LightningFest Convoy Meeting Place Poll

[tliss]

Well, from what I can tell there are really only two venues in Denton where we can eat breakfast that will be able to handle the parking situation for a group the size of the convoy...Cracker Barrel (4008 I-35) and the Love's Truck Stop (8900 I-35). The IHOP we met at last year was overcrowded with the few of us that went last year, so I could only imagine what it would be like this year.

So vote up...Cracker Barrel or Love's....

Tom

[StormShadow]

McDonalds?

[tliss]

McDonalds?
There is a Rotten Ronnie's right next to the IHOP we went to last year. I think they have about 12 parking spots...definitely not enough to accommodate us. Not even really enough to accommodate the guys coming from other areas to meet us....

Just because we're meeting one place doesn't mean you have to eat there...

Tom

[98Cobra]

Cracker Barrel is fine, as long as we don't mind it taking forever.

Never eatin' at a Love's before, so that gets my vote.

[Silver_2000]

Cracker Barrel is fine, as long as we don't mind it taking forever.

Never eatin' at a Love's before, so that gets my vote.
Loves is a truck stop ..

We need to adjust our expectations this year - IF toms estimate is correct and we end up being a group of 40 or more EVERYTHING WILL TAKE A LONG TIME

Think about how long it will take to gas up 40 trucks....

[tliss]

Loves is a truck stop ..

We need to adjust our expectations this year - IF toms estimate is correct and we end up being a group of 40 or more EVERYTHING WILL TAKE A LONG TIME

Think about how long it will take to gas up 40 trucks....
That is is. Greasy truck stop food can't be all that bad, right?

Gas stops and tollbooths will be time-consuming for sure. Things will be a little different this year, that's for sure.

Tom

[98Cobra]

True, but I will believe 40 trucks when I see it too. :D Go ahead, call me a pessimist.


BTW, I was bashing on Cracker Barrel just because they have the ability to serve only 6-8 people SLOWLY. I can only imagine a party of 40. They'd like, die, or something.

[03LightningRocks]

Doug is right about everything taking longer. It won't matter which place we eat at. When we hit the place 40 strong, the waitresses will go into, "OH SH!T", mode.

The gas stop issue should really get interesting. This is gonna be fun:d .



Rocks:nana2

[tliss]

The whole idea of selecting a place ahead of time is to give them some notice of the number of people coming. I'm not going to have them set up a table for everyone...you should grab a spot to sit based on when you get there and eat when you're ready. If you don't want to eat at the meeting place, go ahead and eat somewhere that suits your needs. Basically I want to give everyone the opportunity to grab a bite to eat near a central meeting spot. Bottom line is there will be a time posted that we will leave said meeting spot...no sooner, no later. I figure that and the actual place will be of most interest to people. What happens prior to that time is your choice.

Tom

[03LightningRocks]

The whole idea of selecting a place ahead of time is to give them some notice of the number of people coming. I'm not going to have them set up a table for everyone...you should grab a spot to sit based on when you get there and eat when you're ready. If you don't want to eat at the meeting place, go ahead and eat somewhere that suits your needs. Basically I want to give everyone the opportunity to grab a bite to eat near a central meeting spot. Bottom line is there will be a time posted that we will leave said meeting spot...no sooner, no later. I figure that and the actual place will be of most interest to people. What happens prior to that time is your choice.

Tom

LMAO:rll: :rll: :rll: .......Believe it or not, I was invisioning us all meeting up,(like at monthly meetings), and then all going in at once.

Thanks for the clarification........something tells me that I want to get to the food place about an hour before the leave time.



Rocks:beer:

[Crawford]

I dont know if I want to eat breakfast at a truck stop. Maybe I am being prejudice but I invision scary things at Loves. Anyone else ever had breakfast there? Is it safe? Will I be soiling myself before we get to OK? http://www.talonclub.com/forum/images/smilies/throw.gif

[tliss]

Are you guys going to make me make an executive decision on this? Vote for crying out loud. :mad: This is just the meeting place....eat breakfast whereever you want...just vote on the place to meet...

