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Future Rally Site question

Karol - thanks for the heads up. I've been to two of the three - Laurens County and Spartanburg County fairgrounds, but not Greenville's. I'll check out the criteria and make some calls, then take your advice. I'll post what I find out back here.
Murph

Looks like Columbia has a big FG too, but it's hard to tell from the web.
 
for some odd reason having it on the Greer Zentrum grounds sounds like a grand Idea.
Its Home of the only US BMW manufacturing facility, they have the acreage, great riding, even better hospitality (since they got rid of mini bottles)

but would "BMW" have us?
 
I think that not only would BMW have us... they'd embrace us. At least that's the feedback I get from the folks at the plant.

Karol I contacted Ian Wednesday morning (my regional Rally guy) and he said he'd e-mail me the fairground requirements, to which I told him I'd gladly make a few phone calls to see if any of the sites met them - then pass the information back to him for follow up. I haven't seen this e-mail yet.

One thing (and I want to be delicate about this).... I'm new to the club so I don't know the politics of it yet (or if there even ARE politics)... but last night it crept into my mind that this whole "Rally Site" question might be a Political Frying Pan. Regions working to get the Rally in "their" area over other Regions... Local MOA Rally officials having their own "favorite" place they want to see the Rally- and fighting to make sure that happens... and similar thoughts.

I'm not "trying" to be paranoid, but I was a Member of the PCA for years (Porsche), and there was always some kind of power stuggle no matter which region you lived in. I just chalked it up to "Porsche Owners" (and is one of the reasons I no longer own one). In fact if a Nube brought up this idea over there, it would have been dismissed summarily. Thus my initial reaction to comments on this string when I floated the idea. I thought I was in the PCA all over again.
Murph
 
I think that not only would BMW have us... they'd embrace us. At least that's the feedback I get from the folks at the plant.

Karol I contacted Ian Wednesday morning (my regional Rally guy) and he said he'd e-mail me the fairground requirements, to which I told him I'd gladly make a few phone calls to see if any of the sites met them - then pass the information back to him for follow up. I haven't seen this e-mail yet.

One thing (and I want to be delicate about this).... I'm new to the club so I don't know the politics of it yet (or if there even ARE politics)... but last night it crept into my mind that this whole "Rally Site" question might be a Political Frying Pan. Regions working to get the Rally in "their" area over other Regions... Local MOA Rally officials having their own "favorite" place they want to see the Rally- and fighting to make sure that happens... and similar thoughts.

I'm not "trying" to be paranoid, but I was a Member of the PCA for years (Porsche), and there was always some kind of power stuggle no matter which region you lived in. I just chalked it up to "Porsche Owners" (and is one of the reasons I no longer own one). In fact if a Nube brought up this idea over there, it would have been dismissed summarily. Thus my initial reaction to comments on this string when I floated the idea. I thought I was in the PCA all over again.
Murph


Now that you mention it.......SC is pretty far from.....SoCal........so, except for the fact that I love a cross country run.......having it in SC sucks......can't wait for a rally in SC..........:usa :german :dance
 
One thing (and I want to be delicate about this).... I'm new to the club so I don't know the politics of it yet (or if there even ARE politics)... but last night it crept into my mind that this whole "Rally Site" question might be a Political Frying Pan. Regions working to get the Rally in "their" area over other Regions... Local MOA Rally officials having their own "favorite" place they want to see the Rally- and fighting to make sure that happens... and similar thoughts.

I'm not "trying" to be paranoid, but I was a Member of the PCA for years (Porsche), and there was always some kind of power stuggle no matter which region you lived in. I just chalked it up to "Porsche Owners" (and is one of the reasons I no longer own one). In fact if a Nube brought up this idea over there, it would have been dismissed summarily. Thus my initial reaction to comments on this string when I floated the idea. I thought I was in the PCA all over again.
Murph

No suggestion from a member (new or otherwise) would be dismissed. It's difficult enough to find suitable locations without dismissing facilities that will accomodate the crowd!! Our Rally Site Search Team is open to suggestions, and during my board term I've never heard of a "favorite" place for the rally. If the grounds can accomodate us, and meets the criteria, they are considered as potential locations. Usually something is a "deal killer", and it's often the sale of beer. :drink

Ian's a good guy to work with, and I'm sure he'll get the info to you in a timely fashion.
 
