The Intelligence Estimate

I don't know how rail service works in other countries, but I know how it works here: poorly.

I got precious little sleep on Thursday night. I got very little sleep all last week when I was in Iowa, but it really started to accumulate into quite a nice little deprivation by Thursday. Compounding that problem was the fact that I had to be up at 6 a.m. to be to the train station by 7:55 a.m. so I could be home by 3:05 p.m.

Well, I got to the train station at around 7:30 which gave me plenty of time to check my bags and relax before the train came. PLENTY of time...because the train was delayed by 5 and a half hours. Not 20 minutes, not an hour, 5 AND A HALF HOURS!

So I had to come up with something to do in Osceola, Iowa (population 4659) for 5 and a half hours. Jen stayed with me the whole time so we could be miserable together before I left for Chicago. (That's what marriage is ll about!) We went out for breakfast. I shopped in the local hardware/clothing/toy store combo for longer than is absolutely necessary. (I got 100 blank CD-Rs for $20!) We went to a small roadside park outside of town and looked at Canada Geese for longer than is absolutely healthy. We went to the local school and watched kids at recess for longer than is probably legal. We got the car washed. We called Amtrak to make sure the train was still running late. (It was.) We drove out to the casino outside of town. We had lunch and then waited at the station for about an hour and a half.

It's a lot of work to be distracted in Osceola.

By the time I got home it was 10 p.m. and I had seen the ass-end of every podunk town between Chicago and Osceola. They tout rail travel as being so scenic, but once you've seen one sewage lagoon you've really seen them all.