Yesterday left Chicago 1 day early from Union Station as the heat wave expected to reach high 90s. Arrival to Emeryville is already late by 1.5 hours, typical of American railroad but I don’t care cause I’m enjoying the ride so far. 

My 1st class sleeper has ample space, the crew are friendly, delicious & varied meals and I’m reminded of exotic lands when I hear the train horn. I’m lulled to sleep with the back & forth motion.

Illinois and Iowa grow acres of corn, known as the Corn belt of US. AI says Corn popular because of the years of prairie land resulting in fertile soil, flat terrain making it easy to plow by horses later tractors, plenty of rain, easy access to the Mississippi & Illinois rivers and not only sold as grain but also feed pigs & cattle. Houses or farms, even campers are miles away from each other. I’m happy to see solar panels dotted throughout the area. 

Deteriorated old brick grain warehouses, depots, and factories along the tracks are reminders of a bygone era when grains were transported by railroad.

In Illinois passed many towns that were part of the Underground Railroad which not an actual railroad but used railroad language as code. Blacks like Harriet Tubman helped enslaved African Americans escape from slave states in the South to free states in the North. Illinois was a free state but they were not friendly to Blacks. Today, many homes, churches, and barns in the Midwest are remembered as part of this path to freedom.

Comfortably slept through Nebraska—miles of prairie, endless silos with wheat, and cattle packed into feedlots as far as the eye could see. Ride the train through America’s heartland long enough, and vegetarianism starts to sound like a solid plan.

Today, looking forward to the Zephyr’s most breathtaking stretch, winding through the Colorado River then Utah, Nevada, California.