[Uncle Stinky]

*Sticky Please*

Lets get this Midwest caravan off the ground. If you are in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, or see yourself coming anywhere close on your way to Tulsa, chime in so we can merge routes. Not only is traveling in numbers safer, its way more fun.

My times and routes can easily change to accommodate, this is my current plan:

-I-44 West from St. Louis to Tulsa - 6 hrs/400 miles

-Wheels up at 7am Friday morning. This is plenty early, but last year's traffic fun has me a bit paranoid - I don't want to miss dinner :yumyum:

So who's In?

5/17/06 EDIT - Current List of Midwest Caravan Participants:
-Searchin4acoupe - St. Louis, MO
-Shaar - Springfield, MO
-pasha95GS - Louisville, KY
-Sean C. - Kansas City, MO/KS Area
-92drls - Springfield, MO

5/16/06 EDIT - Updated Timing, Route & Meeting Locations:
-Due to construction in Missouri on Southbound I-44 near the 214 mile marker we are going to head West out of St. Louis on I-70, to Hwy 19 South, to Hwy F South, to Southbound I-44 all the way to Tulsa. See below for meeting times and locations:
-9 to 9:30 AM Friday morning - The St. Louis, MO area meeting place will be at the QuickTrip Gas station on the south side of I-70 at exit 219 in western St. Charles.
-1 to 1:30 PM Friday afternoon - The Springfield, MO area meeting place for a quick lunch will be at the Subway Restaurant at 2721 N. Kansas Expy (US 13) just south of I-44. See a map here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...+Expy,+Springfield,+MO+65803&om=1&ll=37.243312,-93.288174&spn=0.058625,0.166855
-5-6 PM Friday evening - Tulsa, OK Arrival

 

[RangerJoe]

Traffic coming into Tulsa is never bad, especially friday mornings. As long as you miss morning and 5pm traffic, you don't have to worry about anything. Someone everyone will quickly learn about this place. For about 45 minutes in the morning, and for about 20 minutes after 5pm, there is some traffic. otherwise Tulsa is VERY simple and quick to get around in.

 

[Shaar]

well i can meet you on I44 along the way. i'm in Ozark about 25 mins south of I44 on 65. maybe we can arrange a meetup somewhere near there? say I44 & 65 area?

 

[Uncle Stinky]

well i can meet you on I44 along the way. i'm in Ozark about 25 mins south of I44 on 65. maybe we can arrange a meetup somewhere near there? say I44 & 65 area?

Sounds perfect. Is 65 the Springfield exit?

 

[Shaar]

Sounds perfect. Is 65 the Springfield exit?

yup! i need to check on some suspension issues on my car today.. hopefully i can get them fixed and worked out on my extremely limited budget.. but other than that, i'm golden and can't wait to go to the meet.

 

[Uncle Stinky]

yup! i need to check on some suspension issues on my car today.. hopefully i can get them fixed and worked out on my extremely limited budget.. but other than that, i'm golden and can't wait to go to the meet.

Cool, we'll hammer out the details when the time gets closer.

 

[pasha95GS]

What about Kentucky?

But if you're leaving St. Louis at 7:00AM, there's no way I can jump on that. I'll be leaving Louisville at 7:00AM which will put me in St. Louis around 11:00ish. For the carpool, were you not planning on waiting up for the guys coming in from Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan until at least noon or something?

Pasha.

 

[Shaar]

^ i just thought you guys would leave earlier?

we need to make it to tulsa around lunch time correct? that would put us in tulsa around 11-12. didn't know if there was a rough time we needed to be there... just thought 3-4 would be a little late. it would get dark within a couple hours

 

[Uncle Stinky]

Kentucky is more than welcome...

^ i just thought you guys would leave earlier?

That's kinda what I'm thinking. Another option is to drive some on Thursday night and get a cheap room, or snooze in the car. I'd offer for people to stay at my place, but I'm thinking the wife would say otherwise.:dunno: I'd be more than happy to meet anyone Thrusday night for dinner or drinks etc.

First off, I am flexible, so don't worry, we will work things out as people chime in. We don't really need to be in Tulsa until around dinner time. Phil's thread says that hotel check in is at 3pm. Dinner time & place will come together as the date gets closer. I would like to plan on arriving in the 3pm range, because inevitably there will be delays, and then we will have time to unload cars etc. before having to head to the drag strip later with a trunk full of crap. Last year we tried to cushion things and still ended up getting to Dallas around 7pm when we were aiming for 5ish.

So, working backwards:
-3pm arrival minus 6 hours from St. Louis + 1 hour for stopping in Springfield, MO to pick up Shaar/lunch = 8am departure

If You arrive in St. Louis by 9am, we arrive in Tulsa at 4pm
If You arrive in St. Louis by 10am, we arrive in Tulsa at 5pm
If we think we can take less time for lunch, deduct accordingly
And so on...

If you guys think I am building in too much cushion just let me know. Also remember that the drive times above are assuming we obey the posted limits. :mhihi:

 

[RangerJoe]

Check in at the hotels isnt until 3-4pm typically. leaving at 7am is a little bit extreme.

Friday night will be a hang out night. We will all be there to get some dinner, then hang out. And it is not required to go to dinner with everyone, just thought it would be cool to chill the first night and go out on the town.

 

[pasha95GS]

That's exactly what I thought. Didn't think Friday night was anything but dinner / hang-out night since Friday is the day when most people are getting in. Didn't think we were going to the drag strip until Saturday night.

Leaving at 7:00AM from St. Louis will put people in Tulsa at 1:00-2:00pm. I didn't plan on getting into Tulsa until maybe around 5:00-6:00pm (leaving at 7:00AM from Louisville - 10hrs.) - which means I'll be going through St. Louis at 11:00ish. I think your cusion might be a little too much since we won't really be driving exactly 65mph all the way through. I don't know if you (St. Louis members) want to hang until 11:00am but let me know if this sounds reasonable. I don't want to hold you guys back if you want to get there by 3pm. Regardless, I'll only be 2.x hours behind you guys and won't have any problems making the dinner / hang-out session.

Phil, I know you've been busy but did you get my g-mail+PM about the alternate hotel I had in mind? Haven't heard from you about it.

Thanks,
Pasha.

Check in at the hotels isnt until 3-4pm typically. leaving at 7am is a little bit extreme.

Friday night will be a hang out night. We will all be there to get some dinner, then hang out. And it is not required to go to dinner with everyone, just thought it would be cool to chill the first night and go out on the town.

 

[pasha95GS]

No, we need to make it to Tulsa around DINNER time. And it probably won't get dark until 7-8pm....

^ i just thought you guys would leave earlier?

we need to make it to tulsa around lunch time correct? that would put us in tulsa around 11-12. didn't know if there was a rough time we needed to be there... just thought 3-4 would be a little late. it would get dark within a couple hours

 

[Shaar]

it doesn't really matter to me. i wouldn't have a problem waiting for you guys over there the bigger the caravan, the better!

 

[pasