Started off well enough, if a bit early. Took 40x to Civic Center, bought the Amtrak tickets with a combination of a voucher (left over from my LAX to SAC exchange last year, and due to expire in about a week) and cash, and went to ALN for a few hours.
302 left on time, but due to track work, it kept stopping and the max speed I saw on my speedometer app was about 40 miles per hour when it could. It ended up arriving at ALN 24 minutes late.
In Alton, I first walked to Jack In The Box for breakfast, then ended up walking down Washington in the direction of the Golden Corral buffet. On the way back, I took the Madison County Transit's 9 Washington Shuttle for a few stops, mainly so I could say I'd experienced it. It was average for being a bus, and shuttle prices are reasonable (shuttle-designated routes are most common. http://www.mct.org/busServices/SchedulesAndiMaps.aspx lists the routes, ordered by type), one dollar for adults.
301 ended up departing ALN at 11:47 AM, 25 minutes late. We arrived via Merchant's Bridge at 1:36 PM, 1 hour and 16 minutes late. Since for me it was only a difference of which train I was riding in Amtrak versus MetroLink (I made sure I got as much value as I could for my day pass, and discovered a popcorn place that has cheddar popcorn almost as good as my usual Chicago place [called Poptions!]), definitely not as annoyed about the delay (plus I got to charge my phone enough to keep it from dying on me before I got home).us
And on a random note: This place, while I didn't get to purchase any today, lists “Toasted Rav” as a flavor that they sell. If I were to acquire some shortly before I head out for SEA, would anyone be interested in trying it?
EDIT: Have some random pictures.
Always popular, but a little different (how often have you been over Merchant's Bridge on your way into or out of STL?)
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If this were still accurate, I could walk to the bus stop in the mornings if I "had" to. Instead, the first/last stop is now a Mobile gas station at Interstate 55 and Meramec Bottom Road.
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302 left on time, but due to track work, it kept stopping and the max speed I saw on my speedometer app was about 40 miles per hour when it could. It ended up arriving at ALN 24 minutes late.
In Alton, I first walked to Jack In The Box for breakfast, then ended up walking down Washington in the direction of the Golden Corral buffet. On the way back, I took the Madison County Transit's 9 Washington Shuttle for a few stops, mainly so I could say I'd experienced it. It was average for being a bus, and shuttle prices are reasonable (shuttle-designated routes are most common. http://www.mct.org/busServices/SchedulesAndiMaps.aspx lists the routes, ordered by type), one dollar for adults.
301 ended up departing ALN at 11:47 AM, 25 minutes late. We arrived via Merchant's Bridge at 1:36 PM, 1 hour and 16 minutes late. Since for me it was only a difference of which train I was riding in Amtrak versus MetroLink (I made sure I got as much value as I could for my day pass, and discovered a popcorn place that has cheddar popcorn almost as good as my usual Chicago place [called Poptions!]), definitely not as annoyed about the delay (plus I got to charge my phone enough to keep it from dying on me before I got home).us
And on a random note: This place, while I didn't get to purchase any today, lists “Toasted Rav” as a flavor that they sell. If I were to acquire some shortly before I head out for SEA, would anyone be interested in trying it?
EDIT: Have some random pictures.
Always popular, but a little different (how often have you been over Merchant's Bridge on your way into or out of STL?)
Untitled
If this were still accurate, I could walk to the bus stop in the mornings if I "had" to. Instead, the first/last stop is now a Mobile gas station at Interstate 55 and Meramec Bottom Road.
Untitled
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