I thought I would post the link to the sign up sheet for the Cincinnati Meet on a separate thread and hope more people sign up to come.

Come on Folks, support Laura's efforts and get signed up for that meet!

For those of you who are going, the tee-shirts are being done here in Amersfoort by the same company that did the tee shirts for the Amersfoort meet.

Do you happen to have a pic of what they are going to look like?

Encourage signups by sending copies of 3.0 to people who sign up

Ok, to encourage sign ups I will give you a list of some of the prizes and some possible prizes, I will mention later who donated what.

We have, a 80GB Travelstar drive, a black 303 fascia with black knob, Penguin mints (lots of them), greeting cards designed by Toby and for some possibilities, PCATS tuner, black sled and maybe, just maybe, an illuminated Mark2 . How is that for a list of prizes. I'll see what can be done about trophies also plus we will have tshirts this year.

I'm still working on the agenda for the meet but it will be similar to last year. Friday night will be pizzas and brownies. Saturday I hope will be spent at Brookville beach where we can have a picnic lunch and have the contest in the parking area there since it was pretty deserted last year, maybe boat rides again. Cookout on Saturday night and maybe a bonfire. Sunday after breakfast we will go on a treasure hunt will our GPS's. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas let me know.

Sounds rockin' Laura! You make me want to sign up right now (but I already have).

The beginning of the next week will also be spent at the Red River Gorge for anyone who is interested in rock climbing, hiking or camping. Details can be worked out at the meet itself, but if you would like to go let me know and I'll start tallying the roster. There are cabins available at the Red for those who would not like to sleep in a tent (but it is more fun in a tent anyway).

Friday night will be pizzas

Remind me I will need to bring an alternate dinner. I became lactose intolerant shortly after the meet last year, and won't be able to enjoy pizza again :-(

Also, made this thread sticky for a bit.

I'll make sure there is something you can eat. PM me with what you would like.

Also, made this thread sticky for a bit.

There seems to be something funky with the stickyness. If there's a new post in the forum, it also reports that there's a new thread.

That being said, I wish I could make it to the meet, but time and distance will get in the way.

Matthew

That happened to me in college. Quite suddenly. And I drank milk at least 2 meals a day my entire childhood. weird.

Mark, do you know how much camping is going to cost? I suppose it would cost me a bit more because I'd still have to buy a tent...

I have vacation time to burn, my only big question is whether I'll be in a crunch at work during the meet. Is there a list of people already signed up? I may be able to schedule this into a 1 week crazy-schedule Ohio trip. And fit in a day at Cedar Point when it's all over.

Drak, would you mind checking if I'm registered on Riocar? For the life of me I can't remember if I am, nor hat my password is if so. Duh.

Bruno

If you just want to camp at Hueston Woods I could let you borrow my tent (needs breaking in anyway) and I could check on the cost. Sharing a cabin wouldn't be all that expensive either depending on how many sleep in them.

Hi Bruno, the camping will cost anywhere from free, to $2 a night for tent camping, to $40-50 a night for a shared cabin, etc. I would prefer to hike out somewhere and camp for free, but a close second is camping at Miguel's, a climber hangout with good pizza and $2 per person camping fee. I guess it all depends on whoever is coming and what the group as a whole prefer.

Edit: I was thinking that you were talking about camping at the Red River Gorge on Monday-Tuesday-maybe Wed.

Looks like I won't be able to make it. I will be attending my cousin's wedding that weekend. D'oh. Looks like this is going to be an awesome meet too!

Tell them to get married some other time so you don't have to miss it. Or are cousins really that important?

Or are cousins really that important?

It depends. If you are from West Virginia...

Zing!

My wife was born in West Virginia. She points out she was conceived in Greensburg, PA.

Her passport, however, says West Virginia, USA. Ha ha.

(Actually, I like West Virginia)

I like West Virginia, too. There are lots of nice rocks to climb there and some nice whitewater to ride in some little boats.

And some nice trails to mountain bike!

-jk

For as much fun as I've made fun of West Virginia in the past, I have had fun every time I've visited. I've had fun skiing there, caving, climbing, etc. Its one of the few places left on the East coast that you can get away from it all and see all the stars in the Milky Way. Plus, it beats driving in PA!

