Moving to Ellensburg, need to commute to Seattle/Belleuve (Yakima: real estate, construction)

[ramsham]

Hi Folks,

We are looking to move to Ellensburg due to my wife's jobs.

On my side, I can only find job in seattle area, so might need to commute / live there.

I was wondering if such option is possible? Any suggestions/help/pointers?

Is commute from ellensburg/seattle possible? Any idea if its possible to find carpool options?

Thanks.
RamSham

[M3 Mitch]

It's possible and maybe not horrible for 3 seasons, but during the winter it will get old quick. What do each of you do, professionally? Is telecommuting, at least part of the time, an option?

Keep in mind if your wife has a regular job with benefits, you could go on her benefits and do something higher risk/higher reward, for example being a real estate agent (just one example, not sure if this job would be a good fit for you!)

Biggest industries in E-burg are the college and agriculture. Can you find something in either field?

[509]

Originally Posted by ramsham

Hi Folks,

We are looking to move to Ellensburg due to my wife's jobs.

On my side, I can only find job in seattle area, so might need to commute / live there.

I was wondering if such option is possible? Any suggestions/help/pointers?

Is commute from ellensburg/seattle possible? Any idea if its possible to find carpool options?

Thanks.
RamSham

Go to the Safeway parking lot in Cle Elum on a weekday morning. Ride sharing from there.

[pw72]

There was another thread on this, but generally, from mid-October through mid-April, I-90 is a crapshoot over Snoqualmie Pass. There are many days when it will be snow-covered. One thing that has changed over the years is that in the past they would slap a chains-requirement on and keep the pass open, in recent years they just close it down completely. Sometimes for avalanche control, other times just to keep ill-prepared drivers off the road.

[ramsham]

Thanks for the replies.

>>> What do each of you do, professionally? Is telecommuting, at least part of the time, an option?
Yes, telecommuting should be available. I have a govt job now, but would be looking around in that area once we are there.

>>> Biggest industries in E-burg are the college and agriculture. Can you find something in either field?
I will try to find something there, but I don't have any experience in any of these. College might work, will need to see.


>>> Go to the Safeway parking lot in Cle Elum on a weekday morning. Ride sharing from there.
Is this some permanent arrangement or ad-hoc? If I would do this commute regularly, having a permanent arrangement would be more desirable, as you can imagine.

[MrHyak]

If you don't mind driving it is usually not a bad commute. About 1.5hrs each way from Eburg to the west side. The worse issue is when they close the pass for snow, generally caused by the big rigs not chaining up and clogging the roads so they are not passable. I commute from the west side to the top of Snoqualmie Pass daily and also to Yakima from here (family) so I'm VERY familiar with that commute. There is summer construction that goes on which is annoying for now, but it won't last forever.

[ramsham]

I have done hourly commuting in public transit but not in car. Will need to figure out how that would work :-)

If I can find a reliable carpool partner that would be fantastic

[M3 Mitch]

Just to throw it out there, Greyhound stops in E-burg and goes on to Seattle. Probably carpooling from Safeway is more practical, but, it's an option.

Back last time gas was up to $4, I took the Grey Dog from Sunnyside (where DW dropped me off) over to Seattle to recover the Toyota (had been stolen). While there were a few people on the bus I would not have particularly sought out as social contacts, by and large the bus was full of "regular folks" who for whatever reason needed a cheap ride to Seattle.

[Coinbeard]

There's an "Airporter" shuttle that stops in Ellensburg and goes to Seattle 5 times per day. It seems nicer and more reliable than Greyhound:
http://www.airporter.com

The weather can be brutal on Snoqualmie, not to mention the trip expenses add up quickly. Some people do it though.