MASS TRANSIT
CALIFORNIA
EUREKA, CA
I have to tell you, Eureka, CA is NOT RV friendly. Don't even try to shop in your RV in Eureka. The access points to all the parking lots for "big box" stores have this "dip" that causes you to scrape bottom. I scraped bottom at Rite Aid because I parked there take my EGO bike to a repair shop two blocks away. Also, I tried to go to Costco and had the same problem, scraping bottom when I tried to get into the parking lot. I did see a WinCo Foods that looked promising for parking next time I come here (when I pick my bike up), or, I may just set up in an RV park and take a taxi to the bike repair place, then ride the bike back to the RV park.
COLORADO
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO
Fountain Creek RV Park - Colorado Springs, near shops, banks, and restaurants
Garden of the Gods Campground - in Colorado Springs, Colorado (very close to Manitou Springs)
Pikes Peak RV Park & Campground - in Manitou Springs, very close to shops
I stayed at Garden of the Gods Campground and I rode three of the bus routes. The online schedules don't publish "transfer" information to other buses, and the downtown transfer terminal didn't have any printed schedules. Maybe they want to save paper by not having these. However, there was a kiosk where you could map out your trip, but it wasn't real user friendly to me. On the good side, the downtown terminal did have employees who could direct you to what buses you need to take, so that was helpful.
TOWAOC/CORTEZ, CO
If you stay at Sleeping Ute Mountain RV Park in Towaoc, Colorado; the casino has an hourly shuttle that will take you to Cortez (10 miles away) for any needs. Although I did have a nice overnite stay at the RV park, I didn't personally try out the shuttle. I'm just noting that it is there.I D A H O
COEUR D'ALENE, ID
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho has become quite the resort town. The city has a small transit service called "City Link" that can take you up and down the main part of town, or to other nearby points in Idaho, such as the Coeur d' Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho. Guess what, it's FREE!!! If you stay at River Walk RV Park , you can catch the City Link bus three blocks away at the Riverwalk Transfer Station.
IOWA
DES MOINES, IA
I worked at Adventureland in Iowa . Although there is a bus system, it didn't go to locations or run with the frequency I preferred. I made use of Capitol/Yellow Cab (they are basically the same company) and of Enterprise Rental Car. When I worked there in 2014, I used the rental car service a lot. In 2015, I found that it was cheaper to just use the taxi service when I needed it. For trips of short duration, my EGO Electric Scooter got me to Wal-Mart, a Vet for my cat, and a doctor's walk in clinic when I needed them, all within a mile of Adventureland.
DES MOINES, IA
NORTH CAROLINA
RALEIGH, NC
TRIANGLE TRANSIT operates in Raleigh, NC. I checked the web site and Triangle Transit appears to have frequent service to most places you might want to go to. I did not get an opportunity to ride the transit system, however.
MINNESOTA
EAST GRAND FORKS, MN
If you stay at Red River State Recreation Area in East Grand Forks, you are right in the middle of downtown East Grand Forks. You can walk a brisk short distance and catch Cities Area Transit (CAT) Bus Route 11 in front of Cabela's and ride around the area.
OREGON
CURRY COUNTY/GOLD BEACH, OR
If you stay in one of the many fine parks in Gold Beach, OR, you can ride Curry Public Transit from the park you are staying, in to Gold Beach. However, the service is rather limited. If you are staying in an RV Park outside Gold Beach, the Dial A Ride will pick you up at 9:30 at the earliest, and you can get a return ride back to your park at 2:00 PM at the latest. The Dial A Ride will pick you up at your RV site. But.... this service only runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday (not Thursday or weekends). The Coastal Express will take you up and down Highway 101 from North Bend, OR, all the way down to Smith River, CA and runs Monday - Friday.
If you stay in one of the many fine parks in Gold Beach, OR, you can ride Curry Public Transit from the park you are staying, in to Gold Beach. However, the service is rather limited. If you are staying in an RV Park outside Gold Beach, the Dial A Ride will pick you up at 9:30 at the earliest, and you can get a return ride back to your park at 2:00 PM at the latest. The Dial A Ride will pick you up at your RV site. But.... this service only runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday (not Thursday or weekends). The Coastal Express will take you up and down Highway 101 from North Bend, OR, all the way down to Smith River, CA and runs Monday - Friday.
With
the limited schedule, it's impossible to use the transit system to
"spend a day" away from Gold Beach. Just to go to Brookings, you would
have Dial A Ride pick you up at 9:30, then you can ride the Coastal
Express at 10:00 and arrive in Brookings at 10:45. But, you would have
to return on the 11:15 bus back up to Gold Beach to catch a Dial A Ride
back to your RV site. If you miss the 11:15 bus from Brookings, there
isn't another bus until 3:00, which is too late to get a Dial A Ride in
Gold Beach. Not a problem if your RV park is in town. But if you are
staying in an RV park outside of town, you can have the Coastal Express
drop you off along Highway 101 and you can walk back to your park.