Well, my old boss lives in West Virginia, so we were always naturally poking fun at him.

I can see the milky way from my front doorstep, and from just about anywhere in eastern Canada, except for Montreal and the Golden Horseshoe (Toronto area).

So there's still a few places left out east.

Cheers

You could have seen it in Switzerland, too, if you were not sleeping in the car...

cheers, Thomas

Plus, it beats driving in PA!

If you mean 68 is nicer than the PA Turnpike, I have to agree. The problem is staying on 70 (equals using the turnpike) ends up being more direct, and I just can't force myself to turn directly north from Morgantown... and there's no compelling option directly west.

I agree. 68 is much nicer than the turnpike. For some reason, there are these perpetual construction sites on the turnpike, yet nothing seems to ever be accomplished. It seems worth the extra distance (having to drive up 79) except for having to miss the Phantom fireworks off 70 just north of the PA/MD line.

I swear there are some potholes on some of the bridges in Pittsburgh that go right through to the river. But, I must admit, there are some nice places to eat and hang out in the strip district. It's a cool little area. Ever eat at the Harp and Fiddle?

I can see the milky way from my front doorstep, and from just about anywhere in eastern Canada

Good point. I perhaps should have defined the region I was referring to.

Excellent job on the docking station. I am very pleased with the work!

I swear there are some potholes on some of the bridges in Pittsburgh that go right through to the river.

It would be easier to count the local bridges over rivers that I haven't crossed recently, but the ones I have crossed have all been in acceptable to good shape. None had open holes in the decks, or anything I felt the need to swerve around, or hit hard enough to notice. The Trafford Viaduct, which I cross pretty much any time I go to or come from Pittsburgh, has some annoying recurring potholes, but none through the deck, and none deep enough to be more than an annoyance.

The state maintained roads around here are actually in as good or better shape than I can remember, the city-owned stuff is hit or miss, and the Allegheny County bridges, it depends when they were last reconstructed. The turnpike is a special case. If you pay attention to the mileposts of the projects, they're not reworking any sections, it's just taking them a long time on each section, and the sections aren't that big (10 miles or less per, on the 360 mile mainline). Unlike everything else, they have their own funds to play with.

ut, I must admit, there are some nice places to eat and hang out in the strip district. It's a cool little area. Ever eat at the Harp and Fiddle?

Not often, though I did have breakfast at Delucas in the strip this afternoon.

In the last 4 weeks I have crossed:
Monongahela River:
Fort Pitt (the only deck that's open)
Smithfield
Liberty
Birmingham
Hot Metal
Homestead High-Level
Rankin

Allegheny River:
Fort Duquesne (both decks)
6th
30th (to Washington's Landing)
31st
40th
62nd
Highland Park
Hulton
PA Turnpike Allegheny River

Ohio River:
West End
McKees Rocks
I-79 Ohio River
Sewickley
Monaca-East Rochester
Rochester-Monaca

Beaver River:
Bridge St Bridgewater-Rochester
PA51 Bridgewater-Rochester
Eastvale
New Brighton-Beaver Falls
PA Turnpike Beaver River

Bumping this thread up in hopes of getting more people to sign up!

Also I had a thought for next years meet, something I've always wanted to do but never had a group to do it with. How would people feel about renting a house boat next year on a lake somewhere? Or would you prefer the cabins?

Irrational paranoia about sinking would keep my empeg off the house boat, probably (maybe). But it sounds like a neat idea.

Irrational paranoia about sinking would keep my empeg off the house boat

As opposed to the rational paranoia about leaving it your car while you're out on the lake?

Hrmm.. sounds like a market for little Empeg-shaped lifejackets!

As opposed to the rational paranoia about leaving it your car while you're out on the lake?

That did occur to me.

Bump again. The meet is just a little over a month away and I am supposed to drop the cabins we don't need next week so I wanted to see if any more people are going to sign up.

Anyone else want to sign up for this meet? If not I will need to drop 2 of the cabins by the end of this week. I'll post the cabin assignments tomorrow and let people know how much they will owe.

