Area woman Tricia McMillian’s weekend travel plans were disrupted by the United States Secret Service. Ms. McMillian’s train departure coincided with Vice President Joe Biden’s dinner plans. Exercising what many felt was excessive security precautions, the Secret Service froze in place all rail traffic because the Vice President’s motorcade crossed rail tracks on the way to his dinner engagements.  The rail traffic halt caused a five hour delay for Ms. McMillian’s train. 

The actual train delay was four hours, but due to crew schedule conflicts because of the four hour delay, the train had to wait another hour at one of the stations for a relief crew.

“I’m not mad at Amtrak, I want to make that very clear,” the area woman traveling in another area  noted. “The Amtrak people were just as inconvenienced and frustrated as us passengers.This is all Biden’s fault, or his secret service people. I mean, is Biden really that ‘at risk’ that someone would commandeer a train and bash it into his motorcade? If so, there’s something going on that the American public isn’t being told. I’m really kinda annoyed at the Vice President. This is a huge stinking inconvenience for me and everyone else on this packed train. We’re all exhausted. Most of us have Monday morning work obligations, and as the delay ticked by, we all became increasingly ticked off at the Vice President.” 

Several of the passengers on the area woman’s train made comments regarding the Vice President’s employer. “He works for us, you know. 'We the People,' that's who he works for. He should be waiting for us, not the other way around,” one particularly vocal passenger remarked. Another passenger felt that the delay was a result of allowing the president to get away with the Affordable Healthcare Act. An elderly passenger seated near Ms. McMillian claimed she didn’t give a rat’s patooty about Biden’s motorcade. 

Citing concerns regarding her own safety, Ms. McMillian utilized the train’s wifi service to send emails to the Vice President and Secret Service. She requested a Secret Service escort from Chicago’s Union Station to her home at the revised arrival time of 3:00 AM. “That’s a weird part of town on a Sunday evening, but at 3:00 on a Monday morning? Forget it. The few cabs that might be there will be snatched up minutes after the crowded train arrives in Chicago. And Uber? Um, no. I am not riding with anyone willing to pick a woman up at Union Station at 3 AM on a Monday morning, at least not without my own secret service protection.” 

As of press time Ms. McMillian had not received a response from either the Vice President’s office or the Secret Service.