Day 9 - 6/9/06

What a Bummer!!

Departed Muscatine, IA 7:30am and Arrived Burlington, IA 12:30pm. Travel Time: 40 miles 3hr and 37min. The wind was all around us today, it made for pretty slow travel due to the incoming storms. When we arrived in Oakville, IA (tired and very thirsty) we went looking for a gas station or a store where we could buy water and pretty much found nothing. We asked a local man who was cutting his lawn where we could get some water and he said nothing was really available and he kindly volunteered to fill our water bottles for us. About 14 miles from Burlington Amber was having a rough time with the wind and wanted to check the air in her tires and when Shawn was filling the back tire with air she suddenly got a flat...due to Human Error. So now we have our first repair on Amber's Bike. While Shawn was working on the flat tire a nice lady pulled over and asked if we needed any help and Shawn the joker that he is says "If your giving us a ride to Burlington" she said "OK" we were so shocked. Thankfully she had a bike rack and room for our trailer, she kindly drove us to the Amtrak station. Once at the Amtrak we discovered no one worked there and it seemed more like a homless shelter with a Bus stop than a train station. We called the 800# and got a reservation for both of us on the Amtrak for today at 5:15pm and when Amber asked the lady about bikes she said "no bikes allowed" but the final decision is up to the conductor. The Amtrak website and what other travelors have told us was very misleading. So we patiently waited for about 6+ hours for the train. One it arrived the conductor was very impatient and you could tell he was feeling rushed due to being off schedule and he simply said "no" and that Amtrak is getting away from checked baggage at small town stations. So after the train left Shawn called Amtrak to see what our options were and the guy told him we need a check baggage upon departure and arrival to get our bikes on and off. The two closest to us are Chicago, IL and Omaha, NE both are 250+ miles away......out of the question. Therefore we are stranded at the Amtrak in Burlington, IA.
Amber found the Best Western Hotel to stay at because they have courtesy transportation for us and our bikes. We stayed for $130 at a very nice hotel except we were woken up at 11:30pm due to the fire alarm....somone burned popcorn in there room. Now are re evaluating our financial, mechanical and physical aspects of this trip. So Stay tuned!!!!
To Be Continued..................