Rally Wrapup.

[waterman]

Well, it has been over a month since the National Rally at Estes Park. I believe fun was had by all (except Rod and I) as there was great weather and fabulous roads to be had by all. The only person to be heard complaining was BD but hangovers will do that to you. Total attendance was approximately 70 people with many makes and models of Vulcan’s as well as many other brands of motorcycles. We almost had the four corners of the United States covered with people from California, Florida, Washington and New York as the furthest most from the corners.

The banquet was an enjoyable time with a special guest appearance of Dr. Gregory Frazier (http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier/) who gave a great impromptu speech on his experiences. Time was well spent on the event.

I would like to give a few thank you out to some people who helped with the event. To Rod (Pronghorn) who helped with the rides as well as registration and supplied everyone in a lifetime supply of chap stick and sun screen. To Teri Conrad who helped with some fabulous prizes and getting Dr. Frazier up to the event. To Brian Gibson from ROK for supplying an abundance of prizes for the raffle and support for the rally. I would also like to thank one of ROK’s newest vendors, Big Ear (www.bigearinc.com) who was on site fitting people with custom ear plugs at a great discount.

To those of you who attended I give a big thank you for your attendance. It was a joy to talk with everyone and build some new friendships. A really big thank you goes out to the crew who left earlier than planned but paid for their banquet meal as they had planned to attend. There were a number that left early or didn’t even reply back that they weren’t attending the rally. Without your payment I would have really been up the creek without a paddle.

To those who left early or didn’t have the courtesy to reply that they were not planning on attending I will give you the other end of the thank you. Planning and putting on an event of this size with the banquet is a major task along with a full time job +. When realizing that many people were not attending for a variety of reasons and may have left notice in a thread (not the national thread), here is a tip for you in the future. Contact the event coordinator!!! It is not the person’s job to search the forum for everyone’s commitment to the rally on whether they are attending or not. They have to make a financial commitment as to your meal for the banquet. You made the commitment by contacting the event coordinator by email or PM you surely could have done the same for when you weren’t planning on attending. Because of this, changes need to happen in the future regarding a registration for these events or people such as I will no longer be thrilled about helping with events in this magnitude for members.

[Kawhead]

I know I speak for everybody when I say, "Thanks to the ones behind the scenes who volunteer time to coordinate these rallies". I witnessed a small portion of the things Todd and Amy did here in NC and it drove me ccccrazy. If it's ever up to me, it's going to be 8 track tapes of Slim Whitman and Marty Robbins, sardines, soda crackers, pretzels, and Milwaukee's Best Lite! That's the capacity of me being host of entertainment.
I appreciate Teri inviting Dr.Frazier. By the way, I was a Sun Chaser when I was a kid as well, and the Doctor increased my medication because of it. My parents installed a fence in the front yard to keep me from running into traffic. BD still wears dark sun glasses as a result of irreversible cornea damage resulting from this abnormal hyperactive psychological disposition. Thanks Rod for leading me on the right roads. Brian, I thanked Teri in another thread for the shirt I won in the raffle. That was a nice prize and more than I expected. It has nice graphics and not over done. Just perfect!

Thanks everybody. Y'all did a fantastic job! I enjoyed the meeting everybody in the evenings, and unless I was picking up other peoples cup, mine never went dry.

[nomadtom69]

Thanks Joel for the great job you and others did I hope that things will change for the better at future Rallys either National or Regional and maybe people will understand what it takes to put one together. Had a great time even if I did have to trailer out and back . Thanks to Kawhead who made the trip a pleasure.

[Netnorske]

Tricia and I very much enjoyed our trip to Colorado to see many old friends from past rallies....and enjoyed putting new faces and handshakes to names we only knew from the forum, making new friends in the process.

As someone who has has a big hand in planning numerous VBA rallies in the past, I can attest to the challenges associated in such endeavours. Much of the planning revolves around head counts, be it for lunch stops or banquets. If you say you are coming to a rally but can't make it...just let the event coordinator know...no big deal. It's when you say you are coming, get added to the expected head count, then without any warning whatsoever...just never show up. That is very much NOT COOL.

Dinner banquets are most often based on a per head cost, so when those heads don't show up....or leave the event earlier than was maybe planned without paying for their banquet meals, someone else has to cover your costs. To his credit, Joel has not made a big deal about it on here, but I know he had some out of pocket expenses based on this very circumstance. If this rings a bell with you....I would suggest dropping Joel a PM and somehow make it right. You know who you are and I'll leave it at that.

