On Friday, I went out walking in downtown Chicago during rush hour. I criss-crossed the Chicago river several times, using several of those little bridges like the ones in the opening credits of The Bob Newhart Show.

I saw Union Station, which is used by Metra commuter rail as well as Amtrak. Hordes of people were streaming out if it and across the bridges. Trains were backing into it on a very frequent basis. I've never seen so many passenger trains in my life.

On the flight back to Atlanta, I sat behind a couple of guys who seemed to know the area well enough to identify various industries from the air. "Look, there's the old electric motor factory". They also identified "the largest open quarry in the world".

When the drink cart came around, they ordered shots of bourbon and vodka but had to settle for gin because that's all that was in stock.