Two-Day Upper Peninsula Meet

[bulldog1979]

I'm tossing this out there to gauge interest in doing a two-day meet in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My initial ideas are to have day one focus on Marquette and Marquette County and day two to center on Houghton and the Copper Country.

Such sites that would be covered include:

• The Marquette Roundabout that opened in 2010
• Dead Man's Curve on CR 492, home of the first rural highway centerline in the US
• CR 510 and old M-35, the highway that Henry Ford stopped, including the Steel Bridge, a Pennsylvania through-truss bridge moved from the Allegheny River to Michigan around 1920
• The Peshekee River Bridge, aka Trunk Line Bridge No. 1, the first bridge build by the Michigan Highway Department in 1914
• Some old alignments of US 41 from before the 1960s four-laning and an old section of M-35 where a luge run crosses the old right-of-way
• The "Yooper Loop" in downtown Houghton
• The Portage Lake Lift Bridge
• The northern terminus of US 41 in Copper Harbor
• Brockway Mountain Drive
• Several old cutouts that exist yet "in the wild"

My tentative idea is to schedule this for Labor Day Weekend 2012 so that interested participants can attend the Mackinac Bridge Walk after the meet. A few of us did most of the Marquette area items in an afternoon. The trip up CR 510 will have to be a game day decision because if the weather is bad, we won't want to take a bunch of cars past the end of the pavement towards Blind 35.

[hbelkins]

I'd love to do this. However, Labor Day weekend 2012 is definitely out. Labor Day next year is Sept. 3, and Sept. 2 is my anniversary. Can't very well be gone that weekend or I might get 

[bulldog1979]

I'd love to do this. However, Labor Day weekend 2012 is definitely out. Labor Day next year is Sept. 3, and Sept. 2 is my anniversary. Can't very well be gone that weekend or I might get 

Well, the date would be totally flexible this far out, and the only reason Labor Day Weekend was a thought was the Mackinac Bridge Walk, so if another weekend is better, let's find it and schedule it.

[hbelkins]

Well, you certainly don't need to try to schedule a meet in Michigan based on one Kentuckian's conflict!  Do what's best for you and those who are closer to the area, and if I can come I will, and if I can't, you guys will have a good time without me!

[Brandon]

As I stated at the K-zoo meet, I'd love to go to this meet.
P.S. I'll have some details later about a Will County/Joliet meet that I'm thinking about for April.

[SSOWorld]

I should be able to attend this meet unless something drastic occurs.  Keep in mind that Labor Day is time that people may spend with families.  I don't make plans for such though.  One thing to keep in mind is the "light". (Unexplained but apparantly later debunked by M-Tech students per Wikipedia) - might be road related if you believe its headlights from US 45.

[Alps]

I held the Montreal meet on Labor Day this year and it was pretty well attended considering the distance (8 people) - Canadians had a short drive doable for a regular weekend, and Americans had an extra day to see the area. I would have a lot easier time attending on Labor Day or Memorial Day than any other time, and I'd look forward to being able to do the bridge walk. So you have my vote.

[A.J. Bertin]

Of course I'll want to be at this one. 

I see both sides of the coin with regard to scheduling it for Labor Day weekend. One the one hand, it would be fun to tie this in with the Mackinac Bridge Walk, but like someone else mentioned, Labor Day is a time when a lot of people get together with families and such.

If you decide to hold this meet on a weekend other than Labor Day, I'm hoping it's not the weekend of July 14-15 or the weekend of August 18-19.

[Brandon]

So far, I'm fairly open for attending this one.  However, July 14-15 is most likely out.  My parents may be in town at that time.

[Dougtone]

I held the Montreal meet on Labor Day this year and it was pretty well attended considering the distance (8 people) - Canadians had a short drive doable for a regular weekend, and Americans had an extra day to see the area. I would have a lot easier time attending on Labor Day or Memorial Day than any other time, and I'd look forward to being able to do the bridge walk. So you have my vote.

The Montréal meet was over Memorial Day weekend, not Labor Day weekend.  But the idea is the same, that extra day of travel that a 3 day weekend provides makes it much easier for some people to attend or to bundle the meet with some other things they may want to see, but family obligations may rule others out.

[hbelkins]

Labor Day tends not to be a good time for me to try to attend meets, as my anniversary is Sept. 2 and my wife's birthday is Sept. 7. But I would certainly be amenable to traveling for a Memorial Day meet.

