2018 Road Meets

[TheHighwayMan3561]

By the looks of the past posts on this thread, I don't see any meets out west. Is there just too much space in between our cites, or is it just a lack of organization for the people out here. Either way, is there a way that one can get on the calendar? It's not likely that I'll go because of my school and running schedule but I want to happen for all of the road-geeks out here.

Sure. Anyone can organize a meet, anywhere, anytime. It's really that simple. I would recommend a few months' notice though; also, there is a lot of dead time over the winter when meets in the north and northeast can't really be held so that might be a good time to plan one.

[corco]

By the looks of the past posts on this thread, I don't see any meets out west. Is there just too much space in between our cites, or is it just a lack of organization for the people out here. Either way, is there a way that one can get on the calendar? It's not likely that I'll go because of my school and running schedule but I want to happen for all of the road-geeks out here.

I hosted a Denver meet back in 2015 which was successful, but otherwise we haven't had a whole lot of luck (or frankly tried much) with western meets lately. Even at the Denver meet, in terms of western participants, there was me and about three people from Colorado. The majority of the meet attending population is located east of the Mississippi, and that's where the other 16 of 20 or so meet attendees came from.

I'd certainly be interested in attending more meets out west and getting the meet culture going out here, but I don't have the time or energy to spearhead those efforts. Population density is an issue, as is site density. Even in Denver, I struggled to fill an afternoon with meet-worthy tour stops, simply because in the west (outside of the west coast) we don't have the same concentration of old bridges and abandoned alignments that make for good meet bait (in addition to touring whatever construction). That being said, if somebody else has a better idea to approach it and make meets work better in the west, I'm all ears.

[bandit957]

I'd like to be able to host a Cincinnati meet, but my health isn't very good, and it would take a lot of energy. Besides that, I don't even have no car.

[hbelkins]

I'd like to be able to host a Cincinnati meet, but my health isn't very good, and it would take a lot of energy. Besides that, I don't even have no car.

Wasn't the last Cincinnati-area meet hosted by someone with no car?

Even though I'm only about three hours or less from that area, I don't know enough about it to put together a meet. Although I did hear that the new roundabout on KY 9 at KY 8 is now open. I went through that area a few weeks ago when I had a work-related meeting in Newport.

[J N Winkler]

I hosted a Denver meet back in 2015 which was successful, but otherwise we haven't had a whole lot of luck (or frankly tried much) with western meets lately. Even at the Denver meet, in terms of western participants, there was me and about three people from Colorado. The majority of the meet attending population is located east of the Mississippi, and that's where the other 16 of 20 or so meet attendees came from.

I remember the Denver meet a little differently.  We did have a large complement from east of the Mississippi, but besides yourself and the Colorado participants, we had one person from South Dakota, at least one person from Texas (DFW area), and one person from Kansas.

I'd certainly be interested in attending more meets out west and getting the meet culture going out here, but I don't have the time or energy to spearhead those efforts. Population density is an issue, as is site density. Even in Denver, I struggled to fill an afternoon with meet-worthy tour stops, simply because in the west (outside of the west coast) we don't have the same concentration of old bridges and abandoned alignments that make for good meet bait (in addition to touring whatever construction). That being said, if somebody else has a better idea to approach it and make meets work better in the west, I'm all ears.

My recollection is that the Denver meet proceeded on the third of three draft itineraries, major changes having been forced by the prolonged closure of the Mount Evans highway by late spring snows.  Some of the participants were active county collectors and wanted a stop that put them just inside Gilpin County so that they didn't need to make a side trip for it later (several went west on I-70 for the Glenwood Canyon segment the following day).  In terms of major projects then ongoing in the Denver area, we viewed the US 6 expansion but not the US 36 express lanes.  A fair amount of picking and choosing was necessary to structure a meet itinerary that would not overspill an early summer afternoon.  The itinerary actually used for the meet got rid of stops planned in earlier drafts, such as Vail Summit, the Gilman ghost town, and the US 24 Eagle River bridge (all of which I visited the next day).

I don't want to minimize site density and population density as concerns, but even in the intermountain West, there are some offsetting factors.  There are major cities that are still virgin territory for road meets--as far as I know, we have never had one in Albuquerque, for example.  And while low population density means that meet attendees are less likely to be coming from short distances away, to an extent this can be compensated for by planning a meet well in advance as a destination event, as was done for the Denver meet to an extent, and is currently being done for Fairbanks/Dalton Highway.

