AmtraktoPortland

Framebuilder Express & NAHBS 08 Update

Well here it is: the trip report and photos from the best social bike event of the year!

5-Feb. 2008

6:30am I arrive at the Philadelphia airport where I will be meeting Stephen Bilenky, painter Bryan Myers, and Carl Marin (Bilenky Cycle Works). Bryan hailing from Berks County, PA (near Amish country) has brought me my favorite Amish treat, whoopie pies! I wonder how they will survive the journey, as they are a soft chocolate cake and cream sandwich. Very squishable.

6:45am We are escorted to the front of the check-in line because of the amount and size of our luggage. We each have 2 personal items as well as 2 S&S hard cases, and S&S backpack case, and a Trico bike case. The S&S cases went as luggage with no questions and no fees. It really works!!

7:00am We got through security no problem (everyone remembered to check their bike tools) and headed to our gate for boarding.

11:00am (Central time) The flight to Chicago went smooth other than me sitting next to the guy dressed all in camo reading an elk-hunting book. We all pile into a shuttle van to go to Chicago Union Station

12:00pm Quite a few of our Framebuilder Express attendees have been here since this morning but some are still missing. Introductions are made and the Framebuilder Express experience kicks off!

1:45pm I panic a little when it is check-in time and Diane and Brian (Hubbub Bicycles) still haven’t arrived. I finally see them and realize they had been hanging out in the first-class passenger lounge. Everyone is here and I can relax.

2:00pm The conductor counts us off as we walk out onto the platform to board the train. Stephen of course is last to get in line; he is cramming in as much email and internet time as possible.

2:15pm As the train pulls out of Chicago we are given a choice of champagne or sparkling cider. Now we’re talking!

4:00pm We are now somewhere in Wisconsin and most of us have made our way to the lounge car. Stephen buys the first round of beer, and Kevin (Roark Custom Titanium Bicycles) buys the second. Shop talk can now commence.

5:30 The dining car says they can’t accommodate our whole group at one time but after much persuasion I get them to agree to a group lunch tomorrow. Meanwhile the steward says to the server” she’s been like this all night.” I think he’s joking. I have the same dinner slot as Yoon, Stephen, Brian, Diane, and Doug Fattic.

7:00pm By this time we have all had a nice, if bumpy, dinner on the rails and we head back to the lounge for more beer and more chatting.

11:15pm We pull out of Minneapolis and soon after I head to bed in my sweet sleeper, after all I have been up since 5am.

6-Feb-2008

8:45am I wake up to catch the last breakfast slot an Stephen tells me that several Famebuilder Express attendees stayed up in the lounge talking a drinking well into the wee hours of the morning. I promise not to be such a party pooper tonight. Breakfast with Carl and Stephen is accompanied by gorgeous prairie scenery. We are sitting across from a man from North Dakota who fills us in on geographical and cultural facts of the area. The dining car steward comes over and informs me that our group lunch will be at 11am Mountain time. He makes an announcement over the loudspeaker as well. He makes a point to say that this group lunch is “one time only!” What I heard was, “don’t push your luck, you crazy framebuilders.”

11am (Mountain time) Our group lunch is lovely and we invited two other people who boarded the train last night in Minneapolis who are off to NAHBS to work as volunteers. Stephen and I take advantage of having everyone together and we hand out the Famebuilder Express t-shirts.

12:30pm Most everyone is hanging in the lounge again. Eric (Dirt Rag Magazine) is snapping pictures and a few of us are playing “pass around the wireless card” so we can check our email. Bryan has changed into his Framebuilder Express t-shirt. We also use the afternoon to finish off the rest of the whoopie pies. Stephen throws one to Diane as he passes her sleeper and her response is “whoopee!”

3:30pm There is a wine and cheese tasting in the dining car for all the passengers holding sleeper accommodations. Stephen prefers writing emails to wine and cheese but the rest of us go. They serve all local cheeses, which is a nice touch. They raffle off the extra bottles of wine, sadly none of us win any. Bob smuggles the extra cheese out to the people in our group without sleeper accommodations. Bob, always thinking of the community.

6:00pm The day goes by quickly, we occupy our time watching scenery, relaxing, and getting to know each other. The prairie gives way to badlands, and then to the beginnings of the Rocky Mountains. Before I know it its dinner time again. It seems like every time we finish a meal they are coming around with reservations for the next one. This time I have dinner with Stephen, Doug, Eric, Carl, and Bob (Bilenky Cycle Works).

7:30pm Apparently the 6:45 dinner slot was the one to have. Sitting in the lounge we hear over the loudspeaker several time “Head conductor to the dining car, please.” A few moments later one of the porters walks into the lounge and starts gathering a pile of blankets and luggage and throwing them into a garbage bag. Jim and Kevin (Roark) come back from dinner and we are all eager to know what is going on. We find out that a man dressed in railroad engineer overalls is drunk, causing a scene, disrupting dinner, and claiming polar bears make the best neighbors.

8:30pm As we pull up to the West Glacier, MT station there is a police car waiting. Allen buys a round of beer to go along with the show. We all crowd around the windows and watch as the intoxicated railroad engineer’s belongings are removed from the train. A few minutes later he is escorted to the police car and the train pulls out of the station. Yay! We got to see someone get thrown off the train at night in the middle of nowhere!

9:00pm After all the excitement we settled back into our seats in the lounge. Jim produced a bottle of Seagram’s from his pocket and we hung out until we arrived in Whitefish, MT. We got off the train in Whitefish to stretch our legs, and take pictures of this picturesque, snowy town.

