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[hbelkins]

The calendar's running out for 2011. There were a lot of good meets this year, but unfortunately I was not able to attend most of the ones that I wanted to.

Maybe 2012 will be different. So what's on tap for the coming year? What are meet hosts considering?

First one I know of is Adam Moss' Delaware Valley meet for March 24.

As for me, I still have the KY-WV-OH tri-state meet in my back pocket. And I'm trying to come up with a day-long meet that would involve Kentucky's two new parkway extensions as well as new I-69.

[Ian]

In the summer, I was pushing for having a meet down in Wilmington, DE. I think there should also be another south Jersey meet to see the opening of the new NJ 52 bridge into Ocean City.

[SSOWorld]

I don't have intention to host any in Wisconsin this year.  There are two possible meets - one in Joliet, IL and one in the Michigan UP.  When - I don't know.

[Takumi]

I'm interested in attending one in the general Mid-Atlantic area. Anywhere between south PA and SC is game for me.

[Alps]

Ottawa, sometime over the general summer (May-September), date TBD, is the only one I am looking at (A-5, A-50 construction being the cornerstones). I would expect a Triangle Pkwy meet in NC when the new section of 540 opens.

[SSOWorld]

now THAT sounds very tempting, Steve.

INS offcer: What's your purpose for entering Canada?
me: a road meet.
INS officer: ...

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Part of the agreement for me holding the Columbus meet this year is that Richard Ruffner gets to hold the "Ohio meet" in Dayton for 2012.
The Roadmap Collectors Association is meeting in Columbus again in 2012 (I'm assuming in conjunction with the Check the Oil petroliana swap meet, though no date has been given for the festivities)
And the folks at the Ohio Historic Bridge Association http://oldohiobridges.com/ohba/ conducts two tours (one in May, the other in September) of "old bridges" around Ohio.

[Janko Dialnice]

With purchasing a new car and possible international travel coming up, I doubt that I will be attending many meets this year.

Doug Kerr and I were making plans for a Southern NH meet, focusing on the Wieczorek Drive/Manchester Airport Connector and the "Circumferential Highway" stub in Nashua. Nothing has been set in stone, yet, but such a meet still sounds likely.

I had also wanted to do something in the Boston area, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Big Dig, as was mentioned on a previous post, the rare button-copy signage which was to be one of the highlights, might not be around long enough.

Portsmouth might have been a good idea, but I think that should wait until the Fall of 2013, when the replacement for the Memorial Bridge is supposed to be complete.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Dan Garnell is considering Port Huron MI as a possible summer meet, one that Duke87 and I may go to. He won't decide for a while though on whether or not to host it. I have a friend in the Detroit suburb of New Baltimore that I'd like to visit while up there.

I'm not announcing mine till January 15 or so, but HB did give the official date.

[bulldog1979]

I'm looking at Labor Day weekend for the two-day Marquette-Houghton meet in the UP of Michigan.

[Janko Dialnice]

Thanks for the heads-up concerning yours, Adam. I will not be able to attend your meet, though, due to it being on the eve of a rather important religious holiday for me. But maybe we can meet up informally if I am in the NY/NJ area.

[SSOWorld]

Hmmm.  Port Huron, Ottawa, UP?  - if they all lined up I could hit all three - but then everyone else would have to as well.

[signalman]

I'd like to get my feet wet in road meets.  I had intended on going to one in the fall.  It just so happened that whenever the was a meet within reasonable distance from me, I couldn't make it that weekend.  Hopefully 2012 will be luckier in that regard.

[Dougtone]

I'm looking at having the meet in New Hampshire in the spring, as was referenced earlier in this thread.  I haven't decided what I'll be doing for New York in 2012 as meets go.

As for attending any other meets in 2012, I haven't decided when or where I'll be attending.  Depending on what my schedule looks like, I may be interested in attending a meet somewhere pretty far from Upstate New York, such as a meet in Kentucky or Michigan.

[Dougtone]

now THAT sounds very tempting, Steve.

INS offcer: What's your purpose for entering Canada?
me: a road meet.
INS officer: ...

I've had to be "creative" when traveling to Canada to attend a road meet (I've been to a couple: Montréal and Hamilton).  I think I told the customs officers that I was visiting friends.

