Meetup #3 on June 18th?

Let's aim for June the 18th.
Just to share, June the 19th is my birthday. :birthday2:

 

Location is still up in the air. I was thinking about mixing it up a bit and moving around, but don't want to alienate anyone because of the length of their drive. However, I hope that if everyone understands that everyone has to drive eventually, there will be no hard feelings.

With that said, who knows of any local happenings? I was thinking that a festival, ball game, or other summer event would be fun. Not only that, but we could maybe show off our cars and educate a few passers-by.

I have a hankering for a few of Matt's ribs and I mean that in the least Hannibal Lector way possible. The question is where to grill? Unfortunately the Schaumburg Flyers are out of town that day. And the more I look at the members map, the more I'm convinced that the Schaumburg/Wood Dale area is right about center. But if anyone knows of anything going on that would be convenient, interesting, and providing ample parking, throw it out.

I'll try to scour the net for local events. Hell, it's a June weekend; something's gotta be going on somewhere!

 

That's okay, Sparky. Can your car make it?

 

My wife came home from work this afternoon, changed clothes, and said, "I have to run some errands and I'm taking the Prius." And out the door she went.

She's in no hurry to get one of her own, but she enjoys toying around in mine from time to time.

 

We are on for June 18th with 7:1 of the cast votes in favor. Sorry Sparky. :-(

The only outstanding issue is location.
Bill has suggested a Kane County Cougars baseball game. I think it's a wonderful idea especially since we can tailgate, Matt can bring some ribs, hopefully someone can bring a grill. We can print up some information documents and answer questions of passers-by.

Looks like tickets are $7 - $10 if I understand their site correctly. Perhaps more gameday. But still not much.

If you are wondering where the Cougars play, you can use this map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3322800+Cher...,1.252937&hl=en
Once again, I think I have the longest drive. One of these days I'm going to seek my revenge and plan a meetup in Gurnee. Bwa-ha-ha-ha.

Speak up on your thoughts for the Cougars game one way or the other - just speak up. If I don't get many responses one way or the other by the weekend, I'll send out a bulk email soliciting responses.

 

Bill sent me a PM including this:

So it sounds like we should try hard to get 20 or more people. With a relatively small group so far, that might be a bit difficult. My wife works on saturdays and she's allergic to nerds so she doesn't really want to come to meetups.

According to the site, lawn seats are $7 and we supply the chairs, blankets, and whatnot. Gotta be honest, though, according to the aerial photo, the lawn seats don't look like a great viewing place. Looks like their in the extreme corners. But for just hanging out and being a group, it's probably our best bet.
http://www.kccougars.com/general_info/index.html

So if Bill would check out the arrangements of the ball park and Matt would look into the national parks, we will be that much closer to getting things going. I think both ideas are great.

And I'm going to throw this out for this group. If anyone wants to get ahold of me, try my cell at 847-33-88-66-5 or for you traditionalists, 338-8665. It's just that it's a little difficult to organize things via threads and PMs. And if you call during regular business hours and I don't answer, I'm in a meeting so leave a message. And there's always my AIM: tonypschaefer.

 

So Matt, am I to understand that you didn't reserve one for next year? jk

Are we trying too hard to make the baseball idea work? If I remember correctly, one of the main reasons we thought of something public such as a baseball game was so we can park together, hang out with our cars, draw a little attention, talk to curious people about our Prii. But if the baseball game doesn't allow tailgating, we're just a bunch of people going to a game.

I know that other groups meet at Startbucks and the like. The first Chicagoland meetup convened in a Starbucks - mostly because it was freakin' cold. And the Weber Grill was a pretty good location with plenty of parking space and ample seating.

Perhaps we can find a place to meet, have a cup of joe or a late lunch and then go to the parks for pictures.

Thoughts?