Someone willing to rent me a car at Willits, CA, for a few hours?

O

onwards

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Messages
1,998
Location
CA
Display Name
Display name:
onwards
I am flying in to pick up my kids from camp on Saturday, 8/1, and need a car at O28.

There is a local Enterprise agent, but they are closed on the weekends. The Ukiah office is open but the drop off will be a problem.

I need the car from noon to 6PM or so, and will be driving up with their grandma to Camp Winnarainbow and back (so roughly 65 miles round trip).

Anyone in that area willing to loan me their car for a fee? Sharing is caring! :)
 
Have you called O28 and asked the same question? Surely someone there can hook you up. Always a way. :D
 
I feel your pain! I went to drop my daughter off at a camp two weekends ago. Even though I'd arranged to have a rental car at the airport it wasn't there. When I tried to call the office, they were closed (it was a Sunday). The guy at the FBO said I had no options. :mad2: I called around and found an airport two hours drive away that had a crew car. I asked if I could use their crew car for four hours. They said sure so I quickly flew over there and grabbed the crew car to deliver my daughter to her camp. This little exercise added four unexpected hours to my "little" trip.
 
MAKG1 said:
What really sucks is that there appears to be a private airstrip just 5 miles or so south of the camp.

https://goo.gl/maps/xhy0L
Click to expand...
I wonder if you could just call the owner and request permission. Or have a convenient "engine failure" right over the private strip.

Seriously, has anyone actually tried requesting permission to land at private strips?
 
No Uber or Lyft service?
 
frcabot said:
I wonder if you could just call the owner and request permission. Or have a convenient "engine failure" right over the private strip.

Seriously, has anyone actually tried requesting permission to land at private strips?
Click to expand...

Sure. It depends entirely on the owner but I had a legitimate reason (Veterans Airlift) and permission was granted.
 
frcabot said:
I wonder if you could just call the owner and request permission. Or have a convenient "engine failure" right over the private strip.

Seriously, has anyone actually tried requesting permission to land at private strips?
Click to expand...

To do that, you would have to at least identify the airport and its owner.
 
MAKG1 said:
To do that, you would have to at least identify the airport and its owner.
Click to expand...
That's usually in the FAA database. You can usually just google the code and it will list the owner.
 
Maybe it's within this guy's service area. It's worth a call. I have used him to get from Little River Airport to Mendocino and back.

http://www.obar11.com/
 
frcabot said:
Seriously, has anyone actually tried requesting permission to land at private strips?
Click to expand...

Heck, I've been given permission to land at a private strip without even requesting.
 
frcabot said:
I wonder if you could just call the owner and request permission. Or have a convenient "engine failure" right over the private strip.

Seriously, has anyone actually tried requesting permission to land at private strips?
Click to expand...

I would do that, but I'd still need the car to go to and from the camp, which is my bigger problem.
 
How about Ukiah or Garberville?
 
There's alot of people around there that are pretty hard up. Not much of an economy left after timber disappeared, now it's just weed. Find a local, any local, that is willing to trade a couple hours of their time, or loan you their beater car, for $100. I'm sure you'll find a taker.
 
Enterprise is pretty good about dropping off a car and keys at the FBO on weekends and after hours. I do it all the time. Have you asked?
 
Sac Arrow said:
Enterprise is pretty good about dropping off a car and keys at the FBO on weekends and after hours. I do it all the time. Have you asked?
Click to expand...
I asked Enterprise to do this at 1O2 and they absolutely refused and said I was crazy for asking.
 
frcabot said:
I asked Enterprise to do this at 1O2 and they absolutely refused and said I was crazy for asking.
Click to expand...

That's odd. I've done it several times at Bishop, Fullerton and Crescent City. That's Lampson Clearlake, right? Maybe they don't have a local outlet? I normally do the payment arrangements over the phone prior.
 
It's far from perfect, but for a quick first pass I check airnav. The first pic shows rental cars on the field. The second that a nearby Enterprise will pick you up, maybe. The third that rental cars are probably unavailable, at least from the national brands.
 

Attachments

  • 1.png
    1.png
    28.2 KB · Views: 15
  • 2.png
    2.png
    15.3 KB · Views: 15
  • 3.png
    3.png
    16.8 KB · Views: 14
That apparently doesn't tell you whether they are open on weekends.
 
They are not open on weekends.

The Enterprise office at Ukiah IS open so I can pick up a car at KUKI, which is fine. The problem is returning the car later that evening, when their office is closed. I can drop the car off, but not at the airport. And from all my research, I am not comfortable with finding *reliable* taxi service in Ukiah on a Saturday night (to take us to the airport from the Enterprise office). I wish Uber or Lyft had service there :)
 
onwards said:
How about Ukiah or Garberville?
Click to expand...

