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July 15-16

July 22-23

July 29-30

August 5-6

[froggie]

Yes, this is happening.  But I don't plan on putting details together until we get closer, probably not until June or July.

[cl94]

Perfect. I don't need anything more than that to book tickets. Nice to see a roadmeet correspond with one of my planned vacations for once.

[cl94]

And I will 100% be at this unless there is an emergency. Plane tickets are booked.

[TheHighwayMan394]

I suppose you need my confirmation for the head count, but obviously since this meet is in my backyard I can't foresee not being there.

[Brandon]

My confirmation is there as well.  Just give us the name and address of the place to meet and I'll be good.

[A.J. Bertin]

A few months ago I gave myself an 80 percent chance of being at this meet, but I can now say I'm at least at a 95 percent chance now.

[US71]

I'm going to say maybe.

[A.J. Bertin]

Hey Adam... do we have an idea of which part of the Twin Cities we will be meeting up at? The meet is now less than a month away and several of us still need to make hotel reservations. For me personally, I'd like to stay in an area not too far from where the restaurant will be. I think others may agree with me on this.

Thanks in advance for any info you can share with us along these lines.

[froggie]

Haven't finalized things yet.  Tentatively looking at St. Louis Park.

[froggie]

I've finalized the starting details for the meet and edited the OP with them.  But in short, the plan is to meet at 12:30pm in the parking garage for the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park (near I-394/MN 100), with the tour including MN 100 reconstruction, the Chain of Lakes parkway system, and river bridges between the Mendota Bridge (MN 55) and the Lowry Ave Bridge in North Minneapolis.  Time permitting, we'll finish with a drive of the new MN 610 completion and a few other route clinches.

There will not be a formal lunch for this meet, but I'll be doing lunch beforehand at the nearby Noodles & Co. and you're welcome to join me.

A Facebook event has also been created.

[hbelkins]

Given that this meet won't be concluded until 6:30 my time given your estimate, it's likely I will drive solo on the tour and depart somewhere around Hennepin, given my need to make it well into Wisconsin that evening. Knowing when and where you're having lunch will make it easier for me to plan how far I have to make it on Friday to have a realistic chance to make it to lunch. I suspect quite a few meet attendees will join you for lunch as well.

[froggie]

Given that parking will be very tight at a few of the stops, I'd prefer to not have any solo drivers.  But I think I can tweak the tour so that we can drop you (and anyone else who wishes) off about an hour earlier, before we go up to do MN 610.

[US71]

Given that parking will be very tight at a few of the stops, I'd prefer to not have any solo drivers.  But I think I can tweak the tour so that we can drop you (and anyone else who wishes) off about an hour earlier, before we go up to do MN 610.

I only have room for one, unless someone wants to bounce around in the back
If I make it, I'm in for the whole meet.

[cl94]

Link to the Facebook event?

[US71]

Link to the Facebook event?

https://www.facebook.com/events/478194085863338/478278272521586/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1499720222720766

Motels are running $100+

[SSOWorld]

Link to the Facebook event?

https://www.facebook.com/events/478194085863338/478278272521586/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1499720222720766

Motels are running $100+

Not out of the ordinary for Twin Cities.

[US71]

Link to the Facebook event?

https://www.facebook.com/events/478194085863338/478278272521586/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1499720222720766

Motels are running $100+

Not out of the ordinary for Twin Cities.

I found one for $70, about 10 miles out

[hbelkins]

It's likely I'll be staying a couple of hours out, to the west on I-94, on Friday night.

[Brandon]

I've finalized the starting details for the meet and edited the OP with them.  But in short, the plan is to meet at 12:30pm in the parking garage for the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park (near I-394/MN 100), with the tour including MN 100 reconstruction, the Chain of Lakes parkway system, and river bridges between the Mendota Bridge (MN 55) and the Lowry Ave Bridge in North Minneapolis.  Time permitting, we'll finish with a drive of the new MN 610 completion and a few other route clinches.

There will not be a formal lunch for this meet, but I'll be doing lunch beforehand at the nearby Noodles & Co. and you're welcome to join me.

A Facebook event has also been created.

Which parking deck are we meeting at?  The one east of Duke Drive, the one west of Duke Drive, or the one under the western part of the center?

[cl94]

I've finalized the starting details for the meet and edited the OP with them.  But in short, the plan is to meet at 12:30pm in the parking garage for the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park (near I-394/MN 100), with the tour including MN 100 reconstruction, the Chain of Lakes parkway system, and river bridges between the Mendota Bridge (MN 55) and the Lowry Ave Bridge in North Minneapolis.  Time permitting, we'll finish with a drive of the new MN 610 completion and a few other route clinches.

There will not be a formal lunch for this meet, but I'll be doing lunch beforehand at the nearby Noodles & Co. and you're welcome to join me.

A Facebook event has also been created.

Which parking deck are we meeting at?  The one east of Duke Drive, the one west of Duke Drive, or the one under the western part of the center?

That, and can we get a live, public link to the event? The previous link (now dead) was to a private event.

[froggie]

Brandon:  the one labeled Retail/Theater that I pointed the GMSV shot at (link in the OP).

