fire in the night sky
this is what was headed our way when i left at 3:20:
i left early to avoid getting caught in it. annette and i had our first official personal training session and i didn't want to be late. so i head out on chicago ave and debated whether to take the red line (subway, would have to switch at fullerton) or the brown line (about 6 blocks away, elevated, could stay on the same train all the way home). i didn't want to miss any of the action, so i decided to brave the 6 block walk to brown line.
this is what i saw when i was on chicago:
i thought i could make it in the 10 minutes it takes to walk. after i crossed lasalle, i thought "one more block to go. surely i can make it."
nope.
the heavens opened up. but what was strange about it was that i noticed some white stuff blowing off of a 20 story building north on lasalle. i thought, "what the hell is that?" right when i got a face-full of road grime and dust. it was the storm, breaking open. i got a little shelter in the buildings to my right, but when i crossed wells, i was done for. by the time i got to the station, i was completely soaked through, down to the skivvies. here's a shot from the platform:
i got on the first train that came in, a purple line. i was thinking, "what's the worse that can happen to the elevated train in a storm this bad?" "it could derail," my inner voice replied. eh, better than drowning in a flooded subway, i guess.
anyway, we were on our way. then, a little south of armitage, we stopped. and i had a feeling that it wasn't good.
"uh, we're being delayed because our signals are out. oh, and there appears to be downed tree limbs on the tracks at paulina. we may be sitting here a while."
good thing i didn't have to go to the bathroom.
we sat for about 15 minutes. then we inched forward. i think it took us about 25 minutes to reach fullerton. once i got a brown line there, i was golden. but i was soaked to the bone in an over-refrigerated train car. by the time i reached my car (at 4:55), i couldn't feel my fingertips. it took until i started working out before i got rid of my goosebumps. and this is august!
after our workout, i got on the treadmill and watched it get darker and darker. kristin had TM'd me and told me the second wave was about to come through. all of a sudden, i couldn't see across the parking lot. holy shit.
annette and i decided to stick around until it let up. this was at 5:55. we finally made a break for it around 7:10. it was still raining. and the parking lot had flooded. in that hour, we got 1.82 inches of rain.
so then, i decided to take the scenic route home to see the damage. here are some photos:
i left early to avoid getting caught in it. annette and i had our first official personal training session and i didn't want to be late. so i head out on chicago ave and debated whether to take the red line (subway, would have to switch at fullerton) or the brown line (about 6 blocks away, elevated, could stay on the same train all the way home). i didn't want to miss any of the action, so i decided to brave the 6 block walk to brown line.
this is what i saw when i was on chicago:
i thought i could make it in the 10 minutes it takes to walk. after i crossed lasalle, i thought "one more block to go. surely i can make it."
nope.
the heavens opened up. but what was strange about it was that i noticed some white stuff blowing off of a 20 story building north on lasalle. i thought, "what the hell is that?" right when i got a face-full of road grime and dust. it was the storm, breaking open. i got a little shelter in the buildings to my right, but when i crossed wells, i was done for. by the time i got to the station, i was completely soaked through, down to the skivvies. here's a shot from the platform:
i got on the first train that came in, a purple line. i was thinking, "what's the worse that can happen to the elevated train in a storm this bad?" "it could derail," my inner voice replied. eh, better than drowning in a flooded subway, i guess.
anyway, we were on our way. then, a little south of armitage, we stopped. and i had a feeling that it wasn't good.
"uh, we're being delayed because our signals are out. oh, and there appears to be downed tree limbs on the tracks at paulina. we may be sitting here a while."
good thing i didn't have to go to the bathroom.
we sat for about 15 minutes. then we inched forward. i think it took us about 25 minutes to reach fullerton. once i got a brown line there, i was golden. but i was soaked to the bone in an over-refrigerated train car. by the time i reached my car (at 4:55), i couldn't feel my fingertips. it took until i started working out before i got rid of my goosebumps. and this is august!
after our workout, i got on the treadmill and watched it get darker and darker. kristin had TM'd me and told me the second wave was about to come through. all of a sudden, i couldn't see across the parking lot. holy shit.
annette and i decided to stick around until it let up. this was at 5:55. we finally made a break for it around 7:10. it was still raining. and the parking lot had flooded. in that hour, we got 1.82 inches of rain.
so then, i decided to take the scenic route home to see the damage. here are some photos:
posted by mikraas at 7:25 AM
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