Hey thanks for giving me a heads up. I would for sure like to do this still. Interestingly enough in 2023 I had a trip to Moab planned with my son to ride dirtbikes and 2 days before we were to leave the emissions crap on my 2019 Titan XD failed so no go with that one and on 2 days notice I had to get the IDI ready for a 4500 mile trip.
It sucked being in a regular cab and I ended up buying an enclosed trailer in Utah because we were stupid cramped in the truck. But it did it all without issue except for the steering box replacement, fuel line failure, and 2 FIPL failures which caused 2 very slow and stressful days of travel until replacements could be acquired (1st replacement lasted 10 days. Thanks China). Oddly enough both replacements were found in Missouri.
I have since retired (at 55) and can typically have a more open schedule although my new boss is much meaner than my old boss. So there is that.
Back on topic. I realize I just dropped out of the original thread. Sorry for all the effort people had originally invested. Thinking back to late 2020 everything went nuts from a work perspective. Not an issue now.
For starters, 27' would be the year to plan for. Does this seem reasonable?
So thinking back on the original thread and ideas floated there I'll throw out some theoretical trip parameters that are 100% not set in stone, just a baseline to get a plan started. (If you are unfamiliar with the original planning from 5-6 years ago look in the original sticky thread)
East Coast main convoy to meet somewhere around Dayton OH off I-70 on Day 1. Indianapolis just too far west for east coast travelers. Stay there and allow the rest of the east coast convoy to arrive on day 2. Sorry but in order to make headway we'll need to head west on day 3.
400ish miles per travel day seemed to be the max acceptable based on the previous thread. If we follow the original destination idea in Royal Gorge Colorado that is 3 travel days from Dayton, so if we were to have 2 nights at each stop along the way, we would arrive at our destination on the 8th day. Looking at Mt Rushmore it is within 50 miles of being the same distance as Colorado. So no time savings really should the preference be to go there. Just an FYI. And herein lies the issue. If you take 2 weeks and include the weekend prior you have 16 days. Half that time is spent just getting 1 way with the current schedule. Someone coming from upstate NY would be looking at a 3900 mile round trip, not including side trips and roughly 20 days of travel if stopping for 2 nights at each location. Thoughts on these issues?
I hate to say it, but I don't think we would have the time available for multiple night stays at each stop. If we did a single 2 night stay between Dayton and Colorado we would be there day 6. Now we have 3-4 days to play with at our main destination. Lets get some feedback on this. If we decide to stay further east, it could make it impossible for some of the west coasters depending on where the new destination is. This is the part of the plan that gets messy unfortunately. There are I am sure great places in Kansas and Nebraska, I just don't know of a destination that would be acceptable. I mention these 2 states because they are the half way between east and west.
Sorry if I've brought up too many of the potential negatives but figured these should be part of the conversation as it is always better to know up front.
Anyway I hope we can find a plan that works for most people that would like to attend/participate.
