Hear Ye, Hear Ye.....

[FlexdXJ]

Someday everyone will realize that events have to be centered around places to wheel. We get more and more stuff taken away every year. It's not about the boundaries of a chapter.

The geographical boundaries of states do not translate into a chapter, in real life. It looks great on a map, but concentrations of guys that do what we like to do are always centered around places to wheel.

When Tellico was the unoffical home of the crawl, it was still a 20 hour drive from Florida. Or 12 hours from the gulf coast. Or 12 hours from the eastern part of Virginia. People came or they didn't, but not because of where it was, but because they wanted to participate. Moving the event to their driveway won't make them want to participate anymore than moving it 1000 miles away will.

Moving the crawl to Harlan hasn't changed the people who will show up there, because the same people that lived and breathed the Crawl in Tellico are the ones that are showing up to Harlan. It's not about alienating the SEC's members, it's about creating events to go wheeling.

Ed told me that he couldn't even get Alabama guys to come to Morris Mountain. They bitch and whine about having to drive to Tellico or Harlan, but when it's in their backyard, they don't come either. That tells me it's not about location, it's about desire.

In 5 years, people will drive 20 hours to come to the Crawl at Harlan, just like I do for Winterfest. But that won't happen if you don't pick a great place to wheel, on a consistent weekend, for a set group of volunteers. Ed did just that, now there's nowhere to go but up.

If you're not going to support because you think putting the Crawl in a place 3 hours from your house is wrong, I sure wish I had your problem.

Yeah, what he said.


I also looked on Google maps yesterday. Its 40 miles out of the SEC, 40 miles isn't that much when you are already driving 5+ hours to get there. Ed and I talked about this same thing Saturday when I was chauffering him around the mountain.

 

[Team Willys]

Red, I understand the situation of locating it around somewhere nice to wheel, and I agree 100%. If you don't pick a good place, nobody would drive at all, even if its next door. The only argument that I could possibly see is that out of all of the naxja events, the crawl is the only one that is not held in the sponsoring chapter (as far as I am aware, is this correct?). Its not a big deal to me at all. I will continue to come and have a great time enjoying the wilderness with my friends. Although, to some extent the distances do matter. Lol, I don't see much "crawl"ing going on on this side of the country. Maybe we should hold the event in Moab that way we can all drive on sand paper! J-K. I wouldn't drive all the way there every year, but it would be fun to do. The point I am trying to make is that ideally, the event should be held central to a chapter so that even the people who are furthest away Don't have to drive THAT far. Imagine driving from Key west to Harlan... Wow. Unfortunately, like I mentioned earlier, there simply isn't anywhere central to our chapter that can support the event adequately.

Its just a shame that all the good places keep getting closed.

 

[PacificEd]

We are working on planning a nice event deeper in the South as we speak. So we will have a fun event for those who cannot or do not want to travel to the Crawl.

 

[Ghost]

Someday everyone will realize that events have to be centered around places to wheel. We get more and more stuff taken away every year. It's not about the boundaries of a chapter.

The geographical boundaries of states do not translate into a chapter, in real life. It looks great on a map, but concentrations of guys that do what we like to do are always centered around places to wheel.

When Tellico was the unoffical home of the crawl, it was still a 20 hour drive from Florida. Or 12 hours from the gulf coast. Or 12 hours from the eastern part of Virginia. People came or they didn't, but not because of where it was, but because they wanted to participate. Moving the event to their driveway won't make them want to participate anymore than moving it 1000 miles away will.

Moving the crawl to Harlan hasn't changed the people who will show up there, because the same people that lived and breathed the Crawl in Tellico are the ones that are showing up to Harlan. It's not about alienating the SEC's members, it's about creating events to go wheeling.

Ed told me that he couldn't even get Alabama guys to come to Morris Mountain. They bitch and whine about having to drive to Tellico or Harlan, but when it's in their backyard, they don't come either. That tells me it's not about location, it's about desire.

