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Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:16 am
by stevec
We had some discussions at the meet in CO about where to hold the 2012 meet, and both Tom and I talked about Idaho. Another forum member, Dion, has also mentioned this area as a good place to hold a meet, so I think this is a go for 2012. (Note - supposedly the Mayan calendar doesn't end until December, so we should be fine! :wink: )

Silver City is a somewhat functional ghost town - the hotel reopened a few years back (it is only open in the summer), and there are a couple of other shops there. As with other meets, there are miles of trails around, including mountain climbs and an offroad route from Boise, through Silver City, all the way to Jordan Valley, Oregon. This is "high desert", different than the other meets we had, but the relatively high elevation (Silver City is at 6200', and trails go up to around 8000') means that even if it is 100*+ in Boise, our temps should only be in the mid 80's. I believe most of this area is BLM land, and dispersed camping is allowed. There are some lakes in the area as well that we can camp by if that is what people prefer, and there are hotels in the Boise area, as well as the one in Silver City, for those who don't want to "rough it".

I realize this is a bit farther west than the past few meets, and yes, I'm being a bit selfish in planning this one a little closer to me, but I'm "required" to take the wife to Italy next year, which doesn't leave much time for this trip (specifically, she doesn't get a whole lot of vacation time.) Also, hopefully we can get others out here in the west involved with the meets. This will probably be mid to late July, to ensure the trails are not blocked by snow.

Please post up here if you can attend, and also your preferred dates. This will likely be a weekend meet (i.e. Fri. - Sun. or Sat. - Mon.), as I'm hoping a few of the more local LJ's can make it out with just a couple of days off work. My preferred weekends are July 14-15th and July 21-22nd, with another day on either side, though at this point I am still flexible.

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:20 am
by stevec
As a side note, Moab is enroute for some of you coming from the east. :wink:

Also, depending on whether Linda comes or not, I may pop over to Yellowstone, or up to Glacier. If Linda cannot make it at all, I may just drive the LJ81 there.

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:49 pm
by Smuz
I'll be there. Dates are irreverent.

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:01 pm
by UBZ
I think you guys should ship your trucks over to New Zealand. :))):

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:41 pm
by stevec
I think that is a wonderful idea, though it may be cost prohibitive for most of us. NZ is on my list of places to visit - I wonder if I can just fly over and rent an LJ? 8)

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:55 pm
by Smuz
UBZ wrote:I think you guys should ship your trucks over to New Zealand. :))):
Uhhh... prolly not. Although I would love to visit NZ, it involves those pesky things called airplanes. I have nothing against airplanes, per se, but I hate being cramped in a seat for 14+ hrs and dealing with our wunnerful TSA. So... prolly not.

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:07 pm
by SuzukiTom
We were wondering about accommodations in Silver City. We didn't know that the Hotel was now open in the summer time, and nothing else was coming up in our searches.
Nancy says that the hotel is probably haunted because it is so old, and isn't sure she wants to stay there :ohno:

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:43 am
by stevec
Here's the link to the hotel:

http://www.historicsilvercityidaho.com/idahohotel/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm sure if you ask around, someone will tell you it is haunted, but I think that is true most places these days. There are pictures of the rooms - they look nice, and are reasonably priced ($75/night), but most rooms do not appear to have private bathrooms.

Other than that, there appears to be a hotel in Jordan Valley; and quite a few in the Boise-Nampa area, though the Boise hotels are farther away. Murphy appears to be the closest town to Silver City on the Idaho side, and is the county seat, but with a population of about 100, I doubt there is a hotel there.

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 6:01 pm
by woodchopper
I drove thru that area a few years back, should be fun, I hope to get at least 1 of suzukis running by then. :oops:

Its about 2 days of hard driving for me, 3 if my wife comes along.



Italy... we did that bask in 2003, we stayed montly around Venice, but Florence was beter, you can skip Milan that was not a very nice place.

We may be going to Scotland in the spring this year

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:01 am
by stevec
Scotland is one of my favorite places, maybe because my ancestors are from there. I spent some time studying in London during my college years, and we used to take the night bus up there on weekends. No classes on Fridays, so I'd gather some friends, take the Thursday night bus up there, usually arriving early Friday morning, so we'd have three days up there.

For Italy, everyone has told us Florence is better, so we'll spend some time there; probably just a day in Venice.

Hope to see you at the meet next year! :cool:

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:23 pm
by tweeder
I think Dad now wants to go to this meet instead of taking me fishing, up north.

You people annoy me... :pissed:

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:51 pm
by stevec
tweeder wrote:I think Dad now wants to go to this meet instead of taking me fishing, up north.

You people annoy me... :pissed:
Any chance of you stowing away? There's some great fishing in Idaho!

(If I do this one solo, I may plan a few days extra and do some fly fishing - what could be better than fresh caught trout cooked on the back of an LJ?)

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:15 pm
by tweeder
stevec wrote:Any chance of you stowing away?
Not for the two weeks he's talking about this trip taking; hitting Moab, again, and all that. Already got one week vacation in January, so I can only do one more week. Dad, on the other hand, being the bossman and close enough to retiring not to care about how much vacation he's allotted....

