Contest Starts NOW!

[Tom]

It would be nice to have it in a central location for everyone. Personally I think whoever came up with the Ft Collins idea last year was a great one.(Would it be too boringto have it in the same place annually?) The location was about as central for everyone that I can think of and PLENTY of motels,Campgrounds and dealing with the same folks would only make the process easier to organize. Now that being said if it EVER comes to the hill country in Texas I will be happy to assist in the organizition and we have a number of great Members here in the area that I am sure we could get a good committe together. Its a hard thing for those in Southern Florida,California,Oregon Washington State and Eastern and western Canada to make the events with the price of fuel as it is. For whatever location there must be alot of motels or campgrounds to accommodate a crowd as large as it was in FT Collins,CO. Tom

[BBRune]

Centralized within the US for location

Plenty of states / riding areas in close proximaty

Convention areas that are already used to dealing with biking events

[yotexun]

Arkansas is ... I think, the ideal state for the 09 Int Venture rally. Central to most all, beautiful roads and scenery, vast areas to explore and enjoy, and a low key state with reasonable accommodations and wonderful people.

[Switch]

I would suggest the Gulf Coast, Orange Beach, Alabama. Short excursions to Mobile for a tour of the battleship Alabama, and Mobile's beautiful old homes or even a trip to Pensacola and the interesting Naval Air Museum. All this in addition to the gulf itself and relaxing fellowship.

[cruiserfan]

I think we should have the rally here in Florida. Why?

1. It's Florida!

2. Beaches

3. It's Florida!

4. Theme parks

5. It's Florida!

6. A lot of lightly traveled, back roads. Some with lots of twisties.

7. Did I mention it's Florida?

8. Year round riding weather.

9. Finally, it's Florida!

 

[Tnventurer]

Chattanooga would be great! Its within an hours ride of any of the most beautiful riding Ive ever seen. Cherahala skyway , Blue ridge , Suck creek mtn , Look out mtn, Tennessee river ,Chicamauga lake ,and the most beautiful sunsets in the world!

[Guest Chili 4x4]

Group!!!.. Try SnowShoe Mountain West Virginia! .. This is a great location for a motorcycle rally. The weather is superb throughout the summer. With a top of the mountain elevation of 4840' the temps are perfect during the day for riding the winding west virgina roads. Plenty of civil war battlefields to visit... white water rafting is only a stones throw away... quaint mountain towns... Plus it's time that the mountain realized that H-D is not the only scooter in town!!!

 

http://www.snowshoemtn.com/index.htm

 

 

[E-Fishin-C]

Realistically ..

WE need members who are willing to give 110% to do it

Than we get Freebird to pick the winning State or Province out of the hat

[Condor]

CODY WY

[OB-1]

I suggest and nominate the Black Hills of SD & WY as the place for the next rally. The Black Hills in SD & WY is a beautiful place to ride, after all, 600,000+ riders visit the Black Hills every August. We have Mt. Rushmore, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, The Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road, Spearfish Canyon, Vanocker Canyon, Devil’s Tower, and more! This area is very biker friendly, and as long as we avoid the Sturgis Rally dates, traffic is light and there are plenty of places to stay. Plus, Bear Tooth Pass, Chief Joseph Parkway, and Yellowstone National Park are only six hours away and the ride over is gorgeous too!

Edited July 15, 2008 by OB-1

[kbert777]

Ok, here it goes...

Maybe I am under the wrong impression, but according to the motto of the original International Rally in Ft Collins the objective was East meets West meets Canada.

That's what made Colorado such a perfect location with a spectacular turn out.

 

My disappointment started with choosing Kitchener as the location for the second rally. Don't get me wrong, the Canadians were a great bunch to hang out in Colorado and the location just across the Canadian border is a great place for riding. Unfortunately the location effectively shut almost all of us West Coasteners out. You guys remember? We live close to the coast in the West...

 

I personally don't have any interest in visiting a rally in Arkansas or anything further East. Reason are obvious mileage and time, also after spending some work related time in the Southern parts of the US, I don't think it's my cup of tea for a vacation.

 

So my suggestion for the next rally point would be somewhere in the vicinity of the Continental divide, like Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico or even something a little bid further east with North Texas and Oklahoma. This would be in the driving range of a huge percentage of the member of this site and why it might exclude some of the Canadians I would assume that most Canadians are use to traveling longer distances due to the population distribution in their home country.

 

On a different note, we have discussed locations like Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and Southern Utah before, and I still have to deem them as unsuitable. Grand Canyon due to lodging and riding problems, Las Vegas due to heat and lack of interesting routes in close vicinity, excessive lodging coasts, Southern Utah due to lack of affordable lodging possibilities and general unfriendliness to riders in National Parks.

 

Sorry for the long post,

 

Klaus

[Mariner Fan]

My vote is for Colorado as well. Seems like we can get both sides of the good ol USA to ride there.

[RJD]

I would like to see it some place in the Dakotas or even in southern Idaho. That would fit into our plans for next years vacation. We are planning a trip from Ohio and ending on the West Coast.

 

Bob

[PBJ]

My choice is North Platte Kansas. North Platte is almosy exactly in the middle of the U.S. and its wihtin several hundred miles of the Black Hills. Its also located on the North platte river and it has several State and national parks in the area for camping. It would give members from the 4 corners of the country and Canada and Mexico relatively equal distances to travel.

[insdan]

I suggest Eureka Springs, AR. Middle of the country, great roads, motorcycle friendly city, resonable accomodations, great roads, near many attractions, great roads, good weather, great roads, bearutiful scenery, great roads, and did I say great roads?

 

Eureka Springs, AR.

