Weekend Scouting Update - 9/7/04

[Spike]

Hey Guys, Patti and I did some preliminary scouting down in Staunton this weekend and have some more info and pictures for the group. We spent Saturday night at the KOA in Staunton and discussed the UnRally with the owner of the campgrounds and then spent that evening and portions of Sunday scouting the roads and talking to hotels.

 

We have the dates of 6/6 - 6/9 reserved at the campgrounds. That will allow an arrival of Monday for a "kick off" breakfast Tuesday morning and then a "closing" dinner on Thursday night with departures on Friday. They have reserved the whole lower portion of the campground by the water falls for our group. You can refer to the layout drawings of grounds on their website. We have pictures also for your viewing entertainment. The reserved area is a bit secluded from the rest of the grounds and has approx 40 "sites". I estimate that each site could accomodate 4 people and 4 bikes. The grounds also have individual showers, as well as hot tubs and a nice inground pool. Cost is $7 per head per night. Guests of the campgrounds (those who are staying at hotels) will end up paying $2 per day for the use of facilities etc. which we will probably take care of directly in the costs of dinner and suc. Reservations will be made through Patti.

 

We also have 40 rooms blocked out at a local Days Inn in Staunton. The hotel is 5 miles away. We drove it in 9 minutes. There is a closer hotel but frankly, we werent impressed enough with their operation to block rooms there. If we go with Staunton we will let the bbs users know about it and chose it at their own risk. All of the rooms are double occupancy with two full size beds. Continental breakfasts are complimentary and there is a nice looking in ground pool. Rooms are $59+tax per night.

 

Patti and I scouted roads and were actually very happy with what is available. The area provides a great mixture of farm lands, back mountain riding, and unpaved fire road type of riding. We only spent about 4 hours looking around driving approx 125 miles and were able to get a mix of all of the above types of experiences. As mentioned before 21 miles to the east is both skyline and the BRP and to the west are the mountains and WV.

 

As for drawbacks, the only two I see are that the hotel is more than 1 mile away, and that the local eateries are not as bountiful or clustered as I had hoped. There could be a ride of up to 15 minutes for food depending on what attendees want to eat. That though doesnt seem out of line with UnRally #1 or other local events such as El Paseo.

 

There is a private photo gallery of our weekend so you can get a feel for it. Click here and then login (the link is in the upper right) with the username/password combination is unrally/unrally. Once you do that a fifth photo album will appear. Please go through it. Its split up into four sub albums pertaining to the koa, scenic views, paved, and unpaved roads. This is just a small tour of the area.

 

As mentioned before nothing has been announced yet because there has been some question as to the suitability of this location. After this weekend though Patti and I do think this location will work out. Please let us know your opinions. Ive also started putting together our "team" of people to help out and look forward to their input.

 

 

-- John

[PhillyFlash]

As has been said before, if you guys are happy with the location, let's go with it. It's easy to obsess over finding the "best" location, but there comes a time when you just have to say that this is it, and move on. As long as you and Patti are satisfied, let's move on to the details and the announcements. Just make sure you let us know first so we can make our advanced reservations.

[Tool]

I spent some time gazing at each and every photo in the "Paved Roads" folder... I'd love to ride any and all of them! Not quite so sure about the "Unpaved" - but hey, I don't ride one of those GS's!

 

The camping looked pretty nice, and the water scenes were pretty tempting, too. Motels @ $60 seems reasonable, but then I'm desensitized from living out here in SoCal, where you can pay nearly $100 for Motel 6 for gawds sake!

 

If you like the feel, the flavor, and the freshness, do it! And whatever the final outcome, Spike - PLEASE! DO NOT let the whiners - and there WILL BE whiners - do not let those you cannot please weigh too heavily on your conscience.

 

There will be folks who will bawl long and loud unless you hold the next UN near their house, and preferably on their birthday... and they might wail even then! F 'em!

[David]

I'm comfortable with whatever you decide, John!

[Voodoo]

Everything looks great to me, John. The only suggestion I would make is to find a new photographer - those pictures are a mess! {ducking and walking slowly backwards...}

 

[Spike]

ooh boy do you have some nutz. Wait until Patti reads that.

[Spikes_Wife]

Everything looks great to me, John. The only suggestion I would make is to find a new photographer - those pictures are a mess! {ducking and walking slowly backwards...}

 

 

Just damn.

 

Geeze, it's not like I was shooting directly into the sun, or through a dirty windshield or anything.

 

Critics. This whole farkin' board is nothing but critics.

