• Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

    We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides. Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?

    Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

  • NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

'04 MOA Rally

Hey Jim Shaw,re All nationals suck: I loved that !!I see our next rally chair.YOU, for the 2010 rally.How about Whistler/Squamish just in time for the Olympic Winter games?What is WITH that summertime rally anyway??Ski,ride,ski.It's a natural.
I am peeing my pants until we meet in Spokane.:clap
 
2004 BMW MOA National Rally, Spokane, WA
Chapter Four ÔÇô Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh, My!
and Submarines, too
(see previous posts/page for Chapters One, Two and Three)

From Spokane, take or get to Hwy 2 (about 10 miles from rally site if you take Market/Pend Oreille Hwy, to Newport Highway US 2). North of Mead and the intersection of Hwy 206 you will find Cat Tales Zoological Park, a training center where students can intern while caring for about 48 big cats. You can see lions, tigers, puma, leopards, native bobcats and lynx, servals and caracol. (The two bear cubs are due to be traded back this Oct.) You can even feed them (5pm, except Thursday is a fasting day). They offer group entrance rates. An ongoing tour takes about one hour, and you can roam at will (if you dare). Check them out on the Internet at www.cattales.org.

Not ready to go back to the rally? Continue North on Hwy 2, 40 miles from Cat Tales, stop at the coffee shack in the Subway parking lot in Newport WA for a great smoothie, then 25 miles more to Sandpoint, ID and beautiful Lake Pend Oreille.

Being 1,150 feet deep, this lake is used to test submarine technology. You can tour the facility near Bayview at Farragut State Park. To get there, take Hwy 95 across the river (like a causeway bridge) and go about 30 miles to the south end of the lake. 24 miles south on Hwy 95 (past Silverwood theme park) you will hit I-90 at Lake Coeur dÔÇÖAlene. Less than 30 miles and youÔÇÖre back at the rally site.

(This image was taken from Hope, ID, looking West at the Islands of Hope. The small white spot docked at the far shore in the left of the photo is a plane.)
 

Attachments

  • p7190012.jpg
    p7190012.jpg
    18 KB · Views: 1,205
Future Rally site idea

An earlier post-er mentioned that 2 years ago the site was Redmond, and Missoula a few years earlier. All great places in their own right, but the same general region. Likewise, Trenton, Midland and Rhinebeck are in "similar" regions. Charleston was a good choice, without discussing rally format. WHY NOT try somewhere central? Missouri (MOA home state), Arkansas (beautiful country) or maybe western Tennessee? What about eastern edge of the Rockys in Colorado? Missouri could be great. Easterners could get there, Westerners could get there. Just a thought.
 
DuQuoin, Oshkosh, Midland, Fredricksburg, Durango. These have all been in the last ten years.
 
'04 Rally / GS Training

What sort of interest is out there for a GS training camp the week before the Spokane Rally? Possible ideas include:

Classroom sessions
Range Sessions
Trail training
GS Ride
GS English Trials Competition (ala the NorCal 49er Rally)

Feel free to e-mail your comments and ideas to.

Ramey "Coach" Stroud
Ramey@wvi.com
 
FYI, The Top O The Rockies rally in Paonia Colorado will be from July 9-12 2004. The weekend before the National. And the closing events (where they give a bike away) will be on Sunday July 11th.

See you in Spokane!!!
 
Hello:

Never posted here before, but I thought this was as good a time as any. In the 80s, my job transferred me to Spokane. I was there for 8 years, before being transferred again. I LOVED IT!! Spokane is a GREAT place - certainly one of the nicest I've ever lived in!! The roads are great, the scenery is great and the people are great. Friends used to tell me that Spokane was one of the Northwest's best kept secrets. Unfortunately, I think the secret's now out, because migration to the area has really taken off, and the area has really expanded.

It's still a super place, and job permitting, I hope to be there.

Ride safe and hope to meet you next year!


Mike Rapp
021150RT
Garden Grove, CA
 
2004 Rally in Spokane

I too was disappointed to learn that next year's rally will be in
Spokane, Washington. I was hoping for California-- somewhere
near the 49er site. I couldn't help but notice that 2 of the complaints

