TWO ROAD WARRIORS

ROAD WARRIORS

The photo above of my grandson flying back to Chicago reminded me of my first business flight ironically from Kansas City to Chicago.  There’s a huge age gap between our two trips and a sign of the times.  He’s strapped in the window seat of a 737 while I was probably sitting in the center seat of a 707.  And this isn’t his first rodeo either as he sips a cup of water and watches a video on an iPad with attached headphones!

My first road trip was memorable after all these years as I remembered a scene that could have been easily scripted for A Christmas Story with a young Larry subbing as Ralphie.  I distinctly remember sitting in the backseat of our four-door family sedan eating a bag of orange Cheetos and drinking a soda while reading a Superman comic book.  Unbeknownst to me, my father had begun to circle the Colorado mountains on our way to visit family in Canon City.  All of a sudden, I looked up from my comic book and realized that the world in my head and stomach was also circling around out of control.  My mother looked back at me and immediately told me to roll down the window and stick my head outside.  Fortunately, I wasn’t strapped in as there were no seatbelts in those days.  I immediately did as I was told and began to coat the outside of the car with an orangey substance that my father had to wash off at the next service station!

My first flight to Chicago could have ended the same way with the assistance of the complimentary barf bags in the seatback, but I wasn’t reading and managed to set my eyes on the stable bulkhead in front of me until the turbulence and motion sickness subsided.  I’ve since flown on countless business and personal trips without up-chucking and honestly earned my Road Warrior badge.  I did have some close calls, however, like the time I had to quickly grab a waste basket when a business associate sitting across from me on the company jet tossed up in it just-in-time!  It seems the grandson will already qualify by this coming new year!

 

ELAINE’S WINDOW ON THE WORLD

CTA Clark Street Bus, Chicago, IL
Neon Yellow Biker, Chicago, IL
Yellow Cab with Blue Man Group Ad, Chicago, IL
Hooded Lincoln Park Dog Walker, Chicago, IL
Neon Yellow Runners, Chicago, IL
Office Worker and Red Corvette, Chicago, IL
Traveler with Red Bag, Chicago, IL

I arose early and made my way down to the urban coffee shop in the small Chicago hotel where I was staying for the Thanksgiving holiday. The space for this little shop used to be occupied by the original hotel’s telephone operators, so it bore the name of Elaine’s Coffee Call. The comfortable shop had two baristas that could prepare just about any coffee drink you can find at a ubiquitous Starbucks without the corporate cachet. Freshly prepared scones of the day along with chocolate croissants and coffee cake rounded out the menu for me.

As I gathered my mocha coffee and an apricot scone I noticed that the limited seating at the storefront window was available with only one other customer sitting there reading the morning newspaper over his coffee. I seated myself with a view to Lincoln Park and the outside world and opened my IPhone apps. The man seated in front of the window soon departed leaving me an unobstructed view of the awakening world passing by my out of the ordinary surroundings. My normal breakfast view is generally lit up by the flat screen television inside my home as I consume breakfast with coffee oblivious to the outside world.

Three naked light bulbs hung from the ceiling in front of the window with “Elaine’s Coffee Call” lettered in a movie film font. They created an interesting foreground for the passing landscape outside so I switched my IPhone to camera mode. I then began recording the passing urban scenes outside the window on a chilly Chicago November morning. I quickly captured a passing CTA bus, a yellow taxi with a Blue Man Group ad, an office worker and a red corvette, a heavily hooded neighborhood woman walking her dog, a traveler carrying a red bag and early morning risers running and biking while wearing attention getting neon yellow tops.

Elaine’s Coffee Call suddenly became my unique window on the world while these urban scenes played out in front of me as if I were home watching my flat screen television. The scenes were somewhat detached as I comfortably sat in the warmth of the shop. I was reminded of the massive number of worldly scenes that play out with each new day’s creation. And at this holiday time of the year, it’s all too easy to detach oneself from the needs of all our other fellow travelers on the same journey and only see them as surreal players strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage and passing before us without substance or souls.

CLOUD GATE SKY SCRAPERS

Sky Clouds, Chicago, IL

Cloud Gate is a marvelous polished stainless steel sculpture located in the heart of Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. The reflecting Chicago skies and surrounding sky scrapers provide an infinite possibility of images. This image reflects the sky but retains the reality of both modern and traditional sky scrapers in the distance that tower over the sculpture.