Delmarva Meet: Sunday, March 23, 2014

[Laura]

Finally, we have details for the Sunday Delmarva Meet!

Date: Sunday, March 23
Time: 11:30 am
Location: Evolution Craft Brewing Company, 201 E Vine St, Salisbury, MD 21804 (US 13 Business)

Tour highlights: Old shield, weird BGSs, green shields, odd signs, unusual traffic calming, and drawbridges in Salisbury; The Upper Ferry just west of Salisbury; MD/DE 54, including the highball signal, mason-dixon stone; DE 26 widening construction; Indian River Bridge; short stubs in Bishopville, MD; MD 707 old alignments in Berlin, MD.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1442067346028373
Please invite yourself and any other roadgeeks you know on facebook that would be interested! (I decided to make a fb page since there are roadgeeks there who aren't on here.)

[Alps]

I may just want to lodge myself in the tasting room for awhile

[Laura]

I may just want to lodge myself in the tasting room for awhile

Mmmmm....beer

[PHLBOS]

The date's an automatic deal-breaker for me; there's a strong chance that I'll be in MA for that entire weekend (family-related); and, generally, Saturday meets usually work better for me.

[hbelkins]

As of now, my intent is to attend. In general, my plan is to stay in the Hampton Roads area Saturday night after Froggie's meet, drive up to Salisbury on Sunday, and then drive back down to Hampton Roads Sunday after the meet. Those plans may change, but right now that's what I expect to do. Not sure if I will make it all the way to Hampton Roads on Friday, or if I'll stop a bit short and finish up the drive Saturday morning.

Doesn't the CBBT offer a fare discount if you drive it in both directions within a certain period of time?

[oscar]

I'm on board for this, as well as Norfolk the day before.  I'll work out details about traveling from one to the other after I'm back from the St. Louis meet, other than I'll try to snag several US 13 business routes along the way since I've covered that part of the US 13 mainline already.

[SSOWorld]

This is one I have to skip out on, along with Norfolk.  Budget prohibits.

[Brandon]

Have fun.  This one and Norfolk would be fun, but I will not be able to go.  I'm already going to St Louis (week before) and Nashville (week after).

[oscar]

In general, my plan is to stay in the Hampton Roads area Saturday night after Froggie's meet, drive up to Salisbury on Sunday, and then drive back down to Hampton Roads Sunday after the meet.

Why the backtrack to Hampton Roads, rather than heading home through the D.C. area?  D.C. is worth a bit of a detour to avoid, even on weekends, but going back through Norfolk seems pretty far out of your way.

Heading west from the Eastern Shore takes you over the toll bridge carrying US 50/301 over the bay near Annapolis.  But tolls are collected only eastbound on that bridge, so for you the crossing would be a freebie.

[hbelkins]

In general, my plan is to stay in the Hampton Roads area Saturday night after Froggie's meet, drive up to Salisbury on Sunday, and then drive back down to Hampton Roads Sunday after the meet.

Why the backtrack to Hampton Roads, rather than heading home through the D.C. area?  D.C. is worth a bit of a detour to avoid, even on weekends, but going back through Norfolk seems pretty far out of your way.

Heading west from the Eastern Shore takes you over the toll bridge carrying US 50/301 over the bay near Annapolis.  But tolls are collected only eastbound on that bridge, so for you the crossing would be a freebie.

The way things currently stand, I want to drive both US 58 and US 460. If not for the Delmarva meet, that would have been my plan. I guess I could compromise and do US 301 and I-95 to Richmond, then US 360 and that Virginia state route shortcut over to 460 on my way back.

[froggie]

Doesn't the CBBT offer a fare discount if you drive it in both directions within a certain period of time?

Yes they do, but you must make the return trip within 24 hours and you must have an EZPass in order to get the discount.  The latter became a requirement on New Year's.

[vdeane]

I'd love to go, but I don't see it working out unless I could carpool with someone.  It also depends on when NY assigns me to take the civil service exam, which I won't find out until March 19.

[hbelkins]

Yes they do, but you must make the return trip within 24 hours and you must have an EZPass in order to get the discount.  The latter became a requirement on New Year's.

Affirmative on both counts. I'd be going back south that same day, and hopefully I will remember to get the EZPass out of my wife's vehicle and put it in mine before I make the trip.

[froggie]

If by chance any of the central Virginia contingent is interested in going/carpooling, I'll offer to drive from Norfolk.