Is anyone up to canoe rides? Does anyone know how to play corn hole?

A couple of ideas of things to do.

Does anyone know how to play corn hole?

I didn't know it was going to be THAT kind of meet.

I've been canoeing at a livery near Caeser's Creek, less than an hour's drive from where we'll be staying. I can look up the details if anyone is interested. I seem to remember having fun on that short stretch of river. It's too bad King's Island will be closed while we are there, maybe we can plan another meet around Cedar Point sometime. Other activities could include: frisbee golf (single club only), horseback riding?, a trip to Mendelson's in Dayton (the biggest electronics surplus store I have ever seen). My wife and I are looking forward to the meet!

I finally found where Mendelson's is by accident one day when I got lost around there But I didn't go in since I was on the clock.

I had another place in mind for the canoe rentals which would be closer, the Whitewater River, that I am working on.

Bump.

Any new news for the meet? Do we have a formal agenda or are things still open for discussion?

What is the cost going to be?

I'm still trying to get a final head count so I know who will be in what cabin. I canceled one cabin today and may need to cancel another. I will have more final plans up this weekend.

I guess this is as good a time as any:

Is there any interest in a Camping/Rock Climbing trip following the meet? I've taken Mon-Wed. off and plan to be at the Red River Gorge then. Who's with me?

Where are you commuting from for this meet, Mark? Are you based in the Cincinnati area?

-ml

I live in Reynoldsburg, OH which is a suburb of Columbus (75 minutes northeast of Cinci).

Okay, late as usual, but I'm in for the meet!

Cheers

Okay, late as usual, but I'm in for the meet!

Well, I guess this could be called the begining of a tradition :-)

Can't wait, should be a lot of fun. Enjoyed it quite a bit last year, and the general time away right now should be a good thing for me.

I saved you a room just in case

We are also going to have stickers to give away and Mach is also donating a couple of sets of his new lenses to raffle off. Many great prizes to be had

Laura, how many people are going to be at the meet? I am just curious to see who is coming, or at least how many people will be there.

Does anyone at the Meet want a dock? I could probably bring one or two with me if there's a market for them. Reduced price and no shipping..

Cheers

12 or 13 or so will be there. Better chance of winning some prizes for the rest of us

I know this will make me sound even older, but...

"Tell them what they can win, Johnny!"

Can you post the sign-up list?

Drakino Tom
rmitz Roman
Laura Laura
revlmwest Michael (not sure, hasn't confirmed)
cushman Mark
robricc Rob (+ 2 friends)
Russmeister Russell
dbrashear Derrick
mlord Mark

Maybe a couple more from around here but I'm not sure.

I'll post the list of contests and the prizes this weekend, I'm still working on it. Also some of the prizes will be drawn, kind of like door prizes, since not everyone will have an install to judge. That way everyone has a chance to win something. I think there are enough mints to go around for everyone and I'll see if any more t-shirts can be ordered after the meet for those that missed out on the first order.

Last year we had about double that number show up just for the day on Saturday as well!

Cheers

A question for Mark, Derrick, Russell and Roman. There are two cabins available (plus I need to stay in one of them), how do you want to split them up? All 4 guys in one and me in one or what? They are $159 a night so the price would depend on how many share one. The choice is up to you guys, so let me know soon.

I'm all in favour of last years arrangement..

Also note that we have (at least) two Mark's this year.

Here is the menu for the meet, I will do the shopping then split the cost between everyone.

Menu

Friday dinner - Rotini, pizza and brownies

Saturday breakfast – pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon

Saturday lunch - eat at the Lodge

Saturday dinner - hamburgers, Johnsonville Brats, potato salad, baked beans, potato chips, cole slaw

Sunday breakfast - breakfast buffet at the Lodge

Sunday lunch - go into Oxford and find a place

Hope this is ok with everyone, or send me some suggestions.

Don't care overly. I prefer to sleep in a bed. I don't think Roman is reading, so I pinged him out of band.

Last year I had a cabin all to myself. That's probably overkill.

I don't care. I defer to the lady's preference.

