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Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
(Post 28674351)
My car rental is not with Hertz (Alamo as a SEA to RNO one-way spanning two days), and it's out of SEA, not PDX. Alamo lets you pre-reserve cars to where you can print the paperwork and then hop in your car class and drive off.
Hopefully they play fair. On that note, I wonder how many people booked backup cars that they ultimately won't pick up. |
Originally Posted by tusphotog
(Post 28674085)
I know this might stray OT, but in case anyone is planning on watching from Mt. Jefferson in eastern Oregon, the Mt. Jefferson wilderness area is closed due to fires. There are ways in if you know the area and want to hike (or fly) but officially it's "closed."
http://flycascades.com/heli-tours/so...ipse-basecamp/ |
Originally Posted by notquiteaff
(Post 28674499)
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I just got told to go from FL to Denver on the 20th. So I will be in Denver / Colorado Springs for it. Hope I get a decent show or at least better than I would in FL and work is paying.
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
(Post 28674486)
That doesn't help if they oversell, though, and there is nothing to hop into :)
Hopefully they play fair. On that note, I wonder how many people booked backup cars that they ultimately won't pick up. |
Originally Posted by lazytom
(Post 28673941)
Don't go too far east of SLE or you might run into smoke from wildfires ...
http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/2017...r-fire_10.html http://www.statesmanjournal.com/stor...ark/546663001/
Originally Posted by pokee
(Post 28674182)
I do have experience with this -- I went to Cornwall, England in '99 for the total eclipse there. It rained. :( But I did get to experience the darkness and the birds nesting - quite an eerie experience, so it's worth being in the area of totality, regardless!
Originally Posted by sdsearch
(Post 28673869)
Ouch! Consider that a lot of people might be leaving Salem (SLE) for Portland around the same time, since a lot people who live in Portland are likely to come south for just the event and want to get back home afterwards. So roads between SLE and PDX might be a crawl :eek:!
Would it be better staying off the highway and take smaller back roads? Another question - is there a gas station at/close to the airport in PDX? [I've booked a car with Avis]. |
Everyone worrying about smoke: don't freak too much yet. It's not so thick that it blocks the sun. It just makes everything orange. We're still 10 days out. Weather and visibility forecasts are useless at this time.
If you go into Stayton or other small towns on back roads, be careful if you don't know the area. Those roads will be crowded. There will be people parked in places they shouldn't be (or ON the road). Be careful with parking over the dry grass etc. There's lots of little back roads you can go off of, but do expect to be sitting in traffic coming back to town.
Originally Posted by jms_uk
(Post 28677169)
Another question - is there a gas station at/close to the airport in PDX? [I've booked a car with Avis].
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Originally Posted by tusphotog
(Post 28677249)
There's a new 7-11 gas station that's almost open at the corner of 82nd and NE Airport Way. I'm not sure when it'll be open, but I drove by it the other day and it looked ready. Not sure how much you end up driving, but this might be one of the times where getting the fuel option is a good idea. Otherwise there's gas all along the 205 and 5. Just follow the blue signs. I usually fill up at Foster Road.
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What? Y'all aren't flying AS SEA-MSY on Friday, then DL MSY-ATL-GSP? 'Cause that's what I'm doing.... ;)
(g/f lives in Greenville, SC, and her tiny little hometown of Waterloo is directly under the centerline of the path of totality, so we're headed there to see it.) |
Originally Posted by tusphotog
(Post 28677249)
Everyone worrying about smoke: don't freak too much yet. It's not so thick that it blocks the sun. It just makes everything orange. We're still 10 days out. Weather and visibility forecasts are useless at this time.
If you go into Stayton or other small towns on back roads, be careful if you don't know the area. Those roads will be crowded. There will be people parked in places they shouldn't be (or ON the road). Be careful with parking over the dry grass etc. There's lots of little back roads you can go off of, but do expect to be sitting in traffic coming back to town. There's a new 7-11 gas station that's almost open at the corner of 82nd and NE Airport Way. I'm not sure when it'll be open, but I drove by it the other day and it looked ready. Not sure how much you end up driving, but this might be one of the times where getting the fuel option is a good idea. Otherwise there's gas all along the 205 and 5. Just follow the blue signs. I usually fill up at Foster Road. Thank you - all useful tips! |
From Stayton and Sublimity, you can take the old Cascade Highway up to Silverton and then state highway 213 to Oregon City from there, getting you most of the way back to PDX. But these are two-lane roads, and I-5 is going to be so backed up that Google Maps may end up routing people even onto those.
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I'm heading out Friday evening to Newport OR to camp by the beach in a friend's yard. Hope to head home to Portland on Monday evening but can stay another day if traffic is awful.
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Just a quick update...I was able to cancel my BLI-PDX flight with no fee because of a schedule change, and they refunded my points because of there wasn't even any alternate flights to pick from! That was lucky!
So now that I'm officially driving down the I-5 from BC, I get to feel the full experience of the Eclipse weekend traffic - with the border included! Yay! But honestly, I'm feeling better about that than I am about airports and rental cars!!! I'm leaving on Thursday, so hopefully it won't be too bad. I guess I just really need to be concerned for the day of the Eclipse, which I would've had to battle regardless of flying down or driving. Cute Alaska eclipse story, too: the agent that cancelled my reservation told me that they had a contest for all AS employees to enter to win a seat on a flight that will be in the path of totality. I'm guessing it was on this chartered flight ( https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-ai...rican-eclipse/ ) Of course, she didn't win, but apparently it was quite the exciting contest for all of them, and I'm sure an amazing win for whoever did! :) |
Originally Posted by drewcwsj
(Post 28678249)
I'm heading out Friday evening to Newport OR to camp by the beach in a friend's yard. Hope to head home to Portland on Monday evening but can stay another day if traffic is awful.
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Originally Posted by ddavault
(Post 28673238)
I'm in Salem, ground zero. Places are gearing up around here for the madness. I know a lot of businesses will be closed and the hospital will be in disaster mode. They are adding triage tents and requiring some staff to sleep at the hospital. The real worry is with all the traffic emergency responders may not be able to get to where they need to go.
I did see that Hertz was in damage control mode on the rate increases and cancellations and that they were trying to get additional cars into the area. And Uber, not Lyft, just started service in Salem, so that could be an option too. In Salem Enterprise has 2 good sized offices and Budget has one a the airport, which has no scheduled service, but if you take the Hut Shuttle from PDX this is where it lets you off. I'll be spending the morning at Trinity Vineyards, which I can reach from my house using back roads. A lot of the vineyards around the area are doing special events. The state attorney general just fined a bunch of hotels for unfair business practices for raising rates and canceling reservations. If this happens to you I would file a complaint. https://justice.oregon.gov/consumerc...mplaintForm/en http://www.opb.org/news/series/solar...rease-refunds/ |
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