2013 goals of mine...

[jcarte29]

Happy New Year fellow Roadgeeks!

I am hoping 2013 brings everyone prosperity and good health, and plenty of chances for road meets. One of my big 2013 "focuses" (I don't do resolutions) is to do more road trips, and produce them on video.

I think I got out of North Carolina a handful of times last year, and only to VA and SC. I have family in GA and CA (way too far for a roadtrip, but still lookin to get out there sometime).

Any updates on meets that happen anywhere in the Southeast, but especially NC simply because of the proximity to me would be appreciated.

My job doesnt allow me tons of time off, but I may start doing something else and opening up free time at some point this year.

Thanks, and great work as always! -JAC

[CanesFan27]

I haven't done a formal NC meet since 2008 as time, other interests, and obligations have come first. (And quite honestly just a complete lack of personal interest in putting together another one.)

I know Wilmington (more accurately Brunswick County) with the I-140 construction would be a great location for a meet.  Possibly after the baby is born, I could be convinced in putting a meet together in Wilmington.  I'd most likely tie it in with some races I plan to run down there.

[hbelkins]

I haven't done a formal NC meet since 2008 as time, other interests, and obligations have come first. (And quite honestly just a complete lack of personal interest in putting together another one.)

I'm surprised that no one else has stepped forward to do a Carolina meet, given the concentration of roadgeeks in the area and the history of having meets there. There's no law that says only Adam P. can hold a meet in North Carolina.

I know Wilmington (more accurately Brunswick County) with the I-140 construction would be a great location for a meet.  Possibly after the baby is born, I could be convinced in putting a meet together in Wilmington.  I'd most likely tie it in with some races I plan to run down there.

When I drove through Wilmington last summer and saw a bunch of construction, I had the same thought that it would be a good place to do a meet. That would give me a chance to clinch I-40 in your adopted home state, and see the terminus of the US route that runs closest to my home, which is something I missed doing last summer due to time constraints.

[CanesFan27]

Well in defense of everyone there's only so much construction you can see and most projects have been in rural areas.  and in the case if the folks down here we do a lot of non-road items together (some of us play sports together or we just go to hockey or baseball games or just get together on a Tuesday night in the past) that we see each other a lot and dont need a meet to get together. And honestly, I don't care about  and get a chuckle with the "will I go or not" back and forth people have for a meet six to eight months in advance.  Let alone the hemming and hawing of the person holding the meet. I've pretty much always decided 4-6 weeks ahead of time and tailor it where people the closest are able to attend. 

Personally, there's a lot to a meet Espescially the larger ones.  You want to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and that you say hello to all the attendees. You want to at least know where you are eating (wasnt there a meet where the restautant was closed) and work with them about billing ahead of time. You have to make sure no one gets lost and if they do a way they can contact you or know where the next stopping point is.  Froggie creating point by point maps are great for meets.

There's a risk of car wrecks plus at stopping points having a large amount of people/cars nosing around a construction site you have to make sure people don't mill around too long.

100 mile sign hunts risk boredom and quite honestly with an eight hour driving your you have to make sure no one is getting antsy.

And if out of town folks are coming in you need to make sure they got in ok and if they are early suggest offer something to do or invite them to your home.

So if someone hasn't done one down here I don't blame them as we have other options plus it may not be their thing. Meets shouldn't be done for people asking them to have it, only to have the person begging for a meet not to show up. Which I have had happen.

[Takumi]

For what it's worth, I'd most likely come down for a Wilmington meet. And (even though I know you're not being specific) most of my being neurotic about the Richmond meet was the combination of never having even attended a road meet, much less hosted one, and the expected turnout.

[jcarte29]

I haven't done a formal NC meet since 2008 as time, other interests, and obligations have come first. (And quite honestly just a complete lack of personal interest in putting together another one.)

I know Wilmington (more accurately Brunswick County) with the I-140 construction would be a great location for a meet.  Possibly after the baby is born, I could be convinced in putting a meet together in Wilmington.  I'd most likely tie it in with some races I plan to run down there.