Ok then, Derrick, Roman and Russell will share a cabin and split the cost (there is a bed for each of you) and Mark and I will split the other one which will be considered HQ. Whew, cabin assignments are done

Wow, Mark, you're the lucky one...

cheers, Thomas

Aw, gee, you made me blush. Just so the rumor mill doesn't start again, Mark is married and was a complete gentleman last year and I have a special someone in my life.

Laura, i know that.
Mark told me only good things about you, when he stayed with me here in germany.

So folks, there is absolutely no reason for rumors of any kind !!!



He's the lucky guy, though...

cheers, Thomas

I think I'm just a bit late but that sounds good to me, Laura. You have to excuse me as I have been really busy and unable to check the forums lately.

Thanks for all you are doing, Laura!!

Hey Thomas!

How are those little pussies of yours making out these days?

Cheers

Just so the rumor mill doesn't start again,

Aww. We hadn't had any fun yet.

Mark and I were bad keeping it going last year, it was kind of fun.

<waves to Mark>

Not nearly bad enough..

[mark waves back to Laura]

Hi Mark,

they are fine. Two of them gone to a new family, the grey twins seem to stay with me, as i havn't found someone yet.

[Kittens waving to Mark]

btw, do you miss some clothing? They stole something from you, i think.

cheers, Thomas

Prize List is as follows:

Best Professional Sound - 303's Anoface (black with black knobs and buttons)
Best Amateur Install - PCATS tuner module
Best Sound - 80GB Hitachi Travelstar hard drive
Worst Looking Install - Silicon Valley Tarot Cards
Door Prizes
1. empeg MKll 6GB with illuminated red buttons and neon red Darkstorm lens
2. Black sled (from Rob)
3. 1 set of Mach lenses (that he donated)
4. 1 set of Mach lenses (that he donated)
5. - 9. a set of Prolux (Pangean) Greeting cards

Also there will be Penguin mints and empeg BBS stickers that Mach made for everyone

How's that for a list!

Also, like last year, everyone bring their own drinks. I will provide coffee, tea and orange juice (and Coke for myself) but bring what you want to drink or there are stores not too far anyway in case we need to make a beer run or two

Itinerary for Cincinnati Meet

Friday evening:

Go to the lodge and they will give you the cabin #’s that you are assigned to (I will leave a list at the lodge and they will have your keys there). Once you are settled in your cabins, meet at HQ (my cabin) for a nice dinner and brownies. I will bring my computer and docking station so anyone can plug in their empeg for music.

Saturday morning:

Meet at HQ for a home cooked breakfast.

Saturday afternoon:

We will meet at the lodge at 12:00 for lunch with the competitions to follow. Please park at the very top of the lodge parking lot where they are permitting us to play our music. Last we will draw for the door prizes, most people should be able to win something. And this year I promise not to hold things up by locking my keys in my van.

After the prizes have all been given out we will meet at the lakes marina. For those wishing to, there are boat rentals (paddle boats, canoes and rowboats). There is also a sand volleyball court and I am trying to get hold of a corn hole game to bring. There is an area for Frisbee throwing and a beach also so there should be enough to do. Boats have to be brought back by 5PM I believe.

Saturday evening:

There will be a cookout at HQ. Mark will be among the master chefs. Party time.

Sunday morning:

For those who are up, we can meet at the lodge around 9AM for their Sunday Breakfast Buffet and pig out. Checkout time is 11AM (I think) so we will need to be ready to leave then. We can go hunt for a geo-cache nearby, for those into this look and see where there is one located besides the one we found last year. After that we can drive off for lunch somewhere.


The weather will be turning more fall like that weekend so bring some warm clothes or check the weather before you come. All plans are subject to change of course if people come up with something better

The Itenerary sounds great, Laura, thank you for putting this together! I'm looking forward to it.

I plan on hitting SEVERAL geocaches during this outing, so between Drakino and I we oughta have that angle covered quite well!

I'm also totally floored by the prize list -- a 6GB MkII ?? Wow!

Looking forward to this weekend (again!).

Cheers

[waves to Laura, and blows kisses]

I am sooo jealous. Too bad there aren't enough folks to have a meet in the southeast corner of the US.

