Ever Been To A Road Meet??

[PAHighways]

I can believe it, as it was my first clinched state as well.

What? Delaware wasn't you first state clinched?  It's only got 3 counties! 

It was clinched entirely on a family vacation in 1990 with Pennsylvania being the second clinched.

[Alex]

If anyone were to want to plan another southeastern road meet, I'd probably try to attend. You don't get many of them down here, and when Froggie ran his last year, I was not close enough to attend.

As far as I know, the Orlando meet in 2006 was the only ever done in Florida so far. We had six people for that meet.

[Darkchylde]

I'm contemplating trying to put together a meet somewhere in the Southeast (anything more specific has yet to be determined), but I'm going to wait until after hurricane season to actually hold the meet.

Ideas would be nice...

[Dougtone]

I've been to plenty of road meets, from impromptu mini-meets to more grandiose road meets that have brought in well over a dozen people.  My first meet was a basic drive around the Rochester, NY area and into Wyoming County, NY with Nate Perry and Bob Williams back in November 2000.  Since then, I have hosted various meets throughout New York State, and also in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.  I have also attended meets in North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario and Pennsylvania.

[hbelkins]

If anyone were to want to plan another southeastern road meet, I'd probably try to attend. You don't get many of them down here, and when Froggie ran his last year, I was not close enough to attend.

Don't know is Louisville is "southeast" enough for you, but I'm thinking about doing one there later this year or possibly early next year.

[mightyace]

Don't know is Louisville is "southeast" enough for you, but I'm thinking about doing one there later this year or possibly early next year.

I'd probably make it, Louisville is only a 3 1/2-4 hour drive for me.

[Ian]

Whenever there is one within a 100 mile radius, im there 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Let's see...
I did a Columbus (OSU) meet some years back with Pete Jenior and Steve Hanudel.  And along the way attended meets in Toledo, Greensburg Pa, Cincy (twice?), and SE Kentucky (H.B. organized it).
would have made the Slidell/New Orleans meet last year but of the formentioned Hurricane Gustav. 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

but of the formentioned Hurricane Gustav.

Didn't stop the rest of us...

Bragging or complaining? 

[PAHighways]

I held the 2004 Harrisburg Meet as the remnants of Ivan pushed through the Mid-State.  Luckily I chose not to hold it at the same location as the first one, or we would have had to take boats to the restaurant.

[austrini]

I went to one with Alex in Atlanta, and one in Orlando. They were both fun.
I was slightly embarrassed in front of the hot waitress being with all the super nerdy guys passing around maps, but I got over it. I really want to go to the OKC one but I have to see if the significant other will let me.

[Alex]

I held the 2004 Harrisburg Meet as the remnants of Ivan pushed through the Mid-State.  Luckily I chose not to hold it at the same location as the first one, or we would have had to take boats to the restaurant.

The day cleared up significantly from the morning onward. Carter and I parted from the group's exploration of the U.S. 222 freeway work at Reading to head to Harrisburg. We later all met back up at Centralia where the weather was bright and sunny.



Later on that night we went to Williamsport so Carter could clinch Interstate 180 and I could get Montour County for the first time. Flooding from Ivan's remnants closed the Pennsylvania 54 bridge over the Susquehanna south of Danville, so we had to detour. We took state highways all the way back that evening.

[Hellfighter]

What about here in Michigan?   

[bandit957]

What about here in Michigan?   

There was the one I went to in eastern Michigan in 2003, which the Sesame Street Krew missed out on.

[PAHighways]

What about here in Michigan?   

I attended one in New Buffalo in Spring 2003.  There have been others and no doubt will be others soon.

[DanTheMan414]

Michigan is a fairly strong state when it comes to roadgeeking.  There are a fair number of people around the state, especially in SE Michigan and around the Grand Rapids area, that are into the roads hobby.  There's usually one big meet somewhere in southern Michigan each year, and it's fairly well attended.  Last December, we did one up in Lansing, and had a dozen people in attendance, including roads enthusiasts from Kentucky and Tennesee.

We've got one we're planning for the fall in Grand Rapids, probably in either late September or early October.  Every so often, though, two or three of us might get together on the whim to shoot the breeze...a "mini" roads meet of sorts.  I've already done a few of them around SE Michigan here this year, either when some people have passed through town, or just in meeting up with some of the local roads enthusiasts.  We'll probably do a couple of them this summer, too, at some point.

[Chris]

How big is the US "roadgeek" community actually? Considering the Dutch road forum, there are only like 20 - 30 real roadgeeks active on the internet (on 16 million people), plus a bunch of professionals.

[J N Winkler]

It really depends on how you do the count.  There are basically three methods:

*  How many unique posters are there in road enthusiast forums?