Tom

[Silver_2000]

We need to consider breaking the convoy up into smaller groups

Perhaps 15 trucks each

Doug

[03LightningRocks]

We need to consider breaking the convoy up into smaller groups

Perhaps 15 trucks each

Doug

If we do that....we won't be able to p!ss off the other travelers on the road:evil .


That may not be a bad idea Doug. I was thinking about what it would be like cruising 40 trucks, single file, down the highway. I have seen folks start road raging on truckers for cruising with 3 or 4 in a row.


Rocks

[David N]

Are you guys going to make me make an executive decision on this? Vote for crying out loud. :mad: This is just the meeting place....eat breakfast whereever you want...just vote on the place to meet...

Tom

Loves truck stop .... TOM you SET the time for the Groups departure from the truck stop.....:tu:

[Silver_2000]

If we do that....we won't be able to p!ss off the other travelers on the road:evil .


That may not be a bad idea Doug. I was thinking about what it would be like cruising 40 trucks, single file, down the highway. I have seen folks start road raging on truckers for cruising with 3 or 4 in a row.


Rocks
If we want to make a grand entrance then we just plan on all the little convoys meeting somewhere in topeka - BUT then we will have 40 people OVERWHELMING the gate tryingto pay and get in etc - it took a while last year with just 8 of us

[tliss]

I think where we messed up last year is we had a sense of everybody trying to stick together in the convoy...the reality of it is if we just drive normally, we'll be just another 40 or so trucks on the road. I know there are some guys that want to leave a little later, and that is totally your option, but I think if we keep it civilized we can get 40+ trucks in one convoy without causing too much chaos. We don't have to keep 40 trucks in one line the whole way there. I would still like to see as many trucks as we can get together for the trip. Hey, if Harley riders can do it for Sturgis we can do it for LightningFest.

So, my proposition...grab a bite to eat whereever you want the morning of the convoy and we'll set a place to meet and the time at which we are leaving. If you choose to leave later, that's your call, but if you choose to leave at the same time, more power to you. As long as we keep it spread out on the trip up I think we'll be fine.

If we want to make a grand entrance, I suggest we get settled in at the hotel and convoy the short distance from the there to the track for registration.

Sound like a plan?

Tom

[TP Derrick D]

Hey Tom, Is that the Loves right @ Denton race track?
Hope we( the planning committee) don't have to make a decision for the group on this one but since most of the guys wasn't with us last year they don't know what to expect. Maybe you should give a general headsup such as : Quarters for toll road ,lights on in convoy, bring 2-way radios, gas up before getting to meet-up location,expect 3 pitstops on the way.
What did I leave out? Come on you guys( & Laney )that went last year jump in here!!! :cool:

[tliss]

Hey Tom, Is that the Loves right @ Denton race track?
Hope we( the planning committee) don't have to make a decision for the group on this one but since most of the guys wasn't with us last year they don't know what to expect. Maybe you should give a general headsup such as : Quarters for toll road ,lights on in convoy, bring 2-way radios, gas up before getting to meet-up location,expect 3 pitstops on the way.
What did I leave out? Come on you guys( & Laney )that went last year jump in here!!! :cool:
That is the Loves'!

That's a good suggestion. I'll try to remember all of that and post up in the "Final arrangements" thread. We also can't forget no gas stops in Oklahoma...don't want that Okie gas :nono: .

Did we really stop three times last year?? I don't even remember.

Tom

[TP Derrick D]

That is the Loves'!

That's a good suggestion. I'll try to remember all of that and post up in the "Final arrangements" thread. We also can't forget no gas stops in Oklahoma...don't want that Okie gas :nono: .

Did we really stop three times last year?? I don't even remember.

Tom
well, I thought it was 3...2 for sure both was truck stop type places. 1st had the souvernir shop , 2nd had the burger joint and tourist info with the big silver spaceball looking tower, we lined them up and took pictures and 3rd(I thought) was the time we filled up and they were double stacked as we waited for all to finish. I may be getting then mixed up. :confused:

[jcblack]

Jeff, Steve, and I stopped Twice. That gas did suck in oklahoma

[tliss]

I am planning to close voting on this subject August 1, so vote now or stand there holding yer wangers! This will likely only be a meeting place, so you can eat breakfast whereever you please...we'll just meet up and leave from this location...

