Our first day on the road and we climbed 2592 Feet over the 37.3 miles. For a flat lander that lives in the Houston, Texas area it was a hard climb. The temperature started out in the 70s and was cloudy in San Diego but ended as clear and 99 degrees in Alpine.

We started out riding pretty much as a group and we stayed that way until we got to our first and only rest stop. No one left the rest stop until everyone was in, which was easy to do because we were not very spread out. A few of us left after about 20 minutes because we got restless. We can only rest, talk and fuel up just so much. I guess it is our way of being the break away riders in the Tour de France stages except the peloton (main pack of riders) never caught us.

It is great to be back on the road.

We finally left San Antonio at 11:30 a.m. after a 12 hour wait. I told Ed to leave all the negative vibes in the old train so we wouldn’t experience any other delays. Amtrak tried to make up time but they couldn’t make up all the lost time. We arrived in L.A. at 2:00 p.m., which was about 8 hours late.

The train ride itself was very enjoyable. I had a Superliner Roomette which means a private room that seats 2 people and an overhead bunk for sleeping and the two seats below make into a bed also. I chose to sleep in the seat bed below so I could look out and see the world going by. With my ticket I also got 3 meal tickets which were served to us in the Dining Car. For these meals we were seated with other interesting passengers. Most of the passengers were frequent train travelers.

Ed and I transferred to a San Diego train that left at 3:00 p.m. We arrived in San Diego at 6:00 p.m., which meant we missed our orientation meeting but we met Kaylyn Messenger when we got to the hotel.

On the train ride, I went to the snack bar to get something to eat. While there is met a young man that wanted to buy me a drink which I declined but we continued to talk. I was wearing my BiketheUSforMS T-Shirt so he asked about it and I told him about the ride. After I told him about the ride and that it was for Multiple Sclerosis he asked me to take $20 for food along the way. I told him I would take it but donate it to MS. Then he told is two friends to put in $20 also which they did. It made my day.

We caught our bus, with the help of some local people, and made it within a half mile from the hotel. We had to walk the last half a mile carrying all our luggage and pushing our bike down a very busy Friday night street. We got checked into the Hotel and then went thru the pre-ride orientation.  Ed and I finally got to set down and to eat. What a relief.

Tomorrow we ride.

I caught Train #1 out of Houston at 6:55 p.m. on 9/05/18.  It was right on schedule and I headed for San Antonio.  But my connecting train, Train #21 coming from St Louis, was 3 plus hours late and the adventure began.

My friend, Ed, from last year’s Trans AM Bike the US for MS was on Train #21 from St Louis and he was keeping me updated with his train’s progress or lack thereof.

His first update was at 7:48 p.m. on 9/04/18 and his train was running 45 minutes. No big deal at that time but before he actually got on Train #21 it was 3 hours late.

During the night, 2:53 a.m. on 9/06/18, I received a text message from Ed stating that things went from bad to worse. Train #21 engine completely shut down and they had to take another engine out to them. Then the crew had to be replaced because they were about to exceed they work hours. By this time Amtrak was reporting Train #21 was 7 hours late.

Train #21 finally made it to San Antonio at 9:20 a.m.

Just to let you know this really happened, I have attached some pictures of the Tower of the Americas.