I have a GPS to bring that I borrowed from my brother. I just haven't learned to use it yet, I'm sure you guys will explain it to me

[waves back and catches the kiss]

You could always drive up, we'd find a place for you to sleep.

Hmmm... As my wife barely understands my addiction as it is.... I think it would be severely detremental to my long term relationship!

Plus 822 miles is quite a haul to do twice in one weekend. Otherwise, I really wish I could go.

Looking forward to this weekend (again!).

Me too; Has to be better than this weekend was.

Hm. I wonder if I want to come in rmitz's car and disqualify myself from the install contests.

Probably

Itinerary for Cincinnati Meet

I was browsing around on the Hueston Woods site and noticed they have a paintball site in the park. Would anyone be interested in playing? I've never played but always wanted to.

Any takers? It seems that there may be a few hours Saturday morning or Saturday evening when there isn't much planned.

Just an idea...

Unfortunately guys I'm going to miss this weekend.... after much shuffling of bills and days off it just isn't going to work...

I will add though, if you've never played paintball its well worth your time. It would also be more fun to start with folks that haven't played much. Playing with someone who plays all the time is like being a newbie on a clan server.... frag city....

It's run by a club and you need to set up a time and a group # before they will do it. We would need to know pretty quickly if people want to do this. I'm not sure of the cost but it would be kind of fun.

Maybe next year you will be able to make it.

I just called to ask about the paintball and it is open on the weekends and we could make a reservation for a certain time. But the cost is $27 per person so I don't know how many want to fork that much out.

I'll pass, thanks.

Does anyone at the Meet want a dock?

I could bring one or two with me if there's a market for them.
Reduced price, and no shipping..

Last chance.

I'll pass, thanks.

I think most will say that with the cost factor. I can't really afford to play paintball though I would love to, the cabins and food will cost enough plus my $400 plumbing bill over the last two days isn't helping matters

I have a Garmin GPS 12 to use, BTW, that now turns on after replacing the batteries

[waves to Mark]

Don't talk to me about plumbing bills. If we can ever manage to get a plumber here who is able to deal with my natural gas provider's system legally, I'm sure a nice large one will follow.

In the meantime, icy cold showers.

Just get an electric water heater and pay an electrician instead (I already did that earlier this year)

Does anyone at the Meet want a dock?

Tempting, but probably not. One thing I would like is two of the small power adaptors for the empeg if you still have those. I managed to loose one, and my old Mark 1 style at work recently died.

Well well..

Last year, I got held up in Toronto for 5 hours waiting for severe thunderstorms in Ohio to clear up before my plane could take off. When it finally did leave, there were lighting bolts hitting the runway behind us as we took off. Really cool stuff, that!

And now there's Isabel. This year, my connection is not in Toronto, but rather.. guess.. Newark. heh heh.. right about when Isabel slams across the north east.

Loverly.

Don't wait up for me at the cabin.

Mark,

I live 45 minutes from Newark. If you would like, I would be happy to drive you to the meet. Tom will be with me and we will be leaving Friday in the AM. Just putting that out there....

Yeah, we might get some rain here for the weekend. I'll bring some decks of cards just in case and there is also a bunch of games and pinball at the lodge to play. We'll find some things to do. I think we'll be glad that there are fireplaces in the cabins

For those into fishing, bring your poles just in case the opportunity comes up.

Thanks for the offer, but the problem really is that my flight from here (Ottawa) isn't gonna be able to land at Newark..

Cheers

btw, do you miss some clothing? They stole something from you, i think

Ha, i finally found the pic. It was on one of my last analog-films from before i bought my digi-cam...

So Mark, can you confirm your ownership of this piece of cotton?



cheers, Thomas

Mmmm.. dunno. I'll have to do my laundry here soon and take a count..

Looks like the weather will be beautiful. Low 70's during the day and 50's at night. Perfect.

So far the t-shirts haven't come. I am hoping they do tomorrow since I won't be here Friday when the mail comes.

Tomorrow is the day

I better make sure I have the lastest Hijack installed this year.

[waves to Mark]

The t-shirts came
For those that ordered a shirt and aren't coming to the meet, I will mail them out next week. The rest will get them tomorrow.

How much are they?