Another option if you are staying at a park outside Gold Beach ( Turtle Rock Resort, for example, 1.5 miles south of Gold Beach), is that you can get on Curry Public Transit by walking 3/4 of a mile to Highway 101, and standing on Highway 101 and flagging them down. If you do this, you need to call the phone number shown on the website and let them know you are doing this. You could go Northbound as early as 7:45 AM and as late as 3:30 PM, or Southbound as early as 10:15 AM or as late as 5:30 PM.
Another option if you are staying at a park outside Gold Beach ( Turtle Rock Resort, for example, 1.5 miles south of Gold Beach), is that you can get on Curry Public Transit by walking 3/4 of a mile to Highway 101, and standing on Highway 101 and flagging them down. If you do this, you need to call the phone number shown on the website and let them know you are doing this. You could go Northbound as early as 7:45 AM and as late as 3:30 PM, or Southbound as early as 10:15 AM or as late as 5:30 PM.
If you plan carefully, you can use Dial A Ride to get most anything you might need in Gold Beach.
On the other hand, there are two places in Brookings and one place in Gold Beach where you can rent a car.
A. BROOKINGS: In Brookings, as of this writing, basically the prices are $39.95 a day (24 hour period) wir eth 50 miles included and 25 cents a mile charge for miles over 50; or $59.95 a day with unlimited miles. One of the rental car places (Carpenter Auto) is located next door to where the Curry Public Transit drops you off in Brookings. The other (Little Bay Motor Company) is a ways down Highway 101. It's not a drop off place for Curry Public Transit, but you can request to be dropped off there. Curry Public Transit is pretty flexible about "stops" as long as the "stop" is on the route. (I used Carpenter Auto because of their proximity to the Curry Public Transit drop off point.)
B. GOLD BEACH The Port of Gold Beach has two cars and rents them for $25 a day and 25 cents a mile, there is no option for unlimited miles. However, the pricing at the Port is not based on 24 hour periods, it's based on "days." For example, if you pick up a car at 10:00 AM on Monday and return it at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, you will pay $50 (plus 25 cents a mile), not $25, even though it's a 24 hour period. The rationale is that you had the car on two different days. So, pick it up as early as possible on pick up day and return it as late as possible on return day, it doesn't really matter. Port of Gold Beach will not do "turnaround" rentals. For example, if you are returning a car on, say, Tuesday morning, the Port will not re-rent the car to someone else the same day.
I recommend using Port rentals for local travel around Gold Beach (use Dial A Ride to pick up the car). For trips farther out, I recommend taking Curry Public Transit down to Brookings and renting a car down there.
TILLAMOOK COUNTY, OR
If you stay at RV Parks along Highway 101 in Tillamook County, Oregon (anywhere from Pacific City, south of Tillamook, to Cannon Beach, north of Tillamook), you can ride a bus anywhere up and down Highway 101 between these locations. Here is the route schedule: http://www.tillamookbus.com/route-schedules.htm . Keep in mind, depending on the location, there are only 3-6 routes a day, daytime hours, and Monday through Saturday. However, within the city of Tillamook, there are many "town loop" routes during the day for sightseeing (such as, the Tillamook Cheese Factory within Tillamook. I stayed at one RV park south of Tillamook, Pleasant Valley RV Park that had a bus stop at the entry way. I did not get an opportunity to try out the bus line, I am just noting that it is available.
W A S H I N G T O N
LONG BEACH, WAIf you stay at Andersens RV Resort, you will be staying right on the dunes! However, this park is a few miles out of town. Pacific Transit has daytime only service on Monday - Friday, limited service on Saturday, and no service on Sunday.
If you stay at either Driftwood RV Park or Sand Castle RV Park , you will be right in town, along Highway 101, close to most businesses. At Driftwood, you are a couple blocks, very short walk, from the beach. At Sand Castle, you can still walk to the beach, but it's a bit farther, more of a "brisk" walk. For both RV parks, there are some places within walking distance, other places are a "brisk walk," and you can take Pacific Transit for anything else you might need in Long Beach. I have stayed at both parks previously.
OCEAN SHORES, WA
I camp hosted at Ocean City State Park near Ocean Shores, WA during December 2010. Grays Harbor Transit has service between Ocean Shores and Aberdeen, but it's at limited times. However, to just go to Ocean Shores, you can stand outside the entrance to the State Park and flag down any bus going between North Beach Casino and Ocean Shores. You just stand there and wave, and the bus will stop for you. The Dispatcher told me to use the"Ocean Shores Chance a la Mer" column and subtract 15 minutes.
