Van Pool Information and Form - Desert Fishes Council 2008

DFC Van Pool Information

Desert Fishes Council Annual Meeting, Cuatrociénegas, Coahuila, México

12 to 16 November, 2008

A Registration Form to reserve your seat on a van is provided below this information.

DFC is organizing car pools from Austin using rented 15-passenger vans.

Seats will be sold at the fair roundtrip price (to cover expenses only) of $125 per person. Deadlines for purchase of van seats are stated in the meeting deadlines page (Oct. 15) - buy your seats via the DFC Online store prior to the deadline or you will lose your seat.

Final schedules will be confirmed later but will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate flight schedules arriving in Austin or San Antonio between Monday night and early Wednesday morning. It's about a 10-hour one-way drive from Austin to Cuatrociénegas (8.5 hours from San Antonio ).

All vans will originate and be returned to Austin (so primary drivers must travel in and out of Austin ). However, vans can pick up passengers in San Antonio .

Generally, the earliest vans will depart from Austin or San Antonio will be Tuesday morning (Nov. 11) and the latest van will leave Wednesday (Nov. 12) prior to the meeting. Vans will return early Sunday (Nov. 16) or Monday (Nov. 17) morning following the meeting.

Volunteers to drive a van (primary drivers) will receive a $25 rebate on the van fare. A primary driver must have driver's license (in good standing), valid passport, personal credit card, and personal valid auto insurance. Your personal insurance will be active while you are driving the van in the United States (separate Mexican insurance will be purchased for driving in Mexico ). As the primary van driver, you will also help coordinate the scheduling and be responsible for not wrecking or losing the van while in CC - streets are a bit tight! Backup drivers will be appreciated and only need to provide a valid drivers license.

If you know you are going to be a primary driver, please send Nathan a copy of your driver’s license and auto insurance ahead of time. Backup drivers please send Nathan a copy of your driver's license.

For those driving to Austin , secure parking will be arranged (possibly at University of Texas JJ Pickle Center in north Austin ).

Suggestions for hotels for accommodations en route through Austin or San Antonio :

Austin hotels, near van rental place (rooms are NOT reserved):

Motel 6, 5330 North IH-35, Austin , 512-467-9111. cheap

La Quinta Inn, 5812 North IH 35, Austin , 512-459-4381. moderate

Courtyard by Marriot, 5660 North IH 35, Austin, 512-458-2340. pricey

Austin hotels near the airport (for returning, don’t stay here on arrival), should have free shuttles:

La Quinta Inn, 7625 E. Ben White Blvd., Austin, 512-386-6800.

Ameri Suites, 7601 E Ben White Blvd, Austin , 512-386-7600.

Comfort Suites, 7501 E Ben White Blvd, Austin , 512-386-6000.

For local transportation to/from hotels in Austin, in addition to a cab you could consider Super Shuttle (www.supershuttle.com about $21/person one-way for the first person and $12/person for more people) or city bus, Airport Flyer ($0.50 www.capmetro.org).

San Antonio hotel near the airport (one of very few with free shuttle):

Days Inn Airport, 542 NE Loop 410, San Antonio, 210-930-3300.

Here’s a best case scenario:

Fly into Austin Tuesday afternoon. Take Super Shuttle to hotel. Take a cab downtown and catch a live show on 6^th Street (www.austin360.com). Get picked up at 7am on Wednesday by a DFC Van. Be at Mexican Consulate downtown Austin by 8am. While Van Driver is getting paperwork, you could get your tourist visa. By 9am you’re on your way. After a quick stop at Kilometer 57 in Mexico to check your visa; you’re drinking in Cuatrocienegas by 7pm. You leave Cuatrocienegas with an early Sunday morning van and get back to Austin by 5pm to catch your evening flight out of town.

The difference of being in San Antonio is that you get picked up around 11am and will need to get your tourist visa at km 57.

Also for vans departing on Tuesday, vehicle import papers will have to be done at km 57 because the Mexican Consulate will be closed for Veterans Day on Tuesday, November 11.

Updates to the van plan will be announced via DFC-L and this webpage.

Questions should be addressed to Nathan Allan (Nathan_Allan at fws.gov).

Last Name:

First Name:

Email:

Phone (prefer cell):

Number of seats on van you are scheduling

I have purchased these seats on the online store:

Please enter first and last names of other passengers on your same schedule that you are reserving seats for:

I am willing to be a primary driver and have read the requirements above:

I am willing to be a backup driver:

Here is my preferred van schedule for travel to Cuatrocienegas:

Here is my preferred van schedule for travel from Cuatrocienegas:

If you already have a travel itinerary and/or hotel reservations in Austin/San Antonio scheduled, please enter them below:

Enter other notes or special circumstances below:

IMAGE VERIFICATION
Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this online form. If you are not sure what the words are, either enter your best guess or click the reload button next to the distorted words. Visually impaired users can click the audio button to hear a set of digits that can be entered instead of the visual challenge.

Finally, click this button to submit your van seat reservation. An automated general confirmation of successful submission of your reservation request should display shortly. You will be contacted later to confirm your specific van schedule.

If you wish to start over, click the button.

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This page last modified: 27 April 2005