Gretchen and I had planned to take Amtrak from Wisconsin to Chicago again. But we received a last-minute plea from my sister-in-law. My nephew was starting at Beloit College on Sunday and had forgotten his medicine in Minneapolis. Could we bring it to him?

An alternate train to the Amtrak is the Metra. We left Mosinee this morning, delivered the medicine to Beloit, then made our way to Harvard, Illinois to catch the Metra. Parking costs $1.50/day plus the $15 tickets into the city. In other words, a great bargain - plus we got to see our nephew’s dorm room and walk the campus a bit. Harvard is a nice town, with good bars near the tracks. It’s a good place to start a Chicago trip.