Marking Time

[kevin_standlee]

Lisa is patiently putting up with the tiny little apartment here and the fact that we can't really do much until mid-day Friday, at which point we can shut everything down and disassemble the desk. (I'll be working from the apartment that morning rather than taking the entire day off as I'd originally planned.) She'd rather be at home until she's needed on Friday, but the logistics of getting her down here don't work very well, particularly because, to our mutual annoyance, there is no officially sanctioned long-term parking near the Amtrak station in Reno. (We haven't yet decided whether we can risk leaving a vehicle in one of the surrounding casino's garaged for a week or more.) The only other way to get to Amtrak from Fernley is a $100 taxi ride. There's no Greyhound stop (buses pass right through on their way from Reno to Salt Lake City) nor local public transit (this is one reason our property taxes are so low).

Mind you, we did stack errands on this trip; I took Lisa to have an eye exam yesterday, the first in her life. She has a prescription for reading glasses now and the bad news of a small cataract in her right eye that will probably need to be operated upon in a few years.

When I got back to the apartment after work, I was so fried that I took a nap for 45 minutes or so, after which we had dinner and went for a walk around the area. I put in a lot of road work today: 15K steps including a long walk after lunch. No wonder my feet hurt.

Comments

[garyomaha.livejournal.com]

How about a flag stop for Amtrak in your backyard? Just walk out there with a suitcase and wave them down. Makes sense to me...although Amtrak might balk a little.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Considering that the Fernley Depot used to be right across the street from us, you're right. Alas, the speed limit through Fernley on the UP line is 60 mph and they're usually going that fast. And of course they wouldn't be allowed to do the stop at all without a fully ADA-compliant platform. (That's why UP went and tore out all of the passenger platforms on the former City of Portland route within days of the Pioneer being discontinued. Older platforms could stay in use, but once the platforms were removed, you'd need to build new, modern-standard platforms at vast expense in order to reinstate service.)

The Zephyr used to have a stop at Sparks — I used it just before Amtrak moved the crew-change point to Reno and discontinued the stop — and if they did, we'd be inclined to try the long-term-parking thing in the Nugget's garage paired with a one-night stay, which would not only be much cheaper than the $200 round-trip taxi ride, but also more pleasant.

[garyomaha.livejournal.com]

>>That's why UP went and tore out all of the passenger platforms on the former City of Portland route within days of the Pioneer being discontinued. Older platforms could stay in use, but once the platforms were removed, you'd need to build new, modern-standard platforms at vast expense in order to reinstate service.<<

Wow -- I'm not sure I've heard that one before! That wasn't very nice of them. Perhaps a good business decision to keep freight lines for freight lines but, hey, as a friend points out, the U.P. was given a whole lot of land years ago to provide train service, and this is the service we get?

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Would long term parking at say the Reno Airport and a taxi back to Amtrak be any cheaper than the $100 taxi ride?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

It depends on the length of the trip. The total cost would have to be less than $200 to break even. I also speculate that we might get away with a long parking stay in the casino-hotel garages if we had an overnight stay at the start of the trip, but it's risky to experiment with it.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

I thought about suggesting a casino stay at the beginning of the trip, but decided not to for a couple of reasons. You said the taxi ride would be about $100. I assume you could find casino nights for less than $100 but how much less? Is the difference worth the risk? But, more importantly, if you just park there and go into the casino and hack around for a while and then leave they have no record of the vehicle. So, if they do a parking lot sweep and find the vehicle they might assume someone just forgot to tell the front desk when they checked in. On the other hand, if you stay for a night and give them the vehicle details, then if they do a parking lot sweep they might figure out that you had checked out and that might raise more of a red flag.

However, FWIW when I stayed at the Silver Legacy / Circus Circus complex in Reno for another convention in July 2012, they never asked for car details and I actually had a couple of different cars since I rented a couple of times during the stay but not for the entire stay. So, I think it would be safe to just leave the car at one of the casinos, the key would be to make it plausible and not take a lot of luggage, maybe just a day pack.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Hotel nights <$100 (and it's really <$200 because that $100 taxi fare is one-way) are no problem at all in downtown Reno. Circus Circus is ~$49 most of the time except during high periods and weekends. But the rest of what you're saying is true. I think the trick would be to park not too close in, but also not so far away that the van would stand out as sitting by its lonesome. It helps that my van — a brown Chevrolet Astro — is not something that stands out (unlike the Big Orange Van, which doesn't fit into garages anyway).

Ironically, I reckon that re-registering it in Nevada makes it more likely to be spotted as out of the ordinary, as it's dead common for the parking lots to be full of California vehicles.

[lindadee.livejournal.com]

I commiserate with Lisa. I was told about a month ago that I've developed a small cataract in my right eye. But I really don't want lasik surgery; I think that's what accelerated my father's macular degeneration.