[hbelkins]

Might take you up on that if I'm staying in the area Sunday night. The weekend is again looking a bit doubtful, however, after I looked at my checkbook today.

[hbelkins]

My Vue goes in the shop tonight. Some minor maintenance stuff (spark plugs and brake pads) but also something that may end up being more costly. Just how costly will play a big role in whether or not I'm able to attend.

Any ideas yet on when the tour would be wrapping up? I'm trying to get a handle on my post-meet travels.

I had originally thought about returning to Hampton Roads Sunday evening and heading out from there, but I'm rethinking my plans. I drove US 50 between Salisbury and the Bay Bridge fall before last and don't really want to do it again, but I'm not crazy about dealing with Hampton Roads traffic on a Monday morning when I head west. I can drive US 50 west and then I-95 south to Richmond, since I need most of I-95 between the Springfield Interchange and Fredericksburg as well, and I know most major traffic issues with that stretch are northbound instead of southbound on Sunday evenings. I could stay in the Richmond area on Sunday night, then take US 360 west to VA 307 to US 460, then take US 221 between Lynchburg and Bedford before getting back on 460, then I-81 south to Christiansburg, then 460 again back into Kentucky.

[Dr Frankenstein]

As I said in the Hampton Roads meet thread, I won't make it with my current car.

[hbelkins]

As I said in the Hampton Roads meet, unless something unforeseen happens this week, I'm there.

Current plans are for me to stay in Chesapeake Friday and Saturday nights and head out Sunday morning up US 13. Unless I've already gotten the pieces of 13 that I need for a clinch, I'll be taking it all the way up (obviously).

I will want to head out no later than 4, so I may end up missing the latter portion of the meet tour. The plan is to take US 50 and I-95 to somewhere between Richmond and Petersburg, where I plan to get a room for the night. That will give me a clinch of I-95 in Virginia and a clinch of all the state's interstates except I-395.

Monday morning I'm going to take US 360, VA 307 and US 460 west to Lynchburg, then US 221 to Bedford and then back on US 460 to Roanoke. Depending on what time I make Roanoke, I may do some exploring, most likely on US 221 south to Hillsville, which would give me a clinch of that route, then VA 100 up to Pearisburg to hit US 460 again. If not, I'll take I-81 to Christiansburg and then hit US 460 there. I want to explore Bluefield again and go on a cutout/weird shield hunt. I don't have to be home until Tuesday so I can spend a night somewhere along the route if I want.

I'll be waiting to see if some kind of tour itinerary is made available so I'll know at what point I'll need to bail to make my overnight stop before it gets too dark.

[agentsteel53]

which old shield is this?  Maryland US 13?

[Alps]

which old shield is this?  Maryland US 13?

[Laura]

Sorry for the delay in itinerary on my end - I'll post it sometime tonight. Then i can also give an approximate end time for the meet. The plus side is that once it is posted, it's final, so no last minute changes.


iPhone

[froggie]

The plus side is that once it is posted, it's final, so no last minute changes.

In my experience, it's never "final" until the end of the meet.  It's always good to plan for potential on-the-spot contingencies....the St. Louis meet being an excellent example.

[Laura]

The plus side is that once it is posted, it's final, so no last minute changes.

In my experience, it's never "final" until the end of the meet.  It's always good to plan for potential on-the-spot contingencies....the St. Louis meet being an excellent example.

True. Things could change as the meet goes on for various reasons. At the ICC meet I hosted, we had to change the restaurant on the fly because they were closed due to a private party.

I was referring to the basic details of the meet changing over and over.

At St. Louis, the car I was in had no idea that the itinerary changed AGAIN the day before on 3/14. It had changed several times, including four days prior to the meet on 3/11. The 3/11 itinerary was the one we all had downloaded and had with us instead of the 3/14 one. This would have been fine if just the directions were modified due to the one-way street changes, but the stops changed to a different order, which caused huge issues.


iPhone

[bugo]

I'm 50% yay, 50% nay.  If I come, I'm stopping by Newport and picking Tim up.

[hbelkins]

The plus side is that once it is posted, it's final, so no last minute changes.

In my experience, it's never "final" until the end of the meet.  It's always good to plan for potential on-the-spot contingencies....the St. Louis meet being an excellent example.

We added a stop at Ashland, but it was right on the tour route.

True. Things could change as the meet goes on for various reasons. At the ICC meet I hosted, we had to change the restaurant on the fly because they were closed due to a private party.

It's reassuring to know that the Youngstown meet a few years ago wasn't the only time something like that has happened.