It was a beautiful Monday morning in good ol' Fond du Lac W.I. beautiful because it was our departure day! After a pretty crazy last night in town, My (Joey) dad made record time to Union Station in Chicago in only 2 hours and 23 minutes! Once at Union Station we met up with the Funny Dog, Matt, who was in Chicago at a friends graduation party prior to the train station.
After my dad left us at the station we played some footbag in the Great Hall of Union Station (which has outrageous echo abilities). Then proceeded to grab a beer before our departure at 3 pm.
The train ride was definitely something else... Something none of us had ever done before! It was a total ride of around 48 hours, so you can imagine sleep and its uncomfortableness riding in coach... Mostly we hung out in the observation deck, which is the room with all the big windows and picnic table style seats! Although a lot of different things did happen whilst this entire train experience..
Our first "stop" (45 min. break) was in Kansas City Missouri. Matt and I got off the train and did some exploring down a train station alleyway. We took a few pictures of this pretty cool building lit by the streetlights (it was dark at this time, around 9:30?). Kansas City wasn't all that interesting for the 45 minutes we were there, besides the all around feel in the air of ADVENTURE!
While on the train there were a few interesting characters.. As I suppose there always will be on a train ride. The Mennonites (could have been Amish) had the cutest baby in the world! The man who can eat hot dogs and walk faster than us, only to eat more food at a pizza place before we even arrived at the pizza place... Good guy, he hooked us up with a free 2 liter of Pepsi and some orange Crush! The British travel companions raged so hard they almost got kicked out of their sleeper cars into the observation deck... The guy sitting behind us on the train with an Autistic daughter had a really good conversation with me about how life can just hit you all of a sudden. So fast and without any knowledge that it forces change into your life (I hope if your reading this that your daughter likes her bike!!!). The train was just full of characters, and to mention all of them would take a list the size of the Bible. Alright, maybe not, but those stuck out on the ride from Chicago to L.A.
Once in L.A. we had to board another train to Oceanside, the Surfliner! While hanging out in the train station, confused as to where we actually had to be, we met a man from Chicago. Not just any man, a Daley! Matt and Mr. Daley spoke of how the Bears are awesome and how the Cubs suck. We all chatted about how the Daleys were crooks, and how much Chicago people don't like L.A. people. A fast talking Daley, who after our conversation was finished, would appear again out of the blue for one last remark.
Waiting in line, after finding our line, we started chatting with two girls who seemed the same age as us. One of them is a Sicilian rebel who just graduated high school. The other is a Cali native, moved to Lebanon at the age of 4. Once in Lebanon she had a British Tudor who taught her to speak like British people. Then she moved back to Cali at 15 or 16 where she got an English tutor and learned American English. So she has this ability to talk "normal" in her British accent, then THROW YOU OUTTA LOOP and speak like shes been living in California her whole life. Oh, and she speaks Lebanese and is moving to Portugal. Did I mention that she is also the captain of the U.S. Women's Roller Hockey team?
Soooooo, we shared the train ride with them chatting up a storm about how to make new friends and other random chatter until we finally arrived in OCEANSIDE CALIFORNIA! We put Alex's bike back together with some difficulty and then strode off to rampage the city! We ate a DELICIOUS lunch at an organic cafe called Hill Street Cafe where we met my mom and my cousin who drove all the way from Wisconsin with our gear! (their blog will be posted on here soon to come, before we leave on Sat. Morning). Then we went for a nice stroll in the PACIFIC OCEAN OHHH YES! After that we made our way to Matthew's mother's cousins house here in lovely Oceanside. Once here we spent the night, had a brew or two, got fed (even though we just ate they are trying to fatten us up), and got a GREAT night of sleep!
Now its Thursday morning and we are about to go hit up a farmers market for picnic foods and then a hike after that. OH YEA, and biking here in Oceanside is just.... is just.... uphill....downhill....uphill....circle a hill..... brakes..... stop..... uphill..... uphill.... lost.... lost.... uphill....found...... HOME! We will be posting pictures really soon! Sorry this post is so big, but hey, a lot has happened already! Talk to you soon again world, probably Friday night! As always, tell your friends, tell your family, and tell your foes! Post comments, send ideas, send kisses (we just love kisses), send chocolate or even better CHEESE! With love and signing off Joey Michels, Fearless Leader.. Oh yea, please help us reach our goal of $20,000 for the Arthritis Foundation by donating here! http://jointsinmotion2012.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1002344&lis=1&kntae1002344=EF300BE708944C1699D288CC2CBE6157&supId=355267381
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