Barber Musum

Spartanburg sounds like a great venue, and - the Barber Museum, located in Birmingham, Alabama, is about 300 miles (5 hours) to the southwest. That would be a good place to stop and spend a day (or two) en route to or returning from the rally. There's plenty to see and do at the Barber grounds.
 
Spartanburg sounds like a great venue, and - the Barber Museum, located in Birmingham, Alabama, is about 300 miles (5 hours) to the southwest. That would be a good place to stop and spend a day (or two) en route to or returning from the rally. There's plenty to see and do at the Barber grounds.

Within less than 1 hour of the Greenville grounds is the Blue Ridge Parkway.
about 1.4 hours is Asheville NC
about 2 hours is Maggie Valley and the Wheels through time Museum.
about 2.5 hours is Deals Gap aka The Dragons Tail
about 2.7 hours is Charleston SC

Lots to do within a mornings ride of the area. Not to mention the BMW Performance Center Track, possibility of the GS Motorcycle riding school installation at the Center by Future Rally Time, the BMW Museum, and of course VIP Plant Tours for BMW owners of any machine.

Can you see why I like living here?
Murph
 
Ian's a good guy to work with, and I'm sure he'll get the info to you in a timely fashion.

After a short conversation last Tuesday, and a reminder Voice Mail to him this past Friday... still no e-mail regarding the fairground requirements. Oh well.. it's always interesting to see what is other peoples idea of "timely".:thumb
Murph
 
After a short conversation last Tuesday, and a reminder Voice Mail to him this past Friday... still no e-mail regarding the fairground requirements. Oh well.. it's always interesting to see what is other peoples idea of "timely".:thumb
Murph


Murph,

He's a volunteer like the rest of us and has a life outside MOA. Since the next rally site is picked and the next 2 after that are most likely narrowed down to a few sites, there is plenty of time left.

That said, the location you are suggesting is very interesting and I hope it can qualify as a rally site.

Thanks for doing the leg work to find out.

Regards
 
After a short conversation last Tuesday, and a reminder Voice Mail to him this past Friday... still no e-mail regarding the fairground requirements. Oh well.. it's always interesting to see what is other peoples idea of "timely".:thumb
Murph

uhh.... work comes first, murphy.... :)

major deadline was met friday, a million details and guess who is responsible if one of them hits the floor?

deadline was met, client is happy, and their agency hopped on his bike to ride for the weekend.

three hours out of my weeked was occupied with rally site selection business... TOP SECRET :D

the information was just sent to you today.

ian
 
uhh.... work comes first, murphy.... :)

major deadline was met friday, a million details and guess who is responsible if one of them hits the floor?

deadline was met, client is happy, and their agency hopped on his bike to ride for the weekend.

three hours out of my weeked was occupied with rally site selection business... TOP SECRET :D

the information was just sent to you today.

ian

Thanks Ian! Wasn't an issue for me about the info... I was just kidding Karol about "timely". Sometimes things can be read into the writen word, versus inflection of the verbal. Hope I can help out with a little leg work, and zap to you all the information I can uncover - contacts, phones numbers, so forth. Or that this area just plain won't work.
Congrats on keeping the client happy. If the client is happy ($$) then Mama is happy. At least that's the way it works at my house!:thumb
Murph
 
I would surely second a vote for the upstate of South Carolina!:thumb Beautiful riding areas close by. I'm not sure of the facilities up there. How about the Donaldson Center area west of Greenville. Didn't they used to host Freedom Weekend Aloft? Might want to also check the Anderson and Seneca areas. Maybe Clemson would host us? Karol mentioned the Columbia fair grounds, which would be big enough, but further from good riding and HOT! Anyway Murph, let me know what you hear.

