Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

The Trinity Railway Express will offer new early-morning westbound trips for patrons of its commuter rail line, and provide more eastbond trips in rush hour as well. The changes, along with dozens of others, take effect Oct. 6.

The commuter rail service, which has seen increased ridership for much of this year, will also offer a new late-night trip, leaving Dallas’ Union Station at 11:45 p.m., and arriving to the west at the CentrePort Station in Fort Worth at 12:15 a.m.

More information about the schedule changes, which include new arrival and departure times for many other routes, can be found here. A full schedule — effective Oct. 6 — is maintained the TRE’s site, here.

The TRE is jointly operated by DART and The T, in Fort Worth. In August, about the commuter line provided a daily average of about 11,000 rides, nearly 20 percent more than August, 2007.

As some of our steady readers know, yours truly is very involved with the motorcycle world. I’ve been staying in touch with contacts in Houston regarding the status of the Lone Star Rally and it IS all systems Go!

The City of Galveston wants the rally to take place and come hell or high water, they are looking forward to the 500,000 bikers!

For those of you that have hotel reservations, please know that the phone lines are NOT working on Galveston yet. If you call a hotel, it is being re-routed to their corporate 800# and those staff are thinking it’s all doom and gloom. My contact at the Rally said she was at the Galveston Hilton yesterday and the hotel looked fine. There was some broken glass but that was being replaced while they were there. Keep your hotel reservations - it looks like those are all going to be fine and ready to rock by the time you roll into town.

Here is the official update from LSR:

Dear Friends!
I¹d bet you have been waiting to hear from us! First, let me tell everyone effected that our hearts and prayers are with you and the Lone Star Rally
will not sit idle. We are prepared to help! We too lost our offices and
are working under combat like conditions. We apologize for being difficult to get ahold of.
The good news is that the City has asked us to remain in Galveston and to keep the dates the same. So, The Lone Star Rally will happen in Galveston Oct 30th thru Nov 2! Everything will remain the same only better. We are now officially the Rally to Rebuild! We encourage everyone to come and help rebuild the Galveston economy. Yes, hotels are going to be a little hard to find. Keep watching our website as we will add lodging daily.
LSR will create special logos that can be added to your shirts for a donation to the fund, provide donation centers, a telethon and more, all to help our effected community. Our vendors will serve as trick or treat stations for the kids with candy, etc.
For more details join us at San Jacinto Harley Davidson this week for our second LSR Preview Party. Everyone knows that San Jacinto throws great parties and we could all use one! Plase join us ther this Saturday beginning at 12noon for all of the festivities, parkiing pass sales, Beach boys tickets and much more!
Let¹s show the world how much bikers care and show up in droves to Galveston this year. Jean Lafitte founded Galveston and he will return with his two wheeled pirates to rebuild!
Please watch our website for lodging opportunities. Please be patient with the hotels as they are all trying hard to get back online. Please do not call our offices unless it is absolutely necessary. We are swamped getting re-ready and are operating with limited capacity. Thanks for understanding!
You can help further by emailing this to all of your friends to help us get the word out that all is well and happening!
See you at the Rally!
Ron

The website link below is being updated with hotel room availability for Hurricane Ike evacuees.

>>>>>http://www.tacvbemergency.net/searchrooms<<<<<

Please check for availability before heading to a city as many small town hotels and budget hotels in the major cities are completely sold out.

Shelter Information:

For information on Texas shelters provided by the state and the North Texas Council of Governments please call 1-888-312-4567. Or, you can call the American Red Cross 1-800-HELP-NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or visit www.redcross.org

For Evacuees wanting to stay in a hotel, below is a listing of the most popular chains - be cautioned that the budget hotels appear to be completely booked at this time.

