Midwest caravan
 

There will be a Midwest caravan to DGRRX leaving central Illinois on Thurs AM. I will leave Springfield fairly early, head east to Champaign to pick up MAX777, then on to Indy. From there we could go south through Louisville, or southeast through Cincy. I want to leave early enough to arrive at Nantahala before dark. This routing is all Interstate until we hit Knoxville, but from there we will be forced, forced mind you, to drive the Dragon to get to Nantahala. Hate when that happens. Iowa and Chicago folks could meet us at Champaign or Indy. Planning on using FRS radios to communicate car-to-car.

I think a few Ohio members will be traveling through Cincy down 75. Also, I am not sure, but Canadian members I think will be driving down 75 too. Somewhere in Cincy might be a really good place for the midwest caravan to meet up.

I need to find out when people will be passing through cincy i'm here and going and would love to meet up with a large group!

Update
 

OK, so it looks like we will go through Cincy. Currently planning to meet up at the Kentucky rest area on southbound I-75 just south of Cincy around 1 PM Eastern time on Thurs. If anyone has other suggestions, let's hear 'em!

I contacted some people from Chicago to go with us, I am not 100% sure how many people will go, but I'm trying to get as many as possible. Some of the guys seem interested, but no word if they registered or booked rooms yet.

Another thing I want to consider, is booking rooms together since we're all riding down there in a group, this would simplify things a lot.

I've already booked my cabin, so I won't be getting in on the room part of the deal, but you guys knock yourselves out.

I'd be down for meeting up just south of Cinci at the Florence exit or rest stop shortly after, around 1..I'll have a turbo G35 and an R32 GTR in tow.

-J

Alright, so I am officially registered and found a place to stay since NV is booked, but I am not leaving until Friday morning. Anyone else leaving on Friday?

I'm heading out on Thursday morning, so long as everything is in order, if I have last minutes, I'll head out on Friday morning.

thursady sounds good. I'm not sure where the hell I'll stay now that you brought it up... didn't make a reservation in time, so I'll have to pitch a tent or somethin. :D

I'm planning on making the trip from Cedar Rapids, IA along with another member on here. When it gets closer we'll try to plan our departure so we can meet up somewhere, trade cel phone numbers, etc... I also havn't booked a room or anything, are the cabins all booked too?

All the rooms and cabins are booked at Nantahala. There is a Microtel nearby that others have mentioned on here that you might be able to get a room with.

Yeah, I still need to set up lodging too. Wouldn't mind having to drive a bit, if it means I get a very nice place to stay (the wife is a little spoiled). :)

Anybody have any first hand knowledge of the other lodging options down there?

Nantahala Village is pretty isolated so there are not a lot of options right around it. I would first call the Village to ensure everything is sold out. I registered late last year and although the Village was sold out, they have some cabins about 15 miles away that were very nice so we rented one of those. Check in on these first as they are uber wife friendly (great views, jacuzzi, etc.). The only drawback to these is the driveway in is pretty steep and not RX7 friendly. They claim otherwise but those of us that stayed there last year can attest to the fact they are not.

The next best place is probably something in Bryson City and I would go to expedia.com and do a search. To me Cherokee is too far but you could check there also.

If you have never been to the area and want the best, it is the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC. The wife will love it but it is one hour away which means for some long drives. It is also expensive but she'll love you for it:

http://www.groveparkinn.com/Leisure/

http://www.watershedcabins.com/

Watershed Cabins are the cabins that are located nearby. I have one cabin reserved for myself and my father. After we signed the rental contract we found out they claim minivans are not acceptable for the steep entrance. I kind of freaked out about it, but they said if a van is loaded down and when it starts to go up the hill, the front wheels slip. With RWD I think I will be OK, but hopefully I don't scrape my bumper up too much. I'll take it off if I have to I guess.

Those are not the ones I was thinking of, but they look really nice. Here are the ones I was referring to:

http://nvnc.com/lodging_list.php?strtype=LC

Well, with the north end of the Dragon closed by a rockslide, we may have to reroute the final leg of our caravan route, unless the rockslide is cleared before then. Since I don't want to repeat last year's nightmare of fighting through the Pigeon Forge rod run traffic., the only other alternative I see is I-75 SW from Knoxville to SR 68 to the Cherohala Skyway (SR143). Other suggeations? Hopefully, the Dragon gets cleared and this is a non-issue.

I'm coming from Columbus, OH. I'll be leaving Friday Morning.

I just registered today at The Cabins at Nantahala.
http://www.cabinsatnantahala.com/index.html

They have plenty of cabins available. They said i was the
first to call from the Rotary Group. They said they are only a
couple miles from Nantahala Village where most everyone else
is at.

OK, guys and gals, who's in on the caravan? Rendezvous points at Indy and Cincy on Thurs. If I don't hear commitments from folks east of the Ill. -Ind. line, Max777 and I may take a different route.

I thought I was going to have to cancel, but suddenly the planets have come into alignement and I'm back on schedule. :)

I will probably be leaving Wednesday night or Thursday very early morning (think 1 or 2 am). But if I pull off and sleep a while, I might be on schedule for a Cincinatti rendevous.

Bob, I'll PM you with my cell #....

Well guys, looks like life just loves baseball.... dont ask. :D

EDIT: I sent the money for my AFM yesterday, it should be here today, overnight shipping, ...if I dont get it I'm screwed.

Hey Bob, I know you hate the idea of going through Pigeon Ford, but I was looking at the map and there is a very twisty road (Highway 337) that could bring us out South of P.F. Is that the Smokey Mountain highway? Wondering if that would be an option for us, or is the traffic bad through there on a Thursday?

Well, I just got it...

I also just noticed that the blind cap was gone from my old one.... which means someone must have fucked with it. I'll go throw on the new one and see what happens.

Sorry to hear that man. I had to change out a ball joint this morning, pain in the arse...

yeah, ok, got the AFM in, works a lot better than the old one.

Got an alignment done as well btw, car no longer pulls to the side of the road, and the steering wheel is straight. I noticed a hell of a difference in how smoothly it "rolled" too.

Anyway, I'm gonna call hawk tonight and pack up my stuff, gotta wake up at 6:00am tomorrow.