2017 Meets

[codyg1985]

I have updated the list above with dates and new meets. I have separated the list between meets that have potential dates picked from those that don't. I have also linked each meet to their respective thread or post in this thread.

[A.J. Bertin]

I have updated the list above with dates and new meets. I have separated the list between meets that have potential dates picked from those that don't. I have also linked each meet to their respective thread or post in this thread.

The list looks great! Thanks for updating it.

I wonder if Pittsburgh is still on the table.

[Takumi]

I'm thinking about putting together a meet in the Brunswick and Mecklenburg County areas of Virginia at some point in the future. Probably not until at least 2018, since my 2017 plate is already pretty full.

[MisterSG1]

Anything come out of doing one in Florida during Presidents' Day Weekend.....hell I'd possibly be down for doing it as that's my "spring break".

[vdeane]

I'm figuring I'll probably host something.  The possibilities I'm considering are a Pocono/Lehigh Valley Road Meet in Pennsylvania or a New York City Outer Borough Road Meet that would focus on the various bridge reconstruction projects around the city (Goethals, Bayonne, Belt Parkway).

Not sure if you've decided on which yet, but I noticed today that the Pocono/Lehigh Valley meet could, dovetail VERY nicely with my planned clinches in Sullivan County next year; there's a couple routes that I couldn't fit into the planned trip but which could fit into a trip to the meet, depending on the meet location (I did the hypothetical driving directions for the I-80/I-380 junction).

[hbelkins]

Somebody needs to do a meet somewhere in Texas.

[US71]

Somebody needs to do a meet somewhere in Texas.

I know of an abandoned bridge outside Texarkana

Otherwise, my knowledge of Texas isn't in-depth enough to put anything together.

HOWEVER: in April, there's the Jefferson Highway Meeting in Dennison. Usually lectures, dinner, and a field trip or two. This year, we took a bus from Carthage to Lamar along the JH, then a driving tour from Carthage to Noel

[codyg1985]

Updated list with firm date for Kankakee Meet.

[noelbotevera]

Somebody needs to do a meet somewhere in Texas.

I know of an abandoned bridge outside Texarkana

Otherwise, my knowledge of Texas isn't in-depth enough to put anything together.

HOWEVER: in April, there's the Jefferson Highway Meeting in Dennison. Usually lectures, dinner, and a field trip or two. This year, we took a bus from Carthage to Lamar along the JH, then a driving tour from Carthage to Noel

There's quite a bit of material in DFW right now. Project Pegasus, I-635 express lanes,  TX 183 reconstruction...I could go on for hours.

[A.J. Bertin]

What I'd like to know is... are there any meets that are on this list that should be removed from the list? (For instance, I think H.B. was saying that it's pretty unlikely that he's going to be doing anything in Lexington this year.)

[hbelkins]

What I'd like to know is... are there any meets that are on this list that should be removed from the list? (For instance, I think H.B. was saying that it's pretty unlikely that he's going to be doing anything in Lexington this year.)

I still have it in the back of my mind.

[codyg1985]

Somebody needs to do a meet somewhere in Texas.

I know of an abandoned bridge outside Texarkana

Otherwise, my knowledge of Texas isn't in-depth enough to put anything together.

HOWEVER: in April, there's the Jefferson Highway Meeting in Dennison. Usually lectures, dinner, and a field trip or two. This year, we took a bus from Carthage to Lamar along the JH, then a driving tour from Carthage to Noel

There's quite a bit of material in DFW right now. Project Pegasus, I-635 express lanes,  TX 183 reconstruction...I could go on for hours.

DFW would need to be a two day meet, at least. Or multiple meets over several years. There is just that much stuff going on.

[hbelkins]

I've always been struck by the fact that the largest state in the lower 48 has had such a dearth of meets. I only know of one Texas meet, that being one that Gene VanDusseldorp hosted six years ago in the DFW area. It only had three attendees, and one of them got lost between lunch and the first stop on the tour.

[cl94]

I would try to swing a Texas meet if my schedule matched up. It's one of those places I have never been and the prospect of legally driving 85 is quite exciting.

[vdeane]

Texas sounds interesting.  I could probably do it in three days each way (same as Mississippi, but the days would be longer (8-9 hours/day instead of 6-8)), with a whopping nine new states.  Or make it four more relaxing days each way and not do any other meets with hotels.

What I'd like to know is... are there any meets that are on this list that should be removed from the list? (For instance, I think H.B. was saying that it's pretty unlikely that he's going to be doing anything in Lexington this year.)

I'm curious too.

[cl94]

I'm still planning to do an Adirondacks meet. Can't set the date until I get a spring schedule, but it'll probably be the third or fourth weekend of June.

