Nashville\ Middle Tennessee Regional Road Meet!!!

[jpi]

Merry Christmas everyone!  The time has come to announce my next road meet. For the first time since October 2010 there will be a Nashville\ middle TN area road meet on Saturday March 29, 2014. We will meet at Demo's Restaurant in Lebanon, TN at 11:00am. It is very easy to get to off exit 238 of I-40. Only 30 minutes east of downtown Nashville with lots of motels to choose from.

Below is the address and website-

http://demosrestaurants.com/

130 Legends Dr, Lebanon, TN 37087
(615) 443-4600


The tour will consist of the TN 141- Hartsville Pike construction to make this a much improved 2 lane highway linking Lebanon with Hartsville, next we will travel west to Gallatin and check out the TN 109 Cumberland River Bridge construction that is replacing a roughly 65 year old 2 lane crossing with a modern 4 lane bridge. This coincides with TDOT's plan to make TN 109 a 4 lane highway from TN 840 to I-65 complete with a direct interchange with I-65 (currently ends at US 31W at KY state line) Other highlights of this meet will include the widening projects on I-40 and I-65 closer to Nashville, we can also check out 840 which has been open a little over a year and some of the recent 109 widening done between Gallatin and Portland or any other road worthy landmarks around the Nashville\ middle Tennessee region.



Please RSVP by 3/21/14 so that I can let Demo's know the head count. They are a very good local restaurant chain with 3 other middle TN locations. Any questions, suggestions, ideas please let me know. 

[Takumi]

Can't make it. I have to work that weekend, and with the combination of a meet or two the weekend before and an engine swap planned for one of my cars sometime in the spring I doubt I'd have the funds anyway.

[Duke87]

Maaaaybe. Depends on how crazy I'm feeling.

[corco]

I'll be at this or St. Louis (much more likely St. Louis)- which one I go to will depend on which days surrounding each weekend are easier for me to take off- I've got the vacation days and money, it's just a matter of which one schedules better.

[Alps]

When do you think you'll have an itinerary put together? I'm planning out my trip, also looking at things like TN 840 and want to make sure I'm not overlapping the meet.

[jpi]

I have a rough itinerary already posted with the announcement but will get a more permanent one together soon. Eric Near and I are planning a scouting trip sometime in February and I will have one put together for sure by then. Traveling 840, especially the newest part is one option but is not high on my list since the 2010 Nashville meet was emphasizing on that.

[jpi]

And for you hockey fans, the Nashville Predators have a home game at Bridgestone Arena Sunday night 3/30 @ 7:00pm. Lebanon is 30 miles east of downtown. I will also have a more concreate itinerary next month, Eric Near and I plan on doing some scouting around the region.

[Alps]

Booking my flights now, into Nashville on 3/28 and back out on 4/3. Fun fun fun fun.

[Brandon]

I'm at 95/5 for going to this meet.  Probably drive down on the 28th and back up on the 29th.  Might stay overnight over by Lebanon.

[jpi]

Sweet guys! I am going to try to get more info on Nashville Predators tickets and post the link here and facebook, also I am going to try to check out the progress on Hartsville Pike construction this week and the TN 109 bridge may be open in time for the meet, I am thinking that will be a good place to get a group pic. Now lets hope the weather is good :-)

[froggie]

I'm a tentative maybe for this, but if I do attend, I'll be limiting my participation to lunch only as I'll be enroute to Minnesota.

[Brandon]

Scratch my 95/5 for going.  It's 100% now.  Drive down Friday, come back after the meet on Saturday.

[jpi]

Sweet! Great to hear Brandon! :-)

[A.J. Bertin]

I'm looking forward to attending this meet! My friend Chris Bubb is still listed as a "maybe" on the Facebook page, but he's strongly leaning toward joining me on the trip down.

[jpi]

Sweet! We can talk music again besides roads! :-)

[getemngo]

I have to back out, as I'm on crew for a play that weekend. I've been taking way too many Fridays off anyway, and I'm starting to realize my meet activity will be mostly limited to May-August over the next two years.

[hbelkins]

Starting to try to figure out my travel plans for this one. I'm still not sure if I will drive all or part of the way on Friday, or if I will just get up early Saturday morning and drive the whole distance. I'm pretty much a sure bet to go through Somerset and across KY 90 and US 127 to check out the new alignment of the Albany bypass and the extension of TN 111 into Kentucky, but I don't know where I will stay if I do start the drive on Friday. Could be anywhere between Somerset and Lebanon.

After the meet Saturday, I'm probably going to take US 231 north into Kentucky, but not sure where I will spend the evening. Again, could be anywhere between Lebanon and either Somerset or Elizabethtown.

If I do spend a night in Lebanon, it would only be Friday night.

[jpi]

Hi everyone, I know I have been "quiet" in the past few weeks, lots of stuff happening, the biggest is I am getting into my first busy period of the year for my other hobby but this meet is high on my to do list for March. The TN 109 bridge is coming along but I doubt it will be open in time for the meet but it may still be a good place for a group pic. I plan to have an itinerary together soon. I think this is going to be a great get together, it already shaping up to tbe the biggest turn out for a meet I am hosting :-) Stay tuned for more updates soon!

[Duke87]

So does anyone have any after meet activities planned? Trying to figure if I should find a hotel in Lebanon, or closer to Nashville itself.

Note that this would just be for Saturday night, I plan to stay somewhere near Louisville Friday night.

[hbelkins]

I'll be heading north after the meet. Probably staying somewhere between Bowling Green and either Elizabethtown or Somerset on Saturday night, depending on which way I decide to go home.

[Duke87]

I'll be heading north after the meet. Probably staying somewhere between Bowling Green and either Elizabethtown or Somerset on Saturday night, depending on which way I decide to go home.

Don't you live like only 4 hours from Lebanon? If I were that close I would not be getting a hotel at all.

[hbelkins]

Much depends on when the meet breaks up. I'm not a fan of driving after dark on interstate-quality roads due to the omnipresence of deer.

[froggie]

Jason:  barring any unforeseen circumstances, put me down as a "yes", but only for lunch.  Want to make Minnesota on Sunday so I'll be skipping the tour portion.

Any remaining maps that don't get handed out at the Hampton Roads/Delmarva meets will be available at the Nashville meet.  I have the latest for NC, SC, GA, FL, PA, WV, and VT, plus a few older MD maps.

[A.J. Bertin]

So does anyone have any after meet activities planned? Trying to figure if I should find a hotel in Lebanon, or closer to Nashville itself.

I'll be staying at a hotel on the east side of Nashville (near the airport) Saturday night.

Note that this would just be for Saturday night, I plan to stay somewhere near Louisville Friday night.

I've got the same itinerary... driving from Michigan down to the Louisville area Friday night. However, I had a very hard time finding a decent room in the Louisville area that wasn't too expensive. (I guess there's some big truck show taking place in Louisville that weekend.) I finally found a decent, reasonably-priced Super 8 in Elizabethtown where I'll be staying Friday night before heading from there to Lebanon Saturday morning.

[hbelkins]

I've always found Louisville lodging to be overpriced. If you want to stay in one of the nice hotels downtown, you might be able to find a deal on Priceline. (You don't have to worry about getting a smoking room because Louisville's smoking ordinance applies to motel rooms as well as restaurants).

I recently spent a night in Louisville for a work meeting and stayed at the Red Roof just off Hurstbourne Lane and I-64. It was decently priced and not bad quality-wise. (I'd stay there again if I had another meeting in that part of town). There's a Baymont Inn in that same area that is also reasonably priced and gets good reviews on TripAdvisor.