We got lost in Bloomington, the train station is in Normal.   A quiet ride to Chicago.  Dwight, Il has a windmill in the middle of town.  What's that about?  
      Traveling by train gives you a different perspective.  Instead of seeing pretty homes, on the train you see the backyards.  Wood piles, garbage cans, trash, an occasional above ground pool - is there anything more sad looking than a swimming pool in Illinois in winter?
      Joliet had a huge factory complex rusting and abandoned.  Loading docks with scrub trees growing where trucks once backed in  Windows broken, just desolate looking.  Imagine how excited employees were years ago when the company expanded - it was obvious that the plant had been added on - did they think the jobs would last forever?
      Just pass the plant was Joliet Penitentuary.  An imposing front facade.  Built of limestone.  Built to intimidate prisoners entering to serve their sentence?  Limestone walls topped by barbed wire.  Is it still open?  The exterior looks pretty unkempt.
      As we got closer to Chicago, graffiti started appearing on empty buildings, buildings still in use, bridges, overpasses and viaducts.  Do graffiti artist go to class to learn that broad printing style?  Some of it was amazing with beautiful pictures.  We just passed the Royal Dragon Fortune Cookie Factory.
      When the train stopped, we were south of Jackson Blvd.  Spent my waiting time in the Metropolitan lounge.  There were a lot of people there.  The Cub game was on.  It was opening day.

      Rode a cart to the train to Spokane - a three block walk.  My bedroom is very nice.  The toilet/shower is a tight squeeze for a fat lady, but it's doable.  Champagne and mints to greet us  Plugged in my I-Pad and played my 'favorites' playlist.  So I just sat there, listening to music, feet up,  enjoying the scenery.  The only way to travel.
      Ate dinner with a Chinese family.  The parents work in cancer research at the University of Minnesota.  Their seven year old boy was very precosius.  They are expecting a girl in June.  The big brother said she would be his pet.  He really wanted a dog though.  The wife - who spoke English the best -  said they were contemplating returning to China.  That that country was beginning to do more research.  My first thought what would they do with two children when that country only allows one child?
      
       Some houses here in LaCrosse are very, very close to the tracks.  We should be crossing the Mississippi pretty soon.  Minnesota, the third State today.

April 6 - Good Friday.  It's a little after five and the train has stopped.  We must be waiting for a freight train to pass by.    Amtrak uses other Railroads tracks, so freight trains always have the right of way. I think we are probably in North Dakota.  We are following an Interstate, not sure which one.  I slept good,  The bed is comfortable.
11:30 a.m.  We just passed Williston, N.D.  The center of fracking.  Fracking is a new way of getting oil out of the ground.  This is the center of the oil boom.  At the station there were a lot of people especially young men - 18 and up.  We've passed several 'man camps'.  The camps are a series of FEMA trailers.  When this all started people were camping in tents so the trailers were brought in for people to survive the cold.  This fracking is going all the way up to Canada.  My next door bedroom person, Flora - she's in D, I'm in E - knows quite a bit about this area.  She has friends living in the area.  Drilling Companies have bought the mineral rights, so people are getting rich.  So in this desolate hilly area where mostly you see fields of wheat stubble, occasionally you see a flame in the distance where an oil well is burning off waste.
1:00 p.m.  We're now about mid Montana and it's snowing!  This is the first snow I've see since January when we had a very light snow at home.  I believe this may be a blizzard.  Very little visability.  I was hoping to see some antelope but I either missed them or can't see them for snow.