Safe and sound in Everett at my daughter's place. The trip up here was uneventful except for a couple of wrong turns (or more precisely, not turning at the right place). Part of the navigation problem was sparse signage for the Interurban Trail and lack of mileage notations in the Google turn-by-turn list. I stopped often to check the Google map to see where I was in relation to the turn instructions.
Below areparents, Gabi and Brandon of canine kids Ellie and Rook
I arrived on the train this evening at 8:07 PM (30 minutes early). I didn't get to the American Hotel/International Hostel until 9:00 PM because the boxed up bikes are not brought out until all the regular checked baggage is delivered. I also had to put the pedals an handle bars back on the bike.
The hostel is a fixed up old, down town hotel, like all the others I have stayed in. It is a step above some others in that it has nicer bathrooms and showers. And it serves a continental breakfast.
Tomorrow I bicycle to Gabrielle's by traveling on the interurban bikeway.
I am resurrecting this blog to include the next adventure which is riding down the Pacific coast from Seattle to San Luis Obispo on my bicycle. It will be called Pacific Coast bike tour.
I leave SLO on Wed. 6/26 and spend the weekend with my daughter, Gabrielle and her boyfriend. I will be starting the tour on July 1st from Seattle and post blogs hopefully daily or whenever I have connectivity.
Greetings from Portland in the Pacific time zone. Two semi revolting developments have occurred since the last installment of the this soon to end saga.
First we learned last night that there had been a rock slide which blocked the rail roadway in the Columbia Gorge and we would be transferred to buses at Spokane. We did that and then rearranged the make of the three buses so that the travelers Portland were on two buses and all others to the smaller stations and Vancouver, WA. That way we had express service to Portland and even made up most of the lost time we had accrued.
Second, the Coast Starlight to San Diego was delayed by 4 hours due it arriving late in Seattle the night before and could not be readied fast enough for its on time return this morning. So my anticipated 3:07 PM arrival in SLO on Tuesday may be 7:00 PM or later.
We're about 25 miles west of Havre, Montana and about 50 miles south of the Canadian border. Its 5:45PM mountain daylight time but we should have been here 2 hours ago. I had a 4 hour layover in Portland to transfer from this train to the Coast Starlight in the morning in Portland. At this rate my turn around time will be greatly shortened. Just hope I don't miss the connection. It is not unusual for Amtrak to make up lost time but it hasn't happened so far on this trip.
Not waiting around in a train station would be a good thing as long as it doesn't cut it too close.
The train has been a pleasant ride so far but bumpier than the Coast Starlight. I have 8:30 PM reservation for dinner in the dinning car so I had a snack to tide me over till then. Us commoners in coach are last after the sleeper car folk to make reservations.
I took a picture of my kind and generous friends that helped me so much in getting the bike box and other errands plus housing, feeding and transporting me and gear to the train.
Below are Al and Vicky in the train station.
Rode to Prescott, WI today, 84 miles with headwinds and moderate but long hills. Was going to stop 13 miles sooner but they wanted too much for their rooms. I am at the River Heights Motel, just half a mile from a bridge over the Mississippi River and into Minnesota.
I will go 50 to 60 miles to visit a friend and on Friday or Saturday hop a train to Seattle. The routine has become monotonous and I want to get home after 5800 miles and three and a half months. So I will see everyone sooner than expected.
