Spring Meet Follow Up

[RPRICE]

We are there to drive our cars and socialize. Use the same hotel and start a morning cruse from there at 8:30 or 9. Meet back at the hotel at 11 or so for lunch and car show. The Marroitt would love to cater the event. Then have a long afternoon run. An outsiders two cents worth.
Richard Price
Memphis

[mustangmendez]

Even though I have not finished my car, other cars that I have worked on have been there, some in pieces and others LATE ! But I really enjoy meeting great people.The time just goes by so fast it makes it tuff. The Hotel was great and really would love to have us again we could really use this to our advantage .a new idea would be, for everyone to walk up and introduce there self one by one{Name ,code name and by car or no car as well },some time on Saturday .There we could all get a chance to talk to who ever.Some people just stand out with out an intro more time grouped together .
T

[ERA600hp]

That's been talked about, name tag's on Friday Night!!
Good Idea.
How about same hotel, the same route as the poker run last year, ending up at the hotel, with a catered dinner, or hotel catered?
Some good ideas are comming out!
The Royal Rhubarb

[snakeeyes]

I know at some of the SAAC national meets they have gotten a hotel to cordon off a section of parking lot, then used an upper-floor balcony overlooking that section to do cool panoramic shots of the group. I will also miss the Origin garage if we leave it--the view, the remoteness, the noise of the cars driving up and down it , but it does seem that we are outgrowing it. This year I didn't make it until just a few minutes before the group photos but I can imagine the work it took to arrange all of those cars in rows!

[4RE KLR]

Tony
That is a great idea. One of the things that I never seem to be able to do in Austin is get to meet the other guys. We (I) tend to stay with the people we know in our local groups. We talk to each othr all year long on this site but don't get a chance to really meet each other. I told myself I was going to try and meet as many people as I could this year. I did meet some, but not nearly enough. I did get to meet Ed this year for one.

How can we do a better job at that than we are? I don't know!

I will say again that I really enjoyed this years outing and yea the parking could have been better, but remember the more simple we keep these the better off we are.

I too was very concerned about the floor at Origin this year and told Tom about it. These floors are designed to flex or bounce as most of you noticed. The problem comes into play when the bounce stops. It stopped this year and it stopped last year. I think we are pushing our luck here guys I really do. I work with pre stressed floors every day and I do not like the way that one reacts to the load. None of us knows the engineering streeses (load) that floor was designed to accomodate, but rest assured we are or were VERY close to failure this year. The flex (or bounce) stopped. That is not good. I like the parking lot idea better if we can keep the cars grouped together. I know that will be a challange but we should at least look into it. It could save our very lives!

[snakeeyes]

Steve, now that you mention it I recall standing there during the driver's meeting, feeling the concrete wriggling like a piece of spaghetti, then feeling it stop and thinking it felt strange. I'm no concrete expert and frankly I didn't know which was weirder--the flexing or lack thereof--but with the weight of 70+ cars and a couple hundred people, all concentrated in the center of one of the slabs, I can see how that could exceed design limits...conservatively calculated, that's over 100 tons of weight. Okay, maybe I can live with the Origin garage as a pleasant memory!

[gsharapa]

I thought this year was great and would recommend the following:

1.Keep the same hotel next year or if you move it south
find one that is very simular.
2 More organization of the trailers for Friday night
3 Origin garage was great but if this grows again next
year I'd suggest we pass on the garage. I agree
with Drew that I felt a lot of shaking up there and we
could be possibly overloading the structure. I don't want
to be on TV in those conditions!
4. The southern cruise was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. I really liked Gruene with the exception of the parking
but I talked to the guy who came out and tried to
direct everyone and he said there was another lot we
didn't know about that he was trying to send people
too. More coordination there is needed.
6. I also agree with Tom that it would of been nice to
have either everyone leave at one time from Gruene
or have 2 or 3 groups leave at different time back to
keep people together and allow for the people to leave
or stay a bit longer. For safety this would be good as
Drew and I saw a lot of cars on their own on the way
back.
7. Saturday night everyone kind of disappeared again a
result of not coming back together. As we said last
year the hotel should be at the end of the cruise by
5:30 pm or so.
8. The weather sucked Friday!!!!!!!

2004:

1. Same Hotel
2. Move it to end of March or April - at least warmer and
prettier out
3. Ditch the Origin garage and stage up by the hotel.
4. Leave on the cruise around 10:30 am return to hotel
5:30 PM

Great Job Austin Folks!!!

[Gary Morris]

Can we book our rooms now? Can we Can we? It's time to start planning for Tulsa......The Marriott is taking reservations...made mine last month.

Tulsa or Bust!
Gary

[Gregg(What's his name)?]

1. If we move the date may I suggest we move it to the end of April. Why Easter and all the schools seem to let the young'uns for the easter break. The end of April is dryer and the temp is usually in the eighties. Sorry Dennis I didn't dig up all that data. March is the rainy season and we fall under spring break for the kids as well. I don't know if everyone (kids) have spring break at the same time, but we are sure to have 1/3 of the group have these breaks at different times.

2. I like the Hotel and the loaction. Next year we should.... change that, WE will get the area blocked off. We should put Doug reeds and DBs rig and if Blake gets another bus to help form a square and keep the tailgate party in the middle of the rigs. Park Cobras, and trailers in a coordinated thought out plan and keep it secure and safe.

3. Cruise I don't care when we cruise lets just be safe and everyone follow the same route back. This for break down purposes.

