2017 New River Gorge Bridge/Beckley WV Meet is now Sat., April 8

[Rothman]

I do have a question though. How car accessible is CH 82?>

Very.  It's a paved road.

[hbelkins]

I do have a question though. How car accessible is CH 82?>

Very.  It's a paved road.

Yes indeed, although the uphill side has a few potholes. I've driven it twice and have seen small cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and just about every other flavor of passenger vehicle on it.

[hbelkins]

The date is officially set for Saturday, April 1 at 10 a.m. We will meet initially at the Canyon Rim Visitors Center.

Facebook meet page is up at https://www.facebook.com/events/1578391525521708/

If you're on Facebook, please share the event or invite others you think might be interested. It's a public event and anyone can view it. I sent invitations to a few roadgeek friends who live in the general area but I'm sure I left a few out (no offense intended if I did.)

If you indicate you're attending on that page, I will accept that as an RSVP. Otherwise, please RSVP by emailing hbelkins@gmail.com. Since there's no formal lunch, I really won't need a head count nor will I need to set a hard and fast RSVP deadline, but it would be nice to know who's coming and how many to expect to gather at the visitors center that morning so we don't take the group photo without anyone.

I'll have a meet itinerary in a few days. I'll try to post it on the Facebook meet page and will also post it on the Millennium Highway website and will share the link here. I'm not doing a meet webpage like I have done for past meets I've hosted.

[noelbotevera]

By the way, considering I'm using US 19 and having to go through speed trap towns, where are the ones that are likely to pull me over? I've been able to pinpoint some using GMaps and how they show town boundaries, but I'm bound to miss one.

In order from north to south:
Summersville, Fayetteville, Oak Hill, Mount Hope, Bradley, Beckley.

I ended at Beckley because that's where I'll be clinching Corridor L. I got two corridors done with this meet, nice!

[froggie]

By the way, considering I'm using US 19 and having to go through speed trap towns, where are the ones that are likely to pull me over?

As long as your father slows down for speed zones, I don't see where the problem would be.

[hbelkins]

By the way, considering I'm using US 19 and having to go through speed trap towns, where are the ones that are likely to pull me over? I've been able to pinpoint some using GMaps and how they show town boundaries, but I'm bound to miss one.

In order from north to south:
Summersville, Fayetteville, Oak Hill, Mount Hope, Bradley, Beckley.

I ended at Beckley because that's where I'll be clinching Corridor L. I got two corridors done with this meet, nice!

After leaving the 55 mph zone near Oak Hill, US 19 is 65 mph all the way to the turnpike. There's a traffic light at the access to Glen Jean and Thurmond, but no issues other than that.

[Laura]

Wait, no formal meet lunch or post meet dinner? Any special reason?


iPhone

[Alps]

Wait, no formal meet lunch or post meet dinner? Any special reason?


iPhone

Because this is about roads, not people. Who goes to roadmeets for people? Then they'd be called peoplemeets.

[74/171FAN]

Wait, no formal meet lunch or post meet dinner? Any special reason?


iPhone

Because this is about roads, not people. Who goes to roadmeets for people? Then they'd be called peoplemeets.

I am pretty sure that HB is not stopping anyone from having a post-meet dinner in Beckley afterwards.   He just will not be organizing it.

Also Steve, I think the term peoplemeets could be used for any gathering of people.   

[1995hoo]

"Peoplemeets" sounds like a more polite version of the term "sausage fest." 

[Rothman]

Heh.  I ducked out of the tour for the last meet I attended.

[seicer]

Very accessible. It's asphalt and is one-lane one-way (for the most part).

[hbelkins]

Wait, no formal meet lunch or post meet dinner? Any special reason?


iPhone

The tour down into the gorge is designed to be an at-your-own-pace tour. There are several stopping points, but everyone may not want to stop at every possible place. Some people may want to stop at every pull-out, others may want to just hit the highlights, others may not want to stop anywhere and just drive Fayette Station Road. That's why I set it up as lunch on your own. Whenever you finish up with Fayette Station Road, you can eat wherever you wish, on your own or in small groups, before reconvening in Beckley for the construction part of the tour.

As for after-meet gatherings, I've never really been a fan of them. I'm usually departing the meet locale for some pre-planned destination once the tour is over. If those who attend want to go to dinner together once the afternoon tour is over, they're free to set something up.

The western Kentucky/I-69 meet I'm thinking about doing later this year will probably include the traditional lunch prior to the tour. This meet lends itself better to a "no formal lunch" format due to the logistics.

[hbelkins]

Putting this out there ... I was scheduled to attend a training class on Wednesday, but it was cancelled due to the forecasted severe weather since it was a Kentucky Emergency Management-sponsored class. (At least I may be getting an expenses-paid trip and an overnight stay in northern Kentucky out of the deal since the class got postponed after I checked into my motel room).

