The 'new' sheriff is the same as the 'old' sheriff...

Visit the new whitehouse.gov

Alright we made it. Just think four years ago it seemed unfathomable that Donald Trump would return to the White House. It seemed like his brief political career was more than finished and it took the pandemic and the unrest (including the January 6, 2021 "insurrection") to take him down.

Oh yeah let's not forget the unforgettable 2020 presidential race that even he still discusses in some ways after his inauguration. He believes there was a lot of fraud and cheating in 2020, still.

Watch his inaugural address here.

There were concerns that outgoing Pres. Joe Biden might resign and make his Vice President Kamala Harris (and vanquished 2024 Democrat nominee) the 47th POTUS. That didn't happen and I can dismiss this as a right-wing conspiracy theory.

Trump made history as only the second man to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms as President. The only other person who achieved this feat was the 22nd & 24th President, Grover Cleveland.

This time around as opposed to 2017, President Trump is in a much better spot. He has a better Congress both with GOP majorities. I'm just not that sure about the US Senate, we'll have to see about the new Republican Majority Leader now that "Cocaine" Mitch McConnel has bowed out - that man has been suffering some serious health issues anyway. I'd say he has a much more supportive Republican majority than he did in 2017. I don't think he'll have much issue pushing his agenda through in this term.

He was a virtual novice in 2017 having held no elective office before being elected President - and I can only imagine winning the 2016 race rocked his world big time. I mean he has a big ego did that even enter his head? Either way his lack of any political or gov't experience caused me to not even vote for him in 2016.

He still did a great job before the pandemic hit. The economy was humming, America was at peace no serious issues in the world at that time. Just remember people thought he's start a third world war during his presidency.

Either way, what I can't wait for is the return of the Trump economy and after the inflation and mismanagement of the economy under Joe Biden it might be a minute before we see that. We'll have to see how the Ukraine war or even the current Israel-Palestine conflict will finally conclude.

However, the 47th POTUS will proclaim a strong America once again.

I'm sharing this for posterity

 From Instapundit

Far Left attacks Oregon Democratic Party HQ https://t.co/CCvTs5YMwB

— mark safranski (@zenpundit) January 21, 2021

Thugs are gonna thug. And if it was Trump the same thing, and as it turns out if it was Biden same thing anyway....

Well another four years to go...

Morehouse alum Herman Cain dies of coronavirus

This news really broke this morning, however, I had already published another post by the time it broke.

JUST IN: Herman Cain, a prominent Black Republican who sought the presidential nomination in 2012, has died from the coronavirus at age 74.

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) July 30, 2020

I learned later that Mr. Cain had been diagnosed with colon cancer back in 2006 and was reportedly in remission however he attended that Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma last month. At this rally it was also reported that the current Governor of OK Kevin Stitt had also tested positive for coronavirus.

I saw Mr. Cain - my Morehouse brother - speak on campus while at school it had to have been during the time he ran for the US Senate seat then held by Democrat Zell Miller in his native Georgia where he lost in the GOP primary to the man who got elected to that seat Johnny Isakson. A main part of his speech to us during a Crown Forum was success as I do remember him using that word many times. I do not recall if he said anything overtly political at the time. It was probably a non-political speech to the men of Morehouse at the time.

This virus is nasty and persistent and it brings home that we're not out of the woods of it yet. I had hoped we would be. As always take your precautions wash your hands, when necessary wear a mask, and maintain social distancing.

While this nation is undergoing unrest - especially Portland - we still got to contend with this very infectious pathogen that we're still trying to get control over.

Via Morehouse College fb

I share this photo because in 2012, Mr. Cain took the reigns of former nationally syndicated radio talk host Neal Boortz' program. This photo was posted to the Morehouse College facebook page at the time and unfortunately saw a number of negative comments directed towards Cain. Whoever administers the Morehouse fb page made such a magnanimous statement with regards to Cain's views:

Our graduates go out and make their marks in the world in business, athletics, finance, the liberal arts, media and politics. Our graduates' political stances or persuasions, whatever they may be, are their own personal decisions and/or beliefs. We are proud of the work that all Morehouse Men do in changing and influencing the world they live in. That is what makes a Morehouse Man a Morehouse Man.

