[urq] UPG 2008 Planning

[Ed Kellock]

I'm up for anything close to home. ;-)

I guess I'm not sure about locale though.  The original goal is/was to
have one gathering.  This would be a huge event if we could get the
more distant people to bite the bullet and come.  That's why being
centrally located is so important.  More important I think than it
being a cool destination in/of itself.

Jackson Hole doesn't really fit the bill then in my opinion.  Denver
is fine with me but more of a haul for those east than say, Omaha,
which is very much more centrally located geographically.  And there's
a track there we could play on, which is something that Denver can't
currently offer.  Off-track driving opportunites would probably be far
superior in Denver, but fraught with big-city commute problems.

The last big event I went to was in the greater Denver area (NW) and
"the drive" was up through Boulder and into the mountains.  Cool
roads.  Not cool traffic unfortunately.

I think the "venue" should be smaller than Denver.  Smaller even than
Colorado Springs, to be consistent.  "The Springs" has grown a lot and
having any fun driving means driving for a while before the true fun
can begin.

South of the Springs there are some neat areas and another track
(Pueblo) that is sadly nearly as raw and unwelcoming, amenities wise,
as it was 10 years ago for AudiFest 97.

However, with the Pikes Peak Hillclimb no longer held on July 4th,
this opens up its appeal as a central event.  It does chew up an
entire day though and group parking is not inconsequential.

Still, back to the urban issue... Colorado Springs combined with the
Hillclimb would not make a convenient atmosphere for what we really
are pursuing, a central North American urq gathering.

There's a new track development being shown online a good bit east of
Denver... I wonder how that's coming along and if there would be any
interest/opportunity to arrange something with them.

Another thought is the Black Hills region of South Dakota.  Good
driving opportunities.  Potential side interest for some.
Availability of accomodations would be good, depending on timing.
How's April for everyone? ;-)

Ed


On 10/8/07, urq <urq at pacbell.net> wrote:
> I know it seems like a long ways off, but we probably should at least get the initial planning done sooner than later, especially if we're going to plan to meet at a venue like Jackson, WY where there may not be a lot of participants in the area.
>
> One of the first things to do is to establish where the planning will take place.  If there isn't any objection we can do the planning on this urq list ... at least for now.  If bandwidth gets too high we can switch over to the "Events" list that Dan set up on audifans ... or some other means of communication.
>
> Another thing to do is to create a list of folks who are willing to help with working out the details.  I'm willing to help with putting the names of people together and moving forward, but I'm open to having someone else who might have more time take the reins.  If you are interested in helping out you can send an e-mail to me directly or post to the list.  I think it would be great if there was someone who either lives in the area or who is very familiar with it who can help out with details on wheres and whens.
>
> The last thing that comes to my mind at this point is to get a preliminary list of folks who would consider attending.  No commitments whatsoever at this point, just something to try to get an order of magnitude on how big this will need to be.  Here again, send me a e-mail directly or post to the list as you prefer.  In your response I'd like to see: if you think you will be able to attend, and with how many people.  Is your availability to attend dependent upon where the event is located?  If the answer to the last question is yes, provide some info about your parameters for locations you could or could not do.  Include similar information about the time frames that would or would not work for you.  Feel free to add as much info as you'd like ... what sorts of events you would want to see, etc.
>
> As I was putting this message together I decided to look at the map ... somehow in my mind I had convinced myself that Jackson, WY was more centrally located than the Rockies in Colorado ... this is clearly not the case.  It seems to be more of a trip for those on the right coast to attend.  The main reason I keep going back to considering Colorado (Colorado Springs, ???) is that there is a local contingent who might help out with setting up things like track events ...
>
> Steve B
> San Jose, CA