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#1 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

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Posted 12 July 2007 - 01:07 PM

I have had a few questions in recent days asking about Chicago. Rather than answer them separately, and in light of last night's news from Piotr, here is my answer.

1. Chicago is a large city in northern Illinois on Lake Michigan.
2. Piotr has informed me that Amtrak has secretly added 15 minutes to the schedule of #29 (and has toyed with some other trains that serve Chicago as well, but NOT #49). Of course we could always arrive "early", or at the time we originally thought we would arrive, if things go unexpectedly well across Indiana.
3. In the unlikely event that we do arrive on or close to schedule, my intention was and still is to ride the CTA. The only segments our group has not done together yet since 2003 are the Blue Line to Forest Park and the Pink Line to Cermak/54. However, having lunch takes priority here since we are not served lunch on #5 out of Chicago. So if time is short, we will arrange to have an early lunch and then use the remaining time to ride one or both of those CTA routes, if such time exists. We probably want to be back in the Metro Lounge by 1 PM, to allow an hour to relax there and eventually be boarded on #5.
4. I did not put CTA trips into our official itinerary because we were jinxed on our 2003 and 2005 visits and did not have time to do everything.
5. No matter what activities we have time for in Chicago, we need to first check in at the Metro Lounge and leave our luggage.
6. Should we arrive late into Chicago, then one or both CTA trips will be cancelled first, as we still need to get lunch. If time does not allow for us to go across to the food court at Ogilvie Transportation Center, we could always get something to go at Union Station's inferior but closer food court.

Any other questions, I will be happy to answer them, but that should cover everything regarding Chicago on Saturday, July 14th. We have another visit on Monday, July 23rd but I suspect that one will be shorter than the one on the 14th, so we will play it by ear.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

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Posted 26 July 2007 - 06:23 PM

As things turned out, we had enough time in Chicago on our westbound trip to walk over to Ogilvie Transportation Center/CitiGroup Center, have lunch, and walk back. We did not have enough time available to ride CTA. On our way back, we literally had a few minutes between our arrival on Train #6 and boarding for Train #30.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ





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