Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[PHLBOS]

I am definitely interested -- practically in my back yard.

Took the words right out of my mouth, so to speak.

[J3ebrules]

I’ve never been to a meet, but this is literally a stone’s throw from my house. What are the meets like?

[signalman]

I’ve never been to a meet, but this is literally a stone’s throw from my house. What are the meets like?

What specifically are you inquiring about? A typical meet begins with a sit down lunch at a restaurant that the host chooses. After lunch we will condense into several vehicles to head out to the road tour (this is usually the most confusing part, but don't fret-no one gets left behind) We then do the driving tour as per the host's itinerary, which will include stops at sites that are being showcased. Eventually we make it back to where non drivers left their cars. There's often some evening activity (attendance is optional, some choose to break off, others go out with the group for the evening. Did this answer your question? If not, please be more specific and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).

[A.J. Bertin]

I’ve never been to a meet, but this is literally a stone’s throw from my house. What are the meets like?

What specifically are you inquiring about? A typical meet begins with a sit down lunch at a restaurant that the host chooses. After lunch we will condense into several vehicles to head out to the road tour (this is usually the most confusing part, but don't fret-no one gets left behind) We then do the driving tour as per the host's itinerary, which will include stops at sites that are being showcased. Eventually we make it back to where non drivers left their cars. There's often some evening activity (attendance is optional, some choose to break off, others go out with the group for the evening. Did this answer your question? If not, please be more specific and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).

I will chime in to say that road meets are a lot of fun!  Some of us in the roadgeek community have been attending road meets for years now.  Each host has their own style of hosting meets, but the format that is described above is a pretty good representation of what road meets are like.  Usually the host will prepare a written itinerary and pass it out to the attendees at the beginning of the tour so that everyone can follow along and not worry about getting lost or losing the car in front of them if they are following that way.

One aspect of road meets that's become particularly fun over the years is the social aspect.  The more road meets you attend, the better you get to know other folks who share this hobby.  Some of the best friendships I've made in my adult years have come from this community.  If you have the opportunity to attend one or more road meets, I'd highly recommend it!

[Rothman]

I’ve never been to a meet, but this is literally a stone’s throw from my house. What are the meets like?

What specifically are you inquiring about? A typical meet begins with a sit down lunch at a restaurant that the host chooses. After lunch we will condense into several vehicles to head out to the road tour (this is usually the most confusing part, but don't fret-no one gets left behind) We then do the driving tour as per the host's itinerary, which will include stops at sites that are being showcased. Eventually we make it back to where non drivers left their cars. There's often some evening activity (attendance is optional, some choose to break off, others go out with the group for the evening. Did this answer your question? If not, please be more specific and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).

Heh.  There was a Buffalo meet where the tour got a little messy, but we all managed to meet up again in the end.

[Brandon]

I’ve never been to a meet, but this is literally a stone’s throw from my house. What are the meets like?

What specifically are you inquiring about? A typical meet begins with a sit down lunch at a restaurant that the host chooses. After lunch we will condense into several vehicles to head out to the road tour (this is usually the most confusing part, but don't fret-no one gets left behind) We then do the driving tour as per the host's itinerary, which will include stops at sites that are being showcased. Eventually we make it back to where non drivers left their cars. There's often some evening activity (attendance is optional, some choose to break off, others go out with the group for the evening. Did this answer your question? If not, please be more specific and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).

Heh.  There was a Buffalo meet where the tour got a little messy, but we all managed to meet up again in the end.

Of course, you always have the St Louis meet. 

[hbelkins]

I’ve never been to a meet, but this is literally a stone’s throw from my house. What are the meets like?

What specifically are you inquiring about? A typical meet begins with a sit down lunch at a restaurant that the host chooses. After lunch we will condense into several vehicles to head out to the road tour (this is usually the most confusing part, but don't fret-no one gets left behind) We then do the driving tour as per the host's itinerary, which will include stops at sites that are being showcased. Eventually we make it back to where non drivers left their cars. There's often some evening activity (attendance is optional, some choose to break off, others go out with the group for the evening. Did this answer your question? If not, please be more specific and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).

Heh.  There was a Buffalo meet where the tour got a little messy, but we all managed to meet up again in the end.

Of course, you always have the St Louis meet. 

Maybe we need a thread on meet disasters? 

I'm a big fan of organization with such things, and although I've often taken driving trips where I was just flying by the seat of my pants and didn't have a planned itinerary, other than where I wanted to end up, I like planned events to have -- well, a thought-out plan.

