Things need doing: I need your collective help

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

I thought it would be cleaner to start a new thread to give the State of the UNion.

 

Paved Rides:

Primarily I need help deciding on what rides we'll publish to the participants. Nearly every road in Oregon is good, but we need to create some specific loops. Loops should not exceed 250 miles (or so). This was the length that has been favored in past events. Certainly we should have several shorter rides. Everybody will likely do their own research too, but there will be some reliance on us to provide the most tasty morsels. I'll follow with specifics in the Paved Rides discussion. After the roads are decided, we need to beg/borrow/steal/photocopy maps.

 

 

UnPaved Rides:

Boney was great and has been pre-riding some routes. Fantastic considering he might not make it to the Un. Go here for a lengthy discussion on ADVrider. I have maps from Strawberry Mtn and the Malheur NF along with the Benchmark Oregon atlas. There are some good road possibilities there too. Dirt loops should be shorter than the paved. I think it's more important to provide GPS coordinates for the GS guys. The road crowd might want GPS coordinates, but I don't think it's really necessary. I'm all for GPS for everything but I don't know how to do it. And like the above, I think that continuing Unpaved Rides thread is the way to go for specifics. Likewise the B/B/S/photocopy maps thing applies here too.

 

 

 

Tee Shirts:

Tony_K is designing and printing them. Price is capped at $12 each. I'm giving him a $1200 deposit next week, so we better clear 100 registrants. On Monday the 16th I have to give him sizes and quantities so that he can print the pre-un batch prior to going on vacation. He'll ship the tees to me in Seattle, because he only has a two-day turnaround coming home from vacation before he rides to JDay. I can't have him ship directly to JD since the Chief Joseph rally will still be going on and our stuff is guaranteed to get lost. Afterwards he will make another run, for those ride-up folks and any others who sizes we didn't guess. I've asked Mark and Sylva for their tee-shirt data and as of yet I haven't received it. Morning of the 16th I'll take the info from those who have registered and make educated guesses beyond that. I think we'll need mostly Mens-Lg, XL and Womens-M.

 

 

Stickers:

Each person will get two. They are ordered already.

 

 

Registration:

As of today, 64 people have registered. I really need all of you to register too. I think what the general public doesn't realize is that we need their data to plan properly: tee-shirt size, food choices, name and DB handle. And frankly, we need the money for catering and incidentals. I set up a different bank account for the Un only to keep the books straight. Advance registration ends on June 29 so that I can get the money transferred via PayPal prior to leaving for JD on the 7th.

 

 

Onsite:

I'm arriving late afternoon on the 7th. We need to have an organizing party that evening at the fairgrounds. Randy has contacted me and offered his help for this too. I figure we'll order in some pizzas and make it a casual affair.

 

For the 8th, we'll need to have a few people at Headquarters all day, in shifts, to welcome folks and give them their loot. Name tags will be entry for dinner and breakfast. Randy has paid for his family for dinner and I gave him a credit for himself for the breakfast that he'll miss.

 

I need some help finding and writing up a sheet for the non-riding activities. We should get a simple street map of John Day as well, noting the different hotels and the fairgrounds, along with some of the popular restaurants.

 

 

 

 

This is a late-night and possibly long-winded post. It seems like much of the enthusiasm for planning has cooled off once the location/dates were made public and everybody had the typical year end Holiday parties.

 

But here we are. I need your help. I think that the Un will be a fantastic experience for everyone, us especially. I just need help and support here in the final stretch.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

[Kitsap]

I'll do some work tonight on the paved routes.

 

Rob, Crazy Canuck, won't be arriving at my place until Wed., July 9th, so early arrival for me is not likely unless he arrives early.

 

[Fasterpill]

I have to withdraw, with deep regrets. I lost a week of vacay taking the best job I ever had at State Farm (asp.net and SQL/Access database programmer for end users). I avoided the decision to stay home from the rally in hopes that I could swing it, but it won't work this year. I am gonna miss you guys!

 

So sorry that I haven't been any help, but that's why. I have been rehabbing (I made that word up) my kitchen and am almost done after two months. That helped seal the deal for spare time loss too.

 

In case you guys don't have my new contact info:

 

Phil Mares

8 Jones Rd

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

518-587-2125 home

518-681-2936 cell

phil@ezofficetraining.com

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

That good and bad news Phil. We'll just have to get together on some other occasion. Best of luck in your new job!

[Bruce H]

you might remind riders comming from out of state that most chamber of commerce offices give free Oregon maps as do DMV offices and some highway information kiosk's. If we provide a mileage list between cities in the area they could work out their own loop and distance. I have picked up a dozen or so maps to bring, next time I go by the DMV I'll get some more. Wouldn't take much time with the rider and a highlight pen to map out some ideas.

 

John Day is kind of in the center of a wheel, any of the four directions work.

 

I picked up this years map from the printer, the motorcycle one listing roads. My view is that the map is a venue for him to sell advertisment. The ofical Oregon highway map is better layed out.

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

Thanks Bruce. I concur about the map/advertising. I sent one to everybody who was on the committee a few months back. It did give us some ideas though, like the Dooley Mtn Road. Unfortunately Phil is out with his ankle, but that does give him the opportunity to be our GPS nerd.

 

I'm bringing the other big maps that I have for people to look at more intently.

[Firefight911]

Unfortunately Phil is out with his ankle, but that does give him the opportunity to be our GPS nerd.

 

I resemble that comment!!