Reply to Transportation help

I am looking for some advice, if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it. I am leaving DC on May 3, 2014 and riding the C&O/GAP Trails to Pittsburg, PA. I have set aside a week to make the trip, 6 days would be nice.

Anyway, once we finished the ride the plan was to rent a full size truck from Enterprise and drive back to Virginia. Today I spent over an hour on the phone with Enterprise and I am absolutely disgusted. They will not have a truck and they did not seem as if they really cared. There is three of us, I'm the smallest at 5'10" 215lbs and the biggest coming in at 6'8" so we need some room and we will need the bed space for our bikes and gear. I really thought this would work and had been the plan for about 6 months, glad I called trying to reserve today and found out that this is not an option.

What do you guys suggest? I talked to Iron City Bicycles today and the guy on the phone was really helpful, I will certainly be visiting that shop when I arrive. He said they will break down and package our bikes to be shipped but we would need to deal with UPS/FED EX. Anyone know what it cost to ship a bike? I will have a BOB trailer as well so my cost is starting to climb. Anyway, I am looking for any ideas? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Take the train. cant cost to much more to stay at a hotel overnight, and freight them on the train.

Shipping via UPS was going to cost me $210 from D.C. to home in Ohio. Instead, started in Connellsville PA and took train back then drove to DC overnight...with gas, not counting wear/tear on car, cost less than $50 extra. Never found cost for FedEx as they didn't have a box big enough to ship bike/even taken apart. If you allow enough time, shipping on Amtrak might be your best bet and shouldn't cost too much.

You can take the Amtrak from Pittsburgh to DC for less than $100. There are a few logistics involved, but very doable. Another suggestion would be to check Craisglist for ride sharing options.

I am going in the opposite direction but this should still apply. I priced a U-Haul (the smallest truck) it is about $200. the train is $50 plus buying a bike box (2 with your BoB) @ $15 plus the bike fee $10 again probably twice with the trailer.
The train is still cheapest. I even checked several of the shuttle services but they are $$$

Thanks for the ideas everyone, what a pain In the rear end. Train sounds good but there are a lot of moving parts and then how do I get from DC home? That's another 2 1/2 hours. By the time I take the train and pay all of the fees, rent a car from DC, ship the bikes the rest of the way I am paying more.
There is a train from Pittsburgh to Ashland, Va that puts me an hour from home but I could not get a clear answer on the transporting of bikes. It's not cheap at all and it's about a 14-15 hour ride.
Uhaul has nothing in Pittsburgh but a small box truck, can't get a pickup and can't get a van, already checked. So, the smallest they have will be $454 one way from there to home.
I never thought in a million years that this would be an issue.
I'm gonna consult with my partner and see if he wants to cancel, it's been a real big hassle and I cannot lock anything down and quite frankly I'm tired of trying to figure it out.
I guess I was an idiot for thinking I could rent a van or a truck, not gonna happen in Pittsburgh....I thought that is what rental companies did?

I'm doing the opposite trip of yours. I live in PGH and am going to start my trip in DC and ride my way back home. How am I getting my bike there? I am renting a van/SUV one-way to carry my bike to get there (I did not want to disassemble the bike to ride Amtrak like I did last time). The only hitch is that airports are typically the only place where you find one-way car rentals. My wife is dropping me and my bike off at PGH airport and I'm driving to Dulles Airport (tried to go to Reagan National but they didn't do one-way's there). From Dulles, I'll catch the Washington & Old Dominion Trail (W&OD)then onto the Metro at Dunn Loring and get off at the first stop in DC proper (if the Silver Line was open on time I could save a few miles that way but no dice). Then onto Georgetown and the C&O Canal to begin.
a little inconvenient but it will work. If Amtrak had proper roll-on bike service, I wouldn't hesitate to use that each and every time.

Drive your car to Washington. Park at Union Station. I think its $20-$25 a day, not cheep but maybe cheaper than a one way rental. Put your bike in the Amtrak box in DC. Take the train to Pittsburgh. Ride back to DC.