9:30pm The steward makes an announcement about breakfast details for tomorrow and says that we have “a good group.” I guess he likes us after all.

11:00pm Although I had vowed to stay up late and party, I was getting sleepy, and wanted to wake up early to catch the end of the Rockies.

7-Feb-2008

2:15am I awake to a commotion in the hall and I peek my head out the door. The sleeper car attendant is walking up to my sleeper. He says, “oh good, you’re up.” Uh-oh this can’t be good. The Empire Builder train splits in Spokane, WA and half goes to Portland, while the other half goes to Seattle, WA. Something was wrong with our sleeper car and it needed to go to Seattle to be repaired. We had 2 choices; we could stay on the sleeper and go to Seattle, and from there take a train to Portland, or we could go straight to Portland and sleep in coach for the night. I am pretty cranky when I get woken up in the middle of the night and I really didn’t feel like sleeping on a seat, so I made the decision to stay on to Seattle. They said I would only arrive 4 or 5 hours later than the rest of the group. To me it was worth it to get a good night’s sleep. I figured I wouldn’t be the only one staying on to Seattle.

7:30am (Pacific time) I wake up and the train is stopped. I look outside and see a view of the sun still coming up against the Cascade Mountains. I am briefly distracted by the scenery, until I realize I am the only person in the car. I walk upstairs and through to the next car. No one there either. Now I am panicking a bit. I hear voices from downstairs so I head that way. The head conductor and steward are sitting at a table and seeing me the steward says “what are you doing here?!” Now I am panicking a lot! I explain that I stayed on to Seattle and he says he knew someone was staying on, he just didn’t know it was me. I find out that no one else from the group stayed. They also tell me the train is not going any further because of trees down in the Cascades an that they are bussing us over the mountain pass. As horrible as that sounds its not as bad as when I had thought I was the only one on the train!

8:00am I now have to call my Tourism professor and inform him that I can’t email my paper because I am stranded in a valley of the Cascade Mountains. We’ll see how that goes over.

9:00am I step outside in Wenatchee, WA and go in search of breakfast. The busses are not supposed to arrive until 10:30.

11:30am I am now on the bus an hour later than anticipated. The bus ride shouldn’t be too bad as long as the schizophrenic across the aisle doesn’t lose it. He fills us in on all the medication he is taking and how he is going to check himself into a hospital. Yikes!

1:30pm We are at 4,000 ft elevation and are stopped while the road is cleared of an avalanche. I am starting to get pretty antsy. On the plus side, the snowy mountains are majestic and really a sight to see.

3:30pm The bus pulls into Seattle and I’m excited to see the city, and even more excited to get off the cramped bus. I pick up my train ticket to Portland and take a walk around before it is time to board.

5:30pm I meet some other guys on the train who are going to NAHBS as well. I look at the time and realize I have now been traveling for 60 hours. It has been a long trip!

9:30pm I finally arrive in Portland. It is an odd feeling not being on rails anymore. After emailing my paper to my professor Stephen and I go to Denny’s for a gourmet dinner. I run into Mike Flanigan from ANT in the elevator and introduce myself, as I have never met him in person.

12:00am No partying for me tonight. I head to bed, and am actually missing my sleeper!

8-Feb-2008

10:00am I’m glad the convention center is just across the street because true to Portland weather, it is raining. I pick up my exhibitor badge and enter the main expo hall. Wow, our booth looks awesome! Since I arrived 9 hours, yes 9 hours (!!) later than everyone else I was not involved in the setup. We definitely have the most bikes in our booth of any exhibitor. And such a variety! Stephen, Bryan, Carl, and Bob did a fabulous job on designing and setting up the booth. It’s going to be a great show.

11:00am I have only been at the show for an hour and I have already been approached by quite a few people asking how my adventure was, saying they were glad I made it etc. Not only by people I rode the train with but by people I had never met. Oh great, everybody knows about my brilliant decision! Also within this hour I am interviewed and have my picture taken with my pink and cream Bilenky Tourlite, by two different sources!

12:00pm Although today is the least busy of the 3 days (today is industry day) there is still plenty going on. Stephen has a couple of interviews, we have a photo shoot, and we have a constant stream of people with questions, comments, and tons of positive feedback. I spend about half the day at the booth and the other half walking around, checking out the beautiful bikes, and talking to people.

4:00pm Some of the fantastic people I have gotten a chance to chat with today; From the Framebuiler Express crew: Dan and Dennis (Cicli Polito Cycles), Kevin and Jim (Roarke), Allen and Owen Lloyd, Yoon Son, Sean Price, Doug Fattic, surprisingly I don’t see Diane & Brian all day! I make my rounds and talk to our friends Drew, Andy, and Ed from Engin Cycles, Neil from Cycle Monkey who we built a Cargo Bike for, the crew at Dirt Rag Magazine, Lon from Nova Cycle, the guys from Da Vinci Designs, and Rich and Chris from Chris King. Some other people I have met today: Alexis from Villin Cycle Works, Buck, Elayne, (actually I met Elayne last year at a tandem expo in Jersey) and Chuck from Co-Motion, Stephen and Mike from Bike Friday, Carl from Vicious, Brian Baylis and Joe Bell (!!!) 2 amazing painters (I got to ride the train with 2 other amazing painters, Bryan Myers, and Doug Fattic. I’m sorry if I am leaving anyone out! I visited a bit with Jeff and Ian from Ortleib who so generously gave me a pair of pink panniers that match fabulously with my bike. I put them on right away. They look awesome!

To be continued.......