spinnaker

No I meant a rental from the rental car company. I heard some rent them. But your right, it is probably forbidden. It might be a good idea to back some rags with the racks to place under the rubber feet of the rack.

So far I guess just you and me and possibly a couple of my buddies (if they go). I really wish others would chime in We need to get this wrapped up soon.


Where did you find a mini van? Hertz did not have them. Maybe you should reserve one?

twodeadpoets

Sorry, count me in for the return to Pitts.

VT_Speed_TR

Hey Spinnaker,

If I decide to go with my original plan to drive to DC from Vt, and then rent a vehicle for travel to Pitts to start the ride,

1) If the return is at the Pitt airport, how is cycling to the start of our adventure?

2) Or perhaps hotels closer to the ride start that have shuttles to the airport? I could drop the bike first at the hotel, so I wouldn't have to deal with that on the shuttle.

2) Do you know of any car rental companies closer to the ride start?

Thanx's
Brian

spinnaker

I have 3-4 (could probably squeeze 5 if you are odd man out on a hotel room) spots here at Ostello Spinnaker. I have a couch, an air mattress and a love seat if you are short. Others will need to provide sleeping bag and pad. No one has yet to make a reservation.

I can also provide taxi service for the out of towners. I can either bring you here or to a nearby hotel. I think we will have one or two people driving here with their vehicles that might also be able to help out.
Another thought is for everyone to stay at the same one or two hotels. You could all meet there then share a cab back the hotel (if no shuttle) or Ostello Spinnaker. It will only be about $25 with tip (around $6 each for 4).


There is a hotel a stones throw from the trail. It should provide a shuttle. The problem is there are no nearby restaurants. I suppose we could pick you up for dinner. I will try and get a buddy or two to join us for dinner Friday night.

There are also a number of hotels with shuttles in the nearby shopping center. If you go that route this might be the easiest over all. It is an easy bike ride to the restaurants and to the bike trail.

I am going to suggest the Red Roof Inn on Stuebenville Pike. It is spiting distance from a number of restaurants, a bike shop and a grocery store but I do not thing it provides a shuttle but I can check. There is also one right behind the grocery. I think it provides a shuttle.

I will provide phone numbers at a later this week. To keep things simple, I will probably just suggest 3-4 and let you know the cost per room and if they provide a shuttle, proximity to the trail etc.

VT_Speed_TR

I've been doing some checking on car rentals and the only local place that I can seem to make a reservation is on the Avis site. They have a drop off in Pleasant Hills, which doesn't appear too far from the Yough Inn. The rate is around $165 oneway.

If I go this route, I'd pick the car up early on Friday at Reagan Airport, spotting my car there in long term parking.

Would anyone else be interested in sharing a ride?

Brian

Neil_B

The Yough Shore Inn is about 40 miles from Spinnaker's place, and the ride start. The Yough was intended as lodging for the first night on the trail.

I'd be interested in riding down to DC with someone instead of driving across PA. I don't feel like leaving my own car in a strange lot for 8 or 9 days. (Carpooling in my car is out because I can only carry one bike.) The catch is that I have both a bike and a trailer, in addition to my gear.

I found Carrentals.com to have the lowest prices and best service for renting. A vehicle big enough for two riders, two bikes, a trailer, and gear was less than 70 bucks every time, with no one-way charges.

VT_Speed_TR

Hey Historian,

Thanx's for clearing up on the Yough Inn being the first night on the trail. Sounds like a great place.

I see that you may do an extended tour back home, but I'd be happy to carpool from DC to Pitts. Since I'd be passing by (well somewhat close) to your home, I could pick you up and then we could head to DC to get the rental. We should be able to pile everything into the back of my Kia Sportage. I've had 2 bikes laying flat on the floor before, with luggage piled on them. If you decide not to do the bike tour back home from DC, I could drop you off at your home on my way back home.

Brian

Neil_B

Deal. And I could arrange to be closer to wherever you are passing through. Let's work out the arrangements privately.

Are you going to stay at Ostello Spinnaker?

Neil_B

Carrentals.com is showing National offering a SUV at Reagan National for 99 bucks. No drop off charge.

dewaday

Thanks Historian, nice find.
Spin, just to clarify. We're planning on return drive to Pittsburgh on Saturday the 20th, correct? Would Pittsburgh National Airport be the best return location?

spinnaker

If you guys from the east want to bring a bike rack, I can ship it back to you Fedex ground.

You will need to:

1. Acquire a suitable box and bring it with you.

2. Visit Fedex or UPS and acquire a shipping form. UPS might be best since I can go to a Staples right near my gym.

3. Determine the cost of shipping. You do not have to pay for it at that time (sometimes that is difficult) just bring the cash and leave it with me.


4. Fill out all paper work and attach it to the bocx and address the box.


5. Understand that I may not be able to return the rack for a few days.

spinnaker

Yeah I think we should come back Saturday. That will give us some of the day Friday and some of the day Saturday to see DC. I have not been to DC in many years. I would like to ride the Mall and possibly go to the Smitsonian Science Museum.


