Today was a train ride back to Chicago. The trip took eight hours instead of a scheduled four hours so I stayed in downtown Chicago.

I was ready for 9am departure. The train had nice spots to park four bicycles in the cafe car. Mine was the only bike, though the train was almost full. Everything went to plan as we stopped in Battle Creek and approached Kalamazoo.

We were then stopped for almost three and a half hours. The story came out in pieces. The train ahead of us had an “intruder incident” that then required the “coroner” and an investigation. Meanwhile three Amtrak trains with ~600 people stopped (our two trains heading to Chicago and one coming the other direction). Somehow someone had gotten onto the tracks and then been struck by the train. Unfortunate 😕.

Amtrak did make snack packs available. We arrived into Chicago just before 4pm. With an hour of time change this was double the original duration and 4pm instead of noon. I decided to stop here and get out early tomorrow to start towards Wisconsin. I’ve ordered a “Wisconsin bike map – south” which I will pick up in Milwaukee. Getting to Madison has multiple choices. The South West part of the state is where the glaciers missed smoothing out hills so I want to see my choices.