I guess my first mistake was with Amtrak's online reservations system. When I first entered the type of ticket - one adult with bicycle - I got a message saying "no bikes on this train." I backed out and tried other travel dates and combinations of trains, or boarding in different cities. The "no bikes" message came up a few times, but I kept experimenting until after a while I stopped seeing the bicycle option on the ticket type. Assuming they'd got the point I meant to bring the bike, I kept trying until I hit on workable dates, times and transfer points. I booked at least three months in advance, and (unintentionally) pre-paid by debit card rather than charge card.
Train connections from Bellingham are awkward. The Cascades route runs between Vancouver BC and Portland, Oregon. The Coast Starlight, which only allows boxed bikes, runs between Everett, Washington and southern California; the routes overlap between Everett and Portland, but the Coast Starlight runs about an hour behind the Cascades. So to get from Bellingham to Klamath Falls, the closest train stop to Ashland, passengers must transfer between the Cascade route and the Coast Starlight at some point, requiring an overnight stay between Everett and Portland, and a second layover in Klamath Falls. At first I was aggravated at this bad timing and inefficiency, but I wasn't pressed for time so I decided to slow down and enjoy the layovers, which would give me several hours to hang out, shop, sight-see and have a meal or two in Seattle and Portland. I planned to stay in hostels in Portland and Seattle, plus two nights in a hotel in Klamath Falls before hitting the road, or the tracks, in the morning.
When I picked up my tickets at Fairhaven Station I asked the ticket agent about bringing my bike, and also confirmed by phone several days before my departure date. Both times I was initially told "no bikes on this route." After some dispute and explanation of my travel plans, the customer service agents always said OK, bikes are allowed, but be prepared to box it. The pattern continued as I traveled: when I boarded in Bellingham and transferred in Portland, then on the return trip, in Klamath Falls and Seattle. At every station I was told "no bikes on this train." Each time I would argue and explain, and eventually pay $5 for a carton to box the bike.
Back in Klamath Falls on the return leg, I stayed in the same cheap motel, but got a smaller room with a broken refrigerator inhabited by roaches. In the morning I went to the station about an hour early at 7am, and once again was told "no bikes on this train." After the usual discussion, I paid $5 for another box. This time I rode the Coast Starlight to Seattle, planning to stay overnight at a hostel in the International District near King Street Station. The train was due in about 9pm, but we were delayed for an hour in Tacoma and arrived after 10pm. At the station I asked a skinny young man who was unloading baggage whether I could leave the boxed bike overnight to put on the morning train to Bellingham, and he said "no bikes on the train." By that time he was the only Amtrak worker in sight and I didn't have the heart to dump on him. Besides I was a little uneasy about security in the baggage area, so I unboxed my bike and remounted the handlebars, and rode to the hostel where they had a locked storage area.
The morning train departs a bit after seven, and I was so worried about oversleeping that I was up and out by 5:30am, heading for Starbucks on the waterfront. I stopped at a red light below the Alaskan Way viaduct, across from Colman Ferry Dock, just in time to meet a flock of brilliant white LED headlights swooping out of the exit from the ferry terminal - the first morning bike commuters coming off the Bainbridge Island ferry, and all of them grinning at me. It made me homesick for Seattle.
Bellingham." She refunded my ticket, and I headed for the Ladies' to change clothes.
It's about a one hundred and ten mile ride. Being a Pacific Northwest native, I'd packed a rain jacket and leg-warmers all through the 100F weather in Ashland, and I was right because in Seattle that morning it was foggy, drizzly and 55F.
I didn't have a map, and was never very familiar with that part of town, and I didn't bicycle when I lived in Seattle, so I followed some vague homing instinct. I headed north through the Interbay neighborhood, across the Ballard Bridge and on 15th Avenue NW to Holman Road, then Greenwood Avenue, then I zig-zagged around a bit until I got on Aurora/Highway 99.
Somewhere up around Lynnwood, after about thirty miles riding, shelters for the Swift commuter bus appeared along the way, and I stopped to look at a schedule and ask a man at the stop about the service. The buses are the long articulated ones, with bike racks inside on the turntable section in the middle of the bus. Fare was about $2, and the bus would take me all the way to the Everett Transit Center. There are morning and evening commuter buses between Everett and Mount Vernon, but nothing during the day; still I figured I could take a thirty mile ride on the bus, then bike to the Skagit Transit Center in Mount Vernon and catch a commuter bus back to Bellingham. Apart from the gap in mid-day service, the commuter bus connections are surprisingly good, lucky for me. Soon the bus service may rival Amtrak.
Again, I had to guess at the bike route once I got out of Everett. The day finally turned warm and sunny, and I stopped at a Fred Meyer for food and drink. At the bike rack out front I got directions from a very friendly and helpful man with an expensive carbon Specialized, who advised me to take a curving farm road through Stanwood that would avoid a busy highway and hill-climb, which is what I did.
The road only looked vaguely familiar and for a while I was worried he'd sent me ten or twenty miles out of my way, but eventually I came to a familiar intersection in Silvana, then to Conway, then to a flat, straight access road parallel to I-5, which I knew headed in to Mount Vernon near the transit center. I was pretty sure the Bellingham bus left at about twenty past the hour, but wasn't sure how far I had to ride to get there.
I was hot and tired and eager to get home to my cat, so I put my head down and hammered as hard as I could - OK Jens Voigt would do better, but he doesn't ride a thirty pound hybrid with thirty pounds of baggage. I held out for five or six miles until I got to the transit center, with ten minutes to wait for the next bus home.
I guess I shouldn't have assumed Amtrak's online reservation system was giving me what I wanted. And I guess their customer service reps are trained to be agreeable and just tell customers what we want to hear - a trick I might want to remember if my barista job leads to a career in customer service - leave it to someone at the next station to deal with trouble. The best advice I can give is don't count on being able to keep your bike with you along the way when traveling by train. If you want your bike to end up at your final destination at the same time as you do, it's probably best to just ship it.
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