Election Day, Revolution Day . . . travelling day.

It's election day here in the United States. I am writing this on the train from Chicago to Champaign-Urbana. Which means I made it this far! BC drove me to the light rail station in Minneapolis this morning, and I took that to the airport. My flight was delayed about 45 minutes, so I read a few more pages of Poiger, which is good but very dense. [Side note: downtown Chicago looks ginormous from here. I must come back for a proper visit at some point. It's foggy now and there's lots of construction. I didn't know Chicago had a waterway going through it.] I got in to O'Hare no prob, and waded through the throngs of travellers to the train into the city. Also very easy! (HD: I couldn't find the transport pass you gave me, so I had to pay $2. Silly me. I must have it somewhere in my luggage.)

On the train (the "el"?) into the city, I chatted with a United minister. She sounded like she'd led an interesting life. The train took a long time to get into town, but at least once I got off, getting to the Amtrak station was fairly easy. Except for one thing: I can never, ever find an escalator/elevator when I need one. It's very annoying when I have a 50lb. suitcase with me!! But good for my muscles, I guess. Union Station is awesome. As in, the architecture is awesome. Wow. And with enormous American flags hanging from the ceiling.

[Side note: It's pitch black outside. Pity I can't enjoy the Illinois countryside. On the bright side, though, this train has plug-ins at every seat. Take that, Via!]

Later . . .

I arrived safely in Champaign, and am just getting ready for bed after a lovely dinner and extended conversation with my new historian friend KP. Tomorrow it's off to the archives again!