In 5 years, people will drive 20 hours to come to the Crawl at Harlan, just like I do for Winterfest. But that won't happen if you don't pick a great place to wheel, on a consistent weekend, for a set group of volunteers. Ed did just that, now there's nowhere to go but up.

If you're not going to support because you think putting the Crawl in a place 3 hours from your house is wrong, I sure wish I had your problem.

X2! I think Josh hit the nail on the head. In the South we have fewer places that can actually accomadate this event IMHO.

 

[Spawn 93]

We are working on planning a nice event deeper in the South as we speak. So we will have a fun event for those who cannot or do not want to travel to the Crawl.

What is planting a nice??? Fixed it for ya since I can't spell

Anyhow, I applaud Ed, Mark, and Glenn for taking the criticism from some and always pleasing the masses. If they are on the ballot again this Dec, I will support them. I can understand, however, if they choose to distance themselves from the responsibilities of the BOD. I remember when I joined this forum, there was a "poll" on about where to wheel for "x". Can't remember exactly, but the poll was split so that there wound up being two events at the same time. Pointless if you ask me.

I have been a member for a short time, but I have been around the world and back a few times, and know that without any leadership, things fall apart. Support those we elected, especially since we nominated them.

The greener grass on the other side of the fence still has to be mowed....

 

[Spawn 93]

BTW, I would love to offer any assistance needed in planning and conducting this event or any others for that matter. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!!!

 

[PacificEd]

BTW, I would love to offer any assistance needed in planning and conducting this event or any others for that matter. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!!!

We will definately be taking people up on their offers to help with next years event. Thanks for volunteering!

 

[jeepgeek2002]

i was thinking..
a photocopy of the map.. or "home made" map.. 3 different colors indicating easy medium and hard groups mapped out ahead of time, for those that are running easy trails but want to do something harder can switch and know what trails the other groups are running.. and vice versa?

mark

 

[kastein]

Someday everyone will realize that events have to be centered around places to wheel. We get more and more stuff taken away every year. It's not about the boundaries of a chapter.

The geographical boundaries of states do not translate into a chapter, in real life. It looks great on a map, but concentrations of guys that do what we like to do are always centered around places to wheel.

When Tellico was the unoffical home of the crawl, it was still a 20 hour drive from Florida. Or 12 hours from the gulf coast. Or 12 hours from the eastern part of Virginia. People came or they didn't, but not because of where it was, but because they wanted to participate. Moving the event to their driveway won't make them want to participate anymore than moving it 1000 miles away will.

Moving the crawl to Harlan hasn't changed the people who will show up there, because the same people that lived and breathed the Crawl in Tellico are the ones that are showing up to Harlan. It's not about alienating the SEC's members, it's about creating events to go wheeling.

Ed told me that he couldn't even get Alabama guys to come to Morris Mountain. They bitch and whine about having to drive to Tellico or Harlan, but when it's in their backyard, they don't come either. That tells me it's not about location, it's about desire.

In 5 years, people will drive 20 hours to come to the Crawl at Harlan, just like I do for Winterfest. But that won't happen if you don't pick a great place to wheel, on a consistent weekend, for a set group of volunteers. Ed did just that, now there's nowhere to go but up.

If you're not going to support because you think putting the Crawl in a place 3 hours from your house is wrong, I sure wish I had your problem.

A RedHeep rant I can FULLY back! :cheers:

I drove 6 hours each way to go to NACFest this year - showed up after midnight Friday evening, left Sunday. I am fairly certain I spent more time in transit than I did offroad - and I didn't even have a Jeep to wheel, I showed up for the fun and to hang out with the crew. If you want to go... go. Some showed up from way further away, like one of the guys who drove from northern VT to Rausch.

It's pretty tough to find a good spot with all the support needed, like has already been mentioned, there are only a few campgrounds that are really wheeler friendly in the area of Rausch Creek. Pick the location that fits, and people will either show up, or not show up.