taz_39 | Moline, IL 2014 - Crazy Train Run (Reply)

Monday was probably one of the strangest "train run" days ever.
We couldn't move until Monday night, so the water was hooked up all day. What a treat!

The vestibule doors were down too, indicating that it was OK to get on and off the train.
I walked around a bit before it got too hot, taking blurry pictures of flowers.

Then it got hot and I started sneezing. I went back inside to eat and lie down. This is how I usually get sick...it starts with allergies and turns into a head cold or sinus infection. At least it usually happens during a break so I'm not sharing the germs at work :D So Monday was basically a day of nothing. No moving, no doing. I rested and ate and watched tv.

The train began moving Monday night and into Tuesday. When I checked Google Maps around noon I saw that we were just then leaving Alliance, TX, meaning we were about three hours behind. That's pretty good. As soon as we leave TX the internet will become much less reliable, so I enjoyed it while it lasted. Checking facebook, I saw that some of our crew were having an interesting experience while traveling overland. Looks like their trucker not only tried to make a turn under a bridge, he also locked his keys in the cab. Ouch.

(photo courtesy Melissa)

It's great that no one was hurt and 3 of 4 people can smile about it..haha.
I didn't do much on Tuesday either. Cooked and cleaned, and enjoyed the internet while it lasted.
Kept in touch with Jameson, who was running errands and playing Ingress in Chicago.
I watched some movies, including a documentary called Last Train Home about the annual migration of China's laborers to their homes in the countryside. It's the largest human migration in the world and it looks like a terrible experience. Remind me to never go to China during the holidays!

We passed through Oklahoma City at night. We'll be back for you OK City!!

Wednesday I treated myself to Uncle John's pancakes.

There were four plate-sized pancakes in there! I made it to 1 1/2 before having to call it quits and put the others in a container. Uncle John does it right. This morning we found ourselves in Kansas City; that means we're running very, very late. Hopefully we can make up some time tonight, otherwise it might be a load-n-go.

After breakfast I opened my curtains for the first time in about two months.
Finally we're out of the blinding sun and heat for a bit :)

Then I watched the rest of "Circus" the documentary, and went outside to catch some scenery.

Jameson sent me a picture of his new tattoo of Freddy Mercury's mike stand and some lyrics to go along. Awesome!!

(photo courtesy Jameson)

We arrived in Moline on Thursday morning around 9am. Very late, but it turns out many bizarre things happened on this run to cause the delay:
- There was an incident before we had even left Austin, in which police needed to be called,
- Partway through the run our trainmaster's dog went missing, and as it was last seen running around in Missouri we believe that's where it is now,
- And to top it all off, at some point there was a switching error in one of the yards en route and we ended up FACING ANOTHER TRAIN ON THE SAME TRACK.

As soon as the 'crazy train' was spotted I jumped off. Jeez.

I was able to walk around a bit and take some pictures. Stumbled upon (and almost stepped on!) this cicada emerging from its nymph shell! How cool!!!

Then it began to rain. And rain...and rain...

I was fortunate to get back inside in time to avoid the worst of it. Jameson drove in from the airport, and together we got his stuff inside and returned the rental car.
I was very happy to see him again!!!

We opened with one show on Friday, and it went well. Saturday was three shows as usual but because of the light schedule and because we opened on the weekend, the day seemed to just fly by! Sunday was a two show day. After the last show many of the band folks went to BierStube to celebrate Tim's two year anniversary with the circus. Tim generously bought us a round :)

Since Monday was a holiday, we had one afternoon show. Afterward Jameson and I grabbed a quick bite downtown and played Ingress together. We were able to score more points than expected, mainly because there was another larger, stronger group of players operating in our area at the same time. We met them briefly and talked about the game for a bit, then went our separate ways as their son had to get to bed and we had to get to the train.

Next we head to Lexington, KY. Our train will be parked right next to the arena, and walking distance to downtown. Hooray!

Other stuff:

Clowns meeting with PR personnel in the train yard minutes after arriving in Moline.