Kankakee and Minneapolis will likely be my two long-distance meets. Thanks to TRB points, the amount I will spend on hotels will be minimal. If there ends up being another one in New England or Metro New York, I could probably make those as well.

[froggie]

I've always been struck by the fact that the largest state in the lower 48 has had such a dearth of meets.

Lack of forum (and pre-forum MTR) regulars who live there may have played a factor...

[CanesFan27]

Somebody needs to do a meet somewhere in Texas.

I know of an abandoned bridge outside Texarkana

Otherwise, my knowledge of Texas isn't in-depth enough to put anything together.

HOWEVER: in April, there's the Jefferson Highway Meeting in Dennison. Usually lectures, dinner, and a field trip or two. This year, we took a bus from Carthage to Lamar along the JH, then a driving tour from Carthage to Noel

There's quite a bit of material in DFW right now. Project Pegasus, I-635 express lanes,  TX 183 reconstruction...I could go on for hours.

DFW would need to be a two day meet, at least. Or multiple meets over several years. There is just that much stuff going on.

yes, how it used be done multiple meets over various years featuring various areas each time.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I'm not being rude in writing this, but where does everyone's love of roadmeets come from?  I've been to several over the years, and while I admit that they are fun, it seems like it's simple enough to check out road projects on one's own. 

I find that I have way more flexibility to take photographs of something without dragging 15 people behind me.  Again, not being rude, I just don't fully understand it.

[SSOWorld]

I'm not being rude in writing this, but where does everyone's love of roadmeets come from?  I've been to several over the years, and while I admit that they are fun, it seems like it's simple enough to check out road projects on one's own. 

I find that I have way more flexibility to take photographs of something without dragging 15 people behind me.  Again, not being rude, I just don't fully understand it.

I do agree here with with your opinion, but there are opportunities to meet with others and talk many topics - not forgetting roads.  Meets should be done, but it's up to the individual traveler to which they want to meet-up or to just do a photo-tour or whatever they do.  I do think that there seems to be a road meet every month nowadays and I just pick-and-choose based on ability to get free and on budget.  I don't try to make every meet because they're too far and it costs money.

Thank the Internet.

[Alps]

I'm not being rude in writing this, but where does everyone's love of roadmeets come from?  I've been to several over the years, and while I admit that they are fun, it seems like it's simple enough to check out road projects on one's own. 

I find that I have way more flexibility to take photographs of something without dragging 15 people behind me.  Again, not being rude, I just don't fully understand it.

I like people more than roads. YMMV.

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ Yeah, I get that too.  It just seems easier to have people to visit with closer to home, rather than traveling halfway across the country to a roadmeet just to see people.  I guess your mileage varies.

I shouldn't have written my first post, people can do whatever they like, it's not for me to decide, it's just always seemed to me that road meets are setup poorly.  For me, if I've driven for a day to check out a project, I want to check out a project because I like photographing roads.  If I had wanted to go out with my friends I would have stayed home and done that instead.

Though, I do awknowledgd thst I know have several close friends who I have met through online road forums, so I can see the value in doing that, we just never really did it through meets per se.

[A.J. Bertin]

I'm not being rude in writing this, but where does everyone's love of roadmeets come from?  I've been to several over the years, and while I admit that they are fun, it seems like it's simple enough to check out road projects on one's own. 

I find that I have way more flexibility to take photographs of something without dragging 15 people behind me.  Again, not being rude, I just don't fully understand it.

The best friends I have made in my adult years have come from the roadgeek community. These are some very awesome people. I try to attend as many road meets as I can for various reasons. The two biggest reasons are 1) the awesome people I get to see at the meets whom I don't get to see very often otherwise, 2) getting to explore different areas that I otherwise would have no reason to visit, and 3) clinching a whole bunch of counties and highways to and from the road meet (assuming I drive to the meet instead of fly there - which, I never fly anyway).

I don't have that many close friends who live in my area, so anytime I have an excuse to go hang out with my friends I've met through the roadgeek community, I'm going to jump on that chance. Not everyone feels the same way as I do about this, and that's perfectly fine. Different people have different desires, interests, and motivations. Just because someone is a roadgeek doesn't necessarily mean that he or she wants to attend road meets and discuss their hobby with others who share it.

[cl94]

I totally agree with what people have said about the social aspect. Basically, meets and TRB are my only real chances to socialize with other transportation-inclined people. While I work/study in a civil engineering department, it's mainly a work relationship and there's a bit of a language and culture barrier.

[Duke87]

Road meets started as a way for people who shared a hobby and found each other on the internet to meet each other IRL. They've evolved organically from that now that large numbers of us already know each other well IRL, but they do still serve their original purpose sometimes whenever a newcomer shows up.