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:04 pm
by Myers
Count us as 2 and one LJ.
Need dates ASAP for getting reservations.
Like the Moab idea.


Silver City, SD >Silverton, CO >Silver City, ID? How about Goldsomething for 2013.
Myers

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:36 pm
by Myers
UBZ wrote:I think you guys should ship your trucks over to New Zealand. :))):

Would love to go to New Zealand but even if possible would probably have a hard time gettng past Bora Bora. I do have my 20 ft. pontoon boat with 90 H.P. two stroke. Maybe Smuz and I could wrap two LJs in that plastic wrap stuff, tow them behind the pontoon rig, and leave the flying to his Alice and my Bride. Would take a day so to get to Bora Bora with a few months layover there before meeting up with the ladies we married in New Zealand.
Myers

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:40 am
by stevec
Myers wrote:Silver City, SD >Silverton, CO >Silver City, ID? How about Goldsomething for 2013.
Myers
Because LJ owners are cheap - have you seen the price of gold lately? :shock:

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:59 am
by russmehl
You would need to have one of these:
http://www.blackcatmining.com/mining-equipment/kit.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:56 pm
by SuzukiTom
Myers wrote:
UBZ wrote:I think you guys should ship your trucks over to New Zealand. :))):

Would love to go to New Zealand but even if possible would probably have a hard time gettng past Bora Bora. I do have my 20 ft. pontoon boat with 90 H.P. two stroke. Maybe Smuz and I could wrap two LJs in that plastic wrap stuff, tow them behind the pontoon rig, and leave the flying to his Alice and my Bride. Would take a day so to get to Bora Bora with a few months layover there before meeting up with the ladies we married in New Zealand.
Myers
If you can almost make it to Florida from Cuba in a '51 Chevy Pickup, why not a LJ to New Zealand? :P
http://www.floatingcubans.com/

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:25 am
by Myers
Great idea Tom but no matter how well you had the LJs bundled up, the same U.S. government that shot the 5 window chevy out from under those smarter would shoot a couple of LJs without blinking an eye while letting those that bundled up the home mortgages to just keep floating on. No I am not just dis-grunting our government, would really like to go to Bora Bora.

Myers

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 11:27 am
by stevec
It's been awhile since anything has been posted here, but we never nailed down dates. How about the weekend of July 21-22? Still not 100% sure we'll do Italy, but if we do, it'll be as soon as school gets out (late June). That weekend should give us enough time (at least a week and a half) to get back from Italy, unpack our suitcases, and get the camper packed up.

Next question: How long would people plan on staying? We planned for five days in CO this past summer, but most wanted to leave Friday morning, which effectively made it a 4-day meet. It should be warmer and drier in Idaho, if that helps. We can plan on a three or four day meet (i.e. Saturday through either Monday or Tuesday); I'm okay either way. We'll probably take the week if July 23-27 off, and tour Oregon a bit (i.e. Bend area, Crater Lake, maybe Lava Beds NM in CA.)

Who will be camping, and who will be staying in hotels/cabins? We are planning to camp, but I need to see how easy it would be to drive a truck/trailer to Silver City. I think it would be fun to stay in Silver City itself, but if the road in to Silver City isn't RV-friendly, we'll need to look at camping closer to Boise, or near Jordan Valley. I'm interested in hearing others' opinions on this.

Larry, I've looked a bit at places with "gold" in the name for the 2013 meet, but haven't come up with much yet. I'm open to suggestions if you have any. :P

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:56 pm
by SuzukiTom
stevec wrote:Larry, I've looked a bit at places with "gold" in the name for the 2013 meet, but haven't come up with much yet. I'm open to suggestions if you have any. :P
Goldfield, Nevada. might be too much of a drive for our midwestern folk, though.

Tom

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:14 pm
by Pidder
Sounds like fun. On the off chance I can make it, would it be alright to bring my diesel sammi that I had on the whipsaw run, or is it an lj only event. In which case I would have my work cut out for me to get my lj81 up and running. Norm

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:31 pm
by tweeder
SuzukiTom wrote:Goldfield, Nevada.

Tom
It'll be a LONG time before I wanna see that town, again! That drive SUCKED! :realshocked:

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 9:50 pm
by SuzukiTom
tweeder wrote:
SuzukiTom wrote:Goldfield, Nevada.

Tom
It'll be a LONG time before I wanna see that town, again! That drive SUCKED! :realshocked:
Really? What was so bad about it?
Anyway, there are 17 other Nevada towns with the word "gold" in their name to choose from.

Re: Date, Location

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:56 pm
by tweeder
'bout 1700 miles to get to that point and that was, by far, the most desolate highway I've ever been on. Had to REALLY uncork the engine and run an average of 80 up through there to make it up to Reno on schedule. Not something I particularly wanted to do with the diesel, and certainly not as heavy as I was rolling. But I'd lost almost a full day in central Oklahoma with a blown radiator and that was the only place to make it up.

I think it was Steve that talks about an ordeal... :wink: I mean, it is what it is, but that was a LONG, hard drive.