I wake up every morning to the sound of my twenty dollar pre-paid Cingular phone’s alarm that I bought during my first week here in Chicago at either six or six thirty in the morning (depending on whether I catch the seven sixteen train or the eight oh seven train). I get up and with the time I have before I hop on my bicycle — which is the reason why I’m writing this post — I do some or all of the following (depending on whether I feel like it or if I have enough time to do it):
- take a shower
- make a salad for lunch
- eat breakfast (either toast and jam or cereal)
- check emails
- put contacts on
- brush teeth
- put on some clothes (okay I do this everyday)
- put on helmet (this is new)
- out the door at least twelve to thirteen minutes before the train arrives
I ride my sixty dollar bike for five to seven minutes from my place that I’m sharing with my roommate — who I barely see at home — who works at samatamason after being an intern like me last year. The Metra railway is outstanding. I have to say I am very proud of Chicago.
There are a lot of interesting, educational and just plain fun things to do in Northeast Illinois and Metra can get you where you want to go. The 495-mile Metra system serves 230 stations in the counties of Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, McHenry and Kane.
On Metra you can reach Chicago’s beautiful lakefront, museums, zoos, sporting events, shops and restaurants, concerts, special events, schools and colleges as well as quaint, historic suburbs and small towns. In some cases, Metra can take you practically to the front door - in other cases, your destination is easily in reach via Pace buses, and/or CTA buses and trains. -metrarail.com (their website design does not do them justice)
I get on the Milwaukee West Line train at Western with my bike and lock it up in the designated area. The conductor comes around at every stop and yells out, “TICKETS!” for the new passengers to pay their distance-dependent fare. So, for me from Western to Elgin is five dollars and thirty cents for one way, which is the most you’d pay on that line. The system is pretty old-skool but it works. He comes around takes your cash and change, and gives you back change if you need it using his chain belt that has coins from nickels to quarters released individually with one force, like pushing a button. Then he punches the ticket paper a few times with some type of paper puncher that doesn’t actually leave bits of paper anywhere; I still don’t know what it means when I look at it. For the month of July I bought a pass for one hundred and thirty nine dollars which saves me sixty dollars a month. This pass looks like a coupon and is given to you like a coupon, as in, it’s a flimsy small piece of paper, mind you designed very badly. I sit and either sleep, or take out a book (or do some of both) for one hour where I get off at Elgin.
I could not be any more privileged to have a bike trail right beside the station that ends off right beside the studio. The trail is five miles along the Fox River without any sight of cars or buildings or noises or trucks honking at you for reasons I could only get more annoyed by. It’s a peaceful, meditative, relaxing, muscle-toning ride of at least twenty five minutes of pedalling. It is through this daily cycling that I learn about life, yet again, through my mind, self and people.
