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[Alps]

My favorite meet photo ever (plus two others from the restaurant on Flickr):

[brianreynolds]

Kim did a fine job of scouting and compiling the itinerary. 
...
When faced with an hour delay downtown, some of us pressed ahead at ever greater velocity bent and intent on squeezing it all in.

Others simply lowered our expectations (and anxiety) and enjoyed the ride.  Learn to roll with it.

I lowered my anxiety by meeting my expectations.

Glad that worked out for you.  My personal preference is to avoid the anxiety.  Serenity is a good fit for me.  Agitation might be a good fit for you.  Different strokes for different folks.

If I had followed your lead, I would have missed the finest moments of the entire meet.  A dozen or more of us enjoyed a rather leisurely walk across the Chain of Rocks Bridge.  The bridge itself was an outstanding experience.  The opportunity to engage individually with lots of fellow road enthusiasts along the way made it ever so much more enjoyable. 

The prayer before the lunch meal was a surprise, but not a particularly unpleasant one.  Prayer before meals is not a part of my personal tradition, but it is somewhat common among people I routinely associate with.  For me, this was no big deal.

Yes, congregating at a common hotel is a great idea.  I'm surprised it took this long to catch on.

[A.J. Bertin]

I thought I would chime in with my thoughts on the meet. In general, it was fun. Was it the best meet I've ever attended? Probably not but it might come close. Was it the worst? Absolutely not.

I think it was a great idea having us all meet up at the Days Inn in Collinsville first. Having as few cars as possible at the restaurant was smart. Kim picked a great restaurant, and she was very generous in spending her own money on reserving the private room for all of us. It was so awesome that we were all able to hang out, move around, talk to different people all over the room, and not feel confined to one seat. Ten dollars was a good deal for all that!

As far as the Christian prayer was concerned, I am a person of faith and appreciated what Kim was doing. However, for me the idea of praying with people around me and not knowing their faith backgrounds is just awkward and I always fear that it might make other people uncomfortable. I am not opposed to the blessing (I think blessings are a good thing), but at road meets they just seem out of place.

I'm glad we did our group photo before we left the restaurant - even though it did seem a bit like herding cats to get everyone moving in the right direction to make that happen. (I guess that's what happens when the group is so big.)

The world's largest catsup/ketchup bottle was actually kinda disappointing. I was expecting it to be much bigger than that. Interesting to see, and I was glad that we only spent less than 5 minutes there.

Things began to get chaotic after we left the ketchup bottle. The directions were a little unclear in spots, and it was disappointing that all the cars got split up. It's not Kim's fault that the parade was taking place downtown, and she tried her best to keep a reasonable itinerary. She made a good attempt, but unfortunately things happened and it was not an ideal situation. It was actually pretty hilarious passing through the nasty part of town on 1st Street. In Brandon's car, we were all like "Where the hell are we going?!?!"

I think the biggest concern I had with the tour was how long it took. Generally speaking, when I attend a Saturday road meet, I'm mentally ready for it to be over by 5 or 5:30. But it kept going and going until, what, 8:00? I will say, though, that I loved experiencing the two car ferries. Those were pretty fun. But as Steve mentioned in an earlier message, the directions could have been clearer about all the drivers needing to TAKE the ferry.

The planning for dinner after the meet was pretty amusing. Steve had his heart set on going to Steak 'N Shake, and I'm glad he got to experience that for the first time. (I could totally understand his motivation.) I shouldn't find it funny, but looking back, it was actually pretty hilarious thinking about how all 20-ish of us walked into an already-crowded Steak 'N Shake and how we probably scared all the staff. I'm just glad enough of us had the desire to leave and go instead to the local Italian restaurant nearby. I and many others can eat at Steak 'N Shake anytime we want to at home.

The room I stayed in at the Days Inn was next to the party room. I popped in and said hello to Steve, Laura, David, Scott, and others - but I really only wanted to stay a minute because I was exhausted and needed some peace and quiet. It was nice that I wasn't disturbed by any noise coming from that room.

As I've said before, what really appeals to me with attending road meets is hanging out with friends I seldom get to see, as well as exploring a new city for the first time. Seeing the infrastructure is cool and all, but it's really all about the people and the experience in a new place. It was awesome that so many people were able to go, but being more of an introvert, I tend to prefer hanging out in smaller groups with people I know best. It was great to reconnect with old friends and meet some new people too. It's always sad when we have to say our goodbyes and go our separate ways home afterwards.

Thanks, Kim, for organizing this meet! I am so glad I was there. 

[bugo]

How many states did the attendees come from?  I know there were attendees who currently live in Oklahoma, New Jersey, Colorado, Montana, Maryland, Alabama, Michigan (several), Kentucky, New York, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Texas.  What states am I missing?

[codyg1985]

Jason Ilyes came from Tennessee.

