The Rundown:
We woke up at 7:30 in the morning to get going, questioning our sanity the whole time. After checking the 15 Bus times (CCULC alums, let us groan in unison...) we headed out bright eyed and ready for the day. I pressed "start" on the stopwatch as we stepped onto the bus and thus it began.
Our first step was to knock out the far south side of the city via the Red Line and the southern part of the Green Line. One, we anticipated that it might take a long while and wanted to get it done early. Two, it's not the safest part of the city and we figured that visiting those stations on a Sunday morning might be the best option. As predicted, it took quite a while. Getting down to 95th Street on the Red Line wasn't too bad, but the Green Line with its weird split got a bit annoying. I may still be a little high from the contact fumes we got here:
Finally we made it back to the Garfield Green Line station and then over to the Ashland and 63rd Green Line station, and we were headed downtown. At Roosevelt we transferred to the Red Line in a flurry of running down three sets of stairs and getting cursed out, and headed north to Howard. In what is possibly my favorite picture of the day, someone thought we were taking a picture of them at Fullerton.
For those of you from the city, you know that the Howard station is both the northern start/end of the Red Line, and the start/end of BOTH the Purple and and Yellow lines. We were determined to knock them out, and actually got pretty lucky with the timing. Depending on arrival times, you can wait quite a while at the beginning/end of the line for a transfer or train headed the opposite direction. Even on a Sunday, fortune was on our side.
After a visit to the Purple Line Linden station and Skokie(!) we headed back south on the Red Line to transfer to the Brown Line at Belmont. Feeling good at this point, accomplished with 2 full lines crossed off the list, and ready to knock out the Brown Line... we pressed on.
We rode the Brown Line from Kimball all the way into the Loop, and the following shots capture why I love this line (and this city) so much.
At this point we decided that we could use a bathroom and real food break. After all, we had nearly four full lines knocked out... plus we needed to charge up our phones. We went for the Potbelly's at State and Lake after riding the train around the Loop. This was a fun experience in the men's bathroom:
Recharged (in a few ways) and energized, we got on the Orange Line to head to Midway. It was a fairly quick and uneventful round trip, and we transferred at the Roosevelt station to the Green Line in order to head all the way west. Joined by two pre-adolescent girls sporting HUGE hipster frames and Starbucks coffee along with a young couple who questioned why we were taking pictures at every stop, we were off to finish the Green Line. It started to get dark as we traveled, and even though we were on step 17/18 out of 25... it was a bit depressing. We knew that we had two full lines left to travel, and we were honestly getting sore at this point.
Okay, Green Line DONE, Pink and Blue lines left. We can do this. We must do this. We have to do this. After trying to break into a staff bathroom at the end of the Pink Line, we decided that we needed another bathroom break once back in the Loop. Before tackling our nemesis that was the Blue Line, we found a lovely little cafe called Cosi, right off of Randolf and Clark. I'll be back there at some point.
One line left, and off we went towards O'Hare. At this point in the trip I was a little slapstick silly, and very nearly missed a few pictures because I was staring at the appealing man hands of the person sitting in front of me, and laughing at Christine's attempts to take pictures around the hair of the man to her right.
Okay, step 22 of 25. We can do this, right? Except we left the longest step for last. O'Hare to Forest Park, on a night train in a weird car, smelling like urine, filled with squealing and snoring, cruising down first I-90 and then I-290, moving faster than the Blue Line should ever go. We appreciated the speed, but not at the cost of our lives. The end was in sight, but I think I nearly lost Christine about two stops from the end of the line. She was just done with the whole thing at this point, and it didn't help that we were closing in on the 12 hour mark, even after we took our break time out. We were on a much nicer smelling car on the way home from Forest Park, and this gave us the strength to transfer to the Red Line for our final two stops on the way home.
We finished our excursion on the 15 again, and it was with great joy that we stepped off the bus at my corner.
The Result:
We had been on the CTA for exactly 12 hours, 25 minutes, and 56 seconds that day. Whoa man, we're awesome.
Lessons Learned:
1. The Blue Line does not come last. Ever again. That needs to get done EARLY, when spirits are up and butts aren't sore.
2. Carrying a personal spray can of air freshener may be a healthy idea.
3. Sitting in a place with close access to the door for better shots is advised.
4. It takes longer that you think to visit all 137 stations (many multiple times) on all 8 lines the CTA Rail system has to offer.
5. This was a really cool way to spend the day. You get an incredible view and understanding of the differing neighborhoods of the city, and all for the cost of a CTA Pass. They lost money on us yesterday.
6. Doing this on a Sunday is invariably going to take more time because the trains run less often. Doing this in the winter (even on a relatively mild day) is going to invariably more cold than going in, say, May.
Suggestions for the CTA:
1. Hire more people to make your trains smell nicer.
2. Electrical outlets at stations, and wireless internet.
3. In all seriousness, the city could really use a line similar to the (mostly) north-south routed Red Line, but on the western side of the city. We noted that there are four separate stops on both Pulaski and Kedzie Avenues (Green, Blue, Pink, and Orange Lines)... why not a line that runs right up either of these streets? It would certainly make the city MUCH more accessible for people on the west side.
Thoughts and Challenges for the Future:
1. This could be something real and fun to do every once in a while. Perhaps once a quarter? I'm already thinking about planning again for later in the spring. However, I'm not sure it would be great to do alone... the most fun we had was simply being together. Doing this with different people could be a great way to get to know someone better, compete against other teams, come together and learn something about this city we call home. The CTA could certainly use the enthusiasm. Perhaps it could even be a fundraiser- have people sponsor a certain number of stops? University programs and other organizations in the city could use it as a fun orientation activity. There is nothing that bonds you like the shared smell of urine on the Blue Line at 9:30 at night. In all seriousness though, I think this has the potential to go somewhere.
2. Christine mentioned two challenges to me yesterday that are floating around in my head. The first is to visit all 77 of Chicago's communities via public transportation. This is probably not possible in one day, but perhaps it can be done over the course of a weekend, or even a week. Secondly, she mentioned that it could be cool to take a year or so, and eat in an established (preferably not chain) restaurant in each of the 77 communities. The neighborhoods of Chicago fascinate me, and we all know that food is a good reason to get out and see a place.
3. I fell even harder for my city during the expedition that yesterday became. I'm in love with this place in a way I can't quite explain, and I don't want to stop exploring. Could this turn into something real? A side-life of exploring and researching and discovering and really figuring out the city... and then writing about it? I know it's a tired old theme that even Journey sings about... but the thought of being a young person interacting with this incredible place and recording my thoughts and adventures and new understandings? We'll see.
