...are the towns you pass through when you are riding the Amtrak Saluki to Carbondale, Illinois. In addition to possessing a certain romance, trains provide an excellent environment for getting work done while you are en route. But even then, there comes a point (about four hours in, this time) when all you can do is look pensively out the window and take self-portraits for your blog (special thanks to Alexis, who is 8, for helping me pick which one to post here):
Once our train arrived--only half an hour late, which is really pretty decent in Amtrak time--the whole town of Carbondale was Spring-ing its heart out (thanks, Tree!)....
...and Kyle was there (thanks, Kyle!) to pick me up at the station and then head off in search of a slice of chocolate banana cream pie for me...
...and then to a bar called--fittingly, given the subject matter of the tour, "Booby's"--for a ham and cheese sub for Kyle, tempting though it would have been for him to pick up some Chik-Fil-A, whose signs pit one poor doomed animal against another in a desperate and poorly spelled fight for life:
After that, we gave a reading that was very hot and not just because of the winsome...
...and stylishly dressed audience:
I mean, that too, but also, the room was just really hot. After that, we went to Fujiyama, a Japanese steak house in a strip mall. Although we did not sit in the stunt cooking section where, we are told you risk getting your beard set on fire or at least losing an eye, we still had a lovely time. Special thanks to Pinckney Benedict for bringing the funny to our intros, and to Laura Benedict (pictured below) for reading with us and for the delicious dinner...
...and to Jon Tribble and Allison Joseph (pictured below) for hanging out and adding to the photographic documentation of the evening's events:
Thanks also to Rebecca and Brian (and Karma and Alexis) for cleaning their rooms and hosting us at their home in Herrin, Illinois. Tomorrow morning, Kyle and I will hit the road again and tomorrow night we will read at 7:00 at Marian College in Indianapolis. But before we go to bed to rest up for that, here is one more picture of the sky above the SIU Student Center, both because it is pretty and because it reminds me of Elisa Gabbert who had lots of cloud formations in her poems when we read in California last week. This one's for you, EG.
Good night out there, everybody, wherever you are.
Once our train arrived--only half an hour late, which is really pretty decent in Amtrak time--the whole town of Carbondale was Spring-ing its heart out (thanks, Tree!)....
...and Kyle was there (thanks, Kyle!) to pick me up at the station and then head off in search of a slice of chocolate banana cream pie for me... 
...and then to a bar called--fittingly, given the subject matter of the tour, "Booby's"--for a ham and cheese sub for Kyle, tempting though it would have been for him to pick up some Chik-Fil-A, whose signs pit one poor doomed animal against another in a desperate and poorly spelled fight for life: 
After that, we gave a reading that was very hot and not just because of the winsome...
...and stylishly dressed audience: 
I mean, that too, but also, the room was just really hot. After that, we went to Fujiyama, a Japanese steak house in a strip mall. Although we did not sit in the stunt cooking section where, we are told you risk getting your beard set on fire or at least losing an eye, we still had a lovely time. Special thanks to Pinckney Benedict for bringing the funny to our intros, and to Laura Benedict (pictured below) for reading with us and for the delicious dinner... 
...and to Jon Tribble and Allison Joseph (pictured below) for hanging out and adding to the photographic documentation of the evening's events: 
Thanks also to Rebecca and Brian (and Karma and Alexis) for cleaning their rooms and hosting us at their home in Herrin, Illinois. Tomorrow morning, Kyle and I will hit the road again and tomorrow night we will read at 7:00 at Marian College in Indianapolis. But before we go to bed to rest up for that, here is one more picture of the sky above the SIU Student Center, both because it is pretty and because it reminds me of Elisa Gabbert who had lots of cloud formations in her poems when we read in California last week. This one's for you, EG. 
Good night out there, everybody, wherever you are.
