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Parking Plans for Worldcon Trip
Jul. 22nd, 2022 04:35 pmOne of the challenges in the past about taking the train from Reno has been "How do I get to the station?" Past trips originating from Reno have been just me, and Lisa has taken me to/collected me from the station. The last time I asked the Amtrak station agent where I could park long-term, he said he did not know. So we were wondering how we were going to catch the train to Chicago for Worldcon when we live around 30 miles from the station. (The fact that the former Fernley depot is across the street from our house is moot, as passenger trains haven't served Fernley since the mid 1960s.) The only practical transport from Fernley to Reno is a taxi, which would be more than $100 each direction.
I have been making contingency plans. If I didn't find anything else, my plan was for us to drive to Reno station well in advance of our departure, unload the luggage and leave it with Lisa, and then for me to drive to Reno airport, park there, and either try to catch one of the hotel vans to downtown or at worst catch a taxi to the Amtrak station, which would be a much lesser fare than from Fernley. However, while looking at downtown Reno in Google Maps for an unrelated reason, I saw something that looked promising.
Today, I wanted to make an afternoon run to Reno to get the oil changed in the Astro and drop off recycling (the latter closes at 3 PM). I was able to get away from work just after 1 PM, and this meant I had time to do the bit of exploration of downtown that I wanted to do. I was delighted to discover that there is a parking garage that is only one block from the Amtrak station that is not limited to hotel or casino guests, nor does it have any apparent long-term parking restrictions. The posted rate is $5/day, which is half the airport rate and doesn't require a taxi ride. So we should be able to got to the station, take our luggage inside, and then I can park the car and walk back to the station easily.
Dropping the recycling an getting the minivan serviced was equally stress free. It was only just 4 PM when I was done and headed home, and therefore commute traffic hadn't started, so it was a quick trip home. If only all errands were this easy.
I have been making contingency plans. If I didn't find anything else, my plan was for us to drive to Reno station well in advance of our departure, unload the luggage and leave it with Lisa, and then for me to drive to Reno airport, park there, and either try to catch one of the hotel vans to downtown or at worst catch a taxi to the Amtrak station, which would be a much lesser fare than from Fernley. However, while looking at downtown Reno in Google Maps for an unrelated reason, I saw something that looked promising.
Today, I wanted to make an afternoon run to Reno to get the oil changed in the Astro and drop off recycling (the latter closes at 3 PM). I was able to get away from work just after 1 PM, and this meant I had time to do the bit of exploration of downtown that I wanted to do. I was delighted to discover that there is a parking garage that is only one block from the Amtrak station that is not limited to hotel or casino guests, nor does it have any apparent long-term parking restrictions. The posted rate is $5/day, which is half the airport rate and doesn't require a taxi ride. So we should be able to got to the station, take our luggage inside, and then I can park the car and walk back to the station easily.
Dropping the recycling an getting the minivan serviced was equally stress free. It was only just 4 PM when I was done and headed home, and therefore commute traffic hadn't started, so it was a quick trip home. If only all errands were this easy.
