First Half of Day 2--Water Taxi to the Train

I can relax a bit now. The worry about getting to the train on time from Vashon was for nothing (well, maybe not nothing...). I made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare.

My day started in the middle of the night. I had set my alarm for 4:30, but my bladder had other ideas and woke me at 3:30. I took care of business, but there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. I finally got out of my sleeping bag a little after 4:00. Actually, it was a good thing because the earlier start gave me time to wipe down the soaking wet rainfly (no rain, just heavy dew). I got everything packed up and headed to the water taxi terminal (in the still dark) by 5:10. I'm glad I brought my good headlight to ride by.

I arrived at the ferry terminal at 5:35. The first water taxi was at 6:10. I got my $5.00 ticket from the machine and sat down to wait. I'm glad I was one of the first in line to get on the boat with Betsy. The boat holds 18 bikes but, not 18 bikes with gear. Although I was the only fully-loaded bike, the racks were full with commuter bikes. I counted about 15 bikes. The boat itself was pretty full with people commuting to work.

The water taxi crossing took 22 minutes. The sun was coming up over the hills of West Seattle while we scooted right along.

After disembarking from the water taxi, I made my way along a bike path under the Alaska Way Viaduct to King St. From there it was just a couple of blocks to the Amtrak station. I just wheeled Betsy right into the ticketing area, packed up the stuff I was checking and took my place in line (with Betsy beside me). At first when I put the Chinese shopping bag on the scale (37 lbs) the gal said I couldn't take that bag. Then she noticed it was zipped up and said it was okay. Momentary panic there.

Betsy got her tag, I got my ticket, and we headed to the waiting room. It's kind of interesting trying to wheel a bike through a packed waiting room. Fortunately, they called to board the Vancouver train and we filed out onto the platform. I had to wait with Betsy until the baggage guy came. He took her and loaded her up. I'm in the car just behind her. In fact, I can see her hanging on the hook through the baggage car window.

So, with plenty of time to spare, I have completed boat ride #2 and am relaxing while riding the rails to Vancouver. Canada here I come!