This trip was meant as a means to go see the guy who runs the "Geo Storm Owners Page"...I also suppose it was a way for me to add in another state and another time zone to my massive amount of travel... And then there would be the experience of travelling on Amfleet/Horizon train cars as well...Throughout the entire trip I've been in huge double decker Superliner trains and now I get to experience what the single level fleet has to offer...
Once I get the word from Jason that I can indeed come out to visit (hey, it's just across Lake Michigan...compared to where I live, this is a mere hop to go this amount of distance!), I went to the Amtrak station to purchase my tickets for that afternoon. (note that I've been in Chicago for half a day by now) The desk agent was a little confused at my choice of words, but eventually she got the hint that I wanted a roundtrip ticket to Holland...(I said I want to go to Holland and return...)...Anyhow, tickets were in hand, and I just had to wait until 5:30...I ended up stashing my luggage in a locker, grabbing lots of quarters from the change machine (to later pay for the locker) and then went for a walk...Ended up having lunch somewhere (Burger King I think...Something new - Whitehorse doesn't have one of these franchaises, but it does have a McDonalds...) and then went to view the scenery from the skydeck at the top of the Sears Roebuck tower. It's absolutely amazing how efficient these guys are at processing people...go here, sit down, watch this, leave here, walk this way, get your pictures taken, yadda yadda yadda...Kind of annoying I must admit... But thankfully the weather in Chicago that day was absolutely gorgeous! I really wish I had some dollars to buy some film and take some pictures from that vantage point...(just more regrets about not having enough dollars available).
But enough about that, went back to the train station and bought myself a couple small snacks and went to wait for my train. Eventually 5:20 came and they announced the boarding of the train...The people in Chicago's Union Station have an interesting system for announcing train arrivals and departures...
"May I have your attention please. Amtrak is pleased to announce the boarding of train three seventy, the Pere Marquette, with service to Hammond Whiting, New Buffalo, Saint Joseph Benton Harbor, Bangor, Holland and Grand Rapids, is now boarding through Gate D. Thank you!" This entire spiel is built by a computer...Listening to the other announcements makes this rather obvious...The 'thank you' and 'may I have your attention please' sound exactly alike. But then, for a guy who's had speech training in a 2 year radio program, I can pick up a lot of little nuances.
Anyhow, I moved towards the appropriate gate and had a look at the trainset...Had an engine on both ends! It also had a car labeled "Automat". I was also warned earlier that there wasn't any food service available onboard this train, but apparently this is a way of improving the service level without significantly increasing the cost....They put a few vending machines, a microwave and a water dispenser into the car, along with a few booths for sitting down and enjoying your food. I decided to pass on this stuff...It appeared the Automat car was quite new...the floor and the overall color scheme of the car was lacking a fair bit...In fact, if memory serves, the floor was covered with cardboard, so our snowy feet wouldn't cause too many problems. Anyhow, just something to note. This train was also made of rebuilt horizon cars as well as the traditional Amfleet cars...I say rebuilt horizon cars as they were quite square, and the seats were in the same decor as the coach seats on the Coast Starlight...The Amfleet cars were in the same kind of color scheme as the coach seats on the California Zephyr...The train itself had two engines, one on each end, the Automat car, and I'd guess three or four Coach cars...They decided to cordon off the front coach cars, so there were only two cars as well as the Automat car open to the public. There weren't too many people on board the train, I'd guess probably around 50-60 passengers at the most onboard the train when we left Chicago. And once we left Chicago, it was pretty dark outside so I decided to read a little bit and just wait it out until we got to Holland. A very uneventful trip I have to say.
Once we got into Holland I realized that Jason wasn't there...But thankfully the train station is open, but there's not much to it...a pair of bathrooms, a pay phone, wooden benches, and a pop vending machine. Oh yah, a lot of pictures hung on the wall, as did a very nice looking clock. Once inside the station I decided to give Jason a call and I managed to actually hear his voice for the very first time...It's a very interesting experience talking to a person through the computer, spend hours and hours chatting away and never hear any nuances in the voice. Well, I told him I was in Holland and waiting for him to come pick me up...He asked me for directions, but seeing that I had only been in the state of Michigan for the last hour and a half and in Holland for all of 5 minutes, I didn't have any idea...I told him what was close by and hoped that he'd be able to find the station well enough. I asked how long it would be and he replied about half an hour...At this point I sit down and play a few games of tetris on my laptop while waiting. There is another lady waiting and there's also a police officer waiting outside as well...After about 10 minutes he says that he's leaving but would like to know if we're going to be okay...I reply I'll be fine, but seeing that it's a female that's also with me, he's obviously concerned about her safety. He offers to leave his sidearm with her (Something that's NEVER done in Canada to the best of my knowledge!) and also says that he's locking the door so nobody can get in...We're able to get out of the station of course, but once we're outside, we're not coming back in. Fine by me! The lady and I chat a little bit, and Jason shows up a while later...I pack up my laptop and head for the car...Strangely enough I'm expecting a red Geo Storm (to the lady I say it's a "little red sports car"), but Jason shows up in a gray Mazda 626...His fiancee's, and apparently much better at handling the weather that decided to dump itself on our area. From here, we head back to his home, and I spend the night and also score myself a very nice looking T-shirt that I paid for but never got until just then...I certainly enjoyed it, but having to leave so early to catch the return trip back to Chicago is disappointing to say the least...I went all that way and managed to spend all of 4 waking hours with the guy... But considering how close I was to him, the short trip was well worth it...
The next morning (far too early I might add), we're out in HIS car...the wonderful Storm he's so proud of (and rightfully so) is now whisking me to the train station...where I wait for about an hour and a bit...While I'm waiting, a few people come in and then a lot of people board a bus for who knows where...apparently the train station also doubles as a station for greyhound as well...(as I found out later, a good number of train stations in the States double as bus stops as well...including Spokane, Washington)...Soon afterwards our train comes in...and now I know why there were two locomotives...they don't turn the train around at all in Grand Rapids...that exact train that took me out to Holland is the one that takes me back. I must admit, as I boarded the same car I was in the night before I did do a doubletake on the seats...If they didn't turn the train around, why are the seats now facing forward? Apparently, it's far easier to turn the seats around inside the car than it is to turn the entire car around...
Anyhow, our trip was continuing on, and this time there were a lot more people on the train...Probably around 50-60 people in this one car...
Seeing Michigan in the daylight is definitely far better than seeing it in the dark...A lot of the little things I didn't see on the trip out the night before were now quite visible. Very pretty country I must admit. Too bad I didn't take any pictures. We arrived into Chicago on time at 10:40 am, and I now had a few hours to kill before my next segment of the trip was about to begin...The Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle...One of the most interesting segments of this travelogue...Click here to read it!