I rose at 5:00 AM . . . plenty of time to make the 7 o'clock train. But I'm a bit of a nervous traveler and prefer to err on the safe side. So I had a second alarm set for 5:30, and when it went off, I was already almost ready to leave. I had packed my panniers the night before and already selected what I was going to wear . . . something a bit more casual for the casual two-mile ride to the train station.
But for the rain. And it sounded bad, and it sounded windy. Neither of which was true when I pushed off at 5:40. My original plan was to leave no later than 6:00, but there was no reason to wait . . .
The ride to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOL per Amtrak). It was a lot flatter than it looks.
This is a blurry shot, but it was a blurry morning. No coffee this morning and rain on my way down Royal Street through the French Quarter. It's hard to focus a wet screen on an iPhone!
Check-in was a breeze, although the agent seemed confused by my two reservations. That confused me as well, and then it dawned on me that one was for the bike. Bingo! Then it was a simple matter of rolling it through two double doors, unloading the cargo (two panniers and my cargo trunk), and handing it over to the baggage handler. I also removed my Garmin! They also asked me to remove the water bottles (strange), but once I pointed out that they were empty, that request disappeared.
And the view down the track bed of our train and what appears to be other luggage ready for loading. I thought to myself, "I hope they aren't just gonna toss it on that baggage cart!"
And they didn't! This nice gentleman took my bike, and I asked for a picture of him with my bike, explaining a little bit of my trip along the way. It's always good to make a personal connection . . .
And then I spied it as I was boarding the train . . . looks good and safe to me. The Crescent has a baggage car, which is a restricted area . . . on some Amtrak trains you load the bike yourself, but that also means it's accessible to the general public as well (but I suspect those are short-haul trains where you can sit close by).
Settling in . . . very comfy for one person. It might be a bit tight for two. But for one, I could stretch out and put my feet up on the opposite seat, a feature I made use of for a good part of the trip.
I have never taken a long-distance train before, so wanted to experience that plus the overnight accommodations. So far, so good! And to top it off, I was immediately offered breakfast (all meals included), so by the break of dawn, I was in the dining car checking out the fare.
Seating in the dining car is community style . . . they need to fill those tables! And that's fine with me, as I can make friends easily!
While eating breakfast, I perused the lunch and dinner menus and pronounced myself satisfied. I haven't actually had three square meals in a while, as I normally snack on the road (although some days I did grab a lunch of sorts). Afterward, I ensconced myself back in my Roomette to catch up on my sleep and my blog! And the news of the world (something I try to minimize while touring!).
My setup for most of the journey (when not sleeping).
The rest of the day was uneventful, which, while traveling on Amtrak, is a good thing, I guess! Of course, lunch and dinner came and went, and for both, I had company to while away the time with. And the staff were super friendly. The only drawback was/were the delays!
So one thing I did not check was Amtrak's on-time arrival stats, which suck! I think it averages around 43% . . . and they attribute most of the delay to train interference and track and signal work. Amtrak, outside of the Northeast Corridor (Washington to Boston), mostly runs on tracks owned by others . . . and most of this train runs on tracks owned by Norfolk Southern, which is responsible for about 96% of the delay.
And this was evident when we were sidetracked and had to wait over an hour as four freight trains passed going in the opposite direction. Of course, there were other delays along the way, so our arrival time slowly slipped from 9:30 AM into the late morning and then the early afternoon. But the scenery along the way is relatively nice and not always the bad part of town that railroads have a reputation for.
But a later arrival had a silver lining . . . temperatures were not predicted to be as good as I hoped on my return. Winter was (and is) lingering! And at 9:30 AM (or thereabouts), it would be in the mid- to upper 30s! And with wind chill, it would be in the low 30s . . . below freezing! It's a ten-mile ride to home, and when I planned this trip, I was looking for a nice spring morning, not a winter blast! Fortunately, the temperatures later in the day were trending to the warmer side of things . . .
Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km) Total: 775 miles (1,247 km)
