Hello world!

We are posting from a smartphone , so excuse the brevity.  First, I must say that I have always adored train travel from a young age.  Hearing trains go by in the night always gave me a feeling of wanderlust (which is a great word, by the way). It only seemed natural that we would begin our long journey with a train trip. It has been barely for hours since our train, the Southwest Chief, rolled sedately out of Chicago this afternoon. Already, I feel like I’m in a different world. We have been gazing at western Illinois and Iowa, many green and undulating fields flashing by. We also just enjoyed a quiet dinner opposite a Suzuki piano teacher from Lawrence, Kansas, and sipped tea while talking about WWOOFing.

This last week in Chicago was something special and I am so touched by all the friends, coworkers, and well-wishers who treated us to drinks and dinner and said some goodbyes. Last night, we hung out at Skylark, took funny photo booth photographs, and went over our itinerary for the thirtieth time with everyone, and this morning, left Hyde Park with nothing but our backpacks. I’m sure I’ll have some more eloquent thoughts about leaving my job and this excellent city later on , but for now I’m just filled with wonder at this amazing train trip, and wondering in the back of my head if I left anything in my sublet ! 

It’s hard to upload photos through the phone, so take a look at our Twitter for photos aboard Amtrak.

Until tomorrow!

Connie