[Alps]

I hosted a Denver meet back in 2015 which was successful, but otherwise we haven't had a whole lot of luck (or frankly tried much) with western meets lately. Even at the Denver meet, in terms of western participants, there was me and about three people from Colorado. The majority of the meet attending population is located east of the Mississippi, and that's where the other 16 of 20 or so meet attendees came from.

I remember the Denver meet a little differently.  We did have a large complement from east of the Mississippi, but besides yourself and the Colorado participants, we had one person from South Dakota, at least one person from Texas (DFW area), and one person from Kansas.

I'd certainly be interested in attending more meets out west and getting the meet culture going out here, but I don't have the time or energy to spearhead those efforts. Population density is an issue, as is site density. Even in Denver, I struggled to fill an afternoon with meet-worthy tour stops, simply because in the west (outside of the west coast) we don't have the same concentration of old bridges and abandoned alignments that make for good meet bait (in addition to touring whatever construction). That being said, if somebody else has a better idea to approach it and make meets work better in the west, I'm all ears.

My recollection is that the Denver meet proceeded on the third of three draft itineraries, major changes having been forced by the prolonged closure of the Mount Evans highway by late spring snows.  Some of the participants were active county collectors and wanted a stop that put them just inside Gilpin County so that they didn't need to make a side trip for it later (several went west on I-70 for the Glenwood Canyon segment the following day).  In terms of major projects then ongoing in the Denver area, we viewed the US 6 expansion but not the US 36 express lanes.  A fair amount of picking and choosing was necessary to structure a meet itinerary that would not overspill an early summer afternoon.  The itinerary actually used for the meet got rid of stops planned in earlier drafts, such as Vail Summit, the Gilman ghost town, and the US 24 Eagle River bridge (all of which I visited the next day).

I don't want to minimize site density and population density as concerns, but even in the intermountain West, there are some offsetting factors.  There are major cities that are still virgin territory for road meets--as far as I know, we have never had one in Albuquerque, for example.  And while low population density means that meet attendees are less likely to be coming from short distances away, to an extent this can be compensated for by planning a meet well in advance as a destination event, as was done for the Denver meet to an extent, and is currently being done for Fairbanks/Dalton Highway.

ABQ would be a neat one - I think the US 66 shield is still there, there's the Big 5 (High 5?) interchange, and probably enough other odds and ends to put together since most people haven't seen it. The downside is that no one is local, a) for scouting and b) everyone would basically be flying. b) worked for Denver but I think that city and area in general is enough of a draw to entice flying, whereas ABQ has limited appeal to many.

[cl94]

I hosted a Denver meet back in 2015 which was successful, but otherwise we haven't had a whole lot of luck (or frankly tried much) with western meets lately. Even at the Denver meet, in terms of western participants, there was me and about three people from Colorado. The majority of the meet attending population is located east of the Mississippi, and that's where the other 16 of 20 or so meet attendees came from.

I remember the Denver meet a little differently.  We did have a large complement from east of the Mississippi, but besides yourself and the Colorado participants, we had one person from South Dakota, at least one person from Texas (DFW area), and one person from Kansas.

I'd certainly be interested in attending more meets out west and getting the meet culture going out here, but I don't have the time or energy to spearhead those efforts. Population density is an issue, as is site density. Even in Denver, I struggled to fill an afternoon with meet-worthy tour stops, simply because in the west (outside of the west coast) we don't have the same concentration of old bridges and abandoned alignments that make for good meet bait (in addition to touring whatever construction). That being said, if somebody else has a better idea to approach it and make meets work better in the west, I'm all ears.

My recollection is that the Denver meet proceeded on the third of three draft itineraries, major changes having been forced by the prolonged closure of the Mount Evans highway by late spring snows.  Some of the participants were active county collectors and wanted a stop that put them just inside Gilpin County so that they didn't need to make a side trip for it later (several went west on I-70 for the Glenwood Canyon segment the following day).  In terms of major projects then ongoing in the Denver area, we viewed the US 6 expansion but not the US 36 express lanes.  A fair amount of picking and choosing was necessary to structure a meet itinerary that would not overspill an early summer afternoon.  The itinerary actually used for the meet got rid of stops planned in earlier drafts, such as Vail Summit, the Gilman ghost town, and the US 24 Eagle River bridge (all of which I visited the next day).

