OK. Been pricing plane tickets, vans, bikes and other options. This is what I got:
Option A:
Depart Pittsburgh Saturday 9/11 for Grand Junction, CO. Rent van and drive to Moab (1.5 hrs). Ride Sunday through Thurs in Moab, maybe take a day off in the middle to recover and hike arches or something. Rent another van, drive back to GJ and catch flight to Denver friday morning for brewfest and debauchery. Fly home sunday afternoon.
- Plane ticket $450 person.
- Minivan rental $75/day
Pros: least amount of time in transit to all destinations. Greatest amount of time in Moab. Most convenient bike options.
Cons: Can't see any, except we only get to ride in Moab, but how bad could that be?
Option 2:
Fly to GJ on saturday, rent van, drive to Moab. Stay in moab a few days and ride. Rent another van and leave on wed or thursday and drive to Denver (6 hrs or so), stopping for a day or two in between for riding (there's lots of places to ride in between). Arrive friday for brewfest and debauchery. Fly home sunday.
- Plane ticket $400/person.
- Minivan rental $75/day
Pros: Get to ride more than just Moab. Get to do a little traveling, which could lead to adventure (both natural and cultural).
Cons: Being in a van with 4 sweaty bikers for lengthy periods of time. Need to travel with bikes (see bike options).
Option D:
Fly roundtrip PIT/DEN. Rent van and drive to all destinations, winging it as far as itinerary goes.
- Plane tickets $260
- Van $75
Pros: Most economical, least amount of airports, most Kerouac-ian of options.
Cons: Least convenient. Most transit time of all options.
Bike options:
Bike rentals are going to cost $60/day or so for a good bike. You can ship your bike to the bike shop (poison spider or any of the others) for around $200 round trip. They will build it up when it arrives for $45 or just store it for Chris for $20 and he can put his together when we get there. It's gonna cost about the same if we do 4 days of riding, and this is my dilemma: Do I want to rent a really sweet bike or would I rather ride a bike that I'm comfortable on? I remember being a little sketchy on my new bike until I got used to it.
Also, any of the itineraries involving riding anywhere else than Moab will require buying a rack so we can travel with bikes if we ship, or finding spots to ride that have a rental shop nearby (shouldn't be that hard) while we're trekking.
I'm leaning toward option A for travel, and shipping my bike, but open for suggestions.
OK, maybe that was more like 45 cents worth.
Talk to me...
My 45¢:
ReplyDeleteI haven't been doing much flight searches but isn't their a airport in Moab (canyonlands?)? Is it way too pricy?
I think there is plenty of riding in Moab for us for the week. Colorado would be a benefit if it was convenient or more cost effective but I hate to waste too much r&r time rushing around and cramming crap into an already fun filled trip.
I plan on taking 1 day to do a pain in the ass drive to capitol reef national park. It is 3 hrs west of Moab but I have this insane goal of visiting every national park. I figured I would be doing that by myself so I wasn't dragging yinz along on a fruitless quest. I won't be able to do so if we're only in Moab of a few days. I won't be heartbroken.
We may be able to ship bikes directly to hotel and they will hold them for us for free. I have done this in the past w/ large packages on business trips. Granted those were fancier hotels w/ bell captians and such but these "mountain bike friendly" establishments may offer similar guest services.
Option X4Q:
ReplyDeleteChuck and O'har decide to go along. The want to drive (chuck needs his dirtbike). I drive with them bring all bikes and meet you in Moab on 9/11. It'll be 911 times 1000.....
Canyonlands airfield has limited commercial flights. Round trip start around 650 and I couldn't even find multiple destination flights, which is why I omitted it. I think the extra $1k between us would go further in the strip club on the drive from grand junction.
ReplyDeleteIf you wanna spend 4 days of your trip drivin, it's cool with me. I just want to get a plan together soon-ish so I can buy plane tix.
Note: If we rent a car in denver it appears to be cheaper to rent from a downtown location vs. the airport, since we will be staying downtown on our return this would save us a trip out to the airport as well. (Hertz mini-van $378 for the week)
ReplyDelete911 times 1000???
ReplyDeleteThat's.....
911,000!
Has it occurred to anyone else that strewn throughout this blog are references to 9/11, air travel, Mohammed, jiihad, shuttles, large packages and national parks. I hope the Feds don't know how to use google...
ReplyDeleteI emailed the Apache Motel and they said we can ship our bikes to them:
ReplyDelete"John;
Yes you may ship them to us. Just put your name c/o the apache motel 166 South 400 east Moab Utah 84532. Then we can look you up and know your arrivial date.
Sharon"
We are watching you JihadJohn
ReplyDeleteNot sure if anyone noticed but the Bing price predictor went from green "steady or rising" to yellow "steady". Maybe they will goto red "steady or falling" soon...
ReplyDelete