I have attended meets where:

• The route was made up entirely on the fly
• The selected restaurant wasn't open, leading to a scramble to find a suitable place for lunch
• Communication info wasn't exchanged, leading to the trailing vehicle losing track of the others and missing most of the meet because there was no solid itinerary
• The host bailed at the last minute and didn't really provide a plausible reason why (car trouble, illness, death in the family, emergency at home, etc.), leaving a substitute host to try to recreate the meet's plans -- and he did a good job of it
• Participants stood around and talked at the gathering point, leading to a late start to the tour, and thus a late end to the day's schedule
• An unplanned dinner stop at the end of the tour, while people were still grouped up in vehicles, leading to a later-than-planned conclusion

Even the best-laid plans can go awry. I once hosted a meet with a detailed written itinerary, but one car didn't follow those directions and instead took a different route to the next-to-the-last stop.

As mentioned earlier, different hosts have their different styles for producing these events.

[J3ebrules]

Thank you guys! That all absolutely answers my questions! I was honestly just concerned about whether there was a ton of walking involved bc I am disabled, but driving around is perfectly fine!

I’m looking forward to it!

[vdeane]

Sometimes tours involve walking (Newburyport is noteworthy for having a stop that had a short hike and then going on a longer hike post-meet), but those are the exception rather than the rule, and it's always been mentioned in the meet thread and/or the tour notes beforehand.

[Alps]

Thank you guys! That all absolutely answers my questions! I was honestly just concerned about whether there was a ton of walking involved bc I am disabled, but driving around is perfectly fine!

I’m looking forward to it!

There is usually a decent amount of walking at some stops. For example, the recent Chicagoland meet involved walking from parking (1/4 mile each way at most) with a downgrade and upgrade. Probably all ADA compliant but worth noting. On meets with more walking, people less able to walk will either go slower, not go as far before turning back, or stay at their car for that stop.

[J3ebrules]

Thank you guys! That all absolutely answers my questions! I was honestly just concerned about whether there was a ton of walking involved bc I am disabled, but driving around is perfectly fine!

I’m looking forward to it!

There is usually a decent amount of walking at some stops. For example, the recent Chicagoland meet involved walking from parking (1/4 mile each way at most) with a downgrade and upgrade. Probably all ADA compliant but worth noting. On meets with more walking, people less able to walk will either go slower, not go as far before turning back, or stay at their car for that stop.

Gotcha. I’ll make a mental note to skip a San Francisco meet where you have to walk up insane hills to get anywhere   

But that all makes sense.

[roadwaywiz95]

I appreciate everyone’s early interest in this event! I have a few comments to make while I have your attention:

A Facebook event page has been created for this meet and it (if you haven't found it already) can be found HERE. Eventually this FB event page will be split up into two separate pages, one for each day of the meet, but that change is not going to happen for a few months still. Think of the page that exists currently as a general interest page, where I’ll post news/pictures/info about the weekend as a whole. There will come a point where I will want to get more specific, but I’ll deal with that (literally) next year. In the meantime, questions/comments regarding this event as a whole or on individual sub-topics are welcome to be posted either in this thread or on the FB page.

The opening post of this thread will be updated periodically as new information becomes available, whether it’s related to the meet highlights or meal locations, or other pre/post-meet events. (I am looking to do both pre & post-meet events on both days, locations TBD. Maybe also some kind of “Welcome” gathering on the Friday PM before, again, TBD.) If it’s something really important, I’ll call your attention to it as well in post so everyone is on the same page. Either way, keep an eye on that post as there will definitely be additions/modifications made to it as time goes on. (I've already updated it once this morning with new some additions.)

Judging by a couple of the early comments here, ADA-compliant access to locations/stops throughout this weekend is going to be a necessity; I appreciate this feedback and encourage others to come forward and express their comments/questions/concerns on this sub-topic. You’re also welcome to reach out to me privately if there are things you’d rather keep out of public view. Given that I’ll be starting to do some serious scouting around Philadelphia County in the near future, this is all very helpful information for me to have.

Finally, speaking of scouting, I'm looking forward to doing a lot of scouting for this meet in the next two months since my holiday season travels will take me through the area anyway. I’m not in a particular hurry to finalize anything, but I would like to get the lay of the land in a number of locations since I already have a pretty good idea of what the weekend is going to look like (thanks to my strong familiarity with the metro area to begin with). I’ve been in contact with at least one local member of this forum about collaborating when it comes to scouting and keeping up with things around the metro, so it should be fun to see this thing come together in the next few months.

[74/171FAN]

I still need to keep an eye on whenever the US 13 realignment is signed in Chester. Of course, the last time I saw any footage in that area was when you Live Drive to Maryland in August followed PA 291.

