Looking ahead towards next year

As always, we strive to put on a good event that will appeal to lots of people, and as always, there are places we can improve.

I understand that the Coal Burners were almost 90 minutes late - and that is the second year in a row that they've shown up late. However, they are moving to Alabama next year, so we will be looking for a new catering option for the Saturday night event.

That said, and the BBQ withstanding, please let us know what you liked, what you didn't like, and if you have any suggestions for the 2019 Crawl.

Thanks!

Great time! Thanks to all that made it happen!

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If Portal Pizza could cater... That would get my vote ��

If they had the staff to do so....

We had them do pizza couple years back as I recall. It was before I was on the BOD. I think it was during the Nick/Stump administration.

Cottontail said:

We had them do pizza couple years back as I recall. It was before I was on the BOD. I think it was during the Nick/Stump administration.

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I'm thinking that was during my tenure but it was a different place. The Portal had not opened yet.

PacificEd said:

I'm thinking that was during my tenure but it was a different place. The Portal had not opened yet.

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Yes that was us Ed as I remember it. Wasn't that place in Cumberland? Down 119 from the campground?

Nick and I used Pizza Hut over in Cumberland for all the pizzas that year. I stole Sump's Jeep to go get them

Portal came to my mind on Saturday as well, and I was a couple minutes away from calling them had the Coal Burners not called me back.

Overall I was very disappointed in how they handled dinner on Saturday. The food was good, but the tardiness and store bought BBQ sauce were surprising. They also didn't tell me that we were their last dinner until Tuesday of last week. It was a good run for the few years we've used them.

UNCC_99XJ said:

Nick and I used Pizza Hut over in Cumberland for all the pizzas that year. I stole Sump's Jeep to go get them

Portal came to my mind on Saturday as well, and I was a couple minutes away from calling them had the Coal Burners not called me back.

Overall I was very disappointed in how they handled dinner on Saturday. The food was good, but the tardiness and store bought BBQ sauce were surprising. They also didn't tell me that we were their last dinner until Tuesday of last week. It was a good run for the few years we've used them.

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I am old and my memory isn't what it use to be.....

Honestly this is not the first time they've been late to my recollection...and the food was not good. I'm not expecting world class BBQ but they are a competition group supposedly and I felt like we got leftovers and they used off the shelf sauce instead of their own. Chicken was rubbery and the pork watery and beans were canned...and while I like Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce off the shelf...I thought they'd had their own sauce in years past.
By no means is that anyone's fault other than theirs BUT I'll be honest I'm not buying meal tickets if the coal burners cater again (which I realize they're moving so probably not an issue).

I am in no way trying to start any kind of problems between myself or anyone else or amongst the BOD but I felt that this year leadership was an issue. Everyone knows Dirk had a real bad roll and felt the need to leave and I'm sure some didn't agree with that just like there are those of us who did and he left before the actual event began.

That being said I know I was a trail leader but there was no one else other than myself, Glen, and Jason Manuelito down there trying to get rigs up the mountain with no BOD presence. Yes I'm an adult and yes we got up and down the mountain without much trouble but their was no organization like there has been in years past and I doubt Dirk was planning to oversee everything all by himself.

At the potluck everyone who attended was sitting there waiting to have it kicked off and we finally just decided to eat.

Again not trying to upset anyone but I feel the feedback can help in the future if something like this happens again. I know you all put a lot of effort into planning and seeing this and other events happen. I also now you all are involved in other activities to better the chapter and as a whole (way more than I ever have).

The LRG race seemed to go very well and yes I pussed out so shame on me for that one

The raffle seemed to go very well and went smoother and faster than in years past.

Overall the CRAWL was great. Had a very good time and enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting new folks as well.

No hard feelings at all. That's very constructive criticism which is what we ask for.

I'll be the first to admit this wasn't my best crawl compared to years past, and for that I apologize to those who have seen better in the previous years. I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting on it between yesterday and today.

UNCC_99XJ said:

No hard feelings at all. That's very constructive criticism which is what we ask for.