I don't want to minimize site density and population density as concerns, but even in the intermountain West, there are some offsetting factors.  There are major cities that are still virgin territory for road meets--as far as I know, we have never had one in Albuquerque, for example.  And while low population density means that meet attendees are less likely to be coming from short distances away, to an extent this can be compensated for by planning a meet well in advance as a destination event, as was done for the Denver meet to an extent, and is currently being done for Fairbanks/Dalton Highway.

ABQ would be a neat one - I think the US 66 shield is still there, there's the Big 5 (High 5?) interchange, and probably enough other odds and ends to put together since most people haven't seen it. The downside is that no one is local, a) for scouting and b) everyone would basically be flying. b) worked for Denver but I think that city and area in general is enough of a draw to entice flying, whereas ABQ has limited appeal to many.

If somebody did ABQ in late May or August 2019, it would definitely be high priority for me. Another time and I probably couldn't make it, unfortunately.

[Alps]

ABQ would be a neat one - I think the US 66 shield is still there, there's the Big 5 (High 5?) interchange, and probably enough other odds and ends to put together since most people haven't seen it. The downside is that no one is local, a) for scouting and b) everyone would basically be flying. b) worked for Denver but I think that city and area in general is enough of a draw to entice flying, whereas ABQ has limited appeal to many.

If somebody did ABQ in late May or August 2019, it would definitely be high priority for me. Another time and I probably couldn't make it, unfortunately.

Why don't you organize it then? No one else is going to claim jurisdiction.

[A.J. Bertin]

ABQ would be a neat one - I think the US 66 shield is still there, there's the Big 5 (High 5?) interchange, and probably enough other odds and ends to put together since most people haven't seen it. The downside is that no one is local, a) for scouting and b) everyone would basically be flying. b) worked for Denver but I think that city and area in general is enough of a draw to entice flying, whereas ABQ has limited appeal to many.

If somebody did ABQ in late May or August 2019, it would definitely be high priority for me. Another time and I probably couldn't make it, unfortunately.

Why don't you organize it then? No one else is going to claim jurisdiction.

I would definitely consider attending an Albuquerque meet if I have enough time off to do the drive there and back. It would give me a reason to go there and I'm sure I could find a fun route there and back.

[cl94]

ABQ would be a neat one - I think the US 66 shield is still there, there's the Big 5 (High 5?) interchange, and probably enough other odds and ends to put together since most people haven't seen it. The downside is that no one is local, a) for scouting and b) everyone would basically be flying. b) worked for Denver but I think that city and area in general is enough of a draw to entice flying, whereas ABQ has limited appeal to many.

If somebody did ABQ in late May or August 2019, it would definitely be high priority for me. Another time and I probably couldn't make it, unfortunately.

Why don't you organize it then? No one else is going to claim jurisdiction.

I would definitely consider attending an Albuquerque meet if I have enough time off to do the drive there and back. It would give me a reason to go there and I'm sure I could find a fun route there and back.

I could see Albuquerque having decent attendance just because it's a bit of a destination. It would be quite the fun drive and a chance to get a ton of I-40 and something else.

I can't organize an Albuquerque meet if I've never been west of the I-35 corridor. Who has familiarity with that area?

[oscar]

I can't organize an Albuquerque meet if I've never been west of the I-35 corridor. Who has familiarity with that area?

You could check the Mountain West board, for the few people who regularly post about New Mexico and sometimes specifically Albuquerque/Santa Fe. My impression is that our collective experience with that area is a little thin.

I have a moderate level of interest, but also a lot of potential schedule conflicts in mid-2018 that would get in the way of my attending let alone organizing.

[Takumi]

Given time and interest, I may organize a small-scale Petersburg, VA area meet at some point. There have been a few projects in the area recently.

-reconfigured interchange at I-95 and VA 144
-reconfigured intersection at VA 226 and SR 600
-US 301 bridge replacement over the Nottoway River (still in progress)

[Beltway]

Given time and interest, I may organize a small-scale Petersburg, VA area meet at some point. There have been a few projects in the area recently.
-reconfigured interchange at I-95 and VA 144
-reconfigured intersection at VA 226 and SR 600
-US 301 bridge replacement over the Nottoway River (still in progress)

I have been thru all of them in the last few weeks, and they are real improvements.  As I live in Richmond I could most likely attend.

[hbelkins]

Given time and interest, I may organize a small-scale Petersburg, VA area meet at some point. There have been a few projects in the area recently.

-reconfigured interchange at I-95 and VA 144
-reconfigured intersection at VA 226 and SR 600
-US 301 bridge replacement over the Nottoway River (still in progress)

I would do either this one or a Hampton Roads meet, but most likely not both. Same territory to cover in getting to both of them.

