David Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 El Paseo V will be held the weekend of April 22-24, 2005 at: Holiday Inn Express 333 Fisher St. Blairsville, GA 30512 706/745-6844 I would recommend that you go ahead and snag your room. There's less traffic in the spring, so it's not a "hot" weekend like the fall is with the leaf watching, but our crowd for the spring El Paseo has always been larger (over 100)--maybe from the pent up winter blues? There are only 65 rooms in the hotel, and only one other hotel--Best Western--in town. And let me just say that *cough* we got the good hotel. So grab a room and just cancel it later if you don't need it. The hotel has a nice little park in the back, an indoor pool, free "breakfast," and high speed internet access. Mention "BMW" to get the special rate of $59/night. It seems like most people are riding all day Friday and all day Saturday, which means that many folks may arrive Thursday instead of Friday. Our room block is for all three nights (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). Why the move? First, variety is the spice of life and maybe it's time for a change of hotel and dinner plans Saturday night. Second, Cherokee isn't all that easy to get to from the west and north. Third, Cherokee is central to some great roads, but there are none (save the BRP) immediately nearby. Fourth, you all need to experience the awesome roads in GA. Blairsville is smack in the middle of some fantastic ones. Besides, it's only 75 miles to the southwest. (When we move this again, it'll not go further south, but probably some place like Sweetwater, TN.) This time around Mark Davis (with some help from ChrisK and ein Insley will put together about five routes for us, and I'm sure MattS will help us out with digital GPS versions of the same. Dinner will hopefully be with "Rib Country." I've already talked with Carl Fisk about it, and three of us sampled the goodies. All I need is a place to do it. Anyway, that's it for now. Something to look forward to, anyway. Link to comment
teecro Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 Thanks for the heads up David. Will be booking room as soon as I finish this post. Link to comment
subvet Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 David, Please add me to the list for El Paseo V. I have reserved a room at HI Express. Nice pick for a weekend trip! I get to spend time in that area on business occasionally. Link to comment
StretchMark Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Reservations made! As Dave mentioned, Ken Insley, MattS and Chris K will be helping me put together some fantastic routes. Ken and MattS have already sent over some great ideas! We will include all the standard favorites, plus throw in a few local backroads you may not have ridden before. We will also be putting together a great "GS" route. If you have any personal favorites in the area, feel free to shoot me a PM and we will see if we can incorporate it into one of the routes. And of course, all the routes will be scouted repeatedly all through the winter just to make sure they are going to be winners Link to comment
GrayNFast Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Reservations made. Two of us from the deep swamp. Just got home from tech day with ChrisK and company and found this. Yipee!! Thanks for the heads up. Link to comment
jimwms Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Thanks, David. Reservations made. Can't wait. Link to comment
Tasker Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 In! Reservations are made... Link to comment
Kinsley Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 In, and hopefully Brynda will be there this time as well. Heck, I'm looking foreward to helping plan the rides for you guys. Link to comment
MattS Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 In -- reservations made. Who's hosting the Passover Seder on Saturday night? Link to comment
David Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 Who's hosting the Passover Seder on Saturday night? Probably Carl Fisk a Rib Country, just down the road. Link to comment
DGShaffer Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 I'm booked for Thursday through Saturday night. FYI the BMW block is already sold out for Thursday night. The Thursday night rate is now $89.00 as per 1-800-HOLIDAY. I'll be with Cindy this year and I'm planning a week long riding vacation to end with El Paseo. Those roads were just to damn good! Link to comment
marty mayer Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Sounds great! in. just don't know about the hotel. tried to book a room this am. called the hotel, they said to call 1-800-holiday. was told the bmw rate doesn't work was quoted $84.55 thurs. $103.00 fri.-sat. also was told only thing available at this time was king bed only. still booked but hope this changes. Marty Link to comment
David Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 Sounds great! in. just don't know about the hotel. tried to book a room this am. called the hotel, they said to call 1-800-holiday. was told the bmw rate doesn't work was quoted $84.55 thurs. $103.00 fri.-sat. also was told only thing available at this time was king bed only. still booked but hope this changes. Marty, it sounds like the front desk person isn't getting it. Call back later and tell them that the rate is $59 for all three nights and they'll fix it for you. Link to comment
David Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 There's someone (at the moment) who is apparently incompetent. Her system is down, which is why she's having you call the toll-free number. But just make sure she understands that you want a group rate ("BWM") negotiated with the hotel for those dates in April. Sorry about the trouble you are having, folks. Link to comment
RichEdwards Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Sounds like the Holiday Inn Express has messed up. They (at 800-HOLIDAY) say all Thursday night rooms are booked but there are rooms at $59 on Fri. and Sat. Calling the hotel directly got this answer: "Our system is down--please call again tomorrow or call the 800 number." Link to comment
David Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 Sorry folks. If the problems persist, let me know and I'll call tomorrow. I'm hoping on a plane shortly. Link to comment
Mark Menard (Vita Rara) Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 In! Reservations made for Thurs, Fri and Sat. The general manager had to manually enter it because the contract doesn't seem to have Thursday in the computer. Can't wait to see everyone and ride Northern Georgia again. Mark Link to comment
Calvin (no socks) Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 In, no problems with reservations here. Link to comment
StretchMark Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 The painful, painful process of ride scouting has begun. But for such a nice group of folks, I'm more than happy to take one for the team . I'm really getting excited about our "The Road Not Taken" ride featuring some of North Georgia's lesser known but equally fantastic roads. Stealing the TOTW idea from Spike, here are some preview shots of some of our "roads not taken": Doublehead Gap Road: Sunrise Ridge Road: Old Dial Road (Part of the "GS" Route) Top of the dam at Lake Blue Ridge More to follow over the next few months. Link to comment
