It all started with a coupon. 1+1=Fun! How could I pass
that up? Amtrack Cascades was offering a free companion ticket. I got an email
at the office with the offer, and of course, I said yes.
I’m a frugal person. My mother was not a coupon-clipper nor
am I, but I learned young to shop sales and compare prices. When the coupon arrived in my campus mailbox, I read it
carefully. Another skill my mother taught was to always read the small print.
Dad would have said, “Nothing in life is free. You got to work for it.” And I
suppose he was right.
The back of the coupon showed a list of the
Amtrak stations included in the offer – all the stops between Vancouver, Canada
and Eugene, Oregon. At AmtrakCascades.com I read the blurb about each town served and
realized we could take our bikes for a small fee. That did it. A cycling trip started
formulating in my mind before I even told my husband about the coupon. I
imagined a late spring or early summer trip in the sun until I read the small print a second
time – the ticket had to be purchased and used by April 23rd.
Tom and I have cycled both Vancouver and Portland. We love
both cities, but I was looking for something different. I’ve always been
curious about cycling from town to town in the Willamette Valley – the land of
hops and vineyards. The Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway seemed the perfect option.
As soon as we settled on an easy two-day ride between Salem
and Albany, I downloaded cue sheets and struggled to calculate distances and find a potential halfway point with hotel accommodations that
didn’t add too many extra miles each day. We wanted to ride Amtrak from Seattle to either Salem or Albany, cycle
between the two, and Amtrak home. But would that be considered one ticket or
two? Could I get the coupon offer without purchasing a simple round-trip ticket?
After hours trying to book online, I gave up. The website
simply would not accept the coupon code. That’s when I headed to King
Street Station downtown. I felt vindicated when the Amtrak representative
couldn’t figure it out either. He gave me a direct line to customer service, a
number to bypass Julie, the AI representative I'd already experienced.
The following morning, coffee cup in hand, laptop alert, I
made the call. Forty five minutes later I learned that the coupon was only
eligible on specific trains at limited times – information not included in the
small print.
Once I knew which trains were available and how to book a
multi-stop ticket online, I started searching for hotels, my dad’s words echoing
in my head: “Nothing in life is free. You got to work for it.” Five or six
hours later, I had two hotels and Amtrak reservations booked. I’ll admit I’m
lousy at trip planning. I think I need more practice.
Still, this short bike adventure feels more challenging than
other trips. We’ll be on bikes for three days with no support vehicle. We won’t
be camping, so we don’t have to carry gear, but clothing, water, bike
tools and tire replacements, first aid kit, and food, at least lunches and high-energy
snacks, are all necessary. And how to plan for early spring weather? Cold mornings
and evenings, warm afternoons, possible rain?
Tom is a backpacker. He knows the value of counting ounces
and packing light. He’s also never been much of a clothes guy. But for the past
few days he’s been busy worrying about packing the right combination of biking
clothes, while I’ve been busy worrying about our physical fitness, and
calculating and recalculating our daily mileage. As Tom adds to his panniers, I
subtract in a feeble attempt to keep our loads light and leave space for
picnics and wine bottles.
As our Thursday departure approaches and the butterflies in
my gut keep me awake at night, I remind myself that if we misread the cue sheet
and get lost, it won’t be the end of the world. We have cell phones and credit
cards … let the adventure begin!
