Worldcon Trip Day 3: Land o’ Corn

As California Zephyr left Denver on Monday evening, we observed that the lower level lounge car was unoccupied, so the members of TrainCon moved down there for the scheduled 8 PM BASFA meeting. With everyone accounted for, BASFA Vice President Chris Garcia called things to order early. The meeting lasted only around twenty minutes but did cover the entire regular agenda. The meeting actually ended twenty-seven minutes before it was scheduled to start. You can blame it on time zones; indeed, meeting “Amtrak-6” ended before the regularly-scheduled meeting back in the Bay Area was scheduled to begin at 8 PM PDT.

TrainCon moved upstairs to our regular pair of booths across from each other. Some of us sat and talked, while others (including me) played card games and talked. But soon enough fatigue overcame us and Lisa and I returned to our bedroom, where Lisa made up the beds for our second night on the train. Sleeping was very difficult for Lisa because of her cough (which isn’t really getting much better), although I slept pretty well myself.

At a long stop at what I think must have been Lincoln NE, I awoke because of a blinking light reflecting into my eyes like a flickering neon sign in a cheap hotel. Peeking through the curtains, I saw a piece of BNSF railway maintenance equipment on the next track to ours with a rotating yellow warning light. I pulled the curtains more securely closed and returned to bed.

( Through the Fields to Chicago )

After lunch, it was time to begin the wind-down process and move most of our things back into our luggage downstairs in order to make the deboarding process easier. Lisa and I spent most of the rest of the trip in our bedroom with her reading, me composing LJ entries, and Bear watching the scenery go by. As we passed Aurora, and the EJ&E crossing, I waved in the direction of my company’s regional offices where I’ve worked numerous times and started shutting down in preparation for our arrival in Chicago.

Worldcon Trip Day 3: Arrival in Chicago

Arrival in Chicago was on time. Lisa and I shared a taxi from Union Station with Diane Osborne, who generously paid the cab fare. After we unpacked, I checked out the internet service. The in-room connection is $13/24 hours, which means I don't expect to be using it every day, but I did feel obliged to check to see what might have come in during the three days we were on the train and away from phones and internet. I also, as you may have noticed, posted the LJ entries I wrote while we were on the train and also the video of the run by our house on board the train.

After somewhat recovering from the move-in, it was high time for dinner. Lisa and I walked back over toward the Union Station area and beyond that to Greektown, where we ate in one of the places there where we ate during our layover on the way to Montreal three years ago — nothing fancy, but we were happy with it.

On the way back, we confirmed where the nearest Red Line subway station entrance was to the hotel. (State & Lake streets) We'll need to know that on Friday in particular for the trip to the Giants game. It was also good to confirm that it's about a fifteen minute walk to the station from the hotel. With the Business Meeting apparently starting at 10 AM Friday according to updated schedule information, we have a little better chance of missing less of the game than we originally feared, as long as the meeting doesn't run particularly long.

We did a brief look around some of the convention space, finding ourselves at Sales To Members, where Lisa convinced them to sell her a T-shirt now (even though they weren't actually open) by dint of having exact change so she would have a Chicon shirt to wear tomorrow.

We were not particularly adventurous today, and while I like sleeping on the train, I'm not sure exactly how restful it is. I hope I sleep more soundly tonight. Lisa's cough is improving slightly, but I suspect that I'll be the one with bronchitis by the time we head home next Tuesday. This saddens Lisa.