DavidEBSmith Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 If you go to the hotel web page and enter "BMW" for the Group Booking Code, it will give you the $59 rate, at least for Friday and Saturday (didn't try Thursday 'cause I know I can't take that much time off work). As of the time of this post, they had king non-smoking, double non-smoking, and double smoking available. (Whassamatta Baker, you can't swing us a deal on the Jacuzzi suites? What kind of cockamamie outfit is this?) Link to comment
SteveHebert Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Suz'anne and I just got back from the area. We are booked for three nights at the HI Express for El Paseo V. Helen was mobbed for the last weekend of Oktoberfest! The GPS came in very handy for negotiating 75. Steve Link to comment
David_S Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Thanks DavidS I just booked the last double for Friday and Saturday. I hope to be able to get away Thursday but would prefer to spend it wandering my way there rather than rushing to get there. Been finding some pretty nice roads between here and there lately so it seems a shame to slab it there and back home. Link to comment
Lone_RT_rider Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 IN!!! Room is booked, Mitch you have a bed if you can make it. Shawn Link to comment
steve.foote Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 IN! Booked via website. Will sell my company before I miss another El Paseo. Link to comment
Mr Pou Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 The painful, painful process of ride scouting has begun. Mark, if you need some "help" on one of these "scouting" rides, drop me a line. Bill Link to comment
TomK Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 For some reason the web site returned "unavailable" for Thurs to Sun although it would book Fri to Sun. Was able to book the three nights by phone with no problem. Link to comment
Lone_RT_rider Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 I had the same problem and fixed it in the same manner. The person taking the call said she was working on that issue trying to get it resolved. Shawn Link to comment
Kenny Haynes Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 In Friday and Saturday night. Link to comment
Tasker Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Kenny, I guess Wednesday and Thursday will be travel days... Link to comment
Hunkystuff Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 I Just finished booking a room at Holiday Inn Express. Shala aparantly has fixed the reservation problem there. Kathe and I are planing to arive Thursday April 21 and leaving Sunday April 24, 2005 We're looking forward to seeing all of you again. Peter Link to comment
PeterD Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 I'm in too. I made the reservation via telephone, then checked here using the confirmation number to make sure the rate showed up correctly. To my surprise Shala got the dates wrong and it showed Friday as the first night. I had to call her back to correct that, and she told me there was some confusion because the special rate had originally been set up for Fri-Sat and was then changed to include Thurs. Whatever, it's right now. I recommend you check your reservation using your confirmation number and last name at the above linked URL to be certain the dates and rate are correct. Looking forward to seeing all my new riding buddies in April! Link to comment
Kenny Haynes Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Yes Tasker, we will probably break it down in to two days. Yahoo maps has it at 93 miles, so I think we may overnight in Tellico Plains. Link to comment
Husker Red Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Sweet, I'll be there. That's pretty close for me. I might try to find some camping local to the area instead of the hotel. Link to comment
RichEdwards Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 IN. Haven't missed one yet and I'm not about to start. Link to comment
Hunkystuff Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 I'm in too. I made the reservation via telephone, then checked here using the confirmation number to make sure the rate showed up correctly. To my surprise Shala got the dates wrong and it showed Friday as the first night. I had to call her back to correct that, and she told me there was some confusion because the special rate had originally been set up for Fri-Sat and was then changed to include Thurs. Whatever, it's right now. I recommend you check your reservation using your confirmation number and last name at the above linked URL to be certain the dates and rate are correct. Looking forward to seeing all my new riding buddies in April! Thanks for the link. I checked and my reservation is ok. Peter Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 IN! Hotel booked Thursday to Saturday. Link to comment
Britelitebob Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 I’m in Wednesday through Sunday. Had no problem making reservations directly through the hotel yesterday. Link to comment
John Ranalletta Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 In. JR & RR. Fri/Sat/Sun eve. I faxed my reservation specifying $59 rate w/ cc# & exp and asked them to call me with a confirm #. Worked like a charm. Link to comment
RandyShields Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 In. Bringing along a SCUM riding buddy -- Gilbert Terry. Buell driver who used to race SV650's. He and Hebert can tell lies about who is a better helicopter pilot. Link to comment
johnt650 Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 I've made my reservation and hope I can make it this time. Link to comment
CalabashRT Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 In. Thanks David, last week was great. Can't wait. John Link to comment
Mark Menard (Vita Rara) Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 The painful, painful process of ride scouting has begun. But for such a nice group of folks, I'm more than happy to take one for the team . Mark, I'm thinking about leading a photo ride at the next El Paseo. I didn't take nearly enough photos at this past one and I'd like to make up for it. So, if there's any chance keep it in mind and note where nice stops might be. My thought is a ride of 150-200 miles with a fair number of "programmed" stops for people to take pics. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks, Mark Link to comment
StretchMark Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Excellent idea, Mark! Ken Insley, who is helping me with the routes, is a professional photographer and has a really good eye for that kind of stuff. I'll pass on the suggestion. Link to comment
Eddie Bell Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Excellent link for checking the reservation. I guess that means i'm in!!! Hopefully future elpaseo's don't go any farther south or i might have to try for an iron butt on the way down I am sooo pumped for this... again Link to comment
questrider Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 I just got off the phone with the Holiday Inn Express in Blairsville, GA. I was told that to make a reservation for the BMW group in April 2005 I have to call back on Friday and speak with Shelly because she is the only one who can take reservations for this event. ??? Link to comment
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