I am wondering about the value of an SUV. You could probably get 3 bikes in there if you stacked them with maybe sleeping bags in between but that would be with the back seat down, so only two people would be able to ride. Am I wrong?

twodeadpoets

My flight back east is BOOKED! We'll see you all soon!

dewaday

I ditched the SUV idea when I found out they don't have hitches for racks. I'm thinking a mini-van makes the most sense at this point. If you shipped your rack ahead I'm pretty sure we could get two bikes outside and two inside. Make sense? I'll go ahead and reserve a mini-van, we can always change later.

robow

It's hard for me to believe that no car rental service in or near DC doesn't have vehicles including trucks/SUV's that wouldn't have a hitch already installed since so many come out of the factory that way? Are we very sure of this?

dewaday

I talked to Enterprise and Hertz this weekend and both said absolutely not. Makes sense since they would have no control over what people towed. My guess is that the hitch is there but locked out somehow.

scott L R

I had an Uncle fly in from Wy. I borrowed a bike for him. We rode to D.C. from Ohiopyle. He flew home from D.C. I tried renting a car-van-truck to come home. U-haul advertises $20.00 a day. Nobody would rent me anything for less than $200.00 due to it being on a weekend. I could pick up group at Pittsburgh if asked niceley.

spinnaker

Thanks Scott,

But I don't think we need to have anyone picked up at Pittsburgh. So far there are only 2 that will be arriving here in a rental car and they should have the space for bodies and bikes.

What we need is a way to get bodies and bikes back to Pittsburgh from DC. The thinking so far is to rent a mini van and pre ship a bike rack. We should be able to get 3-4 people in a van with their bikes that way.

We will keep you in mind. Perhaps in the event of an emergency, if someone needs to be hauled back to Pittsburgh, once we reach your area then your offer would be most helpful.

spinnaker

We are looking at the possibility of using a shuttle service to get us back to Pittsburgh.

This service will do it for $100 each if we have at least 3 people.


Dewaday reports the cost renting a minivan one way at $125. Add say another $50 for gas and tolls (probably really closer to $75). We need to add the cost of shipping the rack. Let's say it is $20.

So that makes it $195 or around $50 each (if we can squeeze in four). If we go with only 3 then that is $65 each. For an extra $35-$50 probably not worth the hassle.


I think there are a lot of advantages to the shuttle.

1. We don't have to hassle with shipping the bike rack.

2. We don't have to bother someone to accept the rack and bring it to us.

3. We don't have the hassle of picking up the van.

4. We don't have to worry about fitting people and bike in the van (having too few people or worse too many).

5. We don't have to worry about mounting the rack or a bike damaging the van (we would probably be breaking the rules with a rack).

6. We don't have to drive. We can sit back and gab about what a great time we had or carry on a fist fight the whole way depending on how things went on the trip.

7. We don't have to hassle with returning the rental vehicle.


There are only two concerns I have.

1. Would they be willing to take us all the way to my house (the shuttle goes to Mckeesport)? My guess is that if we fill a van then it does not matter much. We might need to pay a bit more. Worse comes to worse we could always shuttle a car to Mckeesport and maybe get the assistance of someone in the Burgh not going on the trip. I think there was a BF member who offered the use of a truck and his trailer for local transport.

2. Can we leave when we want? I don't know about anyone else but I would like to leave no earlier than 4 PM to give us a chance to see a bit of DC. Once again, if fill a van we might be able to tell them when we want to leave within reason, unless they want to fill it on the way back. We might need to pay a bit more. The other option would be to stay in DC Friday and Saturday, with hopefully an early morning departure on Sunday.

I have a call into them to get details. My guess is that they don't exactly sit by their phone on the off season so it might take a couple of days for them to get back to me.

dewaday

Assuming they're willing to accommodate our schedule somewhat, I'd opt for the shuttle. Eliminate rack shipping and mounting hassles, getting to and from the rental place, driving and getting lost, and being ready to relax kind of tips it for me. Besides, the joy of 6. camaraderie and fisticuffs can't be overlooked .

spinnaker

Returning to Pittsburgh crew.

Do we want to come back on Sunday or stick with Saturday? I am open to either but if we switch we should probably do so soon.

robow

I would prefer Saturday return but only because I have an 8 hour drive after returning to Pitts. If all others want to stay the day, then that will be fine, but let me know as I can make accommodations.

spinnaker

I assume you need to be back at work on Monday? If so maybe we should stay with Saturday.

You are welcome to stay at my place Saturday or Sunday night (whenever we get back to the Burgh).

I was planning on coming back late afternoon Saturday or whatever day we decide. Is that OK with everyone?

twodeadpoets

So after reading everything on this transportation thread thus far, I can't make heads or tails as to what is happening. I am up for the shuttle (less hassle more room) unless someone has a better plan (fill me in).
Cheers!

spinnaker

Yes we are going with the shuttle for now. With dewaday dropping out we are at the bare minimum of 3 for getting a discount. But it is looking very good for one of my buddies going and that would bring us up to four with a save margin. Plus my friend may bring along two of his friends. A coworker / friend has a 75% chance of going too.

If everyone goes (and comes back to Pittsburgh) that would bring us to 7 and we would qualify for another discount (6 or more).

But if all seven go, then we will need to strap you on the roof. Sorry twodeadpoets.