2013 Portsmouth, New Hampshire Road Meet

[Dougtone]

2013 Portsmouth, New Hampshire Road Meet

When:    Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 12pm noon   

Where:   Bratskellar Pizza Pub, 980 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH 03801. Lafayette Road is US 1. Bratskellar shares a building with the Dinnerhorn Restaurant, which I believe is owned by the same company.

Agenda:    The meet tour will focus on transportation and road construction interests, primarily, but not limited to, the vicinity of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area. The main focus will be on the Memorial Bridge (US 1 Bridge) reconstruction over the Piscataqua River. Other highlights will feature road construction for the southern terminus of Bypass US 1 at US 1, as well as a clinch of Bypass US 1 in both Portsmouth and nearby Kittery, Maine. There will also be a visit and bridge walk of the General Sullivan Bridge, which is the old crossing for the Spaulding Turnpike (US 4/NH 16) over the Great Bay in Newington. There is also a span of the modern day Spaulding Turnpike that is being built next to the oldest span.   

Directions:    From Interstate 95, take Exit 5 (Bypass US 1), go through the Portsmouth traffic circle to Bypass US 1 south. Bypass US 1 goes into US 1 south and the Bratskellar will be on your right hand side.   

If you are interested in attending this meeting, please email me at dougtone#gribblenation.net (please replace # with @ to send mail) or just RSVP via the Facebook meet page.  Your choice. You will be placed on a mailing list to inform you of any updates and changes.  Please RSVP by Friday, May 31, 2013 so I can call in an accurate head count to the restaurant.   

This meeting is open to all persons.

Bratskellar's website can be found at... http://www.bratskellar.com/bratskellar.htm

[hbelkins]

I do hope to attend this meet. It should give me an opportunity to clinch New Hampshire's counties (although in retrospect, I should have gotten Coos County when I was in Vermont year before last.) This will also give me an opportunity to find another route to the northeast besides I-79 through West Virginia.

Not confirming on Facebook, but I did say "maybe" to continue to get the updates there.

[PHLBOS]

As of now, I'm a maybe (and listed such on Facebook).  Will confirm later.

[vdeane]

Maybe for me.  Will know more once I get an apartment.

[Duke87]

I have a softball game the night before, but unlike Dubuque it's close enough for me to drive up Saturday morning, so count me in.

I likewise want to clinch the rest of New Hampshire's counties on this trip (currently only have three).

[Dr Frankenstein]

Oui.

For now I plan on sleeping at a friend's place on the way, and come down on Saturday morning, clinching I-93 in the process. I'll sleep in the area that night, so if someone wants to share a hotel room or something, well, heads up!

[Janko Dialnice]

This is the only road meet that I am a definite "yes" for, and probably the only road meet that I will be able to attend this year.
By the way, Carl, if you are definitely coming, could I ask you a favor, if you can contact me offline?

[Janko Dialnice]

By the way, depending on when this  ends and where people are headed afterwards, I can suggest some things for a post-meet activity: checking out two newly-opened bridges in Manchester area (45 minutes west of Portsmouth -- Airport-Turnpike connector and the new US 3 bridge over the FE Everett Turnpike), checking out two of the state's existing SPUI's at the same time, and ending with ice cream at an small stand in walking distance from my place (shameless plug, since I am friends with the owner and her husband).

[Roadgeek Adam]

Absolutely no idea if I can make it for obvious reasons.

[oscar]

I'm now a "probable", since my niece's high school graduation ceremony just got scheduled for before Memorial Day (her district uses a concert venue for its graduations, so they can't nail down the graduation schedule until the concert schedule is set). 

My plan is to combine the meet with some Canadian county-snagging thereafter.  But I still need to lock down the ferry and other reservations needed for the latter.

[jpi]

I am out on this one, I will be in central PA the weekend before but I can't take the whole week off, otherwise it may have been doable for me.

[Laura]

My great aunt's 90th birthday party is that weekend, so it's a no for me.

