It's getting closer - Rally Info Update

[kawgirl]

Originally Posted by todd (Nomadis Custodis)

Well the time is getting closer.......I just wanted to update everyone a little with some tentative things so you could start thinking and maybe stir up the excitement. If you've been on the fence..maybe this will make you decide to saddle up and ride on out.

First, the host hotel is pretty much booked up except for a few smoking rooms. They have secured the same rate at a couple smaller, neighboring hotels that some have already discovered and posted about on here. If you have not made your reservation you had better get crackin'.

If 10% of the people that said they were coming have conflicts and have to backout, that will still leave us with 75 bikes and that is not counting some that may decide at the last minute to come. So I am thinking 70-80 attendees.

Amy (Kawgirl) is hard at work on the tshirts and designs and working with vendors to get those available as soon as possible for everyone. I am not sure at this point if they will be available at the rally or if you will need to pre-order. It is usually difficult for a vendor to send or bring them to a rally so I am thinking they will be available for you to preorder and have sent to you prior to the Rally. Amy will update us on that when she gets word from the vendors.

We are planning for most people to arrive on Monday sometime as the official "Rally" will start Tuesday morning first thing. We will have a check-in area somewhere at the hotel on Monday probably from late morning to 4 or 5pm. Amy is the master of organized check-ins....I think I am just gonna stay out of her way and do what she tells me to do. :-/

We are planning a welcome cookout/dinner at the Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center for Monday night. We will have burgers/dogs and fixin's outside around the pool/grounds/tikibar (tikibar will be on your own). Will probably have tea/water provided with that. WE DONT WANT ANYONE TO HAVE TO GET BACK ON THE BIKE AFTER A COLD ONE... The cost per person will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 for that cookout if you wish to attend. Adult Beverages will be on your own. I am not sure yet when, or how, we will be collecting the money for the cookout for those that wish to attend, but more to follow as we get closer. After the dinner, and since the hotel is pretty much booked with "us" I think there will be plenty time to mingle and meet your fellow KawaNOW members in person around the outdoor TikiBar and pool area.

Tuesday we will have two organized rides to chose from. Depending on numbers, we may even break out into smaller groups.
One to Deal's Gap (the Tail of the Dragon) then back through Tennessee toward Gatlinburg and back over the Smoky Mtns to Maggie. ( http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...6,1.755066&z=9 ) I don't plan to have anyone lead a ride through the actual "Dragon" itself, but the organized ride will take you to the store and motel at the bottom and then meet on the other side after a designated amount of time so everyone can run at their own pace and some may want to go up and down a couple times. The ride will then continue back to towards Maggie Valley as a group.
The other organized ride Tuesday will be to Mt. Mitchell State Park (Highest peak east of the Mississippi) along about 100 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway with smooth pavement, no stopsigns or intersections and tons of overlooks and views of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. ( http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...,0.877533&z=10 ) Each is around 200 round trip miles give or take. I plan to have fuel and lunch/break stops built in but just have not ID'd those yet.
No organized dinner but let's plan to gather by the TikiBar for the evening after everyone grabs some dinner.

Wednesday, there will be no organized rides. Everyone is welcomed to go explore on their own, rest up, or do whatever they want. I will be getting area info out ASAP about shopping, tourist spots, etc. I would recommend the Great Smoky Moutain Railway if you like old steam powered trains. There is also whitewater rafting, lots of sites, and of course, lots of nice roads.
Kawasaki Corp will have their demo trailer available for rides and demos set up in the parking lot at the Maggie Valley Inn and Conf Center on Wednesday. We are also planning to do a swap meet on Wednesday. More details to follow on that, but if you have some things to bring, start collecting them...plenty of Nomad and Motorcycle customers will be available.
No organized dinner but again, there is the TikiBar and the hotel grounds for us all the mingle after grabbing some dinner on your own or with a group.

Thursday, we will have two organized ride options again. I plan to have the ride to Deal's Gap (see map link above for Deals) again because that seems to be the most poplular so we will have 2 options to choose from as far as days.
The other option will be what I call " The Waterfall Ride". It is through several areas where there are waterfalls to see (4-5 major ones) and some great motorcycle roads. We will use a small part of the Blue Ridge Parkway again also just because it never looks the same twice and it is just such a great motorcycle road with no stop signs to get us separated. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...3&ie=UTF8&z=10
Thursday night we are planning a Finale' dinner. I have been advised that there are not many, if any places in Maggie Valley that can handle our sized group. We may do it at the hotel, or I may be successful in finding an offsite place. More details on that as I find out more about what is available. But, for those that went to the National in Custer....we will use this for announcements, prizes, door prizes (everyone try to bring something as a give-away..there will be more on that coming also ASAP) and just a final chance for everyone to get together one last time.

Friday morning is for your departure if you wish. Of course, if anyone wants to stay a while, we will be glad to have you in NC...just leave those "Northern" ways somewhere else...and learn to eat grits for breakfast ;)

Everyone is free to participate in as much, or as little of the organized activities as they want.

I hope you all are as excited about this as I am. Stay tuned..........

Nice update Todd. I'm thinking we can collect the money for the opening cookout at check-in. I'll be glad to hand the money to you to keep up with after I check folks off the list. That way, if any is lost.......

I'm working on shirts. Still waiting to hear back on a definite design and price from one and am working on another myself as a backup. I hope to post something real soon!

I'm ready for June to be here!!

[1600bluekaw]

Nice work Todd, I know how much work it is organizing events & rides for groups as I do it for our small group of 10 that ride weekly. To do it for a group as large as KawNOW is even more difficult. We cannot wait till June to get here, looking forward to meeting fellow Nomad owners & matching faces with posted pics of bikes and post on forum. KUDOS to you & all that are on this commitee.

