Thanks for the replies to may part of this thread, everyone. I still haven't decided whether to make the trip to one of the cities. Unfortunately I missed an event that just took place in my city because it happened before I received the invitation and before I purchased ECIC. Should I have purchased it sooner? Sure. But I did not.

To the question about interview dates: As of a few days ago they were scheduling October. I did get my first choice in October, so perhaps they were not very full yet.