Departing Chicago

My wife and I are leaving Chicago on the Southwest Chief.
We had orginally planned to travel west on the California Zephyr, but due to flooding in Iowa, we had to change plans. The Zephyr was only going to Denver and there were no trains to Denver from Chicago.

We were on the first Chief west since the Mississippi floods had closed the tracks in June.
As the train left on time, we settled into our roomette and started out on our journey.
Our itinerary was Chicago to Los Angeles via the Chief, LA to Seattle via the Coastal Starlight and then back to Chicago by the Empire Builder.
First photo is the Chicago skyline as you leave Chicago. Photo 2 is of a suburb just outside Chicago. The view from the Superliner cars is fantastic.

After a good dinner, a good night's sleep, we woke up in Kansas with a brief stop in Hutchinson. Originally, we were supposed to stop here very early in the morning, but due to the very high water in Iowa, the back up of freight on the BNSF, we were way behind schedule. If we had known we were going to be having breakfast going through Hutchinson, we would have called some good friends that live here! Hey come on down to the station for a quick hello!
Our next stop was Dodge City, Kansas. I think everyone (at least my age) know what famous sheriff wondered these streets (at least on t.v.).
Above is a view of the Chief at the station and below is the station.

Here is a photo of our car attendant, Fred, who was very good at his job. A good car attendant makes the trip a whole lot smoother. If you travel by train a long way, get at least a roomette.

The horn sounds-"all aboard!" and goodbye to Dodge City. As we leave, I take a quick photo of a Santa Fe caboose sitting by the station. I quickly learned that taking photographs through a window of a moving train is quite a feat. Especially when the train is moving across flat land at speed!