[Dougtone]

I'm working on a meet tour itinerary so attendees and potential attendees to the road meet can get an idea of where the meet will take us.  I will note that it would be a draft copy, since the Bypass US 1 bridge between Portsmouth, NH and Kittery, ME is also temporarily closed due to a barge hitting the bridge, but it is scheduled to be reopened prior to the meet.  I'll post it once it is ready.

It shouldn't be a long tour at around 30 miles in length, but with stops along the way, I would expect the tour to last 2-3 hours.

Also, John Housty has suggested a possible after meet tour in Manchester, New Hampshire (about 45 minutes or so west of Portsmouth) for those who are interested.  I'm planning to go in the opposite direction after the meet, to Portland, Maine for the night, but I wanted to throw John's suggestion out there to those who are interested.

[Dougtone]

I have uploaded a Word document containing the itinerary (plus a map based on what Google Maps would allow me to do) for the Portsmouth road meet.
http://www.gribblenation.net/meets/PortsmouthMeet.doc is where you can find this.

[adamjackson]

Hello!

I am new to this board. I joined after chatting with HB and others about the hobby and sharing some of my ideas. I do work at a major mapping company (TomTom) and am based in central-New Hampshire. The hobby is something I personally have been doing for a while but never knew there was a name for it until I found this awesome forum and some of the members who commit a lot of time to it.

anyway, i'll be in attendance of the meetup! I'm very excited to meet a few of you and learn more.

[froggie]

A shame I won't be at the meet, adam, since I'll be retiring about an hour from you and my niece is in WRJ...

[SSOWorld]

Not able to attend, unless I could afford the time or $$$ for a transcontinental flight.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Is anyone looking to share a hotel room in the area for Saturday night?

If not, where is everyone staying, so I can book a room that's not too far in case we have an after-meet dinner or something?

[Janko Dialnice]

I guess my idea of a Manchester post-meet tour, along with hot sandwiches and ice-cream is not happening?

[hbelkins]

I guess my idea of a Manchester post-meet tour, along with hot sandwiches and ice-cream is not happening?

I won't be able to go to Manchester. When the meet's over, I need to head southwest and get as much mileage as possible under my wheels.

[Duke87]

I'm staying right off of US 1 Bypass in Portsmouth, both Saturday and Sunday nights.

I am down for heading over to Manchester after the meet but I figure that whether that or something else happens will be decided on the spot by the group hanging around.

[oscar]

I guess my idea of a Manchester post-meet tour, along with hot sandwiches and ice-cream is not happening?

My inclination, like Doug's, is to head in the other direction toward Portland after the "official" meet, to get a head start on the rest of my trip (to the Maritime Provinces via Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula).  Could change my mind at the last minute, though.

I'm also hanging loose on my lodging reservations until the week of the meet, but probably will stay in different places in different states the evenings before and after the meet.

[PHLBOS]

If I do indeed attend (I will actually be in central MA to attend my niece's high school commencement a day or two beforehand), I will need to head back to PA that evening after the 'official meet' activities come to a close.

I will make my final attendance decision on either the 28th or 29th.

[hbelkins]

Interesting ... if you remove a post, all subsequent posts get renumbered.

So it looks as if the meet will be over around 5 or 5:30? Trying to figure out how much mileage I can get behind me after the meet breaks up. Right now, it looks like making it all the way to Hartford while there's still some daylight may be feasible. Depending on how early we're done, Danbury might even be possible.

Sorry that I won't be able to go over to Manchester, since I know a meet was considered for there last year.

[Laura]

Hello!

I am new to this board. I joined after chatting with HB and others about the hobby and sharing some of my ideas. I do work at a major mapping company (TomTom) and am based in central-New Hampshire. The hobby is something I personally have been doing for a while but never knew there was a name for it until I found this awesome forum and some of the members who commit a lot of time to it.

anyway, i'll be in attendance of the meetup! I'm very excited to meet a few of you and learn more.

Welcome, Adam! I believe one of the people you spoke with was Mike, my fiancé.

I am changing my RSVP to maybe. My aunt's party is Sunday afternoon, and Mike and I have been seriously considering driving up and back through Friday and Saturday nights to make this meet and my aunt's party a possibility.