posted so far were from Conneticut & Florida. I guess we could have
a permanent spot at the geographical center of the U.S.-- somewhere
South of Trenton, near Lawrence, Kansas. The mileage award could be
retired to the member that comes from Key West.
I have been a member since 1984, and it has always been a given
that the rally site alternated between the two coasts. The selections
of Trenton / Charleston seems to have thrown a monkey wrench in the
system. This year's rally site SHOULD have been out West.
I have been to Missoula twice, Laguna Seca, & Redmond. I scouted
the grounds at Redmond 9 months in advance, and thought the site
was stupendous! The reason that I am disappointed, is that I live
about 1340 ft outside Spokane's city limit. I have lived here by choice,
since 1968, and longer that I have been here, the more I have taken
this place for granted- compared to the rest of the country. For those
that are geographically impaired-- Spokane is nowhere NEAR Seattle.
Spokane is the 2nd? largest city in the state, and is the 'hub'
of the Inland Empire from which goods & services flow in all directions
for over 100 miles. Spokane is the 'go to' place for all of the smaller
communities. What Spokane doesn't have is humidity, congestion,
or gridlock. It is entirely possible to not see a cloud in the sky for the
entire length of the rally. Spokane is a 'working' town, with a constant
high unemployment that gets by on about $8.00/hr.
The Spokane County Fairgounds at the East city limits (Havanna St.)
in an industrial area. The good news is that the stockyards are all
gone years ago. The bad news is that Spokane has plenty of potholes
& red light runners. Drivers in cages tend not to signal, & when they
want to change lanes, they just 'wedge' in if they get more than a
fender length ahead of you. I am familiar with the Fairgrounds layout,
and in spite of several new buildings in the last few years--- I am
not aware of ANY shower facilities. The motels closest to the site
are either older, or truckers only-- none that I would want to stay at.
There is plenty of shaded grass at the Fairgrounds for tenting, with
security fencing & control gates around the entire facility. There are
enough large buildings to house ALL of the vendors & their trucks!
Since I will only have to drive about 10 miles, I plan on driving
my V10 Dodge. That way I won't be limited by size & weight of all
the BMW goodies I'll be buying from BOB'S & Kermit, & Helen 2Wheels'
& all of the rest of my Visa card family.

Ride safe #32686
 
Re: 2004 Rally in Spokane

animby said:
I couldn't help but notice that 2 of the complaints
posted so far were from Conneticut & Florida.

I hope you didn't think any of my comments were complaints.

Spokane is as good a location as any other. My only preference is for venue type and I was only offering suggestions.

I probably won't attend next year but it's due to vac time available, July is generally bad and I hate HUGE crowds.

MarkF
 
Montana,
keep up the good work this is interesting stuff for us that have never been too foar west of the Mississippi . I have started printing your chapters out for reference when I get there.
 
Spokane Rally 04'

Hey, Im completely new to your site, but will be joining soon. I have lived in Spokane for 28 years and just bought my first BMW two weeks ago. An 04 GS Adventure! So please excuse my giddy like attitude about my new machine.

I read most of the replies and comments about Spokane. Whomever said the roads are great, has never actually been to Spokane. The roads SUCK, but are bearable still. Driver are pretty much idiots, althogh most car drivers are when it comes to bikes. (Or so Ive found) I should say that I have been riding for ten yearrs, so Im not new to motorcycles completely. The traffic is light generally, the fairgrounds are roomy and nice and fairly updated. Correct there are no showers that I know of or have heard about. Hotels is easy since the freeway runs right past the Fairgrounds and there are a slew of nice places to stay on the freeway exits. All of them less than 10 min from the Fairgrounds via the freeway. The weather is varied, but usually nice and tempered.
I would love to help with your rally and become a member of this association. Please feel free to use me as a liason or ask me questions about Spokane.
Aaron Rollins

Rollque@aol.com

make sure and put non junk mail titles on any emails you send me, since they will be from addresses Im not familiar with.

Thanks,
looking forward to the event,
Aaron
 
Disappointed

I am only disappointed that I will not have far to travel to the rally this year - since I live in Spokane. But sign me up as a volunteer.
 
In the final ceremonies why not give the statistics while you wait for a prize winner to come down to the mike. What happend to a lot of the stats. i/e how many BMW's, brand x, planes etc. Check the sound system, many could not hear. Get an announcer that is used to speaking in puplic and does not incite such a bad reaction from BMW riders. I have been to most Nationals in the last 12 years and this was the worst one by far. However, the people of West Virginia were wonderful to us.
 
Rally city good choice, but the site --- ugh!!!

The city is great. Any opportunity to ride US 12 is worth a lot, but have you seen the grounds that the '04 rally will be held???

ExpoArial.jpg


Ick! Might as well have it in the middle of the stock yards. Was gonna camp, but I guess a 'decent' hotel 10 miles away is going to be the smart choice.

Who on the rally site selection committee really thought this site would be a good choice??? 104 degrees in the shade during July in Spokane, and not a decent shade tree in sight.

PLEASE find an alternate location in the area before it gets too late.
 
Back
Top