 

Dan Moore

St Charles, MO:big-grin-emoticon:

[bobbyduck]

Some of the best scenery / riding on the planet, plenty of activities, not nearly so hot / humid as the lower midwest.

 

[friesman]

Well, seeing as we sort of catered to the NorthEast crowd this year, how about the SouthWest next year. Maybe northern Arizona like Flagstaff. There would be some really spectacular rides in that area. Another possibility would be southern Utah which would be in the northern Grand Canyon area but with Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park in the area rides would be a real treat!

 

I like this area also, its closer than the west coast for the Eastern people and its got some great scenery and unique stuff other than trees and lakes everywhere...lol

 

Brian:cool10:

[Tom]

CODY WY

 

ACTUALLY,not a bad idea..Yellowstone and many other great day rides..One thing to consider is the dates though as Yellowstone is a BIG problem during vacation..Bumper to Bumper traffic in the park

[Sleeperhawks Mechanic]

I would love to see the rally being held in Colorado again in 2009. It seems to be a location closest to the center for everyone with a lot of different things to see and do.

 

Even though Sleeperhawk and I did not make it last year, many of our members have said how much they enjoyed the area and the riding.

 

Second vote goes to Texas! Anywhere!!!!

[juggler]

All I have to say is that in South Eastern MN we have some of the best riding country in the country.

 

From the La Crescent, MN/La Crosse,WI area you have access to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois and all the roads along the Mississippi river. This area is know as Historic Bluff Country. There's the Great River road, Historic American byways with twisties, twisties and more twisties. There's great scenic views from the bluffs of the Mississippi river. We have many great historic river towns with wonderful food and sights. A little south in Iowa is the National Mississippi River Museum. Most of the river towns along the Mississippi are very biker friendly. Bikers run the river roads routinely and many businesses survive solely because of the extra business provided by bikers.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=la+crosse+mn&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=43.920401,-91.183777&spn=0.148873,0.281181&t=h&z=12&iwloc=addr

 

An overhead map of the terrain:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=la+crosse+mn&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&t=p&ll=43.715535,-91.18103&spn=2.263086,4.630737&z=8&iwloc=addr

 

Short riding distance from:

Wisconsin:

The Circus World (http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/) the original winter home of the The Ringling Bros Circus

The Frank Loyd Wright houses (http://www.wrightinwisconsin.org/)

The House of the Rock (http://www.thehouseontherock.com/)

Minnesota:

Historic Forestville (http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hf/)

Bluff Country (http://www.bluffcountry.com/trails.htm)

Historic river towns (http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/mn/mn_se.htm)

 

 

 

Also, the middle portion of the country has been passed over for the last two International VR Rallies. We are more centrally located so many people could attend. Neither half of the country would be left out. We are far enough north for the Canadians to come down and far enough South for the Southerners. The weather here is more mild than that of South Dakota.

Edited July 15, 2008 by juggler

[Gunner1945]

There is no better place, with no rain to mess up each day, than Northern California. The roads are world class and the weather is perfect. Camping, hotels are plenitful. Burney might be a place to invade.

[Condor]

I would like to see it some place in the Dakotas or even in southern Idaho. That would fit into our plans for next years vacation. We are planning a trip from Ohio and ending on the West Coast.

 

Bob

 

Some random thoughts. The problem we run into is the topographics of the US. Everything in the middle is flat as a pancake. They don't call it 'The Great Basin' for nothing. Great mountains East of it and great mountains west of it, but nada in the middle. If I wanna to ride on flatlands I'll get on a freeway... Heat is another factor. Anything in the southern US is going to be plain HOT that time of the year. I don't want to spend 10 days riding in an oven. So... the only places that make sense in July... to me at least... is north and middle..ish US..., or change the date to something earlier or later in the year?? Brownsville TX in the winter?? OR...what's wrong with going back to Ft Collins?? All the mechanics are in place, we had great hosts in the Moose Lodge, and we didn't even scratch the surface as far as riding goes. We wouldn't have to start from scratch to organize the thing...

[Condor]

ACTUALLY,not a bad idea..Yellowstone and many other great day rides..One thing to consider is the dates though as Yellowstone is a BIG problem during vacation..Bumper to Bumper traffic in the park

 

At 4 to 5 bucks a gallon, I bet traffic thins out....

[V7Goose]

I thought I'd post a couple of thoughts here just for general discussion. We will NEVER be able to satisfy everyone with any selection of location. Now that is not to say we should not try to satisfy as many as we can, within reason, but just understand that there is no answer that will please all.

 

For some of us, 2,000 or 3,000 miles is not a deterrent at all, and for others, even 500 miles is too far. If all we want is the most central location, then we should simply gather somewhere in Kansas every year. Won't be many people that attend, but it will be central. And of course there will be personal reasons that some of us will choose not to attend any particular location. For example, I personally will never go back to New Orleans again after the way their politicians and police raped their citizens during the disaster. But that is just my choice; it probably is not yours. Nothing wrong with that, but not a valid reason to rule a location out for all the other members. I personally think the rally should move around a fair amount every year to get it closer to different groups of members and provide a broad variety of experiences.

 

I think that it is good to hear reasons for and against the various suggestions - that way we can make the best informed decision. However, I think that distance and central location are the two weakest arguments against any option. Not that we shouldn't consider them, just that they shouldn't carry as much weight as things like good riding, accommodations options, and willing volunteers! Just my two cents...

Goose

[Guest Lyall Smith]

I gotta go along with TrainMaster. The Black Hills of S.D. is the perfect location. Mt. Rushmore, Chief Crazy Horse, the Devil's Tower, Custer State Park, and most awesome IRON MOUNTAIN ROAD are all nearby. And it's pretty centrally located.

 

There's a wide variety of lodging options and the area has good weather all summer and fall.