[ringadingh]

It sounds like Todd and Amy have been busy, I wouldn't be surprised if there is even more than 70-80 bikes show up.
I think we had 28 show up at last years N/E rally and that was a good turnout. I can't imagine what triple that amount will be like.
I too am looking forward to it. See you all there!

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Ringadingh

It sounds like Todd and Amy have been busy, I wouldn't be surprised if there is even more than 70-80 bikes show up.
I think we had 28 show up at last years N/E rally and that was a good turnout. I can't imagine what triple that amount will be like.
I too am looking forward to it. See you all there!

I think you are right...with the PMs I have gotten since posting this, it seems like we might be looking more towards 90 :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[coacha]

Originally Posted by todd (Nomadis Custodis)

If you stayed around me for a couple of weeks you would know how funny that is......I am generally a seat-of-the-pants guy amd take things as they come.......but on projects and trips I have to have things in place.....Just ask the folks that rode with me to Custer in 09 LOL.....I drove them crazy with routes and schedules :-[ :-[ :-[

kawhead, kawgirl, and coacha..........shuuuuuuush!!

<Raisning hand in witness> This dude is some kinda control freak on rides, lol. Seriously, he does a nice job except for the fact his GPS was a lying witch.

[bogatyrs]

Todd,

I looked at the route maps and they all look so interesting I want to do them all - now to clone myself ;)

Do you plan to put out a "survey" to see how many want to go on what ride/what day prior to the Rally?

I know I can't wait; and with the potential of 70 - 90 bikes that is really awesome.

Thanks for all the hard work you guys are putting into this project.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Bogie

Todd,

I looked at the route maps and they all look so interesting I want to do them all - now to clone myself ;)

Do you plan to put out a "survey" to see how many want to go on what ride/what day prior to the Rally?

I know I can't wait; and with the potential of 70 - 90 bikes that is really awesome.

Thanks for all the hard work you guys are putting into this project.

Yes, we will be trying to get an idea of how many want to ride where.

I have been really struggling with what rides to offer as a group ride...there are just so many in that area....I had to narrow it down to just 4 I thought...then with everyone wanting to do the Dragon...I thought we had better offer it both days...so that left us with 3. The 2 major attractions for those out of this area are the Blue Ridge Parkway (EVERYONE HAS TO RIDE THAT AT SOME POINT IF YOU HAVENT) and of course the famous Tail of the Dragon.....Selfishly I chose the waterfall ride as the third because it is one of my, and my wifes, favorites.....The girls seem to like the waterfalls ;) ;) (tryin' to help you out here guys )

I like the BRP for the BIG group just because there is no commercial traffic, big intersections, stop signs......its just straight riding with rest stops with not much opportunity to get a big group split up.

What I do hope to do is get some other routes together and post them so that folks can take a short ride on Wednesday if they choose to...or even Monday, Friday, or the weekends surrounding the rally.

[carolinakid1]

I appreciate all of the hard work that goes into planning an event like this. Thank you.

[rickyboy]

Oh Man!!! You did a great job! on the itinerary, and an even better job getting me excited about the National in general. I am totally stoked for this rally. It's going to be a long ride for me to get there and back but worth it. I'm looking forward to a reasonably leisurely ride from here on the west coast almost as much as I am getting/being there. I remember the feeling of riding up to the Hotel in Custer and being greeted by you and Amy and others. It was great!!

I predict we'll see 100 bikes show up. What did we have in Custer? 50 something? Can you imagine 30 or 40 more.?

I have heard/read a little about riding "the Dragon" and apparently how dangerous it is with the number of bikes making the ride and seeing how fast they can do it. That, and then the sport cars that have a tendency to give little regard to the motorcyclists. How much of this is true or worth worrying about?

It sounds like the Tiki Bar might be the place to pitch a small tent if you can't get a room close by. Lots going on there by the sounds of things. Having a central gathering place is something that was missing at Custer. We were all spread out at either the hotel or in other places that the members stayed. Once you start to "party" it's not a good idea to start moving around. But having a place to sit around and socialize is going to be great.

Thanks to both you and Amy, for all the hard work and effort you've put in so far. I sure appreciate it, as I know the others here do.

BTW ...what's the weather usually like there in mid June?

[b1rider]

Sounds like a great week! Thanks for all the hard work.

[nomadtom69]

Could have extra bed I booked a double looks like wife will not make it Asked brother in law to go do not know about him yet he rides a vulcan classic

[bogatyrs]

It sure is great to see all the energy you and Amy have generated around the Rally. A 100 bikes - what a blast that would be.

[Jared]

Oh man!!! This looks great! I sure hope I can make it!! I recently lost my job and a lot of things could change between now and then.

[Top Cat]

Todd, I have the same question Rick asked;
I have heard/read a little about riding "the Dragon" and apparently how dangerous it is with the number of bikes making the ride and seeing how fast they can do it. That, and then the sport cars that have a tendency to give little regard to the motorcyclists. How much of this is true or worth worrying about?
This is one reason I am thinking I will not be riding the Dragon. Some other idiot can kill me.

[kawgirl]

The Dragon can be dangerous as any road can be. During the week seems to be a better time for riding the Dragon. It gets packed on the weekends and makes it that much more challenging. My opinion is, if you ride your ride, you should be okay. Keep your eyes on the road and keep your focus on what you are doing. Don't try to keep up with someone else if you're not comfortable doing so. Take your time with it and you will be fine.