Forum Meet-up in Kankakee

[peregrina2000]

One drove 80 miles north, one drove 80 miles south, and one had a short 30 mile drive. We spent four hours in Martinez Tacos, and I am sure the rest of the clientele was quite sick of us and our endless chatter and laugh.

Thanks to @annmte for the cookies!!! And to @jpflavin1 for his endless stream of stories, frequently involving deep snow drifts on different caminos. And for treating us to lunch. We are thinking we might move our next meet-up west a bit, in which case it would be reasonable for @Camino Chrissy to join us again. This part of the midwest seems to have a dearth of camino nut cases.

I am a very bad selfie taker, having not progressed in my skills since my very first selfie taken with @NualaOC when we met up in Hondarribia for our Camino Baztán years ago. But you get the idea.

 

[C clearly]

I am a very bad selfie taker

That looks like a perfect selfie to me! Nice cookies, as well.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

One drove 80 miles north, one drove 80 miles south, and one had a short 30 mile drive.

Totally irrelevant, but seeing the thread title gave me a flashback to when I was younger, (much), and used to sing in a folk group at my local pub. A favourite song for me was “The City of New Orleans”, (Arlo Guthrie), and I remember listening obsessively to the LP and writing down the lyrics. Couldn’t make sense of “the train pulled out of …” - what quay? I had to make up words that seemed to fit. Then along came the internet and I discovered that Kankakee, phonetically, was exactly what he was singing, a real place. So, maybe it’ll go down with iconic places like Wichita, (…where’s that?), - thanks Glen.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

I hope you took the train!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

So, maybe it’ll go down with iconic places like Wichita, (…where’s that?), - thanks Glen.

I hope you took the train!

Another iconic real place with a train, Jack Benny’s radio and TV jokes about a train leaving for Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga. The announcer was Mel Blanc. Cucamonga shows up in Looney Tunes too.

 

[peregrina2000]

I hope you took the train!

HA! There is a City of New Orleans train, which goes from Chicago to New Orleans, stopping in Kankakee and my town Champaign as well. It goes once a day, usually about 3 hours late coming up from the south.

Maybe when Arlo Guthrie was singing about it, it was a more reliable form of transportation, but now the freight rail lines push the passenger trains off the main track so they can pass, making for totally unreliable service.

But the camaraderie (and the cookies) made it worth the drive.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Maybe when Arlo Guthrie was singing about it, it was a more reliable form of transportation, but now the freight rail lines push the passenger trains off the main track so they can pass, making for totally unreliable service.

The law says passenger trains have priority but enforcement is negligible.