August 22
Neither of us were ready for when Meghan's alarm went off, and I lay on top of her and she asked if I was trying to keep her from getting up and I nodded my head. She brushed back my forelock and kissed me on the forehead and said that she had to get up and go to work but we could snuggle for a little bit longer.
We delayed a little bit after the second time her alarm went off but she finally pushed me back a little bit and I hopped off the futon and asked her if she wanted me to make some oatmeal for breakfast because I was pretty sure I still had some left.
She said that she would just get a granola bar from home if I wanted to join her in the shower. I'd been thinking of getting in a morning flight before Mister Salvatore came to pick me up, but I didn't have to, and I'd rather spend the time with Meghan anyway, so I followed her into the bathroom and turned on the shower and once it got nice and warm we got in.
We had to hurry a little but it was still a nice way to spend our last morning together for a while and she took her time getting dressed when she was done. I put the rest of her clothes in her bag and she asked if I wanted to borrow her toy for the trip and it was kinda tempting but I said that I could do without it even though it would be kinda lonely on the train.
Meghan said that I didn't have to walk back to her apartment with her but I wanted to, and I still had time to finish packing anyway, so we went down Main Street alongside the cemetery and then through to her neighborhood. She had to get out her telephone and send a telephone telegram to her friend to say that she was late, and I felt bad about that but she said that I shouldn't.
She ran inside the house to leave her bag behind and get her granola bar and her friend turned into the driveway just as Meghan came running back out of her apartment. I thought that she was going to run all the way to her friend's car, but she stopped and ran her hand through my mane and told me to have a good trip, and I nuzzled her thigh and then she went down the stairs and got in the car.
I was already missing her when I flew back home.
It didn't take me too long to pack the rest of my things for the trip, even when I unpacked and double-checked to make sure that I had everything I'd need. And I slipped my last cans of anchovies into my camelback and filled the bird feeder and then I didn't have anything to do until Mister Salvatore came.
I was sitting out on the balcony waiting when he drove up the street, and Miss Cherilyn saw me and waved so he stopped the car right out front, and I jumped off the balcony.
I could have landed right in the Mustang but that was rude, so I landed next to it and Miss Cherilyn got out of her seat and said that I could ride in front or back, whichever I preferred. The back was kind a crowded with their luggage—Mister Salvatore said that the trunk looked big but when the roof was in there it wasn't as big.
My saddlebags tucked nicely on the floor, and I moved their bags around a bit until I had a nice spot in the center because that had the best view forward. And then he said something about a full tank of gas and a half a pack of cigarettes and that it was only a hundred six miles to Chicago, which wasn't true—it was longer.
He unfolded his sunglasses and put them on his face and then he made the rear tires spin as he pulled away from my apartment. And when he got to the corner Miss Cherilyn said if he was going to behave like that she was going to take away the keys.
He told her that he only had a few more hours to enjoy the car before he had to give it back, so she ought to cut him a little slack.
We made good time until we got to the outskirts of Chicago, and Mister Salvatore asked if we wanted to stop and get something to eat that wasn't as fancy as we'd get downtown, and I said that I kinda liked the vegetarian wraps that they had at Au Bon Pain, and Mister Salvatore sighed and said that we could eat there if I wanted to but we'd get a lot more good food at Denny's.
She said he only wanted Denny's because we were on a road trip. And he admitted that was true, but he reminded her that it was customary to eat at Denny's and Waffle House on road trips.
So I said that I didn't mind Denny's as long as they didn't ask if I was housebroken and Mister Salvatore said that he almost hoped that they did, because that would be fun, and we turned off the highway and drove on a side road for a little while until we found the Denny's.
He got out of the car first and then opened the door for us, and he had to reach back inside and put up the roof so that nobody took our luggage while we were inside. While he was doing that, Miss Cherilyn said that he'd programmed the GPS to only show Denny's and I asked if she could change it to show Taco Bells. She said that she probably could.
Well, I had a lemon pepper grilled tilapia which was pretty good, and I gave my fries to Mister Salvatore because I had too much food to eat.
Traffic wasn't any better when we got back on the highway and there were a couple of times where I think I could have trotted faster and I thought about jumping out and racing him to the next exit but I don't think that he would have liked that too much. Plus it was too crowded along the road anyway.
It was about one in the afternoon when we finally got to the train station, and Mister Salvatore parked the Mustang at the front of the station. Miss Blaise came out to help us unload our bags and get the keys back to the Mustang. I was kind of surprised to see her, 'cause I didn't think that Cayenne was back in town yet, and she said that she was back in Chicago doing paperwork.
We had a little while before we could get on our train, and Mister Salvatore got a newspaper from a stall; Miss Cherilyn and Miss Blaise sat on a bench and talked and I kinda felt left out because I had nopony to talk to.
But there were still lots of people to watch and that was fun.
I knew what to expect from last time we'd taken this train, although when we got on I didn't have a room on the bottom; I had a smaller room on the top, right next to Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn. There was even a door between our rooms, which was nice. I didn't like that it only had windows on one side, but if I left my door open I could look out the other side, too.
So I set my saddlebags on the chair and then stretched out on the couch and closed my eyes to rest for just a bit and I must have fallen asleep 'cause the train woke me up when it started to move out of the station.
Mister Salvatore knocked on the door and then opened it and told me that I should plan to get up really early tomorrow because our first stop was going to be at six am, and we were getting off the train in Dodge City and I asked him why and he smiled but he wouldn't tell me. He just said that if everything went well I'd have a fun time and if it didn't he'd be doing paperwork until the day he died.
So that wasn't a very long trip at all. We probably could have let someone else have the room and just sleep in the normal chairs.
I went to the Viewliner car and watched Chicago go by. It still boggled my mind just how big it was: the train made its first stop without ever having left the city behind, and it was almost an hour into the trip before I finally started seeing more farmland and woods than street after street of houses.
We crossed over the Mississippi just before we got to Fort Madison, and the train stayed alongside the river for a couple of miles before the river curved away from it. I saw a long train of boats going along the river and I wasn't sure why they would make it like that rather than just build a bigger boat.
We went over another, smaller river and then Miss Cherilyn found me and sat down next to me and I asked her where we were and she took out her timetable and said that we were probably in Missouri now.
She sat and watched the farms go by for a little while, then we went downstairs to have dinner. I thought that the fish was kind of tempting but I'd had fish for lunch so I got the Gemelli pasta instead, and I also got a bottle of beer called The Illinois Imperial IPA.
It was still strange to be sitting at a table and eating our dinner while watching the farms and towns go by outside.
When we were finished up, Mister Salvatore told me that the train makes a long stop in Kansas City and I could get out and stretch my legs if I wanted to, and he reminded me again that we had to get off the train at six tomorrow morning.
I spent the rest of the evening sitting in the Viewliner and watching Missouri go by. And I went back downstairs and got another beer, too.
I couldn't think of what I was going to get to do in Kansas. Miss Parker had said that there were airplanes made there and so maybe I was going to get to go to an airplane factory. I didn't think that Mister Salvatore would take me to one, though. But sometimes he did things I didn't expect.
It was mostly dark when the train stopped in Kansas City, and I got out and trotted up and down the length of the train a couple of times before I went back inside and up to my room.
My bed had been folded down and made for me, which was nice. And my little bathroom didn't have a window at all so I left the door open because it was too confined to be in there by myself.
I got in bed but I didn't fall asleep until the train started to move, and it kind of rocked me to sleep.