I think we need to recognize the fact that both Dave, Rob, Stu, etc. have offered to host in September. It is very generous of anyone that offers their home to us crazy FTE people. I think anyone of them would be great. Rob's place was inviting, plenty of space for some campers, entertaining and a small workshop with a ding in the door frame (yes, I put it there). Also the fact that it is right off Route 66 adds to the nostalgia factor. There are hotels close by so that is not an issue. It is a great setting. I have not been to Dave's place but I remember him graciously posting before TS13 offering a place to stay on the way to Docs. It struck me as a genuinely sincere offer and I had the opportunity to meet him at TS. Was a pleasure meeting Dave. I don't think we should over complicate any event. Met Stu at Rob's but don't remember much more than that awesome MH he had on the trailer. And his dog....

Heading to a campground comes with a lot of factors. Imagine 50 people swearing they are showing up and reserving a spot and then only 20 people show up. Sure that no-show may be out the money but it may take someone elses space away because they didn't reserve soon enough. There were people that came and went from both TS and TF and it didn't effect too much. Also, all 3 events so far (TS12, TF13, TS13) saw people needing some work on their trucks (me included). When you have it some place with a garage/shop, people are more likely to risk driving a 60+ year old truck. Knowing that I could fix a few minor things at Robs helped my mind versus having to find a shop in a foreign place to get work done. I am sure Edith liked being fixed in Doc's shop versus sitting next to a cabin while skilled mechanics wouldn't have access to proper tools and equipment. Sometimes you need a welder to fix a transmission, just saying...

Personally, I would love to see someone mark the spot, tell people when to show up, give everyone a list of local hotels, etc., buy the food like we did at Docs and make it happen.

I would love to host something but this year I sold part of my business and started consulting with another business so I spend 60-70 hours per week working and traveling (after my cruise). If Rob, Dave, etc. wanted to host, I would be happy to set aside 3 days prior to the event to help with mowing, tidying up and getting things ready. I also have a mobile BBQ setup so if you wanted to do a meal or two on that, let me know.

 

I am following this thread. We had a lot of fun at Rob's place and would be interested in meeting again. I think Stu's place or Rob's would be excellent as they both have shops we could work on some ones project for the weekend.

 

I went to SIU-Carbondale, but I had other interests besides camping back in those days.

 

At this juncture, I'd like to come (and drive the 53). However, realistically speaking, I'm only a 50/50 on making it. If I did come, I would only require accommodations for Saturday night.

 

We could have a spring truck fest at stu's that would work for the guys further north. If teardrop would put money into his truck and not on his vacations he could probably drive his truck another 200 miles.... Lol
If stu is up for a spring thing.
Truckfest had a different feel to it then truckstock . They are not the same .
Truckfest had hotels and places to eat close by and part stores....
Truckstock was out in the secluded and majestic place. The settings were great but different
This tread was started to find a place like Docs and more centrally located in the country.
I think we could have two events like last year. Have them set up like last year, one for those that need and want the convenience of hotels and restaurants
And one that is about the adventure the destination and the feeling of being together for meals and setting around the fire.

 

I'd really like to meet up with other FTE's ....I've had the pleasure of meeting Stu and Bob at Dash to the Dells a few years ago....Running a bicycle store doesnt make April to September doable for me.....2011 my brand new motor puked on the way to the Dells .....so I have to go there and back before I can venture out to another venue...which will be this year!!..sounds like a great time tho even tho it's the same weekend as the Dells show..

the club I belong to (SOCP) does alot of club tours together and you guys sound alot like them...and the Badgerland guys too ...it'll have to be a 2015 item for me cant wait to see the pics tho so keep the plans a rolling.

 

I think we have outgrown a single event. I've always felt there should be regional events, don't need to be fancy. They could even be day trip events. Back east there you have clusters where that makes sense.

 

That is the type of get-together I would hope to attend.
Ideally it would be in a geographic area far different than what I see every day. The southwest would be awesome, as would the smoky mountains too.
It's just hard having the confidence to drive an old truck with stock 4:86 gears more than 100 miles or so. Would have to take back roads most of the way which wouldn't be relaxing until I hit Pennsylvania or so. (New England and New York drivers have no patience for vehicles driving the speed limit)

Heck, I'd be happy setting up a tent in someone's backyard if they were to host it. The best part would be coming out of it in the morning, smelling bacon cooking and seeing about 15 or more of our trucks lined up. Having a rustic cabin would be even better though not necessary.
I'd use up as many vacation days as I could get away with without the wife and make it a bucket list adventure.

My F2 should be done by mid-summer and ready for paved road trials. My frame ride trials went well last summer. I'll watch this thread and see if a mid-atlantic or Appalachian event begins to take shape.

For what it is worth I can fit about 10 trucks here in Maine. I'd love to host folks from out of town but the accommodation's best scenario would be tents outside next to a lake and about three inside a house which is set back a couple hundred yards from the lake.

Tom

 

Ever since Doc's first meet I thought this. This country is way too big to be able to include everyone with just one centrally located meet. Doing regional meets would be a way for everyone to have a chance to meet members face to face. I enjoyed the group that showed up for Doc's meets and the few new faces that showed up for Rob's.

So Doc here I go. I am officially offering to host a meet at my place on the weekend of September 20-21 of 2014.

Here are the facts and I want anyone considering attending to know them up front.