Just got back from doing the grocery shopping for the weekend and it looks like it will be $21 per person for the food for three meals. I hope that is acceptable, I didn't buy as much this year

And I hope the couple of people flying in will be able to make it. Isabel is being a very bad girl

Well, I'm off to the meet in about 30 minutes. I'm finishing up some work for a customer and I'll be heading out.

See you guys there!! I should be arriving around 4-5 this afternoon.

I'm looking forward to meeting you!! I'll be there around 1 to get HQ set up.

The van is loaded with the food and I'm off. See everyone there later on today!

I'm bored, where is everyone

Passing Dayton on I-70 now.

After I actually made KisMAC compile and work with gpsd, it's found nothing. How sad.

Although we couldn't make it this year ( my parents are visiting ). We are thinking of you all in the cabins. I know from our great experience last year that you will all have a wonderful time. The weather forecast promises highs in the 70s tomorrow and Sunday, and the rain holding off until Monday. It looks like Laura picked you the perfect weekend.

I'll be checking the bbs this weekend ... and wishing I could be there. Best Regards, Mark M

We miss you here, and I suspect come Sunday morning we're going to miss your wife's wonderful breakfast

I'll upload some pictures shortly.

Ok, some pictures uploaded and uploading to the Ohio 2003 gallery on riocar.org.

Hmmm, Mark gives good backrubs...............

Hi. I just wanted to say it was great to meet people and I had a very nice time. I also would like to thank Laura again for setting this all up, and thank everyone else who came. I need to work a bit on my frisbee skills.

There are now about 25 pictures there. Most aren't captioned yet. Apologies.

What he didn't tell you is he won the empeg that was the door prize.

Well, that would be like bragging or something.

I got in around 9:30 last night. That was my first empeg meet and I had a great time. It was cool meeting everyone. Thanks to Laura for putting a terrific event in a setting.

Yes, thank you Laura for setting this up once again this year. It was quite a bit of fun, and I hope everyone else enjoyed themselves.

I'd also like to tkank Rob R. for showing me around New York. The city is interesting, but definitly not for me. Rob's area is a bit nicer, but I think I am definitly more of a western US person.

/me continues to sit in the airport, waiting for the flight to go home.

Many thanks to Laura are in order. The meet was great once again.

Thanks guys, I'm glad you all had a nice time and if someone could post the winners, I'd appreciate it since I can't seem to remember them all.

And Rob, I'm still thinking of that geo-cache

And Rob, I'm still thinking of that geo-cache

I appreciate all of the effort that the people who attended went through to make it there traveling the distances that you did. I didn't mind the work putting it together, it is well worth it for the friends that I make.

If I could have traveled further to get there, I would have

Oh wait.

You guys are killing me . I wish I could have made it again this year, but there's always next year... or dare I say Amersfoort?

I got home around 10 last night after a few hours of Geocaching with MLord and MCushman. We found about 8 in oxford on the campus of Miami of Ohio. I'm sure there will be pictures to come from MLord. Thanks, Mark for the great Geocaching!

Laura, thank you for all of your hard work and effort of putting this meet together. You did an excellent job! I had a great time! It was great to meet all of you.

I wish I could have made it again this year too. Money was just too short after buying a house and getting married a few weeks ago. Glad to hear it was a success. Hopefully I'll be there next year.

I too wish I could have made it to the meet this year. Actually... if my schedule permitted, I would have made it to the Colorado meet and the Cinci meet. I had so much fun at last year's Cinci meet. But, I had weddings to attend the last two weeks... and there was no way getting out of those.

Looks like you all lucked out and got some nice weather. The weather for the wedding I attended in Butler, PA was spectacular.

Then I returned home to all sorts of damage and no power or anything from Isabel. All is slowly returning to normal.

See you all next year... or maybe sooner.

I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I bought two portable grills today (they were only $1 each) for next years meet so we'll have a lot more grilling space.

Awesome.

I wonder if a geo-cache would fit in there ?

That's cool. It reminds me that I had a grill which I literally allowed to rust to death and then pitched. I think we used it 5 times, because, well, we never eat at home. Neither of us wants to cook.

Hm, that Johnsonville Brat tastes like chicken.