lionkingcmsl | Invading the Windy City ;=3

Yes, you read right, the railroading lion is planning to invade Chicago, in November for MFF. ;=3

Sometimes I do plan things way in advance. :=3

I was looking at railfares (you expect me to fly?) and found that round trip coach is only $129, easily affordable for me.

So, I made reservations and picked up my tickets today. :=3

My trip is planned as follows:
LV Philadelphia 30th St. Station on 11/19 at 12:10p EST on Acela (sm) Regional service (maybe ride in one of the new Acela train sets. :=3 ).
AR Wash. DC at 2:00p EST.
LV Wash DC at 3:10p EST on the Capitol Limited.
AR Chicago on 11/20 at 8:30a CST.
Total time in transit, including stop over at D.C., 21 hours 20 minutes

Return trip as folows:
LV Chicago on 11/23 at 1030p CST on the Three Rivers
AR Phila on 11/24 at 6:00p EST.
Total time in transit 18 hours 30 minutes.

Why not take the Three Rivers both ways and cut out some travel time and the trip to D.C.?
Because the Three Rivers doesn't have a dining car, and I want one on one leg of my trip, and I wanted to see different scenery. Of course the chance to ride an Acela train set doesn't hurt either. ;=3

Then why not reverse the trip order (PHL, CHI, WAS, PHL)?
Because the Three Rivers goes through the PRR's "Horseshoe Curve", a must see for any railfan, in the daylight, only in the eastbound direction. :=3

So you mid-westerners have been put on alert. ;=3
The railroading lion is heading west. At least for a long weekend. ;=3

EDIT: Just for "haha's" I went to Travelocity.com and checked out the airline prices. Cheapest I could find was American Airlines for $178 (RT). Granted the trip would only take 2 hours 17 minutes to Chicago and 2 hours 2 minutes on the return flight, but the chance to view America at "See-Level" (old Amtrak ad campaign) more than makes up for it. :=3