International VX Meet - Feeler Guage

[nocturnalVX]

I am not suggesting Illinois as a meeting place. I was just saying that living here lends itself to fairly easy road trips (except to the PNW). Like Harness said (also in a joking manner), it's nice to be located near the middle of this big country sometimes.

Cece says... "No it's not. Well unless it's Texas." Anyone out there not aware she's not fond of Chicago?

[nfpgasmask]

Cece says... "No it's not. Well unless it's Texas." Anyone out there not aware she's not fond of Chicago?

Can you blame the girl? It's not like she came from a place WORSE than Chiacgo!

Bart

[VXIRONwoMAN]

Can you blame the girl? It's not like she came from a place WORSE than Chiacgo!

Bart

Winter where I am from...



Winter where I am...



Why am I here again???

Don't mean to thread highjack... they started it!

But count me in for the meet. Depending on the time of year and it's location of course...

[vt_maverick]

You can look at the high mileage argument in two ways though. If we look at this as a one-time "try-to-get-as-many-people-as-possible-together" event, there's no better time to do it than ASAP because of the increasingly higher mileage on our VX's.

Otherwise, I agree that the regional set-up is the way to go, though I would argue that we're already doing that, albeit informally.

[Moncha]

I understand the regional idea and we have been doing that for years as vt_maverick pointed out. The bad point from my perspective is that very few eastcoasters get to meet westcoasters and even if the eastcoasters go to a midwest meet they will still not meet the westcoasters and vice versa. I wasn't trying to make this into an annual thing but more of a one time, say "10 year celebration of the VX" albeit not exactly. there's no harm in seeing if it could, would or should be possible. I'm the first to say I don't want to put any miles on my VX (we just went over 36k this last trip) but for a maybe one time event, if I had to I'd get it there.

[PittVXr]

I like the idea of a big national meet. Maybe not a yearly thing but every 5 or so??? No matter where it would be held, I can't wait to see the looks on all of the local's faces when a fleet of VehiCROSS invade their town!

[Kenny]

Scott, please change that heading to INTERNATIONAL MEET.

I'll drive ANY distance, the road trip is half the fun.

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

I like the idea of a big national meet. Maybe not a yearly thing but every 5 or so??? No matter where it would be held, I can't wait to see the looks on all of the local's faces when a fleet of VehiCROSS invade their town!

and this is why I nominate Mars, PA... "Mission 2 Mars!"

[Gussie2000]

I understand the regional idea and we have been doing that for years as vt_maverick pointed out. The bad point from my perspective is that very few eastcoasters get to meet westcoasters and even if the eastcoasters go to a midwest meet they will still not meet the westcoasters and vice versa. I wasn't trying to make this into an annual thing but more of a one time, say "10 year celebration of the VX" albeit not exactly. there's no harm in seeing if it could, would or should be possible. I'm the first to say I don't want to put any miles on my VX (we just went over 36k this last trip) but for a maybe one time event, if I had to I'd get it there.

Hi guys !
I must agree on a 100 % that a meet of this magnitude do worth a couple of 2K on the odo,none of us like the idea of adding mileage on the VX including my self,but for an event like this we all can put the mileage issue behind us & do as i always say: let's just get out there.
The ride don't have to be bored & lonely,you can catch up with other VX'ers along the way and support each other in the event of an mechanical breakdown,etc

[nfpgasmask]

I understand the regional idea and we have been doing that for years as vt_maverick pointed out. The bad point from my perspective is that very few eastcoasters get to meet westcoasters and even if the eastcoasters go to a midwest meet they will still not meet the westcoasters and vice versa. I wasn't trying to make this into an annual thing but more of a one time, say "10 year celebration of the VX" albeit not exactly. there's no harm in seeing if it could, would or should be possible. I'm the first to say I don't want to put any miles on my VX (we just went over 36k this last trip) but for a maybe one time event, if I had to I'd get it there.

Good points, Scott. I think a global meet every 4 or 5 years would be awesome. If we do go this route, I think it would be best with an 18 month warning. I know I'm speaking for myself here, but my vacation time is shot for the year already. So for a situation like this to work well for everyone, I think scheduling it far in advance would increase the odds. I would hate to find out about something like this with only a few months to plan for it.

And back to the regional idea, true, we already kinda do this informally. But I think it would be cool to have some sort of "Moab like" meets annually in a few different areas around the country. I think meeting only once a year kinda sucks. It would be awesome if we could have some larger get-togethers 2 or 3 or 4 times a year.

Bart

[LittleBeast]

In the track and field world we have these types of meetings at the Olympic training center over breaks that most people already have off. Or after the competitive season is over in Cancun

What about the days between Christmas and New Years? Like Dec 31(thurs) 2009 -Jan 3(sun) 2010, or Dec 30(thurs) 2010 - Jan 2(sunday) 2011? I would say near a large city as well so we have lots of options as far as entertainment possibilities/events

[taylorRichie]

but...

I don't think I could drive my VX across country... I'm lucky moab is so close cause I don't think I'd make it there if it was 10+ hours away...

It's funny 'cause I'd probably fly out to a VX meet... but then it'd kind of defeat the purpose I almost drove my motorcycle down to Moab during the VX run, just so I could say hi... then I realized that would be kind of weird too.

[don moore]

I think a GREAT MEET would be great..we could have our own show and shine.....summer time is the best.

[workmeistr]

I'm definitely in. The longer the lead time the better.

Maintenance begets trouble-free mileage.
I drove the VX across country and half way back this last Winter/Spring.
Any vehicle driven will have issues. There's no real fear of stranded motorist with cell phone technology.
'Just drive and live.
I put money away in a 'oh crap' fund, monthly like I'm paying a small car payment. This is better than a fraudulent extended car warranty, IMHO.

If we get the map right, the farther drivers will be passing by the closer drivers, and mini link-ups could be made for convoying and expedient minor maintenance.

Land Rover club members used to have such a map that I used to my benefit once, as I broke down in my '72 88" Short Wheel Base driving from Georgia to Kansas. I broke an exhaust manifold stud outside of Kansas City and I called a member on the map, there. I had printed out members that were enroute on my trip. I performed a make-shift repair in their garage and spent the day chatting and eating.

Though, such a map would only be useful if members here weren't somewhat inhibited to post their phone numbers in their profiles, signatures, or for a future interactive VX member map. 'Just an observation.

Moncha, you're on to something, here. One other suggestion is to have maintenance/mod sessions. Maybe not a window-fixing party, per say, but if one member had the knowledge and parts and wants to display a repair/mod, he/she produces a how-to paper and demonstrates the repair/mod on his vehicle or someone elses. This would also boost up the unrealized potential of the VX.info how-to section, get members who are maybe nervous about doing certain maintenance (oil/diff fluid change, transmission service/flush), or mod (like me and the rear door popper), and further be a good activity for those who don't wish to offroad.

OK, that's enough from me...

[Moncha]

So far, so good. We beat the idea around a few years ago and it came to a dead stop. No interest at all. Now that we have evolved into such a tight knit group the tides seemed to have changed.

Future steps towards planning will be time, location, events/activities, sponsors/advertising, etc..

This will be a long planning process so once a time frame gets firmed up, it would still be at least 18 months out. The biggest point of this post was to get the cogs a cranking and the juices flowing.

Kenny, you got it 'eh. It's now an international event. Actually, I'd love to see folks from all corners of the earth show up.

Thanks for the responses so far!