Bicycles on Amtrak

I am sick of dealing with the traffic between DC and Philly. Particularly on holiday weekends. I do not enjoy spending 5 hours sitting in traffic each way. So, I looked to Amtrak.

Amtrak makes things very difficult to get between DC and Philly. Its OK if you only have your 2 carry ons. Then there's a train every 30-60 minutes. But, if you want to take a bike.... then you have to find a train with the checked baggage.

I found a whole bunch of them. But, they either do not let passengers on between DC and Philly or they don't let them off. So, I poked around the schedules. Looking at multiple schedules (because who would want to see *all* the routes between DC and NYC on one chart?). I think I figured it out. I can get on and off at Alexandria (right by King St. Metro) and then the Philly end works out fine. Its a bit longer than the commuter trips from DC. About an hour more each way. And it costs ~$145 including the bike.

Or I can skip the bike and travel roundtrip for ~$100 and 2 hours faster.

Or I can drive and deal with the disaster that will be Memorial Day weekend (estimated driving time, roundtrip, 9 hours, and $50 in tolls/gas).

*sigh*