Tom

[dboat]

I am planning to close voting on this subject August 1, so vote now or stand there holding yer wangers! This will likely only be a meeting place, so you can eat breakfast whereever you please...we'll just meet up and leave from this location...

Tom

Tom, go ahead and close it.. some guys like holding their wangers... :evil

[my2002lightning]

Tom, et al.

I seem to remember 91 octane issues last year on the way through OK going to Topeka, too.

I made it a point to check 6-8 Mobil/Chevron/Shell/Texaco stations from Durant to Tulsa the past 3 days and only 1 had less than 93 octane gas and it was in BFE OK. on the Indian Nation Turnpike.

Don't know if it's EPA regs. for a major interstate versus Hwy. 69/75 or what, but reading this thread earlier made me wonder, see for myself and post up.

I want to go SO bad, but I've only worked 1 month this entire year. The sacrifices I make... This sleeping 'til 10am stuff is killing me. :cool: :D

Informatica interview in person tomorrow, though. knana We'll see.

Ronald



That is the Loves'!

That's a good suggestion. I'll try to remember all of that and post up in the "Final arrangements" thread. We also can't forget no gas stops in Oklahoma...don't want that Okie gas :nono: .

Did we really stop three times last year?? I don't even remember.

Tom

[03LightningRocks]

Ronald has somewhat of a point. As I have been cruising to different events, I have been real surprised to learn that finding 93 octane is not always possible.

As a matter of fact...it was happening enough that I pulled the chip out of my tow vehicle so I could run the 87 octane.

They almost always had at least 91 octane...which is not a problem for your stock tunes...or even a mild custom tune. So I guess if you end up having to go to 91 octane for one or two fill ups, you can either pull your chip for awhile or switch to your "bad gas" tune...if you have one.

Side note...The new SCT programmers come in real handy for this....3 programs allows a bad gas tune along with a couple of hot tunes:D .


Point of all this rambling is.......only having 91 is not really that big of a problem.

One question here for Tom....It may be hard for you to get exact...but about how many miles do you figure everyone will cover between fill ups. My tow vehicle sucks gas down like it is free, so i am trying to figure out what to do to keep up with the convoy.


Thanks,

Rocks:beer:

[tliss]

One question here for Tom....It may be hard for you to get exact...but about how many miles do you figure everyone will cover between fill ups. My tow vehicle sucks gas down like it is free, so i am trying to figure out what to do to keep up with the convoy.


Thanks,

Rocks:beer:
We've got roughly 500 miles to cover, and I think we stopped twice last year. Second fill up was not a complete fill up...just enough to roll into town on about 1/4 of a tank. I'm guessing about 200-250 miles between fill ups? If I remember correctly, we stopped once in OK somewhere and once between Wichita and Topeka. We'll all be in constant communication all the way up, so if we need to coordinate a gas stop we will. We can decide if we want to pull the whle convoy out or just keep on trucking. Bottom line I think we'll set up a meeting spot outside of Topeka to bring the convoy back together before we roll into town. I guess we'll figrue this stuff out soon enough, but nothing is set in concrete.

Tom

[03LightningRocks]

We've got roughly 500 miles to cover, and I think we stopped twice last year. Second fill up was not a complete fill up...just enough to roll into town on about 1/4 of a tank. I'm guessing about 200-250 miles between fill ups? If I remember correctly, we stopped once in OK somewhere and once between Wichita and Topeka. We'll all be in constant communication all the way up, so if we need to coordinate a gas stop we will. We can decide if we want to pull the whle convoy out or just keep on trucking. Bottom line I think we'll set up a meeting spot outside of Topeka to bring the convoy back together before we roll into town. I guess we'll figrue this stuff out soon enough, but nothing is set in concrete.

Tom

I think the meet up place before we roll in is a cool idea...might help us not to worry to much if we fall behind.

My truck can go about 245 miles on a 30 gallon tank. So if we are stopping at the distances you say...I can probably keep up with everyone.knana




Thanks Tom,


Ron