[PhillyFlash]

Patti,

Sounds like you're being critical. Guess that makes you a critic, too. Personally, I liked all of the photos. You did an excellent job. Thanks.

 

(note to self - stay on unrally organizers' good side)

[Spikes_Wife]

Patti,

Sounds like you're being critical. Guess that makes you a critic, too. Personally, I liked all of the photos. You did an excellent job. Thanks.

 

(note to self - stay on unrally organizers' good side)

 

I'm just messing with you guys. I am my toughest critic, and to be honest, I thought most of those pictures sucked.

[Tool]

Hey, kids... one thought (I don't think it qualifies as a suggestion) - think there's any benefit to keeping jamie and Leslie in the loop for any amount of time, to mine their experience on the last UN? I don't mean forever, but they may be able to come up with some gotchas that they dealt with.

 

 

Or... not.

 

 

BTW, I'm booking my time off for next June already!

[Paul Mihalka]

Looks great to me. Only objection, it's a bit too close to home. May be I should ride to Staunton via Seattle

One suggestion, also made elsewhere: Make the planned dinner on Wednesday. That way those who arrive late AND those who have to leave early can be there.

[PhillyFlash]

Wednesday for the main dinner sounds good to me, too.

 

Welcome to the group, Paul.

[Les is more]

I'll echo the others to say go with your gut on the location. The campground looks beautiful and the roads too! We had the advantage of having the main hotel that people used right across the street, but people will cope and the price is right.

 

I would also go with a Wednesday dinner for the reasons stated before.

 

Jamie and I found that if we simply made our decisions, using our team as sounding board, we had almost zero whiners. The two or three who had questions were pretty easily mollified with a straightforward explanation of our reasoning. We found that sometimes a little dictatorship goes a long way!

 

Thanks for including me here!

[Les is more]

Only objection, it's a bit too close to home. May be I should ride to Staunton via Seattle

 

Paul, I'm thinking you should just ride to San Diego and make the trip back with us.

[Spikes_Wife]

Jamie and I found that if we simply made our decisions, using our team as sounding board, we had almost zero whiners. The two or three who had questions were pretty easily mollified with a straightforward explanation of our reasoning. We found that sometimes a little dictatorship goes a long way!

 

Yeah, we had some "hairy" discussions while we were scouting things out. We completely understood all of the concerns about location, well-known things to see, etc -- but somehow the area just felt right for us, and our "vision" of Unrally. Now, keep in mind that the only Unrally we've been to was the first one (our honeymoon). We really liked the "look and feel" of that one.

 

There will always be some complainers, but the campground is beautiful and has great facilities -- and we had no problem finding excellent roads within a short distance away. And at $7/each for campers (per night), you can't get much cheaper than that.

[PhillyFlash]

It's too early in the summer; my vacation isn't until July. It's too far away. It's too close to home. I've ridden that area too many times already; how about somewhere else. Virginia doesn't allow radar detectors. It's not on a weekend. The motels are too far away. It'll be too hot. It'll be too cold. Can't it be during a weekend? I have plans that week. I have to work that week. I'm a vegetarian. I want anchovies on my pizza. I didn't get to vote.

 

OK. Just thought I'd start the desensitization process.

 

The dates and place sound great to me. I'll be on vacation then. It's close enough to New Jersey to visit my brother afterwords. It's a beautiful time of the year to be in the Appalachians. And if anyone complains, they can wait until next year and do all the planning themselves!

[Tool]

Spike & Patti -

 

 

When you get BS like this:

 

 

It's too early in the summer; my vacation isn't until July. It's too far away. It's too close to home. I've ridden that area too many times already; how about somewhere else. Virginia doesn't allow radar detectors. It's not on a weekend. The motels are too far away. It'll be too hot. It'll be too cold. Can't it be during a weekend? I have plans that week. I have to work that week. I'm a vegetarian. I want anchovies on my pizza. I didn't get to vote.

 

 

 

 

You can face the music with classic stuff like THIS:

 

 

 

"It wasn't my fault. Honest! I ran out of gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault, I swear to God!"

 

[Spikes_Wife]

"It wasn't my fault. Honest! I ran out of gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault, I swear to God!"

 

 

WWMHD... It was all Marty Hill's fault!!!

[Russ]

Uh, you forgot 'The dog ate my homework'!

[Spike]

No dogs, but there is always the cat that could shred it up

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

No dogs, but there is always the cat that could shred it up

 

feed it to my brother's girlfriend's cat...

[Spikes_Wife]

No dogs, but there is always the cat that could shred it up

 

feed it to my brother's girlfriend's cat...

 

That thread had me cracking up! I had to show it to everyone in the office.