THE LANDING WAS JARRING
So Joe and I, being the devoted Cubs fans that we are, decided to make a full vacation of it, four days in Champaign and four days in Chicago.
On Thursday morning, we were off. Here's how we got to Katie's house in Illinois: Nicole picked us up for 7:30ish and drove us to the airport; direct flight to Chicago; L train from airport to Amtrak; Amtrak to Champaign; Katie's soon to be husband, James, and her brother picked us up and brought us to the house.
Along the way, our L stopped for 15 minutes before we reached the loop of downtown because a hobo was on the train tracks. What took so long to get him off I guess we'll never know.
Here's a shot of our hobo from the back as he was escorted away from the danger area by a train employee.
We would be remiss if we didn't eat lunch in Chicago, and there is a pizza establishment across the street from the Amtrak station.
The pie at Beggar's Pizza came out well after its 40 minutes of necessary preparation. We got pepperoni and green peppers.
Joe apparently got too much delicious cheese on his fingers because the locker we rented at Amtrak didn't recognize his fingerprint. We got a worker to open our locker for us with no questions asked. Should have told him we rented a different locker and taken their bags for funsies.
Joe, James and I ate dinner -- sliders -- with Katie's three brothers. I thought she had just the one brother when he picked us up, but there was another brother at her house and another showed up right after we got there. I hadn't asked how many brothers she had, but I was expecting another brother or two to pop up. No dice.
Katie's brothers are tall. Kevin is 6-9 and Tim and Patrick are 6-3 an 6-6. James is about 6-4 himself. So when Joe and I were walking with them downtown, it felt like we were hobbits brought along In case the four family members needed some thievery done.
Katie's bachelorette party was Thursday night, and the gals met us at a local bar after for some end-of-the-night fun. Katie was drunk upon arrival.
We left close to 1 a.m. We stopped at a breakfast joint, and I was fast asleep when we got home. Was a good, long day to start this vacation.
BEST QUOTES OF TRAVEL DAY
I used to run best quotes of the day back in the old blog, and I thought I'd keep track of some lines from Thursday. Here's a hearty sampling:
-- The plane was shimmying in the wind shortly before landing. A six-year-old boy in the seat behind us: "Mommy, can the plane stop doing that?"
-- While I was waiting for Joe to pee in the airport, a 12-year-old girl walks by with her parents. All I hear is the girl say this: "Hey, I drank a whole bottle of pop."
-- On the L train, I'm listening to a 20-something tell another about one of her previous jobs. "It was good, but being with your husband all day everyday can get a little bit ridic."
-- While waiting for the hobo to be removed, Joe and I observed/made small talk with a family -- mom, dad, two older teenage girls -- from Orlando. The youngest one, about 16, was little miss princess. She pointed at a building. "What if you lived up in that penthouse? That would be sweet."
-- Bob showed up at the bar around midnight, having taken a later flight than us. Before that, we are describing Bob's way of gesturing to the people of Champaign. Katie chimes in. "Bob is very gesticular."
-- We were telling bad jokes at the bar. Tim offered the best. "Why didn't the teddy bear eat anymore food? It was stuffed."
-- Not sure what this last quote means, but someone asked if he could post a pic he just took of Katie on Facebook. Someone, I forget who, responds: "Sure. Facebook's not on Twitter."
WAS I ON SPORTSCENTER?
On Wednesday night, I played a softball game during my work shift. The other team could really hit, bashing four homers.
One of their hitters took advantage of that by dumping a soft floater into shallow left center as our outfielders had to play way back.
I was onto him, though. His next time up, I was playing way back still. But as the pitch was delivered, I crept up from deep left field and angled toward shallow left center.
He hit the ball, and I could tell right away that the ball was headed for a similar spot as before. I don't have quite the wheels I once did, but I can still motor.
Plus, I got a great jump. I took about a dozen paces in an all out sprint as there was still plenty of ground to cover. I slid for the ball and extended my arm as far as it could go.
The ball hit my glove and stuck as I continued to slide another 5 feet on the slippery grass. It was maybe the best catch I've made in any sport since I was in my early 20s. I still sort of have it.
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