Jim
 
Within less than 1 hour of the Greenville grounds is the Blue Ridge Parkway.
about 1.4 hours is Asheville NC
about 2 hours is Maggie Valley and the Wheels through time Museum.
about 2.5 hours is Deals Gap aka The Dragons Tail
about 2.7 hours is Charleston SC

Those look further than the mileage people are complaining about to get to good roads and scenic sites from Gillette. Be prepared for complaints. I don't mind either way, I come to the Nat'l for the people. It sounds like a great place for a Nat'l. I am still trying to figure out where we could have in in the LaCrosse area of Wisconsin.
 
Those look further than the mileage people are complaining about to get to good roads and scenic sites from Gillette. Be prepared for complaints. I don't mind either way, I come to the Nat'l for the people. It sounds like a great place for a Nat'l. I am still trying to figure out where we could have in in the LaCrosse area of Wisconsin.

Roy you could be right. I travel ALOT for my job (Shell Oil Fluid Tech) and think nothing of riding two hours between appointment. Hitting the Blue Ridge in under an hour is like around the block to me!;)

LT- I think the Hot Air Ballon Freedom Aloft has been moved twice in the last two years. Once in Anderson and then in Simpsonville this past year. Both have huge areas, but I'm thinking of looking for facilities as close to the Zentrum as possible for a couple of reasons. The local news outlets have supported Bike and Cars shows there extremely well, BMW is always accomodating, and finally the local populace tends to turn out very well for these events. It might turn out that there is no place accomodating... we'll see.

As LT knows we hold an annual BMW Golf Tourney fundraiser which Kevin Costner is a big part of every year, and a couple of other large events (we just held some kind of World Series of Baseball which bought in around 12,000 people...okay okay so I don't follow the small sports scene... sue me.)
Murph
 
Those look further than the mileage people are complaining about to get to good roads and scenic sites from Gillette. Be prepared for complaints. I don't mind either way, I come to the Nat'l for the people. It sounds like a great place for a Nat'l. I am still trying to figure out where we could have in in the LaCrosse area of Wisconsin.

Devils Tower-65 Miles
Black hills-141 miles
Great GS riding, desert and sandy miles of roads EXACTLY 35 miles on I-90 to obscure turn off. Too many other back country public roads (I call them trails) to begin to count.

Hills and Twisties in the Big Horn mountains outside of Buffalo- 69 miles
GS Mountain "scare the hell out of you" GS public "roads"- 100 miles on the nose.

Great friends-elbow up to the bar- 3 feet.

Whats amatter with having a Rally at Gillette? Nothing!
 
I would surely second a vote for the upstate of South Carolina!:thumb


me, too! it's not what you think about when you think about south carolina.

speaking of the unfriendly enforcement issue in the past, and not having read every post in this thread, the event people were talking about was *not* the RA rally (huge change of heart in graham county, nc btw... for those who know... they now have promotional contests to attract riders to the area), it was a local charity event in spartanburg, sc where some of the bmw officials participated. there was an overly-agressive enforcement operation, and some specific harassament at the event where identies were checked and recorded. fwiw, things have really changed there, too.

murphy is going to send me some location information, i've sent him the basic reqirements.

murphy - if you could send me the specifics off-line, i'll be able to check them out in the next three weeks. if you want to ride together and check them out, let me know. i'll bring the airhead g/s :burnout

ian
 
Ian,

You and Murphy let me know if you get together to tour locations...would love to join in for the ride if it's OK.
 
South Carolina has some MOA history.

Table Rock,SC
Table Rock State Park
site of the 2nd BMWMOA National Rally in 1974.

MY FIRST MOA NATIONAL!:clap

I've been back to Table Rock since '74, and it is still lovely but way too small for a current National. The roads in the SC mountains are great. It would be nice to have a National Rally at the BMW Factory, especially if the performance center could be worked in. Hey, given the talk about "regional nationals", (a smaller version of a MOA National Rallies in different areas and times), maybe the SC site could work for one of those sites. Hmm, worth a thought.:kbasa
 
Table Rock,SC
Table Rock State Park
site of the 2nd BMWMOA National Rally in 1974.

MY FIRST MOA NATIONAL!:clap

1974?

dude, you are OLD! :laugh

i love table rock park, and the whole upstate area.

willie... be sure to be combing the woods in your area, too.

ian
 
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