I'll be the first to admit this wasn't my best crawl compared to years past, and for that I apologize to those who have seen better in the previous years. I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting on it between yesterday and today.

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Tim it was an odd set of circumstances that no one expected for sure. And each year is different...I've been to 8 total and 6 of those in a row in Harlan and each year it's different regardless of who's involved.

I agree with the lack of trail ride organization.

The organized trail rides were a mess and went out the window Friday morning.

I have no clue what could be done differently to fix that issue. We post rides and times 2 weeks ahead and a few people sign up. Then when the time comes to be there no one shows up. Or the trail leader for that group decides to wait until that time to fix their Jeep. People end up pairing up in totally different groups anyway. The "organized rides" stop mattering. I'm not sure what a BOD member's presence is going to change.

What do you think could have been done differently to get people into position on time?

(Please don't think I'm being defensive, I just want clarification.)

Potluck:

Has there been some speech to kick off the potluck in the past? I never participate in the potluck so I'm not sure.

Potluck has always just been an informal event. I've been every year, but never did anything to officially open it.

In the past we've had driver meetings in the mornings of the trail rides. I'll gladly do a drivers meeting in the future. Assuming I'm not broke..... There was no safety or tech inspection. I'll even admit that I should have looked at every one ridding with me. I will do better if I'm leading next year. Usually though in my group we are all experienced and don't come without proper tow point and our batteries are secure.

Lowrange2 said:

I agree with the lack of trail ride organization.

The organized trail rides were a mess and went out the window Friday morning.

I have no clue what could be done differently to fix that issue. We post rides and times 2 weeks ahead and a few people sign up. Then when the time comes to be there no one shows up. Or the trail leader for that group decides to wait until that time to fix their Jeep. People end up pairing up in totally different groups anyway. The "organized rides" stop mattering. I'm not sure what a BOD member's presence is going to change.

What do you think could have been done differently to get people into position on time?

(Please don't think I'm being defensive, I just want clarification.)

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Agreed. I rode down to camp shortly before 8:30 Friday morning and there were maybe 5 people awake and moving around, not to mention Glenn was making a parts run to fix his Jeep, and seeing as how he was a trail leader that pretty much killed that group's run from the start. I'm not faulting Glenn in any way, just trying to point out that while having dedicated groups with leaders is a great idea, it can go south in the blink of an eye for a number of reasons. It shouldn't be the BOD's responsibility to wake people up to get ready for a trail ride either. Not being defensive, just sharing my opinion.

Me personally, I would like to see the trail leaders take over things like lining their group up and especially tech inspections. It's up to the leaders to decide what trails will be run based on who's in their group, so they should also be the ones inspecting rigs so they know who is capable of doing what. As people were checking in (especially those who I recognized as being new to the event), I was asking if they knew who to look for in the morning that way they weren't completely lost come trail time. I would also put the responsibility of a drivers meeting on each trail leader, again because they are determining what trails will be run and will know what their group should expect.

Potluck has always been very informal in years past. It's a "show up and eat at your own pace" kind of thing.

I will volunteer to look over all rigs on a tech type inspection if you want me to. I can do it after I come back in from riding just will need a list of who checked in while I was out and where they are. Next year if I'm leading I will do something to talk with everyone in my group.

I mean, I'm down to run it like boot camp next year. lol

Having trail leaders with more responsibility is a good idea. I admit I didn't do much in the way of being organized but I also didn't want to just take over and piss anyone else off. So maybe I was just too passive. And Andy you're right in that it often goes out the window when the participants don't show up or switch groups but had there been a designated meeting time even for just trail leaders before their assigned groups left and then we did tech inspections etc it just make people feel a little better about the event.

I don't like to be this way but if I lead next year and we're more than 15 minutes past our appointed leaving time we're going with or without you.

As for the potluck...never really been an official deal BUT having presence there was missed. Andy you said on facebook that the other event/trail rides aren't events...but the Crawl is. In my opinion needs to be there even if just to say howdy and let's eat. Sure we're all grownups and can eat anyway and we did...but there were a lot of folks scratching their heads and wondering where you guys were...again we waited to be respectful of event leaders/organizers.