Suggestions for next year

How would you make next years event better?

It looked like there was close to 40 XJs and other Jeeps attending. Remi and Seqouia are the logistics still easily dealt with or is it time to start thinking about forming a run committee, say someone to handle the AAT, another, food, another runs, etc.?

Taking a few things from this thread...

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=917684

• Move the AAT maintenance to Sunday so more people can participate.
• Move the weekend back to April (Earth Day weekend)
• Robert's going to rent houses w/ jacuzzi's for everyone:worship:

This was the first year I was able to attend the BB event and it was great. It was cool to walk through the campground and see an XJ in almost every spot in our loop. I can only see this event getting bigger with more organization needed or am I smokin' crack?:smoker:

T-shirts ? Did we have t-shirts this year ? i dont even know...

Id be all for helping out in a comitee, might help with getting things sorted out earlier and help in getting a little less panic at the last couple weeks.

moving AAT to sunday would be better for getting participation up.

setting up a group rate for the camp ground and closest motel a few months in advance would probably help get people comit to the whole event and not just saturday

shirts would be a nice touch but should be pre-sold

maybe a couple people doin the cooking and prep.....seems like a lot of work for the sucker......err volunteer that does it or even other options like a banquet room in town or something.

a organised activity for those who arnt gona wheel like at the zoo or something the small kids will enjoy since I noticed a number of moms stayed in camp with the little ones.

just my .02

ruggedjeep said:

T-shirts ? Did we have t-shirts this year ? i dont even know...

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Remi had the chapter shirts for sale, but there wasn't a run specific shirt.

dzraces said:

shirts would be a nice touch but should be pre-sold

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As Dan said, if a run specific shirt is made it should be done pre-order to keep out of pocket expenses to a minimum.

One issue that I see may rear it's ugly head in the near future is the possibility of needing permits for the trail runs. Maybe someone w/ some FS insight could chime in on this.

Okay, since I've historically chaired this event (although this year I was only about 50% in the lead) I'll answer some of these.

• Move the AAT maintenance to Sunday so more people can participate.

That may be necessary. One of the reasons I set it for Friday was historically more people showed up using the "hey, I'm doing volunteer work for the Forest Service" as their excuse (I know that doesn't work for all...) so it worked out beautifully.

• Move the weekend back to April (Earth Day weekend)

I fully agree with this. Not only because that weekend is just better for me (it is) but because it's kinda cool to have our maintenance on Earth Day and there are less people up there generally.

• Robert's going to rent houses w/ jacuzzi's for everyone:worship:

I'm all for this!

• setting up a group rate for the camp ground and closest motel a few months in advance would probably help get people comit to the whole event and not just saturday

This is almost impossible Dan, we've tried to get Serrano to play ball with us and the best we've ever been able to get is them to "allow" us to all choose to camp in the same loop! At least they're a lot nicer to us than they were the first time!

• shirts would be a nice touch but should be pre-sold

Shirts are an okay idea but can be a bit of a pain at times. That would work out.

• maybe a couple people doin the cooking and prep.....seems like a lot of work for the sucker......err volunteer that does it or even other options like a banquet room in town or something.

That's fine, the way I figure it the person who takes on the dinner responsiblity should decide if he/she wants extra help, if so we'll force people to do it if they don't volunteer

• a organised activity for those who arnt gona wheel like at the zoo or something the small kids will enjoy since I noticed a number of moms stayed in camp with the little ones.

That's a possibility, we'd just have to find somebody to take that on and run with it.

Sequoia

karstic said:

One issue that I see may rear it's ugly head in the near future is the possibility of needing permits for the trail runs. Maybe someone w/ some FS insight could chime in on this.

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That has always been a consideration and it's on the front of my mind for all of these events in Big Bear. I will keep that beast down for as long as I possibly can.

karstic said:

One issue that I see may rear it's ugly head in the near future is the possibility of needing permits for the trail runs. Maybe someone w/ some FS insight could chime in on this.

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In place right now is a group use permit. Any group staging on the forest with 75 or more people need to have the permit. The permit requires a bond and insurance and must be approved by fire, safety and recreation departments of the USFS(about a 4 month process). In my experience since 2000 there has not been a single group permit request in the SBNF. Jeep Jamboree and Big Bear Forest Fest both stage on county property and take smaller groups into the forest. I do not see this changing anytime in the near future.

karstic said:

Robert's going to rent houses w/ jacuzzi's for everyone:worship:

I AM smokin' crack? :smoker:

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Fixed it for you!!

I will pay for your cabin, but we will have to have registration fees for the runs just like Jeep Jamboree... they Charge about $250 per vehicle, plus guest.



I do have a connection in Big Bear (now) that may be able to help us on rates for hotels/cabins.

Of course, you can always call them for any other time you may be in BB for a family or wheeling time...

I will post the number and name in a different thread later today....

im 100% in for a sunday trail cleanup. moving the dates doesnt really affect me so thats cool. run specific t-shirts would have been cool but its my 1st naxja shirt so im happy i think the presale shirts would be a good idea, order ahead of time and pick em up at the event. that way maybe we could get kid sizes? i know my boy wanted one. all in all i think it was handled well, im up for helping with the bbq setup. i think i missed out on a couple trail runs tho, i didnt get the heads up on friday night or sunday morn. i dont know what we can do about that aside from going camp to camp announcing it, but that would be a pain in the ass. maybe line up a run schedule before hand for each day? maybe we could designate a "main camp" site where everyone could wander into to meet up and meet other people, and get info about whats going on, like have a run schedule posted up there or something, or a sign in sheet so we know who's all there?

i dunno, just throwing my 2¢ in the jar


mike

GrimmJeeper said:

maybe we could designate a "main camp" site where everyone could wander into to meet up and meet other people, and get info about whats going on, like have a run schedule posted up there or something, or a sign in sheet so we know who's all there?

mike

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I like this idea the chapter could get the spot and use it for the purpose of the bbq and what not without it being in some ones personal site.

I'm not sure how trail cleanup on Friday would be that much better.

People hung over from Saturday night bbq and raffle, having to strike camp and go work the trail with a full jeep or try and get done before and back before 2pm or have to stay over until Monday.

People just need to put as much emphasis on this one part as they did on the whole "what I have to get done before Big Bear" stuff. I mean really, look how many threads there were about getting ready to wheel Saturday and there were like TWO on the subject of the trail work on Friday.

Take a sick day or a vacation day or whatever. It's one day. (BTW, I'm a consultant. I don't get those. - no workie, no pay. Same with Helen; actually our whole company lost a day of revenue! We're incorporated... :laugh3: )

bburge

bburge said:

Take a sick day or a vacation day or whatever. It's one day. (BTW, I'm a consultant. I don't get those. - no workie, no pay. Same with Helen; actually our whole company lost a day of revenue! We're incorporated... :laugh3: )

bburge

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i would have come but i didnt want to pull the kids out of one whole day of school

Yeah, I hated having my kid miss a day; especially since he is already struggling - but I set things up with his teachers ahead of time to get his Friday work (he HATES that! :yelclap: ).

Then I drove him to the airport Thursday afternoon to fly up to his Mom's. He didn't want to do trail work, even though he likes to wheel. As cold as it was, I was glad he wasn't there. He would have been pretty uncomfortable...

I think I actually put more work into getting his school work in order, getting him on a plane, getting him back again and now getting him squared away at school; than I did on my Jeep to wheel.

bburge