Yes, Morehouse should be proud of his accomplishment regardless of his views.

Rest in power! 

Another Stephen Douglas monument to go

Douglas Monument by Really Boring/flickr

This time in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood according a proposal from three Democrat state representatives from Chicago. As recorded in history the late US Senate Stephen Douglas ran for President against the late Abraham Lincoln (the 16th POTUS) in 1860. The controversy became now in 2020 that Douglas had at one point owned slaves during his lifetime.

Three legislators want Douglas statue removed https://t.co/0bE44bSE2p

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) July 15, 2020

Last week the Speaker of the state house expressed interest in removing Sen. Douglas' portrait from the floor of the IL House of Representatives to be replaced by the 44th POTUS Barack Obama.

Here's more information on Sen. Douglas' monument actually it's his tomb, here's buried on 35th Street.

Jacksonville, Florida Greyhound bus ticket counter #olloclip

Jacksonville, FL Greyhound bus ticket counter

Greyhound travel has changed from back in the day back when I was taking the bus to Atlanta, Georgia for school. It was likely easier to just take a ticket and use it to board a bus anytime as long as I got a ticket, especially if it was good for a whole year. Just last month on the way to Jacksonville, Florida I ran into a snag.

Well in the ensuing decade since I graduated, Greyhound had evolved to utilizing e-tickets. Last month I had bought tickets for my mother and I from Jacksonville to Atlanta while on the train on the way down to Jacksonville. They would be e-tickets, however, I made one error I had bought tickets for the wrong day which wasn't the day we'd arrive in Jacksonville. By the time we would arrive in Jacksonville our tickets would already have expired...

I needed to change the date we were leaving by bus from Jacksonville. The ticket agent at first said because our ticket had expired there wasn't much she could do unless she talked to a manager. Thankfully the manager gave her the go ahead to change our tickets. My tickets would have to be re-printed with our new departure date and thus we could leave on a bus later that afternoon.

What this means is that once we arrived in Jacksonville, FL in the morning around 9 AM from the Amtrak Station we'd have a long layover before our bus would depart by 4 PM. I walked around the area near the Greyhound terminal and got some footage in the general area. Some of which I have since posted to YouTube.

We boarded our bus after 4 PM and then were on our way to our next destination to change buses in Savannah, Georgia and finally to our final destination and the end of our traveling in Atlanta, Georgia.

Three years ago this month I visited the Grand Canyon #olloclip

[VIDEO] In 2016 I went on my west coast jaunt. The purpose was actually a family reunion however we wanted to make stops not only in Las Vegas, Nevada, but also the Grand Canyon. I haven't visited either location since my first visits as a child. And conversely I was too young to gamble and yet have very little interest to put my money on the line in such a fashion.

Either way, I've decided to start using my YouTube channel more and this video of my trip the Grand Canyon is one documented video of my visit. Not the best cut I have, but it's certainly raw and shows the magnitude of this massive geological formation. I'm glad I was able to capture it in pictures and on video.

In commemoration of my trip to the west coast I posted webcam feeds on this blog under "Railcam" that shows the three stops along the way on Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The Chief was how I got back and forth between Los Angeles, California and Chicago (in the case of my visit to the Grand Canyon my folks got on the train in Flagstaff, AZ which is one of the webcam feeds you see). It was an amazing trip that I hope to find another excuse to make in the future. Perhaps even during a future "polar vortex" episode in the winter time!

BTW, time to experiment with photoshop and create something of a YouTube brand image to advertise my channel.