[sammi]

I'm gonna start associating faces with names. Please tell me I got all your names right.

[codyg1985]

Sammi: You have Cullen and I mixed up.

[sammi]

Sammi: You have Cullen and I mixed up.

They were given in that order though...

Steve Riner (The High Plains Traveler), Cody Goodman (codyg1985), Cullen Wassell (Crazy Volvo Guy), Jason Ilyes (jpi)

Fixed.

[Duke87]

Editing a quoted post and replying "Fixed" in a completely non-sarcastic way. Wow. Bravo.

[sammi]

Editing a quoted post and replying "Fixed" in a completely non-sarcastic way. Wow. Bravo.

I changed the URL of the image because I made some changes to it. I guess "Fixed" wasn't necessary.

[SSOWorld]

The one in front of Sam² is also Scott.  to tell the difference put 'sconsin on my Scott.

Also mark Jeremy as "off the map" *waits for bugo reaction*

[oscar]

How many states did the attendees come from?  I know there were attendees who currently live in Oklahoma, New Jersey, Colorado, Montana, Maryland, Alabama, Michigan (several), Kentucky, New York, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Texas.  What states am I missing?

Virginia (me).

[SSOWorld]

Wisconsin (me) (if you were thinking me as Iowa - that's close enough )

[Alps]

Oh wow, you actually think corco is Luis. How cute.

[sammi]

Oh wow, you actually think corco is Luis. How cute.

Of course not. But I like calling him Luis.

I also had a footnote but I don't know where it went. >.>

Where?

[Alps]

Oh wow, you actually think corco is Luis. How cute.

Of course not. But I like calling him Luis.

I also had a footnote but I don't know where it went. >.>

Where?

too many internet faces

[bandit957]

If we ever have a St. Louis meet again, we should all meet at the intersection of Lewis & O'Fallon.

[Brandon]

If we ever have a St. Louis meet again, we should all meet at the intersection of Lewis & O'Fallon.

Nothing like a bit of urban archaeology to start the day, eh? 

[NE2]

Rootwad Park is funny.

[bugo]

What was up with the weather that weekend? It was fine during the meet itself but the drive home was awful. I left around 2am and about 50 miles west of St Louis it started raining. It rained/sleeted all night until I got to Claremore when ir started snowing. That trip was miserable. Visibility was measured in inches. When passing large trucks, I couldn't see much past the front of my car. It was highly dangerous. Had somebody been stopped in traffic in front of me I wouldn't have had a chance. Another attendee left a few hours after I did and it took them several hours to get from St Louis to Joplin and that traffic was very slow.

[hbelkins]

When passing large trucks, I couldn't see much past the front of my car. It was highly dangerous.

That's unusual. It's been my experience in driving on the interstate in snowstorms that the big trucks fly, while passenger vehicles tend to drive at appropriately safe speeds. That's why I avoid driving on the interstate in a snowstorm. On the way back from a conference in DC in January 2004, I actually bailed off the interstate at Strasburg, Va., and opted to take VA/WV 55, WV 42, WV 93 and US 219 (this was before Corridor H was built) because I felt safer driving on a snowy two-lane mountainous road than on an interstate where the trucks were driving like it was a sunny, dry day.

[bandit957]

I recall that this meet included 3 bunker blasts. This even included an SBD standard stinker during the luncheon!

So many fond memories!

[bugo]

When passing large trucks, I couldn't see much past the front of my car. It was highly dangerous.

That's unusual. It's been my experience in driving on the interstate in snowstorms that the big trucks fly, while passenger vehicles tend to drive at appropriately safe speeds. That's why I avoid driving on the interstate in a snowstorm. On the way back from a conference in DC in January 2004, I actually bailed off the interstate at Strasburg, Va., and opted to take VA/WV 55, WV 42, WV 93 and US 219 (this was before Corridor H was built) because I felt safer driving on a snowy two-lane mountainous road than on an interstate where the trucks were driving like it was a sunny, dry day.

This wasn't snow so much as a nasty mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet. I probably shouldn't have been driving like that but I'm glad I left when I did.

[bandit957]

This wasn't snow so much as a nasty mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet. I probably shouldn't have been driving like that but I'm glad I left when I did.

That was right when I headed for home using Greyhound. We had good weather during the meet itself, but it was cold and windy on my way home.

Greyhound also bungled my trip home by leaving 2 hours late and directing everyone to Dayton instead of Cincinnati. It was complete incompetence on their part.

[jpi]

I remember driving home that Sunday after a morning toy show, 64 east was ok but things got interesting when I hit 57 south and 24 east, went from rain to sleet to snow- back to sleet and rain then HEAVY wet snow and by the time I got to Paducah, KY it was windy and rain but never got below freezing and my drive was fine back to Nashville on 24