First Time Rider from Iowa looking for company

I just purchased a 96 R 1100 RT in December and put about 4,000 miles on it doing day trips. This will be my first rally.

I am looking for a few people coming through (Iowa City, Iowa) that might want to meet and ride together. I have an Autocomm and willing to buy a FSR to communicate.

Any first time rally rider info would be great.

Thanks,

pmg

Welcome to the Insanity

pmg,

You didn't mention where you are from, but there will be atleast 3-4 people from our club ( www.bahnsturmers.org ) from the central Iowa area. I'll be otherwise our club.

Again welcome....

Derek

Several from the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area going as well. I'll deliver more info when available.

Steve

Iowa to Ohio

Hey PMG,

When are you leaving for the ralley and what route are you planning on taking?

I'll be leaving from work about 2:30 Thursday from the Quad Cities. I'm planning on ridding I 80 to Morris, IL then South to 24, turning East then ridding on into Indiana and Ohio. I'm open to other routes.

Your welcome to join in the fun! Any others out there ridding through Eastern Iowa at that time?

Thanks for the note, I left out a very important part of my post, where I was from (Iowa City, IA), which I edited. I am off the whole week and can really leave anytime and open to most any route, but prefer to see the country OFF the interstate, I will probably be I80 all the way home on Sunday since I work Monday. Maybe we could plan on meeting somewhere in the Iowa City Area, and meet up with others from the Quad Cities Area. I plan on camping on the Rally Grounds, I assume that option will be open when we check in.

I am planning on leaving early Wed AM as I am volunteering at the Rally. I haven't mapped my route yet; it will probably be a mixed slate. Trying out the sherpa service for camping. My 14-yr-old son is riding pillion.

I would recommend talking to the folks at Gina's too, they probably have pretty good insight into who's going at what times.

Steve

I'll be leaving Wednesday morning and taking the same route as Bluestune. A few of my club (Mississippi Valley Riders) members are planning to take I-74 to US 24, but I want to avoid the Peoria bottleneck. The I-80/I-39 route to US 24 is about 5 miles longer. I'll be stopping Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn Express in Van Wert, then traveling the remaining 33 miles to Lima. The HI website still is showing rooms available in Van Wert, but they're $79.

I don't have much to offer regarding first-time rally info, since I haven't attended a National in 25 years. I would suggest reading all the pertinent topics in the rally forum - that's what I've done. Oh, yeah - don't forget ear plugs for sleeping!

Regarding taking I-80 all the way home, please reconsider. The I-80/I-94/I-294 corridor south of Chicago is bad enough on four wheels. Search "Chicago" for threads on alternative routes. My map program indicates the US 24 route takes about an hour longer than the I-80/US 30 route, assuming no traffic backups (bad assumption). For more info on IL roads, go to www.dot.state.il.us .

I doubt anyone would want to travel with me because I go slow and take frequent butt-breaks. If you take my route and see someone with a silver RT, silver helmet, and silver Phoenix, be sure to wave enthusiatically as you go by - that's me!