Jake's on a Train, Day 3
Left Chicago for San Francisco; ate Italian beef and lots of almond butter. The sun is red here, which I'm sure is fine.
Hi, friends: I'm writing from Osceola, Iowa. It's 8:30 p.m., and I doubt I'll have internet tonight. We'll have 15 minutes in Omaha around 11, so I might try to hit send then. If not, you'll see this tomorrow when I get to Denver? [Editor’s note: Omaha!]
This morning in Chicago, I wandered around the river again—the architecture is striking—and wandered towards the Magnificent Mile for an 'Italian beef.' What a phenomenal idea for a sandwich. Also, very wet, and I didn't even order it on the wettest setting. "Wet" is the midpoint of wetness at Al's.
Anyways, 10/10, endorsed.
I also stopped by a Jewel-Osco (in my mom's proud, curious tradition of visiting supermarkets on vacation). I got some bread, then I walked back to the train station, sat at a lovely bench, and enjoyed a quick pre-train dessert. (Another side-eye at Moynihan Train Hall. It is indeed possible to have a nice train station and also places to sit.)
From Chicago, I got on the 5 California Zephyr, the longest leg of the whole planned trip: 2,438 miles from Chicago to Emeryville. It's also supposedly the most scenic train route in America, famous for its views through the Rockies. The first half is a little less exciting, mostly farmland and rolling midwest plains, but pleasant nonetheless.
I finished The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (not 'From The Dark,' as I wrote previously; apologies to Mr. le Carré). Really solid, really engaging. I think next is The Sparrow—thanks, Nick, for the recommendation!—and I started Invincible on Amazon Prime Video. Fun show.
I didn't bother with the dining car tonight because I've packed a decent amount of food: four packs of cinnamon brown sugar Pop-Tarts, a pack of dried mangos, the aforementioned bread, and a small tub of almond butter. (I don't even like almond butter, I just didn't want my dinner choice to put anyone into anaphylactic shock.) For dinner, I had two almond butter sandwiches, a few strips of dried mango, and a pack of Pop-Tarts. I'll get something more sustaining tomorrow. Nutrition.
As I was finishing this dispatch, a kid a few rows back started pestering his mother about the sunset. “Why's the sun red? Mom, why's the sun red? Why’s it look so big and red?”
It's because of the wildfire smoke, pal. Sorry to be a downer. It’s not for a cool reason. Anyways, the sunset was nice, and hard to do justice to on my phone.
More tomorrow,
–JBG
That didn’t work- I’ll text it to you😜
I hope you got some sleep last night. And eat something nourishing today. Okay, that’s the Nana part.🙄 There’s a song in the Broadway production of Rivers of Madison County (I know, very syrupy) that describes your exact route on the train. She ends up in Iowa- which is where I have come to think is where your Mom and Dad are headed, and know that’s wrong). Is this the first Le Carre book you have read? He was all the rage way back when, and always enjoyable. I am going to try to post a photo of our sunset last night- Saharan dust, I believe❤️
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