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| Amtrak's Illini Arrives Champaign, IL, April 27 |
Galesburg Road Trip - First Impressions of Champaign, IL - Arrived mid afternoon today Monday in Champaign, IL, for my first night in the Hyatt Place Hotel overlooking the city and the multi-modal Amtrak station. So, yes, I am impressed and excited for the adventures this week promises.
I left from home in Franklin Sunday afternoon and drove to Paducah, KY, for late afternoon lunch at Fazoli's. Of course, I had spaghetti with meat sauce and a salad. I stayed overnight in Metropolis, IL, and continued my drive into Champaign today. The trip was almost 400 miles from Nashville. Both I-24 and I-57 were very pleasant drives with relatively light traffic and only minor construction projects--mostly bridge repair work.
When I checked into the Hyatt Place, the receptionist assigned me to a room on the eighth floor with a great view of the rail road activity. Since I will be back here Wednesday and Thursday nights, I am hoping for a similar room. The manager recommended a great deli with a bakery for my late afternoon early dinner and I was very pleased with my beef au jus sandwich with coffee and free chocolate chip cookie. After my lunch/dinner I walked to the multi modal Amtrak station. All the city buses and Greyhound also use this station. Continued to walk around and explore the city and then watched and photographed the southbound Amtrak Illini and northbound Amtrak Saluki trains during the six o'clock hour. These are the trains I will be riding to and from Chicago Thursday from here in Champaign.
Tomorrow, I drive about two hours northwest to Galesburg for the real rail fanning. I'll stay overnight in Galesburg and then return back to Champaign Wednesday. I'll post another update blog Wednesday evening.
Here are a sampling of the photos I took yesterday and today. Enjoy.
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| A road trip requires a car so here is my transportation this week. |
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| Train bridge over Ohio River near sunset Sunday night |
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| Train bridge over Ohio River Monday morning |
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| Welcome to Illinois |
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| My very first train sighting in Champaign, IL, Monday |
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| Champaign, IL, Multi Modal Amtrak, Greyhound, and City bus station |
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| A pleasant spot to watch trains "across the tracks" in Champaign |
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| Very walkable city center in Champaign- that's my hotel in the distance in the center |
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| Statue honoring "paper boys" in front of the local newspaper building |
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| Hyatt Place Hotel, Champaign, IL |
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| View of a CN freight train from my room at the Hyatt Place |
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| Amtrak's Illini train arriving from Chicago |
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| Amtrak's Saluki departing to Chicago |
You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the top to view this blog on the web.
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