Also here is one photo I shot of the Grand Canyon using an olloclip fisheye lens

Today is the day #Classof2019

I can't believe it's been 10 years for me already. It was a bit of a good stretch of road to get my own Morehouse degree, but happened. Still can't believe it.

Meanwhile today, under what appears to be clear skies - and I wasn't so lucky 10 years ago - the Morehouse College class of 2019 are having their commencement.

View this post on Instagram

#Repost @vhaftel ・・・ Morehouse commencement 2019

A post shared by Everybody's Somebody (@auccam) on May 19, 2019 at 6:38am PDT

2006: Two state capitols!!! revisited

I'm just going to share the link to this 12 year old post here. Took an Amtrak train from Dallas, Texas during roughly this time back then and went through two state capital cities Little Rock, Arkansas & of course Springfield, Illinois.

Despite having an interest I've never actually been there. It's time to put some plans into motion as far as that. This is what I saw about that back then:

BTW, I would like to do a special field trip to Springfield, Illinois at some point. I don't know when but I would like to do something when I do for this blog. Hopefully do a little bit more than my vacation last summer in Washington, DC. It'll be fun and I'll be sure to work on it.

Make it happen Levois!

2006 - Springfield, Illinois

NY Times: 3 Black U.S. Senators Introduce Bill to Make Lynching a Federal Hate Crime

I was inches away from dismissing this as an empty gesture talking about there being more tangible issues to address as far as Black Americans. Now I can say, hmm it surprises me that the United States hadn't at any point in time been successfully been able to enact anti-lynching legislation.

I feel this will be a symbolic law unless the law addresses more modern issues. We believe in Black Lives Matter, perhaps use such a law to address any racially motivated police actions. Of course, keep the often feared mob from deciding to take justice in their own hands that often happened to many victims of lynching during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Of course my impression of lynching had often been unfortunately racially motivated. Which is entirely why I could see this law as symbolic. Of course I'd be open to learning why having anti-lynching legislation is still very important now in the 21st century.

BTW, I'd be interested in this National Memorial for Peace & Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. This is the only memorial dedicated primarily for the victims of lynching in this nation.

Via Mickey Mathews

LA Times: High cost of housing drives up homeless rates, UCLA study indicates

I'm sharing this with you not only because I had spent a small amount of time in LA's Skid Row in 2016. Contrary I want answers to the increasing homeless population in LA. This is a must read!

California's sky-high housing costs are a significant factor behind the state's homeless crisis, according to a new analysis from UCLA https://t.co/CaWXGy0H8X pic.twitter.com/CF4aBk9wRO

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 18, 2018

In a study contained in the latest UCLA Anderson Forecast, released Wednesday, UCLA found that higher median rent and home prices are strongly correlated with more people living on the streets or in shelters. The research backs other studies that have found a similar relationship.

Last year, Zillow released a study that showed that a 5% rent hike in L.A. County — where more than 50,000 are estimated to be homeless — would cause 2,000 additional people to lose their homes.

In April, according to Zillow, the median rent for a vacant apartment in the county was $2,462, up 1.9% from the previous year. In 2017, rents climbed an average of 4.3% and in 2016, 6.5%. The median home price in April was $608,800, up 9% from a year earlier.

I have heard housing costs are pretty high in some areas of California - not just Los Angeles - however is this a reason for the increase in the homeless population?

 BTW, this is from two years ago at Newsalert, Subsidized rent, but nowhere to go: Homeless vouchers go unused. What a shame!

LAs Skid Row

#Tucker and Katie Hopkins talks LA's Skid Row

[VIDEO] Saw this segment on Tucker Carlson Monday. A British journalist named Katie Hopkins spend a bit of time in LA's Skid Row. She notices one thing, that people just want to turn away and pretend this area doesn't exist.

To be honest, I know the feeling. I spend a small amount of time in Skid Row. On a vacation to the west coast my family decided that they wanted to do a jaunt from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. One problem with this, well we had no idea how we were getting to Vegas and the Grand Canyon though we figured it out on the fly.

