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Sep. 9th, 2011 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogThe powers that be decided I needed a break today. At the 94/41 split, I turned around and went back to Kenosha. I wasn't feeling up to a six hour drive tonight. I called Ceilidh to make sure she didn't mind if I showed up tomorrow. I tried calling Lisa, but her phone is not charging and, of course, was out of power. I thought I might drop by and stay with her in Chicago tonight, but apparently it was not to be. I tried for a while to get into Facebook or email to contact her that way, but my phone was acting up.
So I turned around to go home and maybe nap. On the way home, I drove down Bain Station Road and found myself stopped before one of the railroad crossings there. A coal train was stopped across the road, sometimes moving a bit in one direction or another, but not making much progress on the whole. I turned the car off, got out, then climbed on top to watch and listen to the train. The huge vivid blue sky was slashed with clouds as I looked around, horizon to horizon, while the train sat still. The times it would start to move, I flicked my gaze along, car to car, as the building momentum took up the slack in one coupler after another. Bang. Bang. bang, bang, bang, bangbangbangbang.
While I waited, An Amtrak train flew over the crossing behind me, and then a larger freight train. In front, on the set of tracks just past the coal train, an egine pulling just a handful of cars rolled by, blowing a long-long-short-long crossing blast. Finally the coal train started moving one last time and kept going. One of the two pusher engines was in old Southern Pacific livery, with just a small rectangle of UP colors below the cab window with its number.
Finally, after about 40 minutes, I was on my way home. I've been so busy lately, always traveling, always doing things. The little break was just what I needed.
So I turned around to go home and maybe nap. On the way home, I drove down Bain Station Road and found myself stopped before one of the railroad crossings there. A coal train was stopped across the road, sometimes moving a bit in one direction or another, but not making much progress on the whole. I turned the car off, got out, then climbed on top to watch and listen to the train. The huge vivid blue sky was slashed with clouds as I looked around, horizon to horizon, while the train sat still. The times it would start to move, I flicked my gaze along, car to car, as the building momentum took up the slack in one coupler after another. Bang. Bang. bang, bang, bang, bangbangbangbang.
While I waited, An Amtrak train flew over the crossing behind me, and then a larger freight train. In front, on the set of tracks just past the coal train, an egine pulling just a handful of cars rolled by, blowing a long-long-short-long crossing blast. Finally the coal train started moving one last time and kept going. One of the two pusher engines was in old Southern Pacific livery, with just a small rectangle of UP colors below the cab window with its number.
Finally, after about 40 minutes, I was on my way home. I've been so busy lately, always traveling, always doing things. The little break was just what I needed.