I'm hopeful that "part a" of I-140 will be done sometime this year, last time I drove through it looked like it was flyin up. It still baffles me why they are doing that before "part b" (us74/76 to us421), but oh well it will be soooo useful and impressive.

In Jacksonville there are two projects, neither of which involves a federal or state highway but serve this town very well. They are building a connector from where US 17 turns off the By-Pass over to Western Blvd, and then a "Northwest" connector from US 258 to US 17 north of town that was in the paper the other day, but the latter project is waiting on re-prioritization from the state of NC.

I am happy to hear there is some interest in coming down here, and will be happy to help in any way if I'm the only local of the group coming.

[Laura]

You want to at least know where you are eating (wasnt there a meet where the restautant was closed) and work with them about billing ahead of time.

Yep, that was the ICC meet that I planned in Nov 2011. In my defense, i scouted it out in advance and was unaware that it would be closed that morning/afternoon for a private party!

I'd like to host another meet but don't know about 2013.

[CanesFan27]

You want to at least know where you are eating (wasnt there a meet where the restautant was closed) and work with them about billing ahead of time.

Yep, that was the ICC meet that I planned in Nov 2011. In my defense, i scouted it out in advance and was unaware that it would be closed that morning/afternoon for a private party!

I'd like to host another meet but don't know about 2013.

Actually I was referring to one in Ohio. I wasn't aware of what happened with the second Maryland ICC meet

[A.J. Bertin]

I've officially been a roadgeek since the fall of 2003 and have attended probably a couple dozen road meets since that time. It's interesting how the roadgeeking hobby has evolved - especially since the early days when all we had was m.t.r. (which I never followed) and regional groups on Yahoo - before AARoads became the catch-all forum for everything in roadgeekdom.

Other people have implied this, but I feel like I've established some good friendships with other roadgeeks. A big reason I like to go to road meets is to get together with old friends and shoot the breeze with them. Plus, making new friends who share this hobby is always fun. Facebook helps to stay in touch, but seeing these folks in person is always a pleasure. For me, the roads are still interesting, but the bigger draw is just exploring new cities/areas, radio-geeking in those cities, and clinching highways on the drive to and from the meet. The announcement of a road meet that I can get to is a great excuse for me to get away for the weekend.

Having said all of that, I've been thinking about what my roadgeeking goals are for 2013. My significant other and I are planning on taking two good road trips this year: one to the East Coast (it will either be to Hampton Roads/Delmarva Peninsula/Ocean City MD or to Rehoboth Beach DE and Philadelphia & Hershey PA). The second trip will be a drive to Toronto and Montreal (probably for a 5-day trip or so). Neither of those will be "roadgeeking" trips because my partner doesn't really get into that, but I will be able to clinch new highway sections.

In addition to that, one of my roadgeek friends and I will be doing a trip around Lake Superior probably in early June. I would also love to have the opportunity to do a solo road trip to northern Michigan for a few days, but I don't know if finances and time will allow for that one.

I'd like to attend several road meets again this year. (In 2012 I attended four.) Hopefully the Ohio meet will work out for me again, and maybe if Brandon Gorte hosts one in central Illinois, I'll be able to go to that one as well. Assuming there will be a Michigan meet too, I'll likely go to that one as well. As much as I want to go to a meet in, say, New Jersey or New York, I have a feeling I won't have the time or financial ability to go to one of those in 2013 - with everything else I have going on.

I have lots of places I want to go to, but there's only so much time and money.

[jpi]

My #1 goal for 2013, our 3rd road trip to Albuquerque, NM for my other hobby tied in with a BIG multi day\ multi state roadtrip that will take Steph and I to Salt Lake City, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska and Mall of America, for the first time!! This would be 7 new states and almost 100 new counties, I have already sent off my "deposit" on this, rental mini van is set, now to put in the time off of work and getting funds together. Not sure how many meets I will be able to make it to this year, last year was about a half dozen (Kim H St Louis meet was the last one) but I am considering a "middle TN regional" meet and Cody and I are talking about a Chattanoogga road meet, an area that has not had a meet hosted yet.