There were times when I thought I was never going to be able to leave Harpers Ferry. I has an email from Amtrak this morning reporting a delay to my train and when I checked it was 4 hours late (Amtrak don't own the track and apparently therefore have to give way to freight trains). I'd missed the early commuter trains to Washington so I tried contacting shuttle services to take me but they were very expensive if I was the only passenger. A lady at one of the hotels/hostels in town was going to Washington and could take me but not until probably 5pm so that was my best option but left it tight to catch my evening bus. I sat around in the shade by the river not doing a whole lot and even tried leaving my number with the camping store/bike rental place in case they had anyone pass by that was going my way sooner.
I told some people at the railway station about the delay as they were unaware and by that time just after the train was due it was running 7 hours late meaning I'd miss my bus out of Washington. I ended up on the phone to Amtrak for 40 minutes being passed from one person to a second with a very long time on hold until they did what I demanded and changed my ticket free of charge to one headed to Pittsburgh so I could make my bus connection there to Indianapolis.
Whilst I waited for the train I went to the Coach House pub, got something to eat and asked them to put the Arsenal game on their TV. I'd wanted to watch it back in the bar in Washington and wasn't going to miss it although it didn't help my stress levels much being a very tight 1-0 victory over Besiktas which sees us through to the Champions League. I finally got the train to Pittsburgh at 5.45pm. It was already 30 minutes late and offered plenty of comfort but no wifi and arrived into Pittsburgh on time so I'm here earlier than if I'd come from Washington by bus. I'd found out before travelling that the train and bus stations were next to each other so I wandered across and will now eat and wait for the bus to Indianapolis at 3.40am
What a tiring day you had just to move on from Harpers Ferry.
ReplyDeleteHope the Arsenal win was lifted your spirits,and enabled you to relax on your long onward journey.
Indianapolis awaits,do hope you find it an interesting and stimulating city.
Your blogs are a great read.
Take care.