4. Shag vehicles cleary identified with a list of cell numbers for the vehicles. The shag vehicles might also consider walkie talkies for internal control.

5. Live music Saturday night at the hotel. Blake or Stretch are you listening!

6. Above all have fun and go with the flow!

Gregg H

[ERA600hp]

Why the Live music. It's so loud you can't hear the person next to you, I don't understand, maybe I'm getting OLD?? hehe

I'd rather spend the time visiting and getting to know other people in our club.

The last two weeks in April, is too late, there's to much going on to try to schedule around. Whether it be school functions, sports,
or whatever.
There's nouthing going on in February!!

Me

[JBAIRD]

February Sucks, It's too dold for what we do, Move to April the last week.

[4RE KLR]

I guess if you / or anyone is too cold they could get a blanket or a bigger coat. This is rediculas guys, Why must we fight about evrything that comes up. I don't care when it is. Feb works for me this year , next year it may not. Hell none of us don't know what next week will bring, war and all. I would like to think that we could just get together and have fun. If it works with my schedule I will be there if it doesn't I won't. I am sure no one will cry if I am not there, some may even be happy. We all try to make this event. It has been a good one for four years in a row. We deal with weather, Hotels, breakdowns, rims in the road, jack knifed trailers flats, what ever... and it just gets better each year.

Maybe we should post a poll and let everyone Vote. I suppose that is the democratic way of doing things!

Ryan you are the President of TCC. Put a stop to this fighting. Post a poll and lets vote on it.

Geeze I would rather talk about the cars, or the IRS for that matter than to fight with my buddies!

Remember this folks.........
United we stand......devided we fall.

[Dennis Mosley]

i like the idea of a poll but it only works if everyone only gets 1 vote. Is that how the polls on this fourm work?

[kountzecobra]

Well said, Steve!

[stuck]

here ya go...

[4RE KLR]

Done!

[Gregg(What's his name)?]

ladies. We are arguing over a date. Just like a bunch of old retired ladies with nothing better to do. Just to let everyone else know that I voted for February.

March rains

April is Easter.

Graduations in May/June. Spring/Summer/Fall takes me out in the field learning how to better kill the enemy.

Hopefully a family vaction in July.

September takes the kids back to school. And of course Nebraska Football.

November is time for family and being thankful.

December is the Celebration of the birth of our Lord.

January is College football and the Superbowl.

February is the time for the T.C.C. to come and kick off the new year in Austin!!!

Love ya

Gregg H

[66 snake]

I have a suggestion unrelated to dates. ..

Austin did a great job putting this together. However I'd like to suggest that we have the president and his local club be the "host" group. They can (with advice from Austin) make the arrangements, get volunteers for things like packets, name tags, parking lot organization, etc. That way each group is involved and Austin gets to enjoy it like the rest of us.

Mrs. 66 Snake

[jrussell]

Austin, You have done it again!
1. The Origin has been good to us, but I believe it is a thing of t e past. I agree with Steve, Drew & the others about the load limit and I also did not feel safe this year for the first time, Also, we have reached/exceeded the absolute limit to what Jack can effectively photograph in a rectangular layout with a wide angle lens. How many of you like the look of the 24 foot Cobra next to the 19 foot GT 40? We need to look at other alternatives, and anything close to the hotel will work for me!
2. The cruise!! It was great, and by dropping the Origin from the program we could hit the road early(er) , do a wonderful run in the hill country, and meet back around 12:30-2:00 pm for lunch & THEN do the group photo. One of the reasons we had/have to wait at the garage was the sun and the problems shooting in the morning light, which we can eliminate. I love to drive our cars, and it is really hard to beat time in the Hill country, so just about any route will work for me.
3. Date- Well, I truly don't care! I agree, In a few more weeks/month later in the year things really get beautiful as Spring arrives in Texas, but so so scheduling problems with "other stuff".
4. Whatever we decide, I really believe we need to plan on about 100 cars, and I feel time spent in the afternoon with what makes our event-the people- is really where it's at!
That's my take on the deal, and yes Ryan, I voted.
John Russell
ps. Dick, it looks like it is now down to three- Gary Morris, Jim Woodard and me..................

[Ed Csoltko]

I've been sitting back reading everyone's comments (feedback) for the past few days. Thanks for your inputs. Everyone has valid inputs. It gets harder and harder every year to plan for an event like this due to the growth of the TCC.

Finding a hotel that will satisfy everyone's requirements gets more difficult each year. Now it's the libility no one wants in their parking facility. We were lucky to find the current hotel with ample parking.

Planning a cruise is not to difficult, it's always the resturant and parking that limits our selection. (Paved vs dirt parking lot, size of lot, size of resturant, service, etc..)

As for the cruise, we always need a route that has good roads and gas stations available. (The important thing we need is breakdown backup or AAA.)

I'm glad to hear everyone's comments. We will try to resolve many of the issues before we meet again next year. Please continue to suggest or recommend your idears to us. Just like last years hotel suggestion, it help us. Also keeping it simple and pay as you go were good suggestions.

As for the spring meet date, I'm glad a poll has been started. We will see what the majority wants to do. (We also need to be aware of the Austin events because many of the hotels are booked.)

As we grow we cannot make everyone happy, but we will try. We always have fun, no matter when we get together or where we go. I'm glad we're getting some young blood into our ranks to help make decissions. I'm getting too old to fight Tom & Dennis.