I was half kicking myself for not documenting (at least picture-wise) the last section of the first leg. Now that this stretch was going to be the first section of the sixth leg… I didn’t feel so bad. Yay, for second chances, eh? After I first got to Chicago… with a few exceptions, I made an effort not to revisit or repeat where I had already gone… ensuring that each and every encounter was a […]
May 17, 2017 My train the California Zephyr was scheduled to leave Union Station at 2 PM. This provided me one last opportunity to do and early morning walk around the neighborhood where Carolyne lives and one last coffee sojourn at the lakefront nearby. As I sat by the lake watching folk walking their dogs and taking their own early morning walks I couldn’t help but think on one of the few poems I […]
May 16, 2017 No, there was no violence involved… as the movie quote in the title would suggest. But like the Buddha in the picture this day was about experiencing the city at street level. But first it was a morning stroll in the neighborhood with coffee in hand and a solo salon at the lake nearby to start the day. As some of you might know my mornings at home usually begins with a […]
May 15, 2017 “I am assuming you have NOT been run over by a bus” came the FB message from my long time friend, Carolyne. The train was late. It was supposed to arrive at 9:30 ish AM but we rolled in about 10:45. Apparently there was an incident on the train and at Bryan. OH the train stopped for quite a bit and the cops pulled someone off the train. It was about noon… […]
Sunday, May, 14 Sunday, at breakfast at Prem’s… Karim got detailed instructions on how to get to the train station… at least 3 times. This got to be a bit of a running joke and I threatened a pop quiz much to his (feigned?) chagrin. After more chatting it was finally time to say goodbye. The instruction on the directions did stick and Karim got me to the station. This ride from Boston to Chicago […]
Sunday, May 14 Just a slight break in protocol… at least in terms of posting format. Until this point most of this blog has been of the travelogue variety. Pictures with snippets of commentary. Nothing wrong with that… which was the original intent of this blog in the first place. However, I want to talk a little about my two friends. If I would hazard a guess, I’ve known each Karim and Prem for equally […]
First… the posting dates don’t make sense simply because… well… first world issues like lack of or crappy wifi. So, the events in this current post actually occurred Saturday, May 13… and the post before the day after… and the one before that the day after the day after. Good. We are all squared away now. The next morning, on the way back to Boston we wandered around Amherst for a bit. Karim was in […]
After a grand breakfast that Elizabeth had fixed us… and gladly stuffing our faces… we set of for Amherst. We made our way on to Mass Ave and just past the Berklee School of Music… on to the 90 headed to our destination. Pretty New England scenery on both sides… steeples, ponds and woods zipped by until we got off the highway. We drove through smaller picturesque towns one after the other with farms in-between […]
A few years ago Elizabeth ‘friended’ me on Facebook. She had sent me a message that effectively said that she is married to one Premnath Nagarajah… and… and… You see Prem not only grew up in my old neighborhood but also spent a lot of time in my house. We had lost touch all that time ago… but through his wife we were once again reconnecting. Skip forward a few years and my train arrives […]
Due to the spotty signal on this train ( I can barely read or write emails with this signal) … there will be a flurry of about 4 posts in a day or two. I sincerely apologize to the three of you diligently following this blog