Planes, Trains and Automobiles: One reporter’s journey to Milwaukee and back

Chicago Union Station. Steve Sweeney

For a recent business trip to Milwaukee I had to fly to make connections, meet the bosses and get a good night’s sleep before the scheduled all-day meetings. On the way home, however, I consciously chose Amtrak as a return route. It’s the first time in years that America’s passenger railroad and its once-daily eastbound Lakeshore Limited fit into my scheduled return trip to Erie, Pa.

Erie, Pa., 5:30 p.m. February 27:
At the airport. My wife left me here around 2:30 p.m. because I refused to tag-along on an extended bargain-grabbing tour at Target. We exchanged affections and I promised her, that, “No, I don’t need anything,” and, “Yes, I will be happy with my Kindle reader.” By 5 p.m., I was through security screening and waiting to board a Detroit-bound regional jet. “Attention passengers on (airline withheld) Connections 5:45 flight to Detroit. There is a ground-delay in Detroit and we will be boarding in half an hour.” Whatever, more time with the Kindle (A Game of Thrones 3% complete).

6:20 p.m., runway at Erie airport:
We’re loaded, de-iced and ready to rock and roll.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” called a warm friendly flight attendant. “We missed our take-off window for Detroit and we’ll be waiting for the next opportunity. In the meantime, we will be offering a service and the captain has agreed to comp all drinks.” Open bar! I took a ginger ale and peanuts. The back of the plane took enough alcohol to change grumbling whispers into overloud talk about vacations and Las Vegas.

7:30 p.m. Detroit Airport, Gate C-39:
We took-off from Erie about 6:45 and made a quick trip over Lake Erie to the Motor City where we found snow squalls galore upon landing. Thank heavens I carried only my overnight bag and a camera for I had 20 minutes to find the connecting flight to Milwaukee, which was mysteriously “On-Time.”

A quick glance at an arrival board told me that the plane would depart from Gate B21 – a half-running, panting, sweating and red-faced journey to the other side of the terminal.

8:00 p.m. runway at Detroit Airport:
Phew! Made it. With a seat next to an emergency escape exit. A curt flight attendant approaches.

“Sir, I need verbal confirmation that you are willing to accept responsibility for assisting us in an emergency if you sit in this aisle.” YES! I have legroom! So, in another regional jet scooting around the Detroit airport, we park underneath giant frost-covered cherry-picker trucks with fire hoses. De-icing commences. Five minutes go by, and nothing. Ten minutes more, and still nothing. Finally, we are de-iced.  More nothing. Movement, then nothing. “This is just a reminder that the fasten seat belt sign is still on and we ask that you keep all portable electronic devices turned completely off.” No more Kindle.

8:30  p.m. Detroit runway:
“This is just a reminder that the fasten seat belt sign is still on and we ask that you keep all portable electronic devices turned completely off.” I think I heard this tune already.

9:00 p.m. Detroit runway:
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain ‘Smith.’ There is a significant backup here for take-offs and landings. We are de-iced and finally in line for take-off. We’ll get you to Milwaukee as soon as possible.” Ugh. Still can’t read the darned Kindle. No wonder airport bookstores can sell so many paperbacks.

9:25 p.m. Detroit runway:
Snow is falling more quickly now. I think we’re just not going to make it tonight. And then ... the plane moves almost imperceptibly, then quickly. We swing around and stop.  Sounds of full jet engine thrust fill the cabin and within 10 seconds we are airborne. Somewhere over Lake Michigan the time changed, so this should be 8:25 Central time.

9:30 p.m. CENTRAL Time, Milwaukee Airport:
I was supposed to arrive at 8 p.m. (Central) and go out to dinner. Now, even potato chips sound OK.

But there’s the rental car to get. Would you believe there is a line of four people at the same car service I chose and no line anywhere else?  A boisterous, maybe overly friendly counter attendant took time to explain to every customer every option imaginable:  “Extra insurance? Auto-fill up? You know, I see that you are a frequent guest with us, would you like me to see if I can find you an SUV? Yes? Great, let me go out back and double-check for you!” Miraculously, a self-check-in screen appeared in the corner of my eye. Woo-Hoo! Credit card ... um, hmmm. Yes. One day. No insurance. No extra stuff.  PROCESSING.

Now, where is this hotel?

February 28, Milwaukee:
Breakfast, lunch, a day full with meetings, serious work and good natured ribbing. Mission accomplished. I returned the rental car and proceeded to the Amtrak shuttle near the Milwaukee airport.