One of these two shuttle firms may be open to transporting you from Garberville to and from that camp:

http://www.lostcoasttrail.com/

http://lostcoastadventures.com/

Expect to pay a lot, though. I used one of them (they seemed to be roughly equivalent in fares) to travel between Garberville and Shelter Cove when Shelter Cove was socked in with fog.

Can't hurt to email or phone both to get an idea of the cost and availability.

There was someone else I recall speaking to that I think was actually farther south of Garberville and probably more relevant to your target locale, but I can't seem to find any record of my exchanges with that person. I vaguely recall him being based out of Uikiah but he was willing (for a price) to drive all the way up to Garberville and thence shuttle to/from Shelter Cove.
 
onwards said:
They are not open on weekends.

The Enterprise office at Ukiah IS open so I can pick up a car at KUKI, which is fine. The problem is returning the car later that evening, when their office is closed. I can drop the car off, but not at the airport. And from all my research, I am not comfortable with finding *reliable* taxi service in Ukiah on a Saturday night (to take us to the airport from the Enterprise office). I wish Uber or Lyft had service there :)
Click to expand...

Have you tried Obar11 yet?
 
Ok - found a permit the owner got in 2010...here's the owner:

Rodney Weaver
44320 N HWY 101
Laytonville, CA
(707) 984-6324

Good luck!
 
Problem solved!

After several calls with Enterprise in Ukiah, they will pick me up at the airport Saturday and take us to their office to pick up the car, then I can leave it back at the airport and they will pick it up from there Monday morning. They will only charge me one day, too!

Thank you all. If anyone needs a similar thing in the future, the Ukiah Enterprise office number is 707 462 2200, and then press STAR to get to their local people.
 
SkyHog said:
Ok - found a permit the owner got in 2010...here's the owner:

Rodney Weaver
44320 N HWY 101
Laytonville, CA
(707) 984-6324

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Nice job, how did you find this?
 
frcabot said:
Nice job, how did you find this?
Click to expand...

I started by doing a parcel search for the property - it is in Mendocino County, and they have a GIS map that allows you to find details, including the address. Most counties in the US, this would have been the end, but Mendocino doesn't publish parcel owner information online, unfortunately.

So, I did a search for the address (which, by the way, is tied directly to the runway, not the adjacent property, for some reason), and found a Mendocino County published list of permits pulled from March of 2010. He pulled a permit for the installation of a building (apparently a shed), and the permit included his name.

Then, I did a reverse lookup on the name and found his home phone number. If he did not have a home phone, and only a cell phone, we would have had to dig further and look for other places where he may have listed his phone number (forum posts, online applications, guest book signings, etc.).

Usually, with a name and address, you can find phone numbers fairly easily, it just takes a bit of googlin'.
 
SkyHog said:
I started by doing a parcel search for the property - it is in Mendocino County, and they have a GIS map that allows you to find details, including the address. Most counties in the US, this would have been the end, but Mendocino doesn't publish parcel owner information online, unfortunately.

So, I did a search for the address (which, by the way, is tied directly to the runway, not the adjacent property, for some reason), and found a Mendocino County published list of permits pulled from March of 2010. He pulled a permit for the installation of a building (apparently a shed), and the permit included his name.

Then, I did a reverse lookup on the name and found his home phone number. If he did not have a home phone, and only a cell phone, we would have had to dig further and look for other places where he may have listed his phone number (forum posts, online applications, guest book signings, etc.).

Usually, with a name and address, you can find phone numbers fairly easily, it just takes a bit of googlin'.
Click to expand...
Wow. Very impressive.
 
frcabot said:
Wow. Very impressive.
Click to expand...

Yep. But, would have been easier if step 1 had been it. For example, lets say you were driving along and found my house, but wanted to contact me for some reason....well, you could use google maps to find my house. Right click on the house and select "What's here?" You'd get my address -

351 Buttonwood Ct
Monument, CO 80132
39.096924, -104.868516

You know I'm in El Paso County, simply because you can find that out easily enough by googling. So - you do a google search for "El Paso County Parcel Search," and that takes you here:

http://land.elpasoco.com/

Well, you know my address now, so you enter it and get the following:
http://land.elpasoco.com/ScheduleDisplay.aspx?schd=7115101039

So then, you want my number? You google my name and Monument, CO and find:
http://www.coloradodwarfcars.org/contact.htm

Loe and behold, there's my number.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top