Bennington, Vermont Road Meet

Dougtone · September 26, 2011, 10:55:51 PM

Bennington, Vermont Road Meet

Time
Saturday, November 12 · 11:30am - 5:00pm
Location
Madison Brewing Company
428 Main Street
Bennington, VT
Created By
Doug Kerr
More Info
The first known roadgeek meet in the State of Vermont will be taking place in the historic town of Bennington. This meet will feature lunch at the Madison Brewing Company in downtown Bennington, followed by a tour of the Bennington Bypass, as well as other transportation related items of note in the Bennington area.

Lunch: Lunch will be at the Madison Brewing Company (http://tinyurl.com/3fkbqfd), which is located on Main St. (VT 9) in downtown Bennington. Since it's a downtown location, parking on street may be scarce. There is a parking lot behind the building, which can be accessed one block north at Pleasant Street.

Tour Itinerary: The featured highlight of the meet will be the construction regarding the northern segment of the Bennington Bypass (http://tinyurl.com/3ohbhvw). The northern segment, which will connect US 7 with VT 9 around the northeast part of Bennington, is scheduled to be completed in 2012. We'll also drive the portion of the Bypass that was opened in 2004. Other parts of the tour will include a ghost ramp on VT 7A in Shaftsbury, a couple of covered bridges (this is Vermont, after all), a two lens traffic signal (which can be seen from the restaurant we're having lunch at) and even some artistic looking moose.

I'm anticipating that it won't be a long meet tour in terms of time, since we'll be traversing a rather compact area.

RSVP Info: If you're planning to attend, please RSVP by Wednesday, November 9th. You can e-mail me directly at dougtone@gribblenation.net as well.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153228221438414

froggie · September 27, 2011, 10:10:04 AM

Two-lens, not two-phase.

I may or may not be there. The plan is to be in Vermont that weekend, but it depends on if I can convince Meaghan to make it a Manchester/Dorset day.

hbelkins · September 27, 2011, 11:20:57 AM

Already have my trip planned.

Wednesday, optometrist appointment in Morehead, KY (off I-64) then up through WV, MD and PA, hoping to clinch US 219.
Thursday, finishing up all the upstate NY counties I need to clinch (leaving just Suffolk and Nassau on Long Island) and staying in Rutland, VT.
Friday, clinching all of VT's counties and back to Rutland.
Saturday, driving down to Bennington for the meet and then starting on an I-88 clinch which I was unable to do earlier this month.
Sunday, clinching I-88, clinching US 220 and US 15 in PA and getting as far south as I can before it gets too late.

Have already RSVP'd on Facebook and hoping nothing comes up (such as another sick critter

) to throw a kink in my plans.

Dougtone · September 27, 2011, 07:34:36 PM

Quote from: froggie on September 27, 2011, 10:10:04 AM
Two-lens, not two-phase.

I may or may not be there. The plan is to be in Vermont that weekend, but it depends on if I can convince Meaghan to make it a Manchester/Dorset day.

Corrected the traffic light note. I was rushing to get the meet announcement up last night before bedtime, and couldn't think of the proper term. Two phase made more sense at the time.

Dougtone · September 27, 2011, 08:01:26 PM

Quote from: hbelkins on September 27, 2011, 11:20:57 AM
Already have my trip planned.

Wednesday, optometrist appointment in Morehead, KY (off I-64) then up through WV, MD and PA, hoping to clinch US 219.
Thursday, finishing up all the upstate NY counties I need to clinch (leaving just Suffolk and Nassau on Long Island) and staying in Rutland, VT.
Friday, clinching all of VT's counties and back to Rutland.
Saturday, driving down to Bennington for the meet and then starting on an I-88 clinch which I was unable to do earlier this month.
Sunday, clinching I-88, clinching US 220 and US 15 in PA and getting as far south as I can before it gets too late.

Have already RSVP'd on Facebook and hoping nothing comes up (such as another sick critter ) to throw a kink in my plans.

The meet tour should end fairly early, as I'm estimating that the tour itself will take about 2 1/2 hours. Depending on traffic on a Saturday afternoon/evening (mostly on Hoosick St. (NY 7) in Troy), you could get from Bennington to Binghamton in just over three hours.

Duke87 · September 27, 2011, 09:11:49 PM

Realistically speaking, I can probably make it.

But depending on how another ~~evil~~ scheme I'm plotting works out, there is a slight possibility that I may have other matters to attend to that weekend.

Dougtone · October 23, 2011, 08:36:35 AM

I will also have a Vermont appropriate gift for everyone who attends the meet.

SSOWorld · October 23, 2011, 09:31:35 AM

Quote from: Dougtone on October 23, 2011, 08:36:35 AM
I will also have a Vermont appropriate gift for everyone who attends the meet.

Does it contain the words "SEND" and "HELP"?

froggie · October 23, 2011, 05:53:47 PM

That's moreso New York-appropriate.

