I think I got the logistics for getting from New York to Omaha taken care of, and getting to the start should be fairly easy.
Getting back is proving to be difficult. The nearest station to Muscatine, is Burlington, however they don’t offer any baggage service, so taking the bike is not just not an option. You can take a bike from Mount Pleasant, but they don’t keep bicycle boxes at the station, and I don’t see any bike shops in town, so that seems like a dead end.
I could have the bike shipped from a shop in Burlington, but that costs ~$100 to ship, and another ~$50 to box, so I’d like to avoid that cost. Anyone have an idea for getting my bike on the train, or back to New York?
10 Replies
Maybe try to get a ride to Chicago or Kansas City. Both of those cities have great Amtrak stations with boxes and carrier service.
Or St. Louis! They have a great Amtrak station too.
Hey! I’m having the same trouble as well. I’m coming from NJ and was planning on taking the train. Odd that there isn’t any transportation to a train station!
Rent a car in Muscatine, drive to Chicago/Midway, dump the car there, take the orange line downtown to Quincy. Chicago Union station/Amtrak is 2 blocks west. Amtrak 48, the Lake Shore LTD. departs at nine pm.
If you are going to travel with a charter, ask the charter if they can connect you with another rider who lives near one of the cities mentioned above and can give you a lift at the end of RAGBRAI. You can contact Muscatine to see if there might be any locals willing to shuttle riders for a fee.
Could the Mt Pleasant station get a few boxes if they knew they were getting some riders from RAGBRAI? I’d press them on that a little, seems like something they could do.
I live in the far NW suburbs of Chicago and will have a station wagon parked in Muscatine. I think I could carry one person and bike/gear home with me and I live on the UPNW Metra rail line that could take you and your gear to Chicago to a station just across the street to an entrance to Union Station where you can pick up AMTRAK trains. Now, I think it may be a bit of a walk underground to the main concourse from that entrance but you should be in excellent shape by the end of RAGBRAI!
The only issue is that I will not know until perhaps the middle of RAGBRAI week if any of my teammates will be able to join me mid week and need that spot in my car on the way home. So, keep trying to get a ride but keep me in mind. If you don’t have anything by the Wednesday before RAGBRAI contact me and see what my situation is at that time.
Oh, and since there are two of you to split the fee, connecting with each other and renting a van to drive to the nearest AMTRAK station becomes more affordable, hint, hint.
BTW, if you were to ride with me you would end up at Ogilvie Transportation Center at the top of this map which shows you how far you have to walk to get to the main part of Union Station at the bottom. The Union Station entrance is right across Madison Street and just slightly east from Ogilvie between Canal Street and the river:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Union+Station/@41.8808499,-87.6419759,17.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x880e2c8dbbb32f5d:0x5f985dc0044b1109!8m2!3d41.8786738!4d-87.6403334
The various charters have bus services available from Muscatine to other cities at the end of RAGBRAI. The cost may be prohibitive but they are worth checking out just in case. Generally you don’t have to sign on for the full week with a charter to use their bus service but time is getting short and buses are getting full at this point….
I was looking in to a car rental in Muscatine as well. The outlook isn’t very good. The only company I can find is Enterprise, and they close-up shop at noon on Saturday. So ride fast, if that is your plan.
Erik,
Have you called Amtrak and tried talking to a real person (preferably someone with an I.Q. greater than room temperature)? There has been a shift taking place allowing bicycles to be walked onto some trains. Burlington Ia. is served by trains 5 & 6, which according to published information, do not accept walk on bikes, but, information on their website may not be up to date. The phone call is free.
It is looking like my best plan would be to depart from the Mt Pleasant station on Tuesday morning. I would probably ship some of my camping gear home after the ride on Saturday (ideally Sunday AM) through High Country Shipping, whom I have had great experiences with. I need to check that they will be here this year as I don’t see the 2016 logo on their website. Camp hobo style Saturday and chill out on Sunday in Muscatine.
On Monday morning, I would ride with my remaining gear to Mt Pleaseant (about 50 miles), and stay in a hotel. I will try to arrange for a box to be delivered to the station, or get one at a local Fed Ex store. Tuesday, take a ~10am train to Chicago (CA Zephyr), then the 9:30pm Lake Shore Limited to NYC. Advantages include it being the closest station to Muscatine by a few miles, being able to get the boxing done before boarding, and a shorter layover in Chicago. Also the 10am departure time leaves a window in the morning where business will be open, a station agent will probably be at the stations, etc.
[Note the phone number for “the one guy” at the Mt Pleasant station is (319) 385 8801, although he is on vacation until July5th]
The other option is similar, but involves biking 60-70 miles to either Galesburg or Kewanee, in Illinios. From either town I could take the Illinois Zephyr to Chicago. This is an early train and departs at about 7:30am or 8:00AM, and arrives at Chicago by about 10:30am. This means I have an 11 hour layover in Chicago, but since the train has walk on bicycle service, I would have my bike to play with all day. I would need to box it for the Lake Shore limited at 9:30pm, but Chicago has boxes, and I would sure have time!
A final option is to take the Carl Sandburg evening train from Galesburg or Kewanee, to Chicago, and have about 23 hours in Chicago, but I think this would probably involve a fairly expensive hotel, and I’m not sure I would be in the mood to hang around a city on what will be day 11-12 of essentially a bike camping trip.
https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/70/301/Illinois-Service-Schedule-011116,0.pdf
In 2014 I did a sort of similar trip that included RAGBRAI, then a solo ride to Madison Wisconsin. It was great, but involved having my bike shipped from a shop, and taking a plane. Shipping the bike cost more then my plane ticket!
Anyone take a bike on the Illinois service? Galesburg or Kewanee, are both “no baggage” stations, but the implication was that you could still walk on with a bike. Without walk-on bicycle service, you can’t take a bike unless it is boxed, and your arrival, departure, and connecting trains all have baggage service, no exceptions. Any advice for hanging out in Muscatine, Mt Pleasant, Galesburg or Kewanee?
Thanks everyone!
I just spoke with Matt, the station agent at MT Pleasant. He said that he can’t get any more bike boxes delivered, as they are phasing out bike boxes. This is occurring because they are switching to bike hooks in the baggage cars! This is great news, BUT the switch might not happen by the time we need it. The good news is that if you can arrange for a box to be delivered to the station in advance, they would be happy to hold it for you.
[EDIT: This might be an issue for people hoping to box a bike in Chicago as well. I would call in advance, and try to talk to a station agent rather then the general AMTRAK number if possible. ]
Bike bags are amazing. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_3?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A3375251%2Cn%3A706814011%2Cn%3A3403201%2Cn%3A6389522011%2Ck%3Abike+box&sort=price-asc-rank&keywords=bike+box&ie=UTF8&qid=1467747008&rnid=3375301
The cheaper ones will pay for themselves in 1-2 uses. If you travel with your bike more or want to check it on an airplane I recommend on of the hard backed cases. But any of these will allow you to check your bag on Amtrak as a regular checked bag. solving more of the issues. For the non-checked baggage trains, You can try to get away with calling it a “carry-on”.