You may want to go ahead and get your passport/passport card renewals done now - the current REAL ID waiver (issued in June) is good through October 10 (including federal buildings, etc). Should hopefully be plenty of time for your renewals to be processed, barring any major surprises.

http://www.maine.gov/sos/news/2017/realid61517.html

If this is all about REAL ID, my understanding is that the requirement is that the ID be issued by a state compliant with REAL ID (or with an extension)�not that the ID itself be REAL ID-compliant. I.e., if Maine has an extension (and it did back in August, and the extension was just renewed, to expire October 10, 2018), your Maine DL will get you onto planes and into federal buildings, regardless of whether it has a gold star or not.

As that page says, "The waiver, granted Oct. 18, is valid through Oct. 10, 2018. During this period, Maine driver�s licenses and IDs will be accepted as valid identification for federal purposes, such as entrance to federal facilities and boarding commercial aircraft." And https://www.dhs.gov/real-id/maine agrees: "Maine has an extension for REAL ID enforcement, allowing Federal agencies to accept driver's licenses and identification cards from Maine at Federal facilities, nuclear power plants and federally regulated commercial aircraft until October 10, 2018."

So renew your US passport and passport card when it's convenient for you, and use your Maine DL if you don't have your passport card.

I thought I would use this thread for a general question...

I am down to 2 pages left for visa stamps. I move around a pretty decent amount, and I am at the point of trying to get immigration officers to stamp in "efficient" locations to maximize spaces on the pages ... but you know how that can go sometimes.

I will be back in the USA for 4 weeks over the holidays but I would love to squeeze a bit more out of my passport book versus sending it in to get a new one if I can help it. It doesn't expire until 2020 so time wise I have plenty of time.

My question is ... has anyone had luck traveling internationally and getting immigration officers at countries to stamp in random, tight spots on pages until the passport is literally so jam packed it would HAVE to be renewed?

This is my first passport I am maxing out so maybe I am naive and what I describe above is part and parcel for grizzled travelers, but I am asking because I'd love to not have to deal with renewing it quite yet and just keep finding open space on random pages assuming this isn't some sort of taboo thing for some weird reason?

EDIT - part of why I ask is because I occasionally hear the typical fine print line of "must have at least 2 open visa pages" for acceptance into a country, blah blah. I have no clue if that is just a line they say but do not really enforce, or if it actually is a big deal. It's part of why I am trying to keep my last 2 blank pages open.

I of course have 2-3 pages open additionally of endorsement pages, but as far as I know those aren't supposed to be used for visa stamps. However, I am sure if it's all you have, then it will get stamped right? Versus denying you?

thanks for the chuckle.

Ignoring the minimum requirement of two blank pages will work until it doesn't. Doesn't get more simple than that. The immigration officer of the country you are trying to enter makes the determination if there is room or not.
So you should definitely get it renewed when you have the opportunity. I had to get my passport renewed 3 years early last spring for the same reason.

Haha, thanks. If I plan on being lazy, then I need to ENSURE they do not encroach into my holy 2 free pages now.