Merry Christmas everyone! :wave: 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. :bigass:
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.
Maaaaybe. Depends on how crazy I'm feeling.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Booking my flights now, into Nashville on 3/28 and back out on 4/3. Fun fun fun fun.
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.
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 :-)
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.
Scratch my 95/5 for going. It's 100% now. Drive down Friday, come back after the meet on Saturday.
Sweet! Great to hear Brandon! :-)
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. :)
Sweet! We can talk music again besides roads! :-)
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. :-/
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.
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!
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.
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.
Quote from: hbelkins on March 02, 2014, 08:51:51 PM
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Duke87 on March 02, 2014, 07:12:46 PM
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.
Quote from: Duke87 on March 02, 2014, 07:12:46 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: hbelkins on March 10, 2014, 11:43:28 AM
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.
Good to know. Thanks for these tips, H.B.! :)
AJ,you indicated you're staying in E-town on Friday night. That, of course, means you'll be crossing the river sometime in the PM and thus may get hung up in Louisville traffic. Also, a concrete pavement repair project is starting up for all of Bullitt County along I-65 and the normally three-lane route is going to be down to two lanes. I don't know if they've gotten started yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if traffic pattern changes are already underway. This might cause further heartburn.
Possible alternative: Take I-265 west to I-64, cross on the Sherman Minton Bridge, then take I-264 around to US 31W and follow that south to E-town. It's longer, but it gets you off the interstate (and also gets you Meade County if you're looking to add some counties on this trip).
Just a reminder if anyone will still be in the Nashville area Sunday night 3/30 and is a hockey fan, the Nashville Predators have a home game with the Washington Capitols at Bridgestone Arena at 7pm, tickets are still avalable. I personally have never been to a hockey game but I am up for anything, I will keep all day Saturday and Sunday wide open. Steph will have to work Sunday night so she won't be able to attend, I plan to post some more info on this on the facebook page later this evening. Also I am going to do a "dry run" of the first part of the tour which will consist of Hartsville Pike (TN 141) north to Hartsville to TN 25 west to Gallatin and the Cumberland River Bridge tomorrow before work.
I am still fine tuning the 2nd part of the tour with the options of either running 109 south to I-40 west to see the widening project on there and then south on 65 to another widening project or run TN 109 north from Gallatin which is now a 4 lane highway to I-65 around Portland, TN then south to Nashville and see that 4 lane widening so if anybody has suggestions feal free to let me know :-)
Quote from: hbelkins on March 10, 2014, 02:27:35 PM
AJ,you indicated you're staying in E-town on Friday night. That, of course, means you'll be crossing the river sometime in the PM and thus may get hung up in Louisville traffic. Also, a concrete pavement repair project is starting up for all of Bullitt County along I-65 and the normally three-lane route is going to be down to two lanes. I don't know if they've gotten started yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if traffic pattern changes are already underway. This might cause further heartburn.
Possible alternative: Take I-265 west to I-64, cross on the Sherman Minton Bridge, then take I-264 around to US 31W and follow that south to E-town. It's longer, but it gets you off the interstate (and also gets you Meade County if you're looking to add some counties on this trip).
Thanks for these suggestions. My plan at this point is to leave Grand Rapids around 3 p.m. on the Friday (with my friend Chris who is joining me at this meet). I'm thinking it will be between 10 and 11 p.m. that I cross into Kentucky. Do you think I'll still run into delays at that hour on southbound I-65 (given the lane closure)? I'll have to consider this.
Quote from: A.J. Bertin on March 10, 2014, 11:26:29 PM
Thanks for these suggestions. My plan at this point is to leave Grand Rapids around 3 p.m. on the Friday (with my friend Chris who is joining me at this meet). I'm thinking it will be between 10 and 11 p.m. that I cross into Kentucky. Do you think I'll still run into delays at that hour on southbound I-65 (given the lane closure)? I'll have to consider this.
You'll be fine at that hour, unless there is an incident in the work zone. The plan is to set up one of those 1-1-2 schemes where one lane is still maintained on the side where the work is taking place, and then one lane contraflow to the other two lanes.
