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Old 05-25-09, 12:09 AM
  #14  
moleman76
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Jerry, here's one more semi-crazy idea which works with the CCW route:

Park your vehicle at any convenient Amtrak station on the Empire Builder route (Chicago-Seattle). Needs to be a station where you can check luggage, i.e. your bike (boxed).

Then, get off at Ephrata or Wenatchee, Washington; ride the loop, except for Stevens Pass, ending up at Everett. Procure bike box at the station, box bike, and ride the train back.

better find out from a person at Amtrak (better yet, a couple people) that you can indeed get baggage OFF the train at Ephrata or Wenatchee -- according to their website, no baggage service nor help with baggage at either location. As I recall (coming back from backpacking trips in Glacier Park), train gets into Ephrata at about 5:30 am and Wenatchee by about 7:00.

If you get off at Ephrata, you can ride north in the canyon that's called the Grand Coulee; stop at the visitor center at Dry Falls and watch the movie on the geology. Then, continue north to Grand Coulee, see the dam, (note - the ride down to that visitor center will test your brakes, the ride back up, your very lowest gear -- might want to find a non-bike way to work that part in). From Grand Coulee, you can head west on the south side of the river and scream down another hill before crossing the river to get to Chelan.

Eastbound from Everett, train leaves in the early evening.
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