A post by tour guide extraordinaire Carlos G on another thread brought up the Tour de Smo' and I thought I'd let y'all know where that stands for this year.
At last year's gathering (where a great time was had by all) we agreed that, after doing almost the same thing two years in a row, we should do something different this year to keep it fresh. After throwing about quite a few ideas we tentatively settled on a gathering in north Georgia near Casa de Mullis and that Ron and Maddie would be the leads this year. I figured I'd sit back and let them handle it, which turned out to be a good thing because my attentions got diverted by my mother-in-law's stroke. Here's where "The best laid plans..." thing comes into play.
In the interim, Maddie got pegged to do all of the planning for Ron's reunion (can't remember if it's Air Force Academy or what) and despite her being as productive as three average humans, doing the Tour de Smo' is more than she can take on this year. I found this out a couple of months ago and reached out to the Tour de Smo' Planning Commission (Stan, Cory, and me) where things continued downhill. Cory and Jeni are planning a vacation elsewhere at our usual time and can't make it this year. Same thing for Danny and Michelle. I floated the idea of doing a repeat of last year for the rest of us, but was told that some folks who have attended the previous events probably wouldn't make the long drive to do the same thing again (understandable). I'm afraid that I don't have the bandwidth right now to plan something new, which would require some travel to the mountains (not exactly in my backyard) to set up.
So where does that leave us? I should have the Beck Super Coupe this summer and would love to do something in the mountains this fall, so I might just reach out on short notice and say "Y'all wanna meet me in the mountains on xxx date?" That wouldn't require any real planning, but would still be fun. I realize that wouldn't work for a lot of folks, though, and lodgings up there can be problematic that time of year if you haven't made reservations months before. The other option is for someone else to take up the torch for this year and to do something else, perhaps in a different location like Virginia.
Anybody game for it?