From LA to Vegas we took a Los Limousines bus to Vegas from a depot in Skid Row. I didn't rest easy until we were out of that area. I didn't enjoy the aroma of urine and was definitely ill at ease with the tents that you see prevalent in the area. How does a major metropolis like "the City of Angels" allow this to happen? How do they allow so many people collect in a neighborhood to just treat city streets as if its their only home?

Anyway, Hopkins wonders the same thing and she's right. There is an emerging crisis going on and has been going on for years instead it's easier to take on the more popular causes of the day. The big news recently is Stormy Daniels and I'm not sure how this happened aside from the fact that she claimed to have had an affair with our current President. Then we talk about those "dreamers" which our current President also wants to address. And yet no one has the willingness to attack this problem and clean it up.

At the time I did my own research and apparently there have been lawsuits over this. It's easier to let this problem linger than to have to fight this through the court system. Yet remaining in an area so dirty and allowing broken people to remain broken in broad daylight and in full view can't be acceptable. It's possible the residents of skid row have families who are looking for them.

And don't think areas like this only exist in Los Angeles, they are everywhere. Want to know where these individuals are in Chicago, go to lower Wacker Drive (no thanks from me on that sorry to say). In Atlanta taking the Greyhound into their downtown I often found the homeless living along the highways into downtown with their own tents. It's very sad and obviously if there is an emerging health issue waiting to happen, then perhaps it's time to pay attention and get started fixing this.

Meanwhile the pics below are of my brief foray into Skid Row during the summer of 2016. Not pleasant and not forgettable.

Marathon Pundit: The 14 worst leaders from Illinois

John Ruberry talks about them on Da Tech Guy Blog. I feel as if I should comment on some of them, though it's Ruberry's list. He's made it, and he has his reasons to include certain people on this list.

Why is Hillary Clinton on this list? Well she's from the Chicago suburbs and then got married to a future young governor of Arkansas. The rest is history and she's had more than a few scandals which includes the scandals while she was US Secretary of State that ultimately doomed her presidency. Something that she still can't seem to get over...

Until the election of the current governor Bruce Rauner in 2014, George Ryan was the last Republican governor of Illinois serving from 1999-2003. He's known for commuting all death row sentences near the end of his term and as a result of scandals that took place when he was Illinois Secretary of State he chose not to run for a second term. He was also sent to prison for them. My assessment of Ryan was that he was the last most effective governor of Illinois, however, his legacy was marred by his acceptance of old school politics. Certainly he didn't recognize that by the time he became governor, the old school was falling out of favor. It didn't help that one recipient of license for bribes was involved in an accident that fatally affected a family on an Illinois highway.

Been years since I've seen that name Tony Rezko. Most of the people on this list were elected officials. Rezko is a fundraiser known for his ties to not only Rod Blagojevich - who is on this list himself - also his ties to the first Black POTUS Barack Obama. His ties to Blago ultimately sent him to prison for corruption and wire fraud.

Carol Moseley Braun that woman crashed and burned in public life. Back when she first became a US Senator in 1993 I wasn't as understanding of politics and I am now. I was often told that what helped usher Braun into her prestigious US Senate seat were affluent suburban women - read between the lines here. Ruberry mentions her boyfriend who had ties to an infamous Nigerian dictator and was alleged to have harassed female campaign workers. There were some other scandals he mentioned bottom line is that it seems she suffered for it. After running for President during the Bush years and a run for Mayor of Chicago where she imploded it doesn't look as if a comeback is likely.

Now we have Michael Madigan. I respect Madigan's political acumen often stated he has his mind on power and it's been said he doesn't really have an ideology. Ruberry views him as the man behind the fiscal fiasco of this state which certainly includes the issues of pensions in Illinois. Bottom line is that Madigan is a poster child for what has happened after enactment of the cutback amendment during the 1980s.

