A Nasty Case of the Robbie Burns’

As in ‘ The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men gang aft agley’….

We were awoken at an unreasonably early hour with the news that flash flooding in eastern Minnesota had washed away the tracks, not only of our intended route, but also the only practical backup route to Chicago. I guess that is only to be expected when you get 12 – 17 inches of rain inside 24 hours. As a result, we were to detrain at Minneapolis-St. Paul, and would be bussed the remaining eight or so hours to Chicago. Oh Joy!

Trying to get 300 odd people onto buses proved interesting for the Amtrak officials, and I did get to see a couple of good examples of ‘Ugly Americans’ amongst the passengers. I can’t quite see the point in trying to blame the whole thing on Amtrak at the top of one’s voice. It got quite farcical, as one or two others started trying to shout down the original heckler. Get a grip guys! At least we will get to Chicago eventually, unlike the seven people who perished in the flood.

The trip itself wasn’t actually too bad, and we were no later getting into Chicago than we would have been anyway! It was a relief to get there though, and for a while I just stood on the sidewalk in amazement watching the world go by. What a madhouse! I’m glad I wasn’t driving, and the cab ride to my hotel was one of the scariest 10 minutes of my life to date. These people are nuts! Far worse than L.A!

I got settled in my hotel, which had a distant view across Grant Park to Lake Michigan. It was warm and very humid, and it felt mighty fine to have a nice long shower and wash off a bit of travel grime.

Then it was downstairs to enjoy pizza and vino at a sidewalk café next to the hotel, followed by the best night’s sleep I’d had since arriving in the States. I think my body clock is finally adjusting, thank goodness.