[signalman]

Will this Road Meet be broadcasted LIVE on YouTube? I really hope it does.

Wilmington wasn't, but roadwaywiz has more hosting experience now, so I suppose he may decide to do one.  The reason Wilmington didn't have a stream is because he didn't feel he could host and stream at the same time.

There was supposed to be a video of the driving tour of the Wilmington meet that was going to be uploaded like the wiz's  other beloved material. Sadly, we were having technical difficulties on the day of the meet and video footage was compromised.

[vdeane]

Will this Road Meet be broadcasted LIVE on YouTube? I really hope it does.

Wilmington wasn't, but roadwaywiz has more hosting experience now, so I suppose he may decide to do one.  The reason Wilmington didn't have a stream is because he didn't feel he could host and stream at the same time.

There was supposed to be a video of the driving tour of the Wilmington meet that was going to be uploaded like the wiz's  other beloved material. Sadly, we were having technical difficulties on the day of the meet and video footage was compromised.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.  Still, I think earlesryan69 was talking about something more like this:

[Alex]

I still need to keep an eye on whenever the US 13 realignment is signed in Chester. Of course, the last time I saw any footage in that area was when you Live Drive to Maryland in August followed PA 291.

I drove it at the end of August and nothing had changed yet. Will be interested in when it finally does.

[Alps]

Will this Road Meet be broadcasted LIVE on YouTube? I really hope it does.

Wilmington wasn't, but roadwaywiz has more hosting experience now, so I suppose he may decide to do one.  The reason Wilmington didn't have a stream is because he didn't feel he could host and stream at the same time.

There was supposed to be a video of the driving tour of the Wilmington meet that was going to be uploaded like the wiz's  other beloved material. Sadly, we were having technical difficulties on the day of the meet and video footage was compromised.

A couple of us were having more difficulties being technical than others

[signalman]

Will this Road Meet be broadcasted LIVE on YouTube? I really hope it does.

Wilmington wasn't, but roadwaywiz has more hosting experience now, so I suppose he may decide to do one.  The reason Wilmington didn't have a stream is because he didn't feel he could host and stream at the same time.

There was supposed to be a video of the driving tour of the Wilmington meet that was going to be uploaded like the wiz's  other beloved material. Sadly, we were having technical difficulties on the day of the meet and video footage was compromised.

A couple of us were having more difficulties being technical than others

We don't all have the same educational background or proper fortitude 😐

[Alps]

Will this Road Meet be broadcasted LIVE on YouTube? I really hope it does.

Wilmington wasn't, but roadwaywiz has more hosting experience now, so I suppose he may decide to do one.  The reason Wilmington didn't have a stream is because he didn't feel he could host and stream at the same time.

There was supposed to be a video of the driving tour of the Wilmington meet that was going to be uploaded like the wiz's  other beloved material. Sadly, we were having technical difficulties on the day of the meet and video footage was compromised.

A couple of us were having more difficulties being technical than others

We don't all have the same educational background or proper fortitude 😐

I think the two of us were the most difficult

[signalman]

I think the two of us were the most difficult

Accurate

[elsmere241]

One to think about, since I'm in Wilmington now and my father and stepmother live in Philadelphia so I could spend a night with them in a pinch.  (There's no good place to park there, though.)  The 20th is my wife's and my 18th anniversary, though.

[signalman]

One to think about, since I'm in Wilmington now and my father and stepmother live in Philadelphia so I could spend a night with them in a pinch.  (There's no good place to park there, though.)  The 20th is my wife's and my 18th anniversary, though.

If one chooses to attend, attendance at both days is not required.

[Rothman]

One to think about, since I'm in Wilmington now and my father and stepmother live in Philadelphia so I could spend a night with them in a pinch.  (There's no good place to park there, though.)  The 20th is my wife's and my 18th anniversary, though.

If one chooses to attend, attendance at both days is not required.

I like the idea of mandated and required attendance at meet-ups.

[SSOWorld]

One to think about, since I'm in Wilmington now and my father and stepmother live in Philadelphia so I could spend a night with them in a pinch.  (There's no good place to park there, though.)  The 20th is my wife's and my 18th anniversary, though.

If one chooses to attend, attendance at both days is not required.

I like the idea of mandated and required attendance at meet-ups.

Time to ban attendance mandates.

[signalman]

One to think about, since I'm in Wilmington now and my father and stepmother live in Philadelphia so I could spend a night with them in a pinch.  (There's no good place to park there, though.)  The 20th is my wife's and my 18th anniversary, though.

If one chooses to attend, attendance at both days is not required.

I like the idea of mandated and required attendance at meet-ups.

We try not to discriminate.