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1st time rally attendee

tuber1 said:
...glad all you folks enjoyed it and hope you had a good time visiting Vermont. One real good point is that the Expo has it's own staff, so they take care of the buildings, cleaning,etc. I think a few of us missed the 1st timer thingy, I worked registration and didn't know about it...


I wasn't told about the first timer coupon when I started registering voulunteers on Wed and they were all gone when I worked again on Friday.
 
rlonstein said:
I'm probably going to miss that rally (unless the sun, the moon and the stars and who knows what else line up :( ) but I had a really good time at my first one.

Thanks all. :thumb

- Ross
NO,NO,NO! That is not the way you approach MOA Nationals!

You come back to work, looking somewhat like a racoon (sunburned cheeks + forehead and white eye sockets), babbling about 4 nights of music, dollar beers (but really good $2 beers), gazillions of tents, friendly folks, every kind of BMW ever, every widget ever made for a BMW, and more rantings that will make your friends,family,and co-workers wonder if you were out in the sun maybe a bit too long on this ride. You then fill out a vacation leave form for July of '07 and tell everybody that you WILL GO to Wisconsin next July. You will have nearly a entire year to negotiate/plead/threaten with your employer [note to self: do not mention all the "change of careers" that you know of due to MOA Nationals] You spend the next 11 months planning your route, volunteering to work the Rally, convincing friends to ride along, doing whatever you need to do for your SO in order to dissappear in July, and will continue to dream of acres of tents with BMW's parked all around.

You do this, year-after-year, and your friends,family,and co-workers will become convinced that something ain't right with that boy!

Welcome to the club! :thumb :deal
 
Um, one question Rev'rend, I agree with all you're saying but what do you do when taking the time to make the trip is no problem but scraping together the necessary funds is a VERY SERIOUS problem? That's what kept me away this year, and I'm not fond of the idea of turning to crime to solve it.
 
The Veg said:
Um, one question Rev'rend, I agree with all you're saying but what do you do when taking the time to make the trip is no problem but scraping together the necessary funds is a VERY SERIOUS problem? That's what kept me away this year, and I'm not fond of the idea of turning to crime to solve it.

Figure $100/day while you're on the road, and that's being very generous. (Allows for a night in a hotel once in a while, and decent eats, plus gas) From TX, it'll take you a couple days to get there, a few days there and a couple days to ride home. Figure 7 days. You've got a year to put together $700, which should be something you can accomplish.

If you want to, you can go way cheaper than that, exercising camping in state parks and dollar menu food the whole way.

Drink beer that Mark likes and it should be even easier. :ha
 
KBasa said:
If you want to, you can go way cheaper than that, exercising camping in state parks and dollar menu food the whole way.
The Poverty Rider's best tool for on-the-road housing: the BMWMOA Anonymous

Best way to keep housing costs down and you meet neat people :bikes
 
sjbmw said:
First timers got red mugs at the Ambassador tent, with a free beverage among other little goodies..
I forgot to ask for my Rally Virgin Cherry Popper kit, but since I registered as my brother, I'll do in in Wisconsin!!
 
Rev.Willie said:
NO,NO,NO! That is not the way you approach MOA Nationals!

You come back to work, looking somewhat like a racoon (sunburned cheeks + forehead and white eye sockets), babbling about 4 nights of music, dollar beers (but really good $2 beers), gazillions of tents, friendly folks, every kind of BMW ever, every widget ever made for a BMW, and more rantings that will make your friends,family,and co-workers wonder if you were out in the sun maybe a bit too long on this ride. You then fill out a vacation leave form for July of '07 and tell everybody that you WILL GO to Wisconsin next July. You will have nearly a entire year to negotiate/plead/threaten with your employer [note to self: do not mention all the "change of careers" that you know of due to MOA Nationals] You spend the next 11 months planning your route, volunteering to work the Rally, convincing friends to ride along, doing whatever you need to do for your SO in order to dissappear in July, and will continue to dream of acres of tents with BMW's parked all around.

You do this, year-after-year, and your friends,family,and co-workers will become convinced that something ain't right with that boy!

Welcome to the club! :thumb :deal

Right on Rev....

When I told my wife that she had to come with me to WI in 07, also known as "Chromeheads with Cheese" Rally, she said "That's your thing." I said she should fly with Robert and Katie can ride with me. We'll see. I have to provide shopping and other area attraction info for her to consider, but the groundwork has been laid.

My first rally of any kind after 29 years of riding. Exceeded ALL expectations. Serving as a volunteer brings an "insider" perspective and helps cultivate a whole new group of friends that I will look forward to seeing in years to come. Registration and two shifts in the Beer Garden. Should have done it earlier.

