for the past several years I've traveled to South Bend from Florida by Amtrak with a nice stop over in DC. This year it looks like there's going to be 6 of us traveling together which should be fun. Anyone else travelling by train? South Bend is only 2 hours from Festival and has really cheap car rentals.

I'm not sure where you are coming from but Amtrak runs all the way to Grand Rapids. You'd have to take a cab to rent a car or perhaps Enterprise can meet you at the station.

yes, amtrak goes to grand rapids, but not the big trains, that's a commuter train and you have to schlepp all your gear either from Chicago terminal or somewhere else off of the 'capitol limited' onto the commuter train to Grand Rapids.

i am taking an amtrak from san diego to south bend. i'll be renting a car and sleeping in it before the festival and probably after the festival. i'm going to see how much stuff amtrak will let me take with me.

the great advantage that Amtrak has over airlines is that you can ship (in baggage compartment) three 50 pound pieces (no extra charge!) and you can carry-on pretty much whatever you want to be bothered with. I usually 'claim' a duffel, suitcase and large box. I carry on, on a rolling small cart with my food bag, bedroll and small chair. We get into South Bend on Monday morning. A great breakfast joint is "Sunrise Cafe" not far from the station.

if you look at their website it says

Three-Piece Limit: Each ticketed passenger may check up to three pieces of luggage at no charge. Up to three additional pieces may be checked upon payment of $10.00 per piece.
50-Pound Limit: Each checked bag may weigh no more than 50 lbs. We will not accept heavier pieces.
Size Limit: Each checked bag may not exceed 36 x 36 x 36 inches in size.

i plan to exploit the additional bag for $10.

i am planning on carrying on a backpack, a small cooler, and my tent. amtrak killed my bags last time. one bag was more duct tape then bag on the return trip. i don't want them to kill my tent.

i am going to check a foot locker, my chuck box, a duffle, and either a cooler or other duffle bag.

I'm pretty sure South Bend Indiana is farther than 2 hours from Fest. More like 3 or 4?

What I've looked up says 138 miles from South Bend Airport to Hart, Mi. I always allow 3 hours because of grocery stops etc.

I'm with EL. South Bend is a lot farther than 2 hours. According to google maps it is 160 miles and they estimate 2 hours 46 minutes. Than add the 30 minutes from Hart to the Land.... I would plan on 3.5 hours without any stops.

Just talked with a friend from South Bend who has been to fest many times. It is a 3 hr drive she said.

suji

i'm not really concerned about how long the drive is. i just need to figure out the logistics of my train ride home (which has proven to be a complete headache)

What kind of logistics are you having problem with? The luggage?

my train leaves on the 15th, but i have to return my rental car on the 14th. the train leaves at 8:50 AM but the airport rental place opens at 7 AM so i have to return it the night before. i really don't mind sitting around somewhere all night, i just need to find a safe place to do so. so i have to figure out where i'm going to park my baggage before i take a taxi to the the train station on the 15th. i may call the train station and see if i can check the baggage in the night before and just find somewhere to hang out all night.

Have you looked into couch surfing? Web page is CouchSurfing dot com. It might help. But it looks like you have 2 hours (7am-8:50am) between the time the rental place opens and the train leaves. That should be enough time to drop it in the morning. Do you have to check in really early or something.? Maybe you could check in, then drop off the car, and cab it back in time to board?

the south bend airport is super close to the train station. Maybe a 10-15 minute cab ride. You may want to check out Lesbian Connection's list of Contact Dykes for South Bend. They've been a great resource for me in the past and might allow you to couch surf or have a great suggestion for a place to crash.