Oklahoma City meet: Summer/Fall 2022?

[JMoses24]

This is to gauge interest in an Oklahoma City area meet for either the late summer or the fall of 2022. My primary goal is to avoid as much of the primary severe weather season as possible to avoid a disruption and/or early end to the meet if our itinerary happens to coincide with a damage zone. (I'm obviously NOT going to take the group into a damage zone to sightsee, because that's just not how good Oklahomans do things.) For at least one potential POI, the secondary reason of giving the wide range is to avoid Oklahoma Sooners football games in Norman (for which I have the schedule already). Early thinking is somewhere in the late July to end of October time frame, but I don't know if potential attendees would prefer a fall meet (and accompanying risk of our secondary severe weather season) to the scorching heat of July or August.

Potential points of interest include but are not limited to: Ongoing I-235/US 77(Broadway Extension) at I-44 construction; new Kickapoo Turnpike, John Kilpatrick Turnpike SW extension; Historic US 66 (recently signed through OKC proper); Oklahoma City Boulevard (former I-40 Crosstown alignment), Southwest 34th Street at the I-35 bridge in Moore (I-35 may be reconstructed in Moore and Norman in the next few years, this would be to show existing conditions.)

[Rothman]

Interest, sure.  Ability to attend is different.

[Brandon]

Yes, put me down as interested.  Most any late summer/early fall time should be good.

[bugo]

July is way too hot. I'd rather risk the small chance of tornadic weather than to be stuck in 110 degree heat. October works way better.

[SSOWorld]

Cannot commit yet.  I'm weighing my Hawaii plans - which must be executed this year.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

My vacation time resets at the start of October. I have two weeks left for the next 10 months and I have all but have those days accounted for. If this meet occurs in October, there is a possibility I can attend, but at 10 months out I'm not ready to commit.

[CoreySamson]

I might actually be able to attend this if it's on a weekend in October, depending on a couple of factors, but I'll certainly keep it in mind! It would be my first roadmeet.

[Scott5114]

Definitely interested, of course! Any time of year works for me; I personally don't really care about the heat, but I can see how it would be something others may not want to deal with. It seems like there is a general consensus for October so far. I wouldn't worry too much about the severe chances that time of year; this last year was kind of an anomaly on that front.

A few notes for your planning:

• I believe most of the construction on the I-235/I-44 interchange is projected to wrap up in the next several months; it should be complete by October. After that, construction shifts to the mainline of I-44, and I believe, the Lincoln Boulevard interchange. OKCTalk has a thread detailing the ongoing construction of the interchange, with drone photos, and would be a good source for where construction is day by day. This would do well paired with a full clinch of I-235, which would add a 3di to attendees' clinch lists, and include a look at the newish truss rail bridge.
• A look at the Scissortail bridge may be of interest as part of the I-40 corridor. If possible, I would see if there's a plausible way to include both the modern I-40 alignment and the old one, as at the last OKC meet, the old alignment was still in use, so someone who was at that meet and has not been back in town since may not have seen the new one yet.
• It may be a good idea to plan to tour the entire projected I-240 loop. This would give attendees a clinch of a very long 3di, and would include both the Kickapoo Turnpike and SW Kilpatrick extensions. By next October, it may even be signed if OTA is reasonably timely in submitting the request to AASHTO/FHWA.
• I would only include a look at the I-35 corridor through Cleveland County in your itinerary if you have other things to see in that area. The I-35 reconstruction plans are currently only at public comment period, and no funding is attached to them, so I believe they are not even on the ODOT eight-year plan at this point. Thus, I would take it with a grain of salt that they will happen as advertised.
• Do keep in mind the county-counters and route clinchers.  At the last OKC meet, I included an excursion along I-35, SH-9, and present SH-4, which got attendees McClain, Grady, and Canadian counties if they didn't have them already, but there's not a whole lot happening in that area this time around, and it may be lengthy for a one-day meet. Pottawatomie County is only six miles beyond the Kickapoo Turnpike, and the turn-around point would be the SH-102 McLoud interchange. 102 seems to be a fairly common sticking point in the "lowest route number you've never been on" thread, so proceeding up SH-102 for a few hundred feet could also be of interest if any attendees participate in that game. ODOT has also proposed converting the McLoud interchange to a dogbone. I'm not sure when this project is supposed to start or if it is even scheduled, however.

[JMoses24]

As things stand now, I'm going with October. Further information to follow after the new year.

[cl94]

I'm going to put myself down as interested. A lot of variables here, but I have wanted an excuse to see more of Oklahoma.

[dchristy]

I am interested, but with my schedule September works better than October.

[ozarkman417]

Because of OKC's relatively close position to where I live and the fact I am now 18.. I may be able to attend this road meet as my first one. Though, if all goes according to plan, I'm going into college this upcoming fall, so my ability to attend will be impossible to predict ATM.

[JMoses24]

Upon reviewing the OU football schedule, I have narrowed the timeline to the 5 dates in the above poll. This will prevent a conflict with home Sooners games. (The October 8 date is technically a home game but is in Dallas; the October 29 date is after the Sooners play Iowa State on the previous Thursday night.) I wanted to leave both an August and September option open as well, just in case.

[JMoses24]

Update:

So far, October 22 is leading in the poll with 60% of votes. The voting period goes through February 16. However, I am now thinking I should have had the poll run to the end of the month. Since I cannot extend the voting period on the poll, I will also count any votes in response to this thread between the 16th and 28th. I hope to finalize the date in March or so in order to begin to look at potential lunch locations.

[SSOWorld]

Update:

So far, October 22 is leading in the poll with 60% of votes. The voting period goes through February 16. However, I am now thinking I should have had the poll run to the end of the month. Since I cannot extend the voting period on the poll, I will also count any votes in response to this thread between the 16th and 28th. I hope to finalize the date in March or so in order to begin to look at potential lunch locations.

Poll end date changed.  all you have to do is ask --sso

[Alps]

Update:

So far, October 22 is leading in the poll with 60% of votes. The voting period goes through February 16. However, I am now thinking I should have had the poll run to the end of the month. Since I cannot extend the voting period on the poll, I will also count any votes in response to this thread between the 16th and 28th. I hope to finalize the date in March or so in order to begin to look at potential lunch locations.

Poll end date changed.  all you have to do is ask --sso

Whoops, didn't see you did it so I changed it again. It's back haha

[JMoses24]

Update:

So far, October 22 is leading in the poll with 60% of votes. The voting period goes through February 16. However, I am now thinking I should have had the poll run to the end of the month. Since I cannot extend the voting period on the poll, I will also count any votes in response to this thread between the 16th and 28th. I hope to finalize the date in March or so in order to begin to look at potential lunch locations.

Poll end date changed.  all you have to do is ask --sso

Whoops, didn't see you did it so I changed it again. It's back haha

Thank you both. That will be easier!

[JMoses24]

There are two days to go in the poll. As it stands right now, if there are no other votes, October 22nd will likely be the date.

[JMoses24]

With the poll now having closed, I am officially setting the date as October 22, 2022 at 11am Central Time. The lunch/meeting location will be Earl's Rib Palace, 216 Johnny Bench Dr, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, which has been selected for there being ample parking spaces nearby (as well as being near one of the planned stops, Oklahoma City Boulevard). A Facebook event shall be created later today.

EDIT 3:47pm CST 3/4/22: Here's the public event. https://fb.me/e/1g7insKRA