Info at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=804542146226632&set=a.220408937973292.71999.220385521308967&type=1&stream_ref=10 and http://transportation.ky.gov/District-5/Pages/PressReleasePage.aspx?&FilterField1=ID&FilterValue1=148
THIS JUST IN!!!! Per the Lebanon Democrat news paper, the TN 109 bridge is now set to open a week from today!! :-) TDOT will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for TN 109 bridge on Friday March 21 at 10am. I do plan on making the ribbon cutting since this is only 15 minutes from my house and I don't have to be at work until 1pm. Hopefully the weather works out and will try to get some pics. I did not realize this was this far along, this bridge will be 4 lanes wide with a center median so traffic will be moved to one of the carriage ways while the other one will be worked on. Eventually 109 will be 4 to 5 lanes from US 70 north to the Gallatin by-pass. The bridge is the cornorstone of this meet\ tour and I would like to take our group pic there too.
In the spirit of the St Louis meet, where are people staying? I haven't booked yet but am expecting to be just off I-40 by the meet location.
Haven't decided yet. If I stay in Lebanon, it will most likely be either at the Ramada or the Days Inn, and for Friday night only.
Cookeville and Somerset are also options for me for Friday night. Saturday night will be somewhere in Kentucky (Bowling Green, Glasgow, E-town and Somerset are all under consideration).
Just to give you guys an idea, the motel rates here in Lebanon are anywhere from 40.00 to 110.00, we have Comfort Suites, Laquinta, Econo Lodge, Super 8, Days Inn, Americas Best Value, Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Ramada Inn and a Sleep Inn about 5 miles down I-40 closer to Nashville. Itinerary is coming soon. :-)
Quote from: jpi on March 19, 2014, 09:11:41 PM
Just to give you guys an idea, the motel rates here in Lebanon are anywhere from 40.00 to 110.00, we have Comfort Suites, Laquinta, Econo Lodge, Super 8, Days Inn, Americas Best Value, Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Ramada Inn and a Sleep Inn about 5 miles down I-40 closer to Nashville. Itinerary is coming soon. :-)
40.00 sounds awesome. If no one else is chiming in, I'll just make my own reservation and play by ear.
Quote from: Alps on March 19, 2014, 06:11:45 PM
In the spirit of the St Louis meet, where are people staying? I haven't booked yet but am expecting to be just off I-40 by the meet location.
My friend Chris and I will be staying at the Sleep Inn off I-40 near the airport on the east side of the Nashville area.
And this will be my first road meet since the last Nashville are meet 5 years ago that I did not have to reserve a motel room :-) In fact when we first leave demo's and embarke on our tour we may drive past my house.
The real question for Friday night is...
Which one has an indoor pool we can crash? :bigass:
I know Comfort Suites has one, not sure of the others, unfortunently I will not be able to partake in Friday night activity becuase of work but I will be wide open all weekend. :-)
Hi Guys,
I managed to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new TN 109 Cumberland River Bridge, I can tell you it is a nice modern structure that is 4 lanes wide (will be 2 lanes for now) with plaques in the center indicating Wilson County and Sumner County. I took some pics and will post them on face book this weekend. So far weather is looking good for next Saturday, there is a cu-da-sac off 109 near the north end of the bridge we will try to park at unless we can access the future south bound lanes. There is side walks and we will be able to walk the length of the bridge and I hope to get our group pic there and speaking of, I do have a digital camera but no tri pod and my camera is not the best so if anyone can help with that would be great, also "send help" sign is optional ;-) I will try to get the full tour itinerary together this weekend, so far our head count is around a dozen, my mini van can seat 7 including myself so I don't for see more then 3 cars in our tour plus we will be on mostly primary state highways and interstates. Also if time allows we may check out the Natchez Trace bridge over TN 96 in Williamson County inbetween our drive on the new 840 and the TN 155 White Bridge Rd\ BRiley PKWY exit on the west side of Nashville which was the center piece of the last Nashville region meet. :-)
The itinerary will determine if I ride along with someone, or if I drive for part of the tour and then split away. I will definitely do the latter if we end up in or west of Nashville during the tour. I'd like to be on the road and headed back this way by about 5:30 or 6 Eastern. (4:30 or 5 Central).
Not sure where I will be Friday night, but I know what I will be doing wherever I am -- watching the UK/Louisville game.
Copied and pasted it from MS word but here is the officail itinerrary-
Directions to Demo's-
Take exit 238 off I-40 (US 231 Lebanon) Go north on US 231 to 2nd light (Legends DR) Make a right, Demo's will be on right at 4 way stop. Demo's is close to a mile off I-40 but has a big tower sign so it is easy to see and is close to Cracker Barrel.