I am not making this a public event on Facebook.  Sorry.  I don't think I have you on my FB feed, but I'm assuming you're friends with Doug....he should be able to add you.

[hbelkins]

I think I have my travel plans formulated for this one. Someone advise if I'm trying to do too much too quickly.

Leaving Tuesday after work and overnighting at either Seymour or Greensburg, Ind. I'm leaning to Greensburg because I expect morning traffic heading into Indy will be a lot lighter on I-74 than it will be on I-65.

On Wednesday, proceeding to Danville and then exiting to drive US 150 all the way to the Quad Cities. From there, I-280 to US 61 to Muscatine, where I will take IA 22 west to pick up Washington and Keokuk counties, then back to US 218 north, which I will take all the way to Waterloo. I think I should be able to make it to Waterloo, if not farther, on Wednesday for the night.

From there, I'm going to continue on along US 218 beyond the end of I-380 to pick up Bremer and Chickasaw counties, then east on IA 346 at Nashua to US 63, then south on US 63 and east on IA 3 to pick up Fayette County. Then south on IA 150 to get Buchanan, east on US 20 to get Delaware, then south on IA 38 to snag Jones, then US 151 north to Dubuque. From there, US 52 north gets me Clayton, Allamakee and Winneshiek counties. I'll have to go west on IA 9 to get Howard County, but then return to US 52 for the clinch in Iowa. I'm pretty confident that I can get farther than Rochester on Thursday, which was my goal, so I'll probably stay somewhere along I-90 between US 52 and the South Dakota line.

I've decided to take I-90 all the way to I-29 so I can get a clinch of I-90 in both Minnesota and South Dakota. From there, I'm going all the way to Fargo to enter North Dakota for the first time, and set myself up for a clinch of I-94 in Minnesota. Now that we have a time and location for the meet-up point (and the optional lunch earlier) I figure I can stop anywhere along I-94 a couple of hours out of the Twin Cities area for the night on Friday and still comfortably make it Saturday. I intend to take I-94 all the way to I-394 and then head back west to the meet location.

After the meet, I'm going to head east on I-94 to get the clinch in Minnesota. My goal is to make it to the Eau Claire/Chippewa Falls area at least for the night.I'd like to get all the way to Wausau but I don't think that's practical given the likely time I'll be departing the meet tour.

Sunday, I'm going straight down I-39 to get it clinched, then I-74 back to Danville, where I will need to finish up US 150 between there and the Indiana state line. I'll have a number of options once I reach Terre Haute, depending on the time. Monday will be a reasonably short drive home depending on where I end up staying and the route I choose to take to get to the Ohio River.

So, does this sound do-able without putting too much pressure on myself to make mileage in any single day and end up getting into a motel room too terribly late?

[froggie]

FYI, you should be able to make it to Wausau in 3 hours from Minneapolis.

[hbelkins]

FYI, you should be able to make it to Wausau in 3 hours from Minneapolis.

Which is why I'm looking to get away from Minneapolis around 4 p.m. local time. That puts me in Wausau at 8 p.m. (according to my watch and my body) and gives me time to check in have a little time to unwind before I hit the hay.

[froggie]

I've created a preliminary and detailed itinerary PDF with maps and directions and posted it on Google Drive.  As MnDOT has not announced their lane/ramp/road closures for the weekend of the meet, and won't until that workweek beforehand, this is preliminary and subject to change, though I don't think much would change for the core of the meet.  If changes are made, I will upload updates and post accordingly.

As noted above, we'll meet at 12:30pm, with the goal of departing by 12:45pm.  Our first stop will be at Lilac Park to view the recent reconstruction of MN 100 in St. Louis Park.  Following that, we'll take a driving tour of some of the Minneapolis parkway system, drive both the Mendota and Fort Road Bridges, and stop at Fort Snelling for a walk out onto the Mendota Bridge.  Time-permitting (i.e. if we're ahead of schedule), we'll stop to see the famous Minnehaha Falls.  From there, we'll follow the Mississippi upriver towards downtown, driving across the Ford, Lake St, Franklin, Washington Ave, I-35W, and Hennepin Bridges, with stops at both the "Number 9 Bridge" (former Northern Pacific rail bridge converted into a bike/ped bridge) and on Nicollet Island to see a bridge span that was originally part of the 1889-built Broadway Bridge.

-----------

From here, we'll return to the start point so that HB and anyone else who desires can leave early.  Anticipated return time is around 4:15pm.  At this point, those who remain will have three choices.  First, we can do a driving tour of the completed MN 610 freeway.  I've included this in the PDF and it will take about an hour-and-a-half.  For those into route clinching, this option includes full clinches MN 610, MN 252, and MN 101 and will cover US 169 from I-394 to US 10 in Elk River.

The second choice is more aggressive, and will cover both the MN 610 freeway and the new Stillwater Bridge.  This option will take close to 3 hours, and I've also included it in the PDF (on the last page).  Route clinches for this option include MN 36, MN 101, MN 280, MN 610, US 169 from I-394 to US 10 in Elk River, and WI 64 from the state line to WI 35 North in Somerset.  There are subalternatives for this one that would trade MN 36 and MN 280 for other routes, subject to the groups preference.

Third and finally, we can make it a 'Fielders Choice' and go wherever the group consensus desires.