Alps · October 24, 2011, 10:53:17 PM

The rumor I'm spreading says that it'll be maple flavored

(poor doug)

Dougtone · October 25, 2011, 07:28:21 AM

I don't really have a say in this matter now. I guess I'll have to take out a small loan to prepare care packages for the meet.

hbelkins · October 25, 2011, 11:40:54 AM

Wanna borrow some Kentucky litter bags? That's about all I have in stock, besides maps, to hand out nowadays.

SSOWorld · October 25, 2011, 12:40:53 PM

Quote from: hbelkins on October 25, 2011, 11:40:54 AM
Wanna borrow some Kentucky litter bags? That's about all I have in stock, besides maps, to hand out nowadays.

Wha?

Alps · October 25, 2011, 09:22:02 PM

Quote from: Dougtone on October 25, 2011, 07:28:21 AM
I don't really have a say in this matter now. I guess I'll have to take out a small loan to prepare care packages for the meet.

Just bring maple leaves. They're maple flavored by definition.

AsphaltPlanet · October 28, 2011, 08:37:54 PM

Will it be winter in Vermont by the second week in November?

froggie · October 28, 2011, 08:41:57 PM

Might be winter in parts of Vermont this weekend.

Dougtone · October 28, 2011, 11:36:53 PM

I believe it snowed yesterday as well, but maybe just a couple of inches of snow. There's a warming trend forecasted for next week (depending on where you look), so I figure that most, if not all of the snow will have melted by the time of the meet.

Regardless, the meet tour goes through areas and has planned stops in places that are located in a valley as opposed to the mountains and will have parking in well maintained areas. Odds are, I won't be making many changes (if any) to the meet, but I will be in a position to advise people to pack along a good set of boots, in case they decide to walk around in the mud (and even then, that won't be necessary).

Duke87 · October 29, 2011, 12:07:54 PM

My aforementioned evil scheme has already been completed, so I'm in.

hbelkins · October 29, 2011, 08:19:19 PM

I may have to drive my 4WD truck if another nor'easter hits weekend after next.

Dr Frankenstein · October 30, 2011, 12:49:31 PM

I'm a canuck; you can still count me in.

hbelkins · November 01, 2011, 10:17:59 PM

Quote from: Dougtone on September 27, 2011, 08:01:26 PM
The meet tour should end fairly early, as I'm estimating that the tour itself will take about 2 1/2 hours. Depending on traffic on a Saturday afternoon/evening (mostly on Hoosick St. (NY 7) in Troy), you could get from Bennington to Binghamton in just over three hours.

Any more definite idea on when the tour will wrap up? My travel plans have changed; I have a work obligation in Frankfort on Tuesday so I'd like to get home Sunday. So I will need to get further south than Binghamton after the meet on Saturday. Shooting for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, and adjusting my travel plans to get my US 15 and US 220 PA clinches in on the trip up, and the US 219 clinch in on the way home.

froggie · November 01, 2011, 10:55:51 PM

If Doug pushes for a quick lunch, you'd probably wrap up by 3-3:30ish. Otherwise, plan on at least 4pm leaving Bennington, so at least 8pm getting into Scranton. Keep in mind that sunset is around 4:30, so pretty much all of your trip past Troy will be in the dark.

hbelkins · November 02, 2011, 10:41:48 AM

Quote from: froggie on November 01, 2011, 10:55:51 PM
If Doug pushes for a quick lunch, you'd probably wrap up by 3-3:30ish. Otherwise, plan on at least 4pm leaving Bennington, so at least 8pm getting into Scranton. Keep in mind that sunset is around 4:30, so pretty much all of your trip past Troy will be in the dark.

Ran into the early sunset problem last year at Springfield, but I was only going back to Norwalk that night, a 90-minute drive.

I'm becoming increasingly paranoid about deer, especially this time of year since it's mating season and the added pressure from hunters and the harvest puts them on the move even more than usual. I'm not a fan of driving after dark this time of year on the Mountain Parkway, where a tow home from a deer collision would be a fairly simple matter. I'd hate to hit one 600 miles from home.

Dougtone · November 04, 2011, 06:40:00 AM

Quote from: froggie on November 01, 2011, 10:55:51 PM
If Doug pushes for a quick lunch, you'd probably wrap up by 3-3:30ish. Otherwise, plan on at least 4pm leaving Bennington, so at least 8pm getting into Scranton. Keep in mind that sunset is around 4:30, so pretty much all of your trip past Troy will be in the dark.

That's one of the reasons why I decided to push the beginning of the meet up to 11:30am, so there's a little more sunlight to work with after lunch. I'm looking to try to end lunch around 1pm, then start the tour.

Janko Dialnice · November 13, 2011, 01:41:31 PM

I am sorry that I was not able to attend this one. From what I have heard, it was a good time, and I am glad.
By the way, when is the bypass scheduled to open to traffic? I will have to make a trip out that way to check it out, then.
I kind of prefer to check out a road when it is first opened, anyway, instead walking through a construction site, anyway.

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Bennington, Vermont Road Meet