The class has not yet been rescheduled. If the organizers choose March 31 as the date for this class, I will have to reschedule the meet. March 25 will be the alternate date if this happens.

[vdeane]

How likely is it that they would pick that date?  I already booked my hotels; while I did make sure to get free cancellation and I could PROBABLY swing the earlier date in theory (though I'd have to move one of my overnights, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am with trying to rush to pack everything and leave directly from a work presentation in Syracuse), I'm not sure about how easy it would be to reschedule those closer to the date (I think I claimed the last room at one, or at least the last non-smoking, cheapest rate room).

[hbelkins]

How likely is it that they would pick that date?  I already booked my hotels; while I did make sure to get free cancellation and I could PROBABLY swing the earlier date in theory (though I'd have to move one of my overnights, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am with trying to rush to pack everything and leave directly from a work presentation in Syracuse), I'm not sure about how easy it would be to reschedule those closer to the date (I think I claimed the last room at one, or at least the last non-smoking, cheapest rate room).

Given my luck, probably very likely. 

Seriously, I don't know.

Did you book in Beckley? If so, where? My intent is to take Friday off to do some clinching in West Virginia, so I expect to stay Thursday night in Parkersburg, Friday night in Beckley and then Saturday night somewhere else, either the Princeton/Bluefield area, Charleston or Huntington.

[74/171FAN]

Well I have to wait until the class make-up date is finalized at this point.  I cannot do March 25th whatsoever.

[vdeane]

How likely is it that they would pick that date?  I already booked my hotels; while I did make sure to get free cancellation and I could PROBABLY swing the earlier date in theory (though I'd have to move one of my overnights, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am with trying to rush to pack everything and leave directly from a work presentation in Syracuse), I'm not sure about how easy it would be to reschedule those closer to the date (I think I claimed the last room at one, or at least the last non-smoking, cheapest rate room).

Given my luck, probably very likely. 

Seriously, I don't know.

Did you book in Beckley? If so, where? My intent is to take Friday off to do some clinching in West Virginia, so I expect to stay Thursday night in Parkersburg, Friday night in Beckley and then Saturday night somewhere else, either the Princeton/Bluefield area, Charleston or Huntington.

Friday and Saturday I'm staying at the Microtel on US 19 in Beckley.  Thursday is in Hancock, MD and Sunday is in one of Baltimore's eastern suburbs.  In addition to exploring West Virginia and the Maryland panhandle, I intend to fill in some clinches in Pennsylvania and along the northeast corridor.

Hopefully we'll find out soon.  My luck tends to be decent with respect to things I care a lot about (it's terrible with everyday niceties though), but not always, so we'll see.

[noelbotevera]

I'm gonna book a room in Summersville soon. Let's hope the rooms haven't run dry...

[hbelkins]

Friday and Saturday I'm staying at the Microtel on US 19 in Beckley.

Excellent choice. I have stayed there on at least three separate occasions and it's a nice facility. Very bright and clean. Plenty of dining a couple of miles north of there.

[hbelkins]

I'm gonna book a room in Summersville soon. Let's hope the rooms haven't run dry...

I don't know why they would. I don't know of anything going on in the area that weekend to cause a run on motel rooms.

[vdeane]

Any idea when you might find out when the training is rescheduled for?

[hbelkins]

Any idea when you might find out when the training is rescheduled for?

Found out yesterday. It's May 3. So it will not conflict with the meet.

Glad I didn't have it scheduled for this weekend. They're predicting a big snow for that part of West Virginia.

I should get the itinerary up by the end of the week.

[noelbotevera]

Sorry I keep asking questions (I tend to do so a lot), but I'm wondering how to clinch CR 82. Google says it ends at WV 16 in Fayetteville, uses Keller Avenue, turns left onto Fayette Station Road (and intersects US 19 before the arch bridge), and follows Fayette Station Road up until its end at CR 5.

The WV county maps are HORRIBLY unclear, so that's why I used Google.

[hbelkins]

Sorry I keep asking questions (I tend to do so a lot), but I'm wondering how to clinch CR 82. Google says it ends at WV 16 in Fayetteville, uses Keller Avenue, turns left onto Fayette Station Road (and intersects US 19 before the arch bridge), and follows Fayette Station Road up until its end at CR 5.

The WV county maps are HORRIBLY unclear, so that's why I used Google.

It doesn't end at CR 5. Our tour route will use CR 5 from US 19, then turn right onto the Fayette Station portion of CR 82. CR 5 ends there; you can either turn right onto CR 82 (Fayette Station) or continue straight onto CR 82 (Lansing-Edmond Road).