Ugly Duck wrote:
Not sure he was talking about you specifically, Geoff, though I know it bugged Ian somewhat how few people showed up to the thing after so much interest was generated in the first place. Bugged me too, and I had nothing to do with the organization. What was also irritating was when people who actually showed up took off early. Again, not pointing fingers at anyone specifically because I know things happen, but there it is.
I kinda figured it wasn't direct finger pointing, but I feel like one of the "dewds" standing in the crowd of losers. So I'm more or less saying sorry to those who put in the effort and were let down. I did contribute alot of hype to the PACNW thread, because I did enjoy previous years VERY much... I guess my enthusiasm just dropped with the rest of them.
Ugly Duck wrote:
Something about the trip gave me a slow leak too. I'm not sure what it was, but even up to the day I showed up I wasn't really overjoyed to be there. I think it was all the dropouts leading up to the actual weekend that did it for me, really, but it was also the reality that our big group would probably have been TOO big to stay together, make any decisions, etc. We barely fit into the parking lot at the hot springs, for example, and it took forever to figure out what we wanted to do on Sunday even with the limited participation we had. Plus there was the worry leading up to the event of fire and smoke and evacuation, etc.
I'm wondering if maybe we shouldn't look for big numbers in the next meet, either that or make some smaller groups. I'm not much of a leader or organizer though, but I guess that can be discussed in the 08 thread.
Ugly Duck wrote:
The idea for a Bellingham visit is kind of loose. In fact, Bellingham is pretty much useless to us now, since nobody really lives there. JL lives in Lynden but he's the only one. Adrian lives elsewhere, James too. If we chose to visit Seattle this year, we'd probably get to meet a new group of Volvo guys, as well as create enough of a draw to entice others to make the trip. Of course, if you go to Seattle, you've got a bigger city to deal with and not only is it tougher to do any kind of fun driving within the city, but it's easier for our group to get split up and lost, and it'll take longer for us to do anything. It would be good for each of us visiters to have a GPS with the city loaded up, so that if we did get separated we could at least find our way around.
We could also hit up Vancouver & meet some of the guys who live around there. Kenny, Leivon, Kayla, those bums on the island (if they'll get off their pedestal & take a ferry to meet us, that is), and whoever else. Does Kirby still live out there?
Another thought is to drive all the way to Portland for the IPD event. Could hit Seattle & Vancouver before or after. It's a thought.
I guess a loose idea is all I'm looking for anyway
. I'm far from saying yes for sure on anything right now, the IPD meet would be very cool to see. If we could run into whoever along the way.. all the better. The idea of this trip sounds very appealing. For me it depends on my job status (which might be changing) and if I can get the time needed. But the idea of it is something I like throwing around in the back of my head.