*  How many "regulars" (however defined) are there?

*  How many people show up in person to physical gatherings of road enthusiasts?

In the US it is hard to gather this data on a national basis because road enthusiasm has become highly regionalized (as a partial result of MTR's death throes, which have been in progress for close to a decade now), with meets, mailing lists, etc. geared to specific regions rather than the whole country.  For what it is worth, the one US road enthusiast meet I attended in Topeka in 2003 attracted about 10 people in a state of about 2.5 million.  The question here is whether to count Nebraska (1.5 million) and Iowa (2.5 million) as well because representatives of both states were also present.

In Britain (population almost 60 million), SABRE is the only widely known road enthusiasts' forum.  At present SABRE has about 1500 discussion group members, about 120 Active Members (i.e., discussion group members who have signed up for voting privileges and elect SABRE management on an annual basis), and draws between 10 and 20 people to awaydays which are geographically dispersed but are normally in an English region with the exception of the odd Scottish awayday.  Overall, I would estimate that there are between 40 and 50 people who have been to a SABRE awayday at least once in the last five years.  In my own case I have been to awaydays in Leicester (October 2005) and Preston (November 2008), as well as the AGMs (always held in Wolverhampton) for 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

[US71]

I really want to go to the OKC one but I have to see if the significant other will let me.

You should try to make it. Scott's even holding a "class" on how to write for Wikipedia (if that's your thing)

[Dougtone]

I really want to go to the OKC one but I have to see if the significant other will let me.

You should try to make it. Scott's even holding a "class" on how to write for Wikipedia (if that's your thing)

I've heard that the Wikipedia session may be scrapped for some bridge hunting in the area.

[bugo]

I had no idea people ever even did such things until I joined this forum a few months ago.

Few things get in the way of me attending one:
1) I don't actually have my own car (though this will likely change in the near future).

You could try to find somebody to carpool with.

2) Scheduling constraints would make it impossible for me to just up and go anywhere more than a few hours away.

Most roadmeets are planned months in advance.

3) I don't know anyone else who'd be at all interested and it'd be kind of depressing/awkward/unnerving to go by myself and be traveling around with a bunch of people I've never met before.

I went to the OKC meet on Friday.  It wasn't awkward at all.  Anyway, I had known everybody at the meet from the internet and MTR for years so it wasn't like I was riding in a car full of complete strangers.

[US71]

3) I don't know anyone else who'd be at all interested and it'd be kind of depressing/awkward/unnerving to go by myself and be traveling around with a bunch of people I've never met before.

My first Road Meet was in St Louis last year. I had spoken with nearly everyone on-line at one time or another, but it was the first time I had met anyone in person.

At OKC last weekend, I had met 3 of the people before but hadn't met the other 3. There were really had no major problems.

Oft times, we'll get together for lunch first to break the ice, then split up into 2-3 cars and go riding around. 

[hbelkins]

I had no idea people ever even did such things until I joined this forum a few months ago.

Few things get in the way of me attending one:
1) I don't actually have my own car (though this will likely change in the near future).
2) Scheduling constraints would make it impossible for me to just up and go anywhere more than a few hours away.
3) I don't know anyone else who'd be at all interested and it'd be kind of depressing/awkward/unnerving to go by myself and be traveling around with a bunch of people I've never met before.

Can't help you with #1, but as for the others ....

Most times meets are announced a month to two months in advance. Gives you plenty of time to ask off from work if necessary.

As for #3, we've all been in that boat before. My first meet was in NE Kentucky and only three people, including myself, were there. My next one was in Charlotte, N.C., and I didn't know anyone there personally although many names were familiar through e-mails, Yahoo groups. misc.transport.road, etc. Didn't take long to get comfortable. Subsequent meets gave me the chance to meet more people in person and put names to faces; now many of us are friends and the meets are much like family reunions.

Don't be reluctant ... if there's a meet near you, if you are able to, go. You'll enjoy it.

[PAHighways]

3) I don't know anyone else who'd be at all interested and it'd be kind of depressing/awkward/unnerving to go by myself and be traveling around with a bunch of people I've never met before.

When I attended my first meet (which is also the first documented gathering in the US) back in 1999, I only knew Bruce Cridlebaugh and Adam Prince through MTR.  Since then we all have become good friends and help each other with our respective sites.

Just look at it as a chance to meet new people who share a similar interest, so you already have something in common.

[roadfro]

I've never been to a road meet, but have always wanted to go to one. 

Road meets seem to be a regional thing.  Most I see advertised are held in the midwest, New England and mid-Atlantic coast regions--or a little too far for me to go when starting from Nevada

If ever there is a road meet out this way, I'll try to make it.  It would be nice to meet fellow road enthusiasts in person--I've only ever met one other road geek in person.