[GenCon] Game Bus?

[der_kluge]

In order to get more people on board, rather than stop in C'ville, a better route might be:

Raleigh/triangle area>Richmond>Washington DC/Northern VA>Pittsburgh>Columbus>Indy

Raleigh>Richmond>Cville>Indy would be a quicker trip, but less people

That's a good point. I was going to try to map out some possible routes to see what I could come up with. Of course, growing up in Arkansas/Kansas I'm doing good to remember what my state capital is, let alone to know how to get from one state around here to the next. You east-coasters have such small states.

 

[MetalBard]

Sounds interesting to me, especially if there is a stop in Washington D.C. / Northern Virginia.

 

[der_kluge]

I agree with what CL has. Consider this:

Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill (all points near central North Carolina)
North on hwy 85 to Petersburg to hwy 95 through Richmond up to D.C.
From there, 270 North to I-70 to I-68 just south of Pittsburg.
And then back onto I-70 to Columbus, OH, and then on to Indianapolis.

That covers some fairly large population centers, and could easily gather up about 40 gamers along the way. The only problem is that it's long, about 14 hours according to mapquest. Of course, those online mapping things use an assumption of about 65 miles per hour, so it's probably conservative. But it also depends on what kind of traffic there is in D.C., too.

If the bus left Raleigh that morning at 6:00a it'd be in Richmond by 9:00. Consider 15 minutes for loading of passengers, and then to D.C. by 11:00. We'd have to stop for lunch somewhere in D.C., since Raleigh passengers would have been on the bus for 6 hours at this point. We'd be well outside of D.C. towards Pittsburg by 12:30 if we just grab some fast food somewhere. Pittsburg is a little out of the way, so unless anyone actually got on the bus here it would be optional. Otherwise, bus would probably get there by about 5:00 depending on traffic inside D.C. We'd want to eat again in Pittsburg, so factor in another 30 minutes. Back on the road at 5:45, we'd be in Columbus by 8:45 to get Crothian. We'd then get to Indy at around midnight.

Whew. That would be a long-ass day.

I'm thinking that might be a bit much.

 

[Rel]

Whew. That would be a long-ass day.

I'm thinking that might be a bit much.

That part doesn't really bother me. It is a lot easier to spend 20 hours riding (particularly on large, comfortable seats and being able to stretch your legs in the aisles) than it is to spend 10 hours driving.

I'm still not sure that it won't be cost prohibitive to have the driver on duty 24/7 for 4 days plus have to pay for his lodgings.

But I'm still willing to entertain the idea so long as somebody else handles the logistics and gets it to a reasonable price.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Has Crothian been asked if he wants in on the bus? If not, then it may well be quicker to go a different route from DC>Indy. I'm not positive, but I think going south a bit and then north further west of Columbus may be quicker. But don't quote me on that. i'd need to look at a map to be sure.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Hrm. I can always get a CDL license and drive you guys. No pay, just gencon, hotel, and food is what i need :-D

 

[DaveStebbins]

I'm a couple of hours north of Pittsburgh but, having driven to central Indiana a couple of times in the last dozen years, I would be willing to meet the bus somewhere in the Pittsburgh area (as long as it's somewhere I can leave my car).

What's the tentative schedule? Would Wednesday and Sunday be the travel days? A buddy of mine from work chaperones school kids on trips that use charter busses and they sound very luxurious compared to the standard Greyhound.

-Dave

 

[Stone Angel]

LOL yes promise them money to game and then send them in to get a soda or something then squeel of and tape them running out of the store "My dicebag....wait...my dice you <explective stream insert here>...my dice"

LOL

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[der_kluge]

Dave, yea the schedule would be for Wednesday and Sunday. Leaving early on Wednesday doesn't bother me as much. But, we'd have to leave on Sunday morning really early if we went with that schedule since people would get back too late otherwise.

I think a better, more reasonable approach would be to take direct routes into GenCon, versus trying to drive all over the country to pick everyone up. As much as I'd like to do that, it's just going to make the drive too long.

Raleigh, for example, is better served by driving up through Charleston, WV and then up to Columbus from there. That's roughly 11 hours, versus the ~4 they add by coming up through D.C., not really counting the additional stops along the way from the added travel time.

I'm just thinking that leaving that early on Sunday is going to be hard, since most people stay up late every night. Plus, Raleigh and Richmond are only 10 hour drives away. So, technically we could leave around noon and still get back at a reasonable time otherwise.

I'm not opposed to the idea of all that driving. I think it would be fun if we had a lot of people, the trip would fly by. Just leaving so early on Sunday would be a drag, I think.

 

[jmucchiello]

I'm NJ so this doesn't matter to me at all. But looking at charter costs this is going to be expensive. You might better served by booking more than one bus to do local stretches so that the bus starting Raleigh doesn't end up in Indy. Book a bus from Raleigh to Columbus. And an Indy bus from Columbus to Indy. That way you are not paying for a driver to sleep 4 nights in Indy.

The other benefit is you can try to book other buses from other locations to meet up with you.

Also, you might try putting up some people from a few hours away so they can meet you in Raleigh, rather than diverting the bus to them. That way people are paying for the trip from Raleigh as well.

Good Luck. Can't wait to see the on the bus pictures afterwards.