Many rallies have pre-registration fees involved to prevent such things, but so far (and this might change), the VBA has been working pretty much on the honor system, so it's very important to be on the straight and narrow when including yourself or not in these events. The rallies are some of the best times you can have on your bike and making new friends is always a good thing. I'll bet I could ride across the country and back and never once have to stay a night in a hotel just based on the friendships I have made within the VBA alone. That's pretty powerful....but let's not take that for granted either.

Thanks Joel, Rod and everyone who helped to put together the event in Estes Park. Now we can all look forward to the 2014 rallies and I know the planning is already underway on the left coast!

[cactusjack]

Joel, many thanks to you, Rod and everyone else who helped to make the 2014 National Rally a good one. Organizing these events is often like herding cats. It's a thankless job and a lot of volunteer time and effort is invested before the first bike rolls up to the motel. I had a great time in Estes Park and would urge all members to attend these events whenever possible.

It is discourteous and inconsiderate to leave the organizer on the hook for banquet meals because someone left early or didn't show up at all. Sure, stuff happens but the decent thing to do is to let the organizers know what is going on. I'm not saying everyone who left early did this, but the no-shows did. If this means the process for reserving a spot at future rallies has to change, then so be it.

[blowndodge]

joel don't absorb this cost alone. PM me and Ill make right.

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by blowndodge

joel don't absorb this cost alone. PM me and Ill make right.

Ditto

[schoeney]

I say we round em up and make them wash & wax our bikes!

After paying Joel of course.

[dshelly]

Originally Posted by schoeney

I say we round em up and make them wash & wax our bikes!

After paying Joel of course.

I don't want em washing mine.

[usranger74]

Originally Posted by Top Cat

Ditto

Ditto the Ditto. I don't think you should be on the hook for one cent. I am more than willing to chip in and I mean it.

[Kawhead]

Originally Posted by dshelly

I don't want em washing mine.

They might not show up anyway.

[trosco]

There were a lot of people that pulled out in the weeks leading up to the rally. Unforeseen events can happen and ruin ones plans but,,, it is a shame that folks missed the Rally. It was in a fabulous area, and there were truly great folks there to meet. I thought (even though I did not stat at the hotel so I can't comment on the rooms themselves) that the hotel did a great job hosting us. I had coffee at a couple of the breakfasts and they looked good, I enjoyed the chips and dogs the hotel did to greet us and the closing night diner was very good.
Joel and his helpers are to be commended for setting this up and it ending up so well. I too would be glad to chip in a few dollars to make up for others lack of responsibility.

[waterman]

Thanks for the offers everyone. This won't put me in the desperate situation. The thing that bothers me the most is since we had a short (and I mean short) ride to the rally, both Krystal and I planned on giving some of the money that we would have spent on getting to a longer distance rally to the charity that we had picked. It was a good one and one that everyone either has issues with, has a family member with it or definately knows someone with diabetes. That money didn't go where we had planned on it. So in reality I'm not out anymore than we planned to spend. It's just where it went that irks me.

For all those that have said they would anty up, pick a good charity and send that to them. That will make me feel just as good and probably better than if you send it to me. I'd probably just waste it on a good bottle of whiskey. It's not your responsibility to pick up for someone else and the offer put a warm fuzzy feeling (shut up Brad) in my heart. Plenty of you are friends that I would do most anything for. Just ask Trosco.

[Dave]

My middle name's Charity

[Kawhead]

Originally Posted by waterman

Thanks for the offers everyone. This won't put me in the desperate situation. The thing that bothers me the most is since we had a short (and I mean short) ride to the rally, both Krystal and I planned on giving some of the money that we would have spent on getting to a longer distance rally to the charity that we had picked. It was a good one and one that everyone either has issues with, has a family member with it or definately knows someone with diabetes. That money didn't go where we had planned on it. So in reality I'm not out anymore than we planned to spend. It's just where it went that irks me.

For all those that have said they would anty up, pick a good charity and send that to them. That will make me feel just as good and probably better than if you send it to me. I'd probably just waste it on a good bottle of whiskey. It's not your responsibility to pick up for someone else and the offer put a warm fuzzy feeling (shut up Brad) in my heart. Plenty of you are friends that I would do most anything for. Just ask Trosco.

I wasn't aware when we purchased the ticket that the money was going to charity. Is there a local chapter in Estes to donate to or will national be just as well?

I thought you were referring to Trosco all along.

Originally Posted by Dave

My middle name's Charity

Sheddup Rabbit.