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After working a half day during the morning, I spent the afternoon finish packing for my trip, then left the house around 3 PM to pick Jacque up before going to the Amtrak station in Kirkwood, MO. I am heading to Flagstaff, AZ to do some bike riding over the weekend with some people I only know online to this point. We are all members of BikeJournal.com, and this is the annual Bike Journal Reunion – held in different places every year.
My travel itinerary called for Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner to pull out of Kirkwood at 4:30 PM and get me to Kansas City around 9:40 PM where I would have about an hour long wait before boarding the Southwest Chief that would get me into Flagstaff, AZ around 9 PM Thursday night. During the layover in KC, I would need to buy a bike box, load my bicycle in it and get it checked in – Amtrak asks that checked luggage be taken care of an hour ahead of departure, so I would be cutting into that guideline. I didn’t box & check my bike starting in Kirkwood, because the Missouri River Runner does not have a baggage car. It has areas in each passenger car for self-storage, and those areas include space for bikes with advanced bike ticket purchase ($5).
I occupied myself during this time by doing some Sudoku puzzles in a book I really haven’t touched in a couple years. Only ‘very challenging’ puzzles are left to be done in the book, most of which I have started and only a handful I have completed. After spending a lengthy bit of time trying to make progress on one puzzle with nothing to show for it, I decided to move onto another puzzle that I was able to finish before we pulled into Sedalia. Feeling empowered by my accomplishment I moved onto another puzzle and was happy to finish it before we pulled into Lees Summit.
We arrived in KC late (not a surprise when it comes to Amtrak) and upon disembarking from the train, there was an attendant on the platform providing motorized passenger assistance that, upon seeing me with my bike and inquiring my destination, suggested I be quick about getting into the terminal to get my bike boxed & checked. The lady behind the ticket counter seemed to roll her eyes when I asked for a bike box, but she got the box & a roll of tape, and I told her it would be ready in less than five minutes. Having done this procedure before, for my trip to/from Milwaukee in June, I had already removed the pedals, so I just had to undo two bolts that hold the handlebar in place and position it over the front wheel & top tube, rotate the gooseneck around so it isn’t too tall to fit in the box and finally lower my seat – zip, bang, boom, done. As I finished paying for the box & the fee to check a bike, the earlier attendant was ready to haul it away for me. Then as I was walking across the room to get in line with the others waiting to board the Southwest Chief, the call came over the PA that it was time to board.
On the platform, if you did not have a sleeper room an attendant would ask for your destination, then direct you to one of the passenger cars and assign you a seat in that car. I was assigned seat #7 – a window seat . I was glad to be assigned a seat, so the late comers wouldn’t have to ‘impose’ on someone sitting by themselves to take the empty seat next to them. The guy (I didn’t get his name) that sat next to me had been to Chicago, St Louis, and Union, MO (outside of STL) to visit friends and family, and was returning home outside of La Junta, CO.
I got my MP3 player out to listen to music to help me fall asleep. I think it was after midnight when I finally dozed off as I propped myself against the window.
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