On the other hand, if you are staying at one of the private parks in Ocean Shores, such as Quinault Marina & RV Park you can contact Dial-A-Ride at 360-532-2770, have them pick you up where you are staying, and take you to the Chance-a-la-Mer Bus Station. At that Station, you can take another Bus from Ocean Shores to Aberdeen Wishkah Station. Then, you can walk a short walk to Hertz Rental Car. Unfortunately, there isn't an Enterprise Rental (the company that picks you up) in Aberdeen. This can be done, but it takes some planning. And, the rental cost for a car in Aberdeen isn't cheap! Because it's a rather remote station, there are a myriad of fees that practically double the rental rate. I obtained a one week rental in this area and it cost me about $400.
PORT TOWNSEND, WA
JEFFERSON COUNTY TRANSIT operates in Port Townsend, WA. You can take Jefferson County Transit to most locations in the Olympic Peninsula area. You can travel and transfer to the following bus systems to go around the Olympic Peninsula:Clallam Transit for travel to Sequim, Port Angeles, and Forks
Grays Harbor Transit for travel to Aberdeen and Ocean Shores
Kitsap Transit for travel to Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Bremerton
Mason Transit for travel to Shelton and Olympia
Island Transit for travel via Washington State Ferries to Coupeville, WA
I went from Port Townsend (Jefferson County) to Port Angeles, (Clallam County) and it only cost me $3.75 for the whole trip! Driving a car would have cost much more!
The JEFFERSON COUNTY TRANSIT website has a Trip Planner that you can use as a guide. However, I wouldn't depend completely on it for inter county transportation, just use it as a guide. Consult the individual county transit schedules and plan accordingly. The trip planner assumes the closest transfer, even if it's ONE MINUTE. One minute is too close for my comfort. I used the suggestions given by the trip planner and ultimately needed two bus drivers to intervene because the transfer was too close. The trip planner suggested I do the following for a trip from Port Townsend to Port Angeles:
11:35 AM, take Jefferson Transit Route 11B to Haines Park & Ride to transfer to Route 8
11:45 AM, take Route 8 to Sequim
12:45 PM, take Clallam Transit Route 30 to Port Angeles
I boarded the Route 11B at 11:45 AM, only to have the driver tell me the transfer was "too close" and I would miss it by 2 minutes. Route 8 to Sequim has infrequent service (every 2 hours or so). The very nice bus driver for Route 11B radioed the driver of Route 8 and asked him to wait. The gracious Route 8 driver agreed to wait. As a result, I had a pleasant trip to Port Townsend. My thanks to those two drivers!
For my return trip, the Trip Planner suggested the following:
3:40 PM take Clallam Transit Route 30 to Sequim
4:20 PM take Jefferson Transit Route 8 to Port Townsend Haines Park & Ride
5:30 PM take Jefferson Transit Route 11B back to my destination
Instead of taking the 3:40 bus, I decided to leave at 3:10. Good thing! Route 101 had an accident which slowed down traffic, to include the bus I was on. Had I taken the 3:40 bus, I would have been 5 minutes late for transferring to Route 8, which ran infrequently (about every 2 to 2.5 hours).
Again, use the Trip Planner on the Jefferson Transit web site as a guide, but check each transit system schedule and plan accordingly. With some good planning, you can have a pleasant trip from Port Townsend to most places in the Olympic Peninsula using Public Transportation! Or you can just use Jefferson Transit to travel around Port Townsend!
Park Lane Motel and RV Park is located on Sprague Avenue on a bus line with frequent daily service to downtown Spokane. The initial bus you would need to take is #90. Check here for schedules for Bus Route 90: ( http://www.spokanetransit.com/ridesta/routesschedules.asp ). This RV park location is also good if you wish to attend an event at the Spokane Fairgrounds.
W Y O M I N G
RAWLINS, WY
There are basically three campgrounds in Rawlins, Wyoming. I stayed at Western Hills Campground in Rawlins, Wyoming in late April 2014, with the intention of staying one night and moving on. However, due to a wind storm, I ended up staying four nights. The three campgrounds are on one end of town, the shopping area is at the other end of town, not withing walking distance. It was too windy to ride my EGO bike. I got desperate to get out and go somewhere. So, I did some googling and found out there is actually a taxi service in Rawlins, Carbon County Cab (307-324-9442). So, I called and got a ride for $8 to the grocery store. They came within 20 minutes after I called, picked me up at the campground. When I was ready to call them back for a return ride, I noticed another taxi service picking up other passengers at the same grocery store (City Market, which is part of the Kroger chain). This one did not show up when I did a google search, but it is also in Rawlins. S&W Taxi at 307-324-9466. I used them to go back to the RV park. They charged $7 per ride.
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ZIPCAR - This is an option I want to try one of these days. It's a car sharing service. Costs appear to be cheaper than a rental car. However, they are located only in VERY MAJOR cities, and not in locations I usually travel to. But I do intend to try them one of these days!