• As I posted the other day, I live on an active dairy farm which includes 100+ head of dairy cows and about 100 chickens along with the aroma. I feel our farm is very well maintained and the smells are kept at a minimum but still it's not possible to avoid them all.
• September is harvesting time so there is a possibility of some machine activity, tractors, forage choppers and wagons, going on during our meet. The old saying of "making hay while the sun still shines" is very true, when the crop is ready it has to be harvested. It all depends on what the conditions are, some times it's earlier, some times it's later in the year.
  
• Our farm is about 100+ acres and we have room to host tents and campers and can supply water and electricity hook ups. We also have at least a dozen quality hotels within 10 miles of our house at fairly reasonable prices. We live in a rather small log farm house that was built in mid 1800s by my wife's great great grand parents so we don't have room to provide additional lodging in our home. We are located about 15 miles north of Milwaukee, WI. While we're located in an rural area we are within 5 miles of major commercial areas with all the normal retail businesses.
  
• September is usually mild with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s during the day and cooler at night. Perfect for day time activities and night time fire.
  
• I have a very nice cruise envisioned in the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine area and a visit to a very nice landmark restaurant about 5 miles west of our home. This time of year is usually our peak foliage color time.
  

I am offering to do this at about the same time Doc has held his meets. I am not trying to compete with Doc. My wife and I believe this is the best time for a meet up here also. It's at the end of the busy summer season but mainly because if we were to hold it in the spring we would have a good chance of having a rained out event. If we waited until the summer we would have competition with all the other summer activities. We also get hot humid summers here with usually a good crop of summer pests that make night time outside unpleasant. Usually by September our pest problem have subsided and the days are still warm and the nights mild.

My main goal in having a meet here it to hopefully get some of our more northern brethren to participate. While a central location has been suggested a central location is still hard for the members in the northern part of the country to attend. They have missed out the last two years of meeting a group of really great people.

I would like to know who would be willing to attend my meet. Judging by the interest shown I will know whether this is worth doing. Hopefully I have at least two local member interested in attending. I hope to have members who are within a 3-6 hour drive attend. That's drive from central IL, eastern IA and MN and possibly from both parts of MI.

Remember guys, I was the nutty old truck guy who drove a '49 F-2 with a double clutching crash box tranny 1600 miles, round trip, over deadly mountains to attend the first Truckstock. Most of the terrain up here in the upper Midwest is flat. I would love to see a nice showing of '48-56 trucks. I will also be trying to get a couple people I know who own interesting trucks that have been subjects of numerous discussions on FTE.

 

Dixie emailed me this link to a place 3 miles down the road from them they have four more cabins to of them are tree houses. They are all available in September
Timber Ridge Outpost & Cabins | Rent a Treehouse or Log Cabin near the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois

 

Good for you Bob , I have to be in upstate NY in mid September . I will check dates and see if I can get to your place . I won't have a truck . But I would love to get to your cheese head gathering . You and your wife will put on a great time .

 

I have read pretty much all the posts of this thread, I've been working long hours all week and haven't been able to keep up day to day on the posts.

Now, I'm posting this not to promote my offer. I just wanted to offer my thoughts about all the suggestions.

I remember when Doc first offered to host a meet he did so because he was tired of the highly coordinated big shows and meets where there were hot asphalt parking lots crowded with hundreds of people. He wanted to offer a more relaxed intimate event which I think he accomplished. Doc, I hope you don't feel I'm speaking for, this is just what I though Truckstock and Truckfest were intended to be.

In the original conversations about this subject two years ago many of the ideas brought up in this thread were kicked around and pros and cons were offered. I would like to offer my thoughts.

I think trying to organize a meet in a campground would be a logistic nightmare. First, just trying to find a place that everyone would agree on would be hard. If this was an organized club we'd all get together in one location at the same time and hash out the details. Doing so over the internet is extremely hard because no one is sure which place is really what we'd be looking for. Also, no matter what happens it would fall on one or two people to long distance organize the location and collect the fees. If what would happen at the first Truckstock, where a number of people showed interest in attending until the last minute, literally, it could become a mess.

Second, I think, and I could be way off base, that for those of us who would bring our trucks it's taking a chance exposing our trucks to the general public in a campground. Sure many of you might have felt comfortable taking your trucks to the bigger events or even smaller shows but I would think they had planned for people to watch over the vehicles to make sure they weren't messed with. I've been in quite a few campgrounds and I've noticed that families seem to feel comfortable leaving their kids run around untended all day long within the campgrounds. As I said before, old trucks seem to be magnets to little kids. I suppose if this is held after the kids go back to school the number of kids will be greatly reduced but families still go camping until the season ends.

Also, as mentioned before, it's nice to have a location with some type of repair facility available. I know it came in handy for me at the first Truckstock.

I also realize it's a huge imposition for someone to host an event like this on their own property but there has to be enough members with a few acres that are willing to host one. Remember, this is suppose to be a casual event so you don't have to have a huge estate with rolling meadows and a fully equipped repair facility, just enough room to host a small gathering. Both Truckstock and Truckfest didn't have many more attendees than an average graduation or birthday party.

Just my thoughts. Take them as you will.

 

Dave, thanks for being to first to step up. I know my wife would love for you and your wife to come over. Of course I'd expect you to critique her performance as a good host and obedient wife.

 

More cabins in Shawnee

 

I will come if you have it Bob