[Alps]

I meant the Armed Forces Labor Celebration and Remembrance Day.

[bulldog1979]

I'm bumping the topic to see if we can stimulate some interest. The only items on my schedule for the summer are a class reunion (I can skip that) and a possible trip for a conference in Washington, DC, both in July. I'd just like to get a timeframe that works for the widest range of interested attendees as possible.

[SSOWorld]

Tentative.  I'm already planning something for out east for which I will not reveal the details (NO it's not a road meet )

[hbelkins]

Obviously depends on when and how things mesh into my schedule, so I wouldn't even presume to try to recommend a date. I'm guessing you would try to pick some central rendezvous point for both days, so people could find appropriate lodging?

Ideally I'd travel there on the west side of Lake Michigan, and back on I-75, or vice-versa.

[bulldog1979]

My plan is to meet for lunch in Marquette the first day, and rendezvous in Marquette for day two. The schedule I have in mind has a stop on the way up to the Copper Country in western Marquette County on the way to a lunch location in Houghton.

[A.J. Bertin]

I am still very interested and hope to make it. Curious as to what date will finally be chosen.

I will be tentatively going away on vacation from June 30 through July 8. For me, there's a good possibility I won't be able to attend if the meet is scheduled for one of these weekends:

June 30-July 1
July 7-8
July 14-15
August 18-19

Any other weekend this summer should work fine for me at this point. I have no Labor Day plans at this point either, so I'm open to that as well.

[SSOWorld]

Things looking better for me getting to this meet - at least one day of it.  I've postponed he "big plans" that I had mentioned earlier.  It's still not a lock as any date mentioned is still too far.

[hbelkins]

How many of the UP counties is this meet gonna hit? If I come, I will have to plan my trip there and back to pick up the other ones to get the UP clinched.

[bulldog1979]

How many of the UP counties is this meet gonna hit? If I come, I will have to plan my trip there and back to pick up the other ones to get the UP clinched.

Right now, we're on for four: Day 1 focuses on Marquette County. Day 2 is the trip from Marquette through Baraga County to Houghton and Keweenaw counties. That's in addition to whatever counties you pass through to get to Marquette. If people are headed back south through Lower Michigan to attend the Bridge Walk (assuming we're going for Labor Day weekend), it's easy to pick up Alger, Schoolcraft, Luce and Chippewa and Mackinac counties on the way to the Mackinac Bridge on M-28, M-123 and I-75.

[A.J. Bertin]

If this meet ends up being scheduled for Labor Day weekend and people want to stay in either St. Ignace or Mackinaw City the night before the Bridge Walk, people will want to start making their hotel reservations EARLY. Those rooms book fast, and they get expensive the later it gets to that weekend.

Here's an update on my end. I'm definitely game for this meet, and I'm fine with it being Labor Day weekend. As far as whether my partner Brian goes with me, here's the thing. If it's scheduled for a weekend other than Labor Day, he will come join me in the western part of the U.P. but go off and do his own photography thing while we are out roadgeeking. If it ends up being scheduled for Labor Day weekend, he told me that he will not want to be driving all over the U.P. and then doing the Bridge Walk.

I'm assuming other attendees will want to do the Bridge Walk, and I will definitely want to join them for that (assuming Brian ends up not going to the western U.P. with me).

If the meet is scheduled for a different weekend, Brian and I might do the Bridge Walk on our own on Labor Day. But either way, this meet will need to be set in stone (if it's Labor Day weekend) pretty soon so people can book their hotel rooms in St. Ignace or Mackinaw City if need be.

Who all is planning to do the Bridge Walk if the meet happens that weekend?

[hbelkins]

If it's Labor Day weekend, I won't be attending. My anniversary is the 2nd.

[texaskdog]

If you do it a bit later in September the rates go down, and the weather is still decent

[bulldog1979]

Well, no weekend has been picked. I'm still waiting for people to speak up on if/when this will happen.

[brianreynolds]

I'd love to do this. However, Labor Day weekend 2012 is definitely out. Labor Day next year is Sept. 3, and Sept. 2 is my anniversary. Can't very well be gone that weekend or I might get 

Bring your lady along.  A media guy like you should be able to spin this.

Suggestion: The Bridge Walk as a "romantic stroll".

--
Brian Reynolds
Hastings Michigan