A post shared by Illinois Bicentennial (@illinois.200) on Jan 12, 2017 at 11:46am PST

Sloopin: What's Going on With the House Being Built at Dearborn and Polk?

Now if only I knew more about real estate. This structure represents a single family home to be built at Polk & Dearborn with ground floor retail space. Well now we have one way to generate some revenue in a big ole home that's bound to be expensive.

Find an old building on a main thorofare and attach a home to it. It almost reminds me of this set up I found at Curbed Chicago, an old grocery store with apartments for a family attached. The ingenuity of people and their real estate!

Marathon Pundit: The abandoned stores of Gary, Indiana

John Ruberry describes the former "city of the century" in the first paragraph of his recent post:

Gary is Indiana's reply to Detroit. After its population peaked at 175,000 in 1960, now only about 75,000 people live in what was once the Hoosier State's second largest city.

Palace Theater, Gary, IN

 In November 2017, when Ruberry returned from Motown - for those of you who don't know Detroit, Michigan - he made a stop in Gary. This post takes a look at the old commercial buildings along Broadway in Gary.  One of his pics shows the Palace Theater which are one of the buildings on Broadway that Ruberry documents:

Probably every town in America in the 1920s with 50,000 or more residents had a movie palace that doubled as a vaudeville theater. Gary's showplace was the Palace Theater, which opened in 1925. It closed in 1972. To be fair, many, perhaps most of these theaters went dark after television sets became the focal point of most living rooms, so Gary shouldn't be clobbered over the demise of the Palace.

But hang in there, I'll start slapping Gary around soon.

Donald Trump, when he was a real estate mogul, also owned the Miss USA pageant, which amazingly was held in Gary at the Genesis Convention Center in 2001 and 2002. For the latter beauty display, the future president fixed up the front of the Palace and placed "Jackson Five Tonite" on the marquee. The Jacksons of course were from Gary but moved away shortly after signing with Motown in the late 1960s. After Michael Jackson's death in 2009, according to Wikipedia, new placards declaring "Jackson Five Forever" were placed on the marquee. As you can see none of those signs remain.

I didn't know about our current President's forays into Gary in the early 2000s. He even tried to dress up Gary for one of his pageants.

As I've said Gary could be a very wonderful opportunity for someone with deep pockets and a good plan. If I was such a person my first concern would be issues with bad gov't. For example, would I get heavily taxed for my real estate  or would someone come out the woodworks and say I must hire from within Gary. I'm sure there are other roadblocks so to speak that could be contrived by a politician or an uscrupulous activist. Bottom line is Gary is a blank slate waiting for investment.

The future investment of Gary, Indiana could begin not only with the revitalization of Broadway it could certainly begin with capitalizing on it's connect with the Michael Jackson and the Jackson family. Of course in light of the "King of Pop" untimely demise this was the plan though it's hard to say what has come of those plans since then.

A few days ago I posted a documentary about Gary from 2013, if you're curious about what happened with Gary give it a watch. Certainly go read Ruberry's post about Gary's Broadway.

Set up a railcam page on this blog

Flagstaff, AZ July 2016

This is one of the few times you will see a page here. Just think back in 2005 when I starnted this blog the thought of pages would've been unthinkable. In fact pages weren't available until 2010 so for quite a while pages were unthinkable.

Anyway, I wanted to share two live cams on this page which is to be called - Railcam. A service called Virtual Railfan has a YouTube channel that features several livecams around the country for the benefit of railfans who like to watch trains roll by.

Because I like to see Amtrak trains I chose the two cities from where these webcams operate - La Plata, Missouri & Flagstaff, Arizona - because these are the two stops for Amtrak's Southwest Chief (SWC). On the page you can expect to find a schedule for the SWC and a train tracker also. Both will help you determine when you'll see SWC trains arrive at these respective stations.

