2024 04 18
Dark but sunlit kitchen scene. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Once again, thanks to the modern miracle of air travel, I am back home in my own bed after spending the day down south in Atlanta. For lunch, I had a fried chicken sandwich (because the server told me I’m in the south when I ordered it grilled. Fair enough, boss) and for dinner I had a burrito at Lonesome Rose in Logan Square. I know this is of no interest to anybody reading this, however, I bring it in an attempt to set up to set up a vibe.
Picture this: your plane lands on time. You’re the first one off the plane for the first time in your life (thanks to the Comfort+ on Delta exit row seat). You traveled super light with just a backpack and small camera bag so you high tail it to the people mover (did you now Delta flies out of the international terminal at OHare?), which automatedly takes you to the main terminal where you go downstairs to make your way to the underground CTA blue line stop. The moving walkways briskly move you towards the turnstyle where you tap your phone to gain access, move downstairs to the waiting train, board, then almost immediately hear the chime signaling the doors are about to close. You text your girflriend that you’re on your way home and see if she wants to meet you for dinner at the tex mex spot. She agrees and asks when so you check google maps and it says you’re 15 minutes away. Next thing you know, you’re at the bar, margarita in hand.
I say all this in an attempt to describe a feeling I get when on the move, riding trains, planes and public transit. When shit is working, and you’re moving faster than the endless line of cars stuck on the highway in construction, and the sun is set but things are still bright and alive, it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. The hustle and bustle of being on the move with a destination and things to do. Even if it’s just a margarita with dinner.
Then, when the subject of The Line (Saudi Arabia’s crazy project which I never expected to actually happen) comes up, for the first time I understood what they had in mind when they proposed this thing. Maybe it is the future of cities, after all.
I’m likely not making much sense to anybody reading this, so off to bed I go.
-Clayton