Road Meet Tour-
Leaving Demo's we will take US 231 north through Lebanon, we will go through the town square traffic circle which TDOT plans to make a round-a-bout out of this. After going through the Lebanon Square we will turn right on to US 70 by-pass (High ST) David's Pizza is on the right with a "pizza guy" statue in front of the building. We will take by-pass 70 east to the next light, this is Hartsville Pike (TN 141) we will turn left and follow Hartsville Pike\ TN 141 north for about 17 miles to Hartsville, 3/4 of this highway is under construction with lots of earth moving happening and a number of places we can pull off and take pics.
When we get into Hartsville we will follow TN 141 to TN 25 and go west. We follow TN 25 west for 17 miles to the east side of Gallatin. We will turn left on to Airport Rd, this will take us to TN 109, and there will be a Kangaroo convenience store on the right. We will turn left on to TN 109 south to Cumberland River Bridge.
When we get to the Cumberland River Bridge we will pull into a cul-de-sac on the left and park and proceed to bridge VIA sidewalk, if weather and traffic permits I would like to take our group pic here. Next we will proceed south on TN 109 to I-40 west, a distance of 15 miles. We will go west on I-40 where there is a widening project from 109 to Mt Juliet. We will stay on I-40 west to TN 155\ Briley PKWY north; we will take this to I-65 south and go south toward downtown. There is another widening project taking place on 65 from Briley PKWY south to the start of the downtown loop. We will follow I-65 south to I-24 east past LP Field and get a good view of downtown Nashville. Then we will go back on I-40 west to the south end of the downtown loop then back to I-65 south.
We will follow I-65 south through the I-440 4 level stack interchange and proceed about 20 miles south to TN 840. We will see the 3rd Nashville area widening project taking place on I-65 from Franklin to TN 840. Next we will take TN 840 west; this is the newest stretch of TN 840 which opened a year and a half ago. This is 29 miles to I-40 east. We will take I-40 east back towards Nashville and if time allows we will get off at the Pegram\ McCrory Lane exit (exit 192) and follow the signs to the Natchez Trace PKWY and take this about 5 miles to where it crosses TN 96 at the Natchez Trace Bridge. This bridge rises around 50ft high above TN 96. After this we will head back to I-40 east, travel through the west side of TN 155\ Briley PKWY\ White Bridge RD interchange with some high fly-overs. We will then start working our way back to Demo's VIA I-40 east to I-440 east to I-40 east back to Lebanon.
The approximate time for the tour should be around 4 hours. Weather is looking ok but a chance of rain is in the forecast for Saturday but I do not see it as a wash out. We will be on all major state highways and interstates so if anybody needs to make a drink\ snack or most important restroom stop we will have a number of opportunities to do so. If anyone needs to get in touch with me and does not have my phone # it is 615-519-3686 I do have to work on Friday night before the meet day and if anyone needs to get in touch with me then, my work# is 615-443-9134 since I do not get a cell signal in my office.
I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend, it should be a fun time! :-)
Quick weather update, on Friday we will be under an elevated risk for strong storms but will be hitting 70 so anyone traveling on Friday be careful, it should be dry and cleared up at least in time for our tour and should have a high of 58 to 60, Sunday is looking very nice. Just 2 days to go!
I still don't know where I will be staying tomorrow night. I may go all the way to Lebanon, or I may stop short in Cookeville, or elsewhere along the route. I want to check out the new section of US 127 between Albany and the state line.
I won't be doing the entire tour. I will probably break off after the tour comes south on 109 and hits I-40. I've already driven the new portion of TN 840. I want to check out the new US 68 bypass of Glasgow on my way home.
Quote from: hbelkins on March 27, 2014, 09:00:24 PM
I still don't know where I will be staying tomorrow night. I may go all the way to Lebanon, or I may stop short in Cookeville, or elsewhere along the route. I want to check out the new section of US 127 between Albany and the state line.
I won't be doing the entire tour. I will probably break off after the tour comes south on 109 and hits I-40. I've already driven the new portion of TN 840. I want to check out the new US 68 bypass of Glasgow on my way home.
If you do make it to Lebanon, come meet me for some BBQ.