[codyg1985]

I am thinking of hosting a Birmingham, AL meet sometime in the fall, with the focus being the I-22/I-65 interchange construction. Construction should be progressing along really well by next fall.  Here is a recent view of the construction: http://g.co/maps/83ff7

We may also check out some of the recently-improved sections of I-65 north and south of Birmingham, one of the oldest cloverleaf interchanges in the US (US 31 at Lakeshore Drive), and some of the old US route signs in and around Birmingham.

[Janko Dialnice]

now THAT sounds very tempting, Steve.

INS offcer: What's your purpose for entering Canada?
me: a road meet.
INS officer: ...

I've had to be "creative" when traveling to Canada to attend a road meet (I've been to a couple: Montréal and Hamilton).  I think I told the customs officers that I was visiting friends.

Alternatively, take an additional day off (arrive there Friday morning or leave for home Monday morning), you can tell the officiers that it is a "mini-vacation" or a "weekend away" (the terms I used when I used to go to Sherbooke). Also, if you are interested in exporting anything (Maple Leafs/Canadiens clothing, French-language books, etc), the two overnight stays allow you to bring back goods more duty-free.

(Disclaimer: This trick worked in 2008, but it may not work now. This is not legal advice, so please don't quote me if your attempt fails.)

[codyg1985]

As for attending meets, I would be up for a Michigan meet of some sort since I've never been there. There is also a Memphis meet coming up in the spring that Jason Ilyes is hosting that I will be attending.

I could also go to any of HB's meets. We'll see how the year goes.

[rawmustard]

Dan Garnell is considering Port Huron MI as a possible summer meet, one that Duke87 and I may go to. He won't decide for a while though on whether or not to host it. I have a friend in the Detroit suburb of New Baltimore that I'd like to visit while up there.

Port Huron has the benefit of projects happening on both sides of the border, although I wouldn't know where the Ontarians have planned yet. I would like to get back to Port Huron and Sarnia to see these projects in daylight since I came through both about midnight when coming back from Albany.

[oscar]

now THAT sounds very tempting, Steve.

INS offcer: What's your purpose for entering Canada?
me: a road meet.
INS officer: ...

I've had to be "creative" when traveling to Canada to attend a road meet (I've been to a couple: Montréal and Hamilton).  I think I told the customs officers that I was visiting friends.

That worked for me, though I had to develop a backup excuse why I was overnighting in Pembroke ON (several hours northwest of Ottawa) on my way to "visiting friends" in Montreal, in case Customs Canada pressed for specifics on my lodging reservations.

[Janko Dialnice]

That is where Couchsurfing.org comes in handy. Your lodging is with your "friends" (couchsurfing hosts), and you could have told Customs Canada that they lived in Pembroke.
(I can kick myself in the arse for closing my own account on there. I know that creating a new account there is against their TOS, but I wonder if I can get away with it.)

[SSOWorld]

If it's that hard to cross the border just to go to a road meet why not just say tourist?

In any case I will have to consider these challenges IF I go to Ottawa.

[Janko Dialnice]

As long as you are in Canada for an appropriate amount to time to claim to be a tourist, that should work. My first trip to Sherbrooke, Quebec was for a meeting of the members of an old IRC channel that I belonged to. The meeting was on a Saturday; I arrived on Friday morning and drove home late Sunday afternoon. I also came back with some $300 worth of goods. The customs/border guards on both sides were OK with my explanation of a "weekend vacation".

On the other hand, I was asked which cities I was going to visit. Since Ottawa has some of its own tourist attractions (Parliament building, a large university, several museums), an excuse of tourism would work. If the focus of the road meet is not near a tourist center, however, such an excuse might not be plausible.

[vdeane]

I'll have to attend Ottawa as long as I'm available during the weekend it ends up on.  Shouldn't matter too much whether I'm in Rochester or Potsdam as long as I don't have a conflict, actually (it's good to have relatives in the 1000 Islands).

[hbelkins]

All these tales about crossing the border (plus the inevitable anal exam i'd likely undergo because of all the electronics I carry on trips) just serve as another reminder of why I'll probably never get to visit Canada. Can't "sightseeing" suffice as a reason to cross the border?

As for attending meets, I would be up for a Michigan meet of some sort since I've never been there. There is also a Memphis meet coming up in the spring that Jason Ilyes is hosting that I will be attending.

I'd forgotten about the Memphis meet, for which no date has yet been set, as far as I know. I'd like to attend that. I'd also like to attend the New Hampshire meet, as that would give me a chance to clinch the counties in that state.

My annual "preach about the evils of cellphone use" conference is April 25-27 in Loserville, so meets on the weekends on either side of that timeframe are out for me.