5:22 p.m. Milwaukee Airport Amtrak depot:
The shuttle dropped me off at the intriguing almost mission-style depot with minutes to spare for a 5:45 p.m. departure on Amtrak’s Hiawatha to Chicago. A young professional gives me side-long stares. In five minutes, I quick-changed from a sport coat and slacks to jeans and a cotton twill shirt. I’m snapping pictures with my Nikon D40X, and looking every bit the railfan that I am.

5:40 p.m. Milwaukee Airport Amtrak depot:
There are about 30 of us out here on the platform and in the cold waiting for the train – all except the young professional who has a nose buried in her electronic device inside the warm depot. One-by-one, we wander back to the warmth and wait for a train horn sounding our rides’ arrival. I wander back too, seeing that it’s now too dark to get good free-hand shots. The train was delayed 30 minutes, but came after then, as expected. I saw the smartly dressed professional still sitting, moving only occasionally to find paperwork or a pen. “You’re the only smart one of us here,” I told her.  Her self-satisfied grin told me I had done my good deed for the day.

6:15 p.m. On the Hiawatha:
Most everyone on this train is headed to Chicago. The beverage-and-snack cart goes by twice while I recline, yes recline, in my coach seat and read a recent TRAINS magazine. (I lost the Kindle at the hotel.) Most everyone else is contentedly thumbing a reading device, smartphone or clicking away at a laptop.

There’s some talking, some snacking but mostly quiet. A disk jockey gave his business card to a couple of Milwaukee college girls, offering them free passes to anywhere he’s playing the next time they are in his part of Chicago. Networking, the old-fashioned way.

7:01 p.m. On the Hiawatha near Chicago:
Signal towers here resemble horse-track starting gates in the nighttime glow of sparse yard lights. As Hiawatha slows, most of downtown Chicago comes into view: old neighborhoods, old storefronts, the Sears Tower and the Chicago River.
Cool.

7:45 p.m. Chicago Union Station:
I wandered the belly of Union Station, forgetting exactly where I was. Rush hour has long been over so half of the restaurants and fast-food counters down below were closing. I grabbed a quick chicken salad sandwich and bowl of soup, then searched for the gate where the Lakeshore Limited is schedule to leave at 9:30, returning me to Erie.

8:30 p.m. Great Hall at Union Station:
With my gate found, I wandered more, exploring the nooks and crannies looking for good places to take more photos. Of course, the station was quickly emptying for the evening and nothing shouted “train station” where I could also get people in my shots. The best photo ops would have made the great train depot resemble an escalator in a Macy’s department store, little more. So I wandered upstairs, turned and found the back entrance to a mostly empty restaurant and bar and turned again. “Oh. There it is.”

I’ve been to London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral and Vienna’s St. Stephen’s. Union Station’s Great Hall seems bigger. And to the left staircase, or the one on the right, was where filmmakers shot the final scenes for the Kevin Costner movie, The Untouchables. And there, the perfect shot for my trip home: A man sleeping on a bench in the Great Hall, but lined-up just so with the staircase. Sorry Detroit, this was a much better stop-over point.

9:30 p.m. On board the Lakeshore Limited:
This train is scheduled to leave at 9:30 p.m. With seconds to spare before 9:31, we are moving. No de-icing required. In 15 minutes, a young train crewman walks through my car offering disposable pillows to anyone who wants one. In one hour I’ve read half of the Trains magazine I took with me and decided to take a few more notes. Time for a Heineken in the cafe car.

Somewhere between Cleveland and Erie. 6:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) March 1.:
My watch alarm woke me up. Darn. At least the cafe car is open with hot coffee. Daylight is breaking over the fields in these lakeside towns: Ashtabula, Ohio, Conneaut, State Line. Soon enough there are grape vineyards and familiar fields where local farmers grow strawberries in June. “The dining car is open, behind all the coaches and just ahead of sleepers. The dining car is open and ready for business.”

Too late for me today. It’s time for my personal countdown: Girard, Pa.; Fairview; Erie Airport; city limits; and finally downtown Erie.

7:28 a.m. Erie Union Station:
Erie’s station with its shared New York Central, Pennsylvania and Nickel Plate railroads heritage is not half as nice or big, or busy as Chicago’s depot, but is quaint in its own way. A minute on the platform, two minutes to walk through the station corridor and I’m out. Loading my duffle into a relative’s car. Now, time to dodge potholes all the way home.