Ohio and Indiana

WATERLOO, Ind. – Good morning…

I set the alarm clock on my phone for 6 a.m., and rolled out of bed not too long after that. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet, but we were pulling into Toledo. Which meant I had to make sure the window curtain was totally shut, and it was.

We were supposed to get to Toledo at 4:56 a.m., so between that and a few stops we’ve had since it looks like we’ll probably be an hour and a half late at best. That should still be enough time for a good batch photo upload.

The good news was that I had a high-speed aircard signal, so I logged on and watched a few minutes of the Germany-Brazil Olympic women’s soccer opener. The game ended scoreless, so I I feel a little better about leaving for breakfast in the 88th minute.

Breakfast is open seating, so I wanted to get there as early as possible. There was still a 20-minute wait for a table, so I walked all the way to the back of the train and took the picture you see above out the back window. We were just west of Swanton, Ohio at the time.

I then returned to the lounge car to wait to get into the dining car, and was called with three other people at around 7:15. All three were senior citizens; one woman who lives just east of Capitol Hill and a couple from Atlantic County, N.J. So there was plenty for us to talk about.

The breakfast choices were an omelette (plain, cheddar cheese or spinach and feta), scrambled eggs with potatoes or grits, french toast, or a continental combination of cereal and fruit. I went for the french toast and it was quite good.

I’ve just now tuned into the U.S.-Norway women’s soccer game and I see Norway is winning 2-0 in the 36th minute. I don’t know how the goals were scored but this is a pretty disastrous start for the United States. Without Abby Wambach it’s going to be hard to come back from a hole like that, even if there is a lot of time left.

I’ve lost the high-speed aircard signal, though, so I’m going to go back to packing and editing some photos on the computer. I’ve also got some reading to do.

I’ll probably check back in near South Bend. Apparently there’s a good view of the Notre Dame campus, and it’s also the point when the clocks get set back an hour.

Then the countdown begins to Chicago, and to my first ever trip to Wrigley Field. Plenty more on that to come.