[froggie]

I would do either this one or a Hampton Roads meet, but most likely not both. Same territory to cover in getting to both of them.

So what you're saying is that you've been on EVERY highway route between southeastern Kentucky and both Richmond and Hampton Roads...😌

[hbelkins]

I would do either this one or a Hampton Roads meet, but most likely not both. Same territory to cover in getting to both of them.

So what you're saying is that you've been on EVERY highway route between southeastern Kentucky and both Richmond and Hampton Roads...😌

Not exactly, but I've been on the major ones -- I-64, US 60, US 460 and US 58. Also US 250 between Staunton and Richmond. Not many other choices for through east-west travel.

[kphoger]

I'm sort of kicking around a possible Springfield/SW Missouri meet, but haven't had time to discuss this with my Alternate self.

Only if, coming down from Joplin, we can avoid traffic by using the completed BVB.   

[US71]

I'm sort of kicking around a possible Springfield/SW Missouri meet, but haven't had time to discuss this with my Alternate self.

Only if, coming down from Joplin, we can avoid traffic by using the completed BVB.   

Don't hold your breath

[kphoger]

I'm sort of kicking around a possible Springfield/SW Missouri meet, but haven't had time to discuss this with my Alternate self.

Only if, coming down from Joplin, we can avoid traffic by using the completed BVB.   

Don't hold your breath

* kphoger breaths out.  Whew!

[jpi]

ABQ would be a neat one - I think the US 66 shield is still there, there's the Big 5 (High 5?) interchange, and probably enough other odds and ends to put together since most people haven't seen it. The downside is that no one is local, a) for scouting and b) everyone would basically be flying. b) worked for Denver but I think that city and area in general is enough of a draw to entice flying, whereas ABQ has limited appeal to many.

If somebody did ABQ in late May or August 2019, it would definitely be high priority for me. Another time and I probably couldn't make it, unfortunately.

Why don't you organize it then? No one else is going to claim jurisdiction.

Hi Guys, I am just now seeing this since I have been busy in PA all last week with little internet access, how about mid July 2019 for an Albuquerque meet and ME hosting  , here is why I am volunteering, Steph and I go to Albuquerque every other July for my other hobby (diecast cars\ convention) and I can easily put together a place for lunch and tour old route 66 and the "big I" and I can scout out "remotely" other options, I have been to Albuquerque 5 times over the past decade and know the area well enough that with some extra research I can do a tour and even have a mini van to help with car pooling, draw back would be Steph staying behind to sell my merchandise out of our hotel room like we do every year.

[A.J. Bertin]

Hi Guys, I am just now seeing this since I have been busy in PA all last week with little internet access, how about mid July 2019 for an Albuquerque meet and ME hosting  , here is why I am volunteering, Steph and I go to Albuquerque every other July for my other hobby (diecast cars\ convention) and I can easily put together a place for lunch and tour old route 66 and the "big I" and I can scout out "remotely" other options, I have been to Albuquerque 5 times over the past decade and know the area well enough that with some extra research I can do a tour and even have a mini van to help with car pooling, draw back would be Steph staying behind to sell my merchandise out of our hotel room like we do every year.

Sounds great to me! I would love to try and attend that if it happens.

[Brandon]

Hi Guys, I am just now seeing this since I have been busy in PA all last week with little internet access, how about mid July 2019 for an Albuquerque meet and ME hosting  , here is why I am volunteering, Steph and I go to Albuquerque every other July for my other hobby (diecast cars\ convention) and I can easily put together a place for lunch and tour old route 66 and the "big I" and I can scout out "remotely" other options, I have been to Albuquerque 5 times over the past decade and know the area well enough that with some extra research I can do a tour and even have a mini van to help with car pooling, draw back would be Steph staying behind to sell my merchandise out of our hotel room like we do every year.

I like it!  Count me in.

[corco]

It's too early to book, but I love the concept of a 2019 ABQ meet - especially in July since I would only have to take a single day off work to make it.

[SSOWorld]

gives me a bit of motivation to complete the interstates of CO and NM (only I-25 remains in both)

Reality: Depends on work demand and house projects.

[jpi]

Then its settled  , this time next year I will start planning this and that will give everyone plenty of time to plan, this would be on one Saturday in July, roughly the 3rd Saturday, I will know the dates of the convention later this summer and I will go from there