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The midnight train to ChicagoIt was "O'dark-thirty"--or midnight central time--and I was about to embark on my first Amtrak train ride to Chicago. That is, if the train ever pulled into Dodge City. Two times a day, going east at midnight and west at 6 a.m., the Amtrak Southwest Chief stops in Dodge City. And, while I'd always thought it would be neat to take it on a journey to Los Angeles or Chicago, I'd never had the time for the meandering adventure of the rails. But this week I crossed it off of my list by traveling via Amtrak to Chicago and back--my own 36-hour discovery of America. Despite the warnings from my friends about the "peculiarities of train travel," I figured it couldn't be that bad. At least you don't have to go through invasive security searches to board the train, no one bats an eye at an extra large carry-on bag, and you don't have to cross the country with your seatmate's elbow in your side. Personally, I was anticipating a Hollywood train experience like I'd seen in films. I wanted to feel like I was boarding the Hogwarts Express; or dining with Cary Grant on our journey North by Northwest; or even racing across some European country as the latest Bond Girl. Reality is rarely as good as my imagination, though. So, no Hogwarts Express, no Platform 9, no Chocolate Frogs and Licorice Wands--just a lonely luggage cart leaning against a platform pillar in Chicago's Union Station and my own package of red licorice. No thrilling adventure with a handsome Cary Grant look-alike dodging police and spies--just a nice breakfast in the dining car with my traveling companion from Emporia and a grandmother from Chicago. And, while I did see a guy on board who looked like James Bond, it was far from a Bond Girl experience. I don't think Bond Girls ever had to deal with bed head and morning breath using a tiny little lavatory that jiggles and sways with the train on their cross-country excursions with Bond. And, I sincerely doubt James Bond or Cary Grant snored and passed gas in tandem in their sleep. Still, it was an adventure. Traveling by rail you see sights you wouldn't see along the Interstate highway or up high in the sky. There was the wind turbine factory somewhere in Iowa, with blades lined up outside like a giant's toy building set. And, the vast sea of corn and soybeans in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois was fascinating--even to this farm reporter. Traveling by rail you see America--from the storybook farms to postcard main streets and from freight yards and industrial districts to city lights that brighten the night sky. So sure, it takes a long time to get anywhere, but that's half the adventure. Going by rail forces you to slow down, and we need more of that in this world. It was most definitely an eye-opening experience, even if it started and ended in the middle of the night. Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com.
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