I will be in Lebanon, & will meet folks for BBQ. Wound up at the Knights Inn. Could be better, could be worse.
I am at work with 5 hours to go :-/, have fun guys, see you all around 11!
Quote from: Brandon on March 28, 2014, 07:38:45 PM
I will be in Lebanon, & will meet folks for BBQ. Wound up at the Knights Inn. Could be better, could be worse.
My smoking room smells better than Brandon's non-smoking room. :-D I am up for whatever goes down tomorrow.
After a major detour (forgot important gear in Norfolk), I managed to get to Knoxville for the night. Looking forward to catching folks (however briefly) for lunch. As noted before, I'm skipping the tour.
Many thanks to Jason and the gang for accommodating my tardy, frustrated, eat-and-run craziness! And thanks to Brandon for the maps!
Chris and I had an absolute blast at the meet/tour yesterday. It was so much fun! Plus I'm glad we ended up eating dinner in downtown Nashville - and having enough time during our wait for a table to take pictures around the city and along the river. Hard Rock Cafe was fun!!!
Thanks to Jason for organizing such a fun meet. :D
Had a great time, and once again, I actually plan to post on AARoads from time to time after further badgering. :D
I want to thank everyone for coming to the Nashville, TN area this past weekend! despite the weather (and go figure today it's beautiful and 80 degrees) we had what I believe is the largest turn out for a Nashville\ Middle TN area meet, for the ,unch portion we had a total of 17 people including spouses\ significant others and for the tour we had 12. Everyone enjoyed the tour and got some great pics of nashville and construction projects and we were able to get great group pics at the new TN 109 Cumberland River Bridge and the Natchez Trace Bridge in Williamson County. Sometime in the next year I am considering another Memphis area road meet with all the I-269 construction ramping up in Mississippi and in the next couple years, a York\ Central PA region meet in my home town of York, PA.
Thanks again everyone! :-)
Photos?
Sounds like I missed a good one. But three meets over two weekends, and almost a month on the road, are catching up with me big-time.
I will try to post pics on here by the end of the week, I don't hink I ever posted pics on here, they are on facebook but I will try, unless anyone who was at the meet have pics they can post here? I can't access facebook on my work PC, I am suprised I can access this page they wway are security has been recently. :-/
I have a few.
Here's the meet photo location. I do not remember everyone's names.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi837.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz298%2Fmidamcrossrds%2F100_3932_zpsbf2b9225.jpg&hash=65534fcf95cb087b740318cd4dfac03cf6a6dab5) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/midamcrossrds/media/100_3932_zpsbf2b9225.jpg.html)
AJ, ?, Steve, Anthony (lying down on the job), ?, Jason, Chris, Cody, Eric, HB, Paul, and Brandon (me)
Saw a very nice bridge.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi837.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz298%2Fmidamcrossrds%2F100_3954_zpsf6740541.jpg&hash=0f2d32efd595bfe60eda1f1538b7b68b37ae3b09) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/midamcrossrds/media/100_3954_zpsf6740541.jpg.html)
Quote from: jpi on April 02, 2014, 04:09:34 PM
I will try to post pics on here by the end of the week, I don't hink I ever posted pics on here, they are on facebook but I will try, unless anyone who was at the meet have pics they can post here? I can't access facebook on my work PC, I am suprised I can access this page they wway are security has been recently. :-/
If you upload the photos into their own album and set the audience on that album to "public," you can post the link on here and everyone will be able to see it. Or you can use the image tag and post each individual photo here (or someone else can do it for you).
I haven't gone through my photos yet, but since I cut away from the tour after we saw the bridge at Gallatin, I won't have very much to offer.
Quote from: Brandon on April 02, 2014, 09:46:36 PM
I have a few.
Here's the meet photo location. I do not remember everyone's names.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi837.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz298%2Fmidamcrossrds%2F100_3932_zpsbf2b9225.jpg&hash=65534fcf95cb087b740318cd4dfac03cf6a6dab5) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/midamcrossrds/media/100_3932_zpsbf2b9225.jpg.html)
AJ, ?, Steve, Anthony (lying down on the job), ?, Jason, Chris, Cody, Eric, HB, Paul, and Brandon (me)
Christy Curley and Chris Curley, to fill in your blanks. Chris was a teenager living in Lexington when I was a teenager living east of Lexington, so we share fandom of Kentucky basketball.