As far as the $$$ issue, if you put away $20 per week until the rally, you'll have over $1000 come departure time.

Rev- Trust you made it home safe. Had a great time talking and working with you, Bob and John. Also, all the others I had contact with, what a fantastic group! Count me in for next year!

Bob
 
tessler said:
And I'll add my comment to the thread by saying that as a first-timer, I was verily blown away by the people, first and foremost. It was a great experience, hopefully to be compounded by more of the same in the future.

Oh, and Jonathan, the signs you guys did on site were LOVELY.......
 
First-Timer's Rally Goodies

This was the first time we came up with an idea for the first-time rally goers. The Kiltmeister (AKA Ambassador Liaison Don Faichney) ordered 400 of those red mugs, and by Friday morning, they were all handed out. WOW!

Looking forward to doing it again in Wisconsin, Fer Sure.
 
$20 A week is great if you have a regular paycheck, which I don't (struggling to make my business work out). I don't think there was a solution for me this year- especially since my bike gets crappy mileage (currently very low 30s, which at $3/gal works out to almost $70 for a 700-mile day in fuel alone).
Since I had no solution this year, I'm not griping (despite sounding like I am). I accepted my fate.

But I've made a hell-or-high-water vow for next year, even if I have to charge it all (too much debt to do that this year). Hopefully by then we won't be seeing that $4/gal fuel that T. Boone Pickens is predicting.
 
We're already at the 4 dollar a gallon mark in Canada! 4.11 Canadian for Regular - 4.44 Canadian for Super (Ontario). Quebec and the maritimes are even more expensive.

The irony in all of this is that I sorta appreciated the lower gas prices in the USA.
 
1st timer

This was my first BMW MOA rally as well and it was a blast... I went alone and didn't know what to expect.. Everyone was extremely friendly and I immediately made many new friends.. Volunteering on the gate provide me with plenty of opportunity to meet & talk with other rally goers and see a large assortment of bikes...
Hats off to the organizers and I can't wait to the next one...
:bliss
 
stealthrider said:
This was my first BMW MOA rally as well and it was a blast... I went alone and didn't know what to expect.. Everyone was extremely friendly and I immediately made many new friends.. Volunteering on the gate provide me with plenty of opportunity to meet & talk with other rally goers and see a large assortment of bikes...
Hats off to the organizers and I can't wait to the next one...
:bliss

Volunteering as a way to meet people is great advice.

At my first Rally, I basically hung out with the guy I went with, not much riding. I had no clue about volunteering, nor had I a taken time to learn about the area I was visiting. Second rally, still clueless about what a rally was all about, thought it was about visiting vendors and attending talks.

A big change happened on my third rally. I planned for it. I had to, it involved ridding across the country. I started reading and participating on the rally forum. When I got there, I met some of the forum members and for the first time had new rally friends. This year was my 4th rally (I'm averaging every other year), and I knew lots of people because I'm more active in my local, virtual and national clubs. Knowing people, meeting new ones made all the difference in how satisfied I was in the rally experience.

So if you've never been to a rally, or were new this year and found the experience to be mediocre, my advice is to get out and meet your local club members, volunteer in a role with lots of people contact, and make virtual friends too.
 
iRene said:
Oh, and Jonathan, the signs you guys did on site were LOVELY.......
THANKS, Irene! I met a considerable bevy of New England folks and am sorry I'd not gotten the opportunity to meet you.

There's always next year (or next month at the Damn Yankees Rally!)
 
tessler said:
THANKS, Irene! I met a considerable bevy of New England folks and am sorry I'd not gotten the opportunity to meet you.

There's always next year (or next month at the Damn Yankees Rally!)

Hah! But I saw YOU, was coincidentally at the gate when you checked in with Drif10, and heard your name.
 
iRene said:
Hah! But I saw YOU, was coincidentally at the gate when you checked in with Drif10, and heard your name.
[hijack]
oh cool. do you mean, at the front gate, when I arrived, on wednesday for the first time?
[/hijack]
 
First for me, but for now I am looking in the future of taking the time to stop more, see more, maybe a day stop by check out the vendors, then hit the road to see more.

Doing this solo does suck I have to admit, but nice to go my own pace.
If you stopped by the beer tent and everyone had time to down a couple beers, you would have to fight off some, they all want to talk drunk.

But I met some really great people, but most of the time the greatest times I had was on the road, gas stations to see who you run into, and best of all is passing all the Harley boys on the freeways, with bugs stuck in their teeth. :brad

For the first time, is was cool, but now I will spend the time hitting the road seeing more, and taking my time what little I can get at that being 36 and not getting any younger.
 
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