audrey in utah

Am thinking of a tour down the Oregon Coast...starting in Portland, up to Astoria to begin the southerly journey. What are some good options to get back to Portland to pick up our vehicle? I'm afraid time will not allow a complete circle...so, always that question of how to get back?! Is there a best option to end the coastal journey without completing it to Brookings and still getting a decent tour down the coast? We have about 4 weeks total for vacation and about 3 can be on our bikes.

valygrl

One-way rental car. I've done it twice to return from tours, it's quite reasonable with multiple people, and SO much less hassle.

Pat from CA

Train back to Portland...or fly one person back and they drive to you. One way rental car might be tough with a bunch of bikes...

Doug64

There are not a lot of options. We are doing the same route this summer ,but ending in San Francisco. We have explored some of the options. As far as I can tell there is limited bus service on parts of the Oregon coast. Flying is not a good option because commercial air service is limited, and there is no rail service onthe southern coast. Actually ,the car rental may be the best option. I'd make some calls to the larger towns, and see if this is possible.

One option that might work out is to take the Amtrack bus from Portland to Astoria, and then use the extra time to end up in Eureka, California. We used the bus last year when we ended a tour in Astoria to get back to Portland. There might be a better chance of finding a rental there. Even with my knowledge and working on there regularly, we have wrestled with this challenge , and have not come up with a good solution. That was one of the reasons we decied to go to from Astoria to SF;we can catch the train back to Oregon there. We plan on doing it in three weeks, which allows quite a bit of time for "touring".

BigBlueToe

I did something similar. I took the train up from California to Portland, rode out Highway 30 to Astoria, then headed down the coast. When I got to Brookings I called Avis and rented a car which I picked up the next day at the airport in Crescent City. I drove it home to California, but could just as easily have driven it back up to Portland.

It was just me and my bike. The rental (a Ford Taurus) had fold-down rear seats. I was able to fit the bike in. That was probably lucky. What if they'd given me a PT Cruiser?

I suggest calling way in advance and seeing what kind of car you can reserve. Maybe you can rent a van. There's always U-Haul too.

staehpj1

We got a medium sized SUV from Enterprise($143.69 one way in 2007). It fit us and our three bikes and gear OK. It was the cheapest and best way we found. Uhaul quoted about double that for a van.

truman

Myself and two friends split the rental of a full-size crew cab pickup truck at the end of a week tour. Held the bikes and gear no problem - and beat the holy snot out of riding the bus an letting the ninnies throw the bikes around, or jacking with airlines and boxes and shuttles and DHS.

We could have gotten a 4th rider and bike in comfortably, too.

audrey in utah

Thanks all for the great advice! Seems as though the one way car rental wins. I wasn't aware of picking one up in Crescent City...Now I can focus on other things!