My two SWC trips were 11 years apart in 2005 & 2016. They both were memorable trips as it's not often that I see the great plains, the prairie, and the southwest desert. The most memorable and unique in all the years I've taken the train occurred in 2016

In 2016 after arriving in LA at the architecturally significant LA Union Station we stayed in the LA area for no more than two days before moving on to Las Vegas by bus. This was part of the plan by my family and actually there was no plan we were planning it as we go. After at least two nights in Las Vegas we left for the Grand Canyon.

We spent the day at the Grand Canyon having arrived there via a tourbus and then from there we spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. We got on board a westbound SWC in the wee hours of the morning to return home.

While I don't want to ever not have a plan to go from city to city on vacation - i.e. Las Vegas or Grand Canyon - this is something I'm looking forward to in the near future. Especially if I can afford a sleeper onboard the train.

My Mind's Eye is back!

Though in a different iteration I've brought back My Mind's Eye. I had shut down the original currently dubbed The Eye! just about 10 years ago because I had believed the concept had run it's course.

While I seem to be on a meme kick as of late, hopefully you will see some of the photos taken on my iPhone and some original videos also shot on my iPhone. Perhaps some other creative endeavors will be shown there as well. Time will only tell.

Been sitting on this since blog September of 2014. A prominent photo there is of a huge donut that you can get at Dat Donut on 83rd & Cottage Grove. Nifty thing and certainly one donut that can be shared with more than one person.

This is probably going to be a relatively easy blog to maintain aside from the videography as most of the photos and memes will just be e-mailed to this blog. Furthermore the other part of the work here is that when I get to a computer there will be further edits and formats before publishing.

The Wrigley Mansion

The family known for the chewing gum and the namesake of the Chicago Cubs home Wrigley Field - and the family formerly owned the north side MLB franchise until the early 80s also has a namesake home which has recently been sold. It's strange to me to say that this mansion on the north side  - specifically 2466 North Lakeview Avenue - was a foreclosure. And looking at the selling price $4.65 million it's still very much out of my reach.

Regardless I'll say when I'm finally ready to build my own house I have found the model. Perhaps scale it down and hopefully resembling a style of mid-century architecture. Just think perhaps as close to a Pill Hill style home as one could get built in the 21st century.

Here's another article by Curbed Chicago

Lincoln Park’s famous—and foreclosed—Wrigley Mansion sells for $4.65M https://t.co/MFU8lCudVK pic.twitter.com/hNjKG7PGLP

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) January 29, 2018

A man can dream can he?

New process for getting your driver's license renewed #twill

Recently I went to the Charles Chew Secretary of State facility for a driver's license renewal. Now in the past I have not only gone to this particular facility also have used the ones in downtown Chicago over the years. Thankfully I haven't had to take a road test or written test since getting my license.

A few years ago all I had to do to renew my license was online or via mail since we have safe driver renewal. No tests of any kind pay the applicable fee and then wait a bit of time before getting another copy of your license. Years ago, I would've only gotten a sticker to be placed on the back of the license. It seems every time one renews a license there's a new design or some new procedures.

When I went up on this occasion I went through the back doors in the middle of the facility, it turns out this was the wrong way. It wasn't always the wrong way, once upon a time going through the middle doors and to the left was where you started the process of getting your license. These days the process ends where I enter the facility.

They directed me to that area after telling me I came in the wrong way since there was another door outside that I should've entered. Having to go through the cashier area trying to figure out my next stop was further confused and just asked the cashier about license renewal he directed me to the right place. I also did recognize that I was actually cutting a line and people were wondering why they weren't next!

No more confusion at this point. Wait in a long line, go up to a Secretary of State worker show an ID or some identification - social security, birth certificate, etc. - given a number and then take a seat and wait again! To be honest this wasn't entirely painful yeah there was some waiting, but not a lot of waiting. It wasn't a particular long time in a somewhat lengthy line, and it wasn't a long wait until it was time to go back up to a counter.

To go up to a counter basically the worker is just going to go over vital personal info in addition to information as far as any legal issues, medical or mental issues. They ask about organ donation or if you're a registered voter. Once they got all the info they need they have you sign an application they printed for you. After that you take a vision test once you pass it you're basically good they'll let you know of any restrictions. They send you to cashier to pay the applicable fee for the license.

After leaving the cashier I was right back to where I started and no more confusion from me. The cashiers directed me to the counter to the right and no line so I could just walk up to the front of the line. It wasn't a long wait for me to get called up and another worker takes the application punch a whole in my soon to expire license and directs me to yet another adjacent area and wait for my name to be called.

Here I get my photo taken and they will hand me a temporary copy of my driver's license. Now they don't just give you a license the same day it has to be sent to you from somewhere within 15 days. It was packed when I had to sit in this area, though eventually it thinned out and after a brief wait my name was called got a new photo taken. Then within a short time got my temp license printed and ready to go.

It took about an hour, but thankfully mission accomplished. Got my driver's license renewed and it didn't take hours - not that it ever did - it took about one hour. Time to go home first I needed to take a photo of the facility on my phone with my olloclip lens.

Artistmac tells you about the new process for your driver's license. Like I said they'd take your picture and get it same day, now they take your pic give you a paper temporary license, and then get your actual license in the mail. I'm ready for it to come in any day now! [VIDEO]

 

Birthday special

As I reflect on another birthday for me, I reflect on the train rides. I like riding the trains especially on a vacation. To reflect on the number of places I've arrived on trains allow me to offer some destinations.

By Amtrak, I've been to Washington, Memphis, Detroit, Dallas, & Los Angeles. With the exception of Detroit all of those have been multiple trips and often to visit family in all of those places. Without a doubt Los Angeles have been the most interesting of these trips as I don't go out west often enough. And sometimes I wonder why with the issues they seem to have out there with immigration and wildfires.

All the same it's exciting to see the parts of America that I don't always see. It's cool to go out east and see those sites that I normally won't see. Which reminds me, I would like to go back to DC in the future. It's such a great place to see historical sites of great political importance. I'm not done with that town yet!

Also it's cool to head out west and see the landscape of this country go from midwestern farmlands, to grazing lands, to mountains, and deserts. To look at dry riverbeds, buttes, sands, bushes, etc. Doesn't matter where my train passes through it's a treat to see some of these small towns and stop in them to see how much simpler it can be outside of our major metropolitan areas.

As you probably can tell of all the years I've taken the train the highlights of them have been going out west to Los Angeles. I've only done so twice in the first two decades of this century and had been waiting to do so for years. And at that one time doing so with a sleeper car berth which is recommended by me if you do at least two overnights on a train.

This comes to mind because I've been watching a lot of train videos lately. Especially those that involve the Southwest Chief. Look forward to a few more train rides as long as I remain in good health and finding places to go in the meanwhile.

As an extra treat, here's one my favorite pics from my trip in 2016 taken in Mendota, IL from the train. Had a nice rainstorm as we were leaving the state on the way to the Mississippi River to cross into Iowa.

Mendota, Illinois

Also, this is the shortest and best video I could find about taking the Southwest Chief. It's under 10 mins although find any video you want about any train. These are only for if you want to educate yourself. [VIDEO]

Because of the McMansion Hell blog...

8459 South Michigan - Eric Allix Rogers

I've grown to appreciate mid-century modern architecture. There are plenty examples of these buildings on the south side. Not just Hyde Park/Kenwood, but further south. Perhaps here I will share my own observations with you.

Meanwhile you should read McMansion Hell to see what they have against these McMansions. We've seen them out there around the country. Surely you've seen them in the Chicago area and I know I've seen them in the suburbs of ATL.

BTW, if you've got the cash there is a mid-century modern revival. If you already own such a home this is what you can do to keep it maintained.

FTR, I'm posting this to lighten the mood just change subjects for a bit from the new administration in Washington. Perhaps the good times will roll again we shall see.