Baymont Inn & Suites www.baymontinns.com 866-999-1111
Best Inn www.bestinn.com 800-237-8466
Best Value Inn www.bestvalueinn.com 888-315-2378
Best Western www.bestwesterntexas.com 800-433-7234
Hyatt Summerfield Suites www.bradfordsuites.com 888-486-7829
Budget Host www.budgethost.com 800-289-4678
Budget Suites www.budgetsuites.com 866-877-2000
Candlewood Suites www.candlewoodsuites.com 888-226-3539
Choice Hotels www.choicehotel.com 866-228-5160
Clarion www.clarionhotel.com 877-424-6423
Comfort Inn www.comfortinn.com 877-424-6423
Comfort Suites www.comfortsuites.com 877-424-6423
Country Hearth Inn www.countryhearth.com 888-443-2784
Country Inn & Suites by Calrson www.countryinns.com 888-201-1746
Courtyard by Marriott www.mariott.com 800-321-2211
Crowne Plaza www.crowneplaza.com 800-227-6963
Days Inn www.daysinn.com 800-329-7466
Doubletree www.doubletree.com 800-222-8733
Drury Hotels www.druryhotels.com 800-325-8300
Econo Lodge www.econolodge.com 877-424-6423
Embassy Suites www.embassysuites.com 800-362-2779
Fairfield Inn by Marriott www.fairfieldinn.com 800-228-2800
Fairmont www.fairmont.com 800-257-7544
Hampton Hotels www.hamptoninn.com 800-426-7866
Hawthorn www.hawthorn.com 800-527-1133
Hearthside www.hearthside.com 281-398-6500
Hilton Garden Inn www.hiltongardeninn.com 877-782-9444
Hilton Hotels www.hilton.com 800-445-8667
Holiday Inn www.holiday-inn.com 888-465-4329
Holiday Inn Express www.hiexpress.com 888-465-4329
Holiday Inn Select www.hiselect.com 888-465-4329
Homewood Suites by Hilton www.homewood-suites.com 800-225-5466
Howard Johnson www.hojo.com 800-446-4656
Hyatt www.hyatt.com 888-591-1234
InterContinental Hotels Group www.ichotelsgroup.com 800-327-0200
Knights Inn www.knightsinn.com 800-843-5644
La Quinta www.lq.com 800-351-5900
MainStay Suites www.mainstaysuites.com 877-424-6423
Marriott Hotels & Resorts www.marriott.com 888-236-2427
Microtel www.microtelinn.com 888-771-7171
Motel 6 www.motel6.com/tx 800-466-8356
Omni Hotels www.omnihotels.com 800-843-6664
Quality Inn www.qualityinn.com 877-424-6423
Radisson www.radisson.com 888-201-1718
Ramada www.ramada.com 800-472-6232
Red Roof www.redroof.com 800-733-7663
Renaissance Hotels & Resorts www.renaissancehotels.com 800-468-3571
Residence Inn www.residenceinn.com 800-331-3131
Rodeway Inn www.rodewayinn.com 877-424-6423
Sheraton Hotels & Resorts www.sheraton.com 800-325-3535
Sleep Inn www.sleepinn.com 877-424-6423
SpringHill Suites www.springhillsuites.com 888-287-9400
Starwood Hotels & Resorts www.starwoodhotels.com 888-625-5144
Staybridge Suites www.staybridge.com 800-238-8000
Studio 6 www.staystudio6.com 888-897-0202
Super 8 Motel www.super8.com 800-800-8000
TownePlace Suites www.towneplacesuites.com 800-257-3000
Travelodge www.travelodge.com 800-578-7878
Wellesley Inn & Suites www.wellesleyinnandsuites.com 877-774-6345
Westin Hotels & Resorts www.westin.com 800-228-3000
Wingate Inn www.wingateinns.com 800-228-1000
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts www.wyndham.com 877-999-3223

Due to Hurricane Ike, as of Friday AM, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has suspended all flights in-bound/out-bound for Houston, Corpus Christi and Harlingen.

Dallas area based American Airlines has suspended flights for Houston, Corpus Christi and McAllen.

Hurricane Ike is expected to hit south of Galveston Island as a Category 3 storm with up to 125 mph winds - wind gusts may be up to 160.

Evacuation orders are already in place for all of Galveston and portions of Houston. As the worst part of the storm is the south and east, NASA Mission Control and the largest U.S. oil refinery - which is owned by Dallas-based ExxonMobil - are all under threat. 25% of the nation’s oil is refined along the Texas Gulf Coast so there is a chance that if systems go down our gasoline prices will go up. The refineries are built to withstand hurricane force winds; however, it’s the tidal surges that has people concerned.

This morning, medical patients started arriving on military planes at DFW International Airport where they were evaluated by medical teams and sent to area hospitals.

As of now, the southbound lanes of I-45 between Dallas and Houston have not been reversed - but that is a possibility as the storm grows closer to hitting landfall Saturday morning.

The storm is expected to head for Dallas as of Sunday morning and we, at this time, are to expect 40+mph winds, gusts up to 65mph and the possibility of tornadoes to the south and east. We might also expect up to 6″ of rain which could result in flash flooding.