Un pays sans usines
Est un pays en ruines.
Muhammad AL-ID KHALIFA


Day 13

am

pm smogggg

Rides = TRAIN
Arrival = Chicago
miles travelled = 270
$ spent = $10.00 (Room at the YMCA, food)
Time passed on the road = 7:30 - 1pm (in the train)
km walked = 3





7:30 am
After dimming the lights and closing the air conditioning, the conductor enumerated all of the stops between Detroit and Chicago. He announced to us, the length of our journey, the weather in Chicago and the speed at which our train would travel. We are leaving the station now. The air conditioning is restarted.

We stop often for no apparent reason. We stay there motionless, on the tracks, for few minutes at the time like a big caterpillar wondering if he should or not continue his voyage. And then we start again. And then we stop again. And then we start again.


11:30 am
Its gross! I am not sure where we are but it seems that we are getting closer to the Big City. There is a forest of tall chimneys, all regurgitating thick smoke into the sky. The colours are crazy, there is yellow smoke, black smoke, whitish smoke, cadmium red smoke, and so on. Lake Michigan provides the back drop. It is like a hallucination. The whole place is a real mess. I am mesmerized and dumbfound at the same time. The biggest smoke stack of all is just beside some houses. I mean that it is so close, that a kid running out the door would be in danger of falling in the flames of that gigantic oven. The more the train advances in the smog, the darker the sky becomes. I see an empty playground surrounded by the torches of an oil refinery. Now there seems to be a funny smell to the air conditioning blowing in the train. Suddenly we are in another environment, things are looking somewhat different. We have left the heavy industrial area. Our train in merging into a multiple traffic flow. Over pass, under pass, bridges, tunnels, power lines. Roads looks like nests of noodles. On one of the roads, there is a accident. A transport truck lays on its side. The top half of its trailer is in shreds. There are people running all around. Beyond the wreckage, I see the silhouette of the downtown. It looks like all of the traffic is being funnelled into the mouth of this giant monster. We are falling... The train, with all its passengers, is now in the belly of the dragon.

4 pm
Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park. The fountain is gorgeous. Kids are playing. People seem to be relaxing. The downtown is even better. There is of course the tallest building in the world, the Sears Tower and the Elevated Train which circles around the downtown core. I can just imagine Al Capone and his gang. I grew up reading the adventures of Tintin, and I remember liking the 'Tintin in America' title very much. I always had a soft spot for the Windy City. The BlackHawks were my favourite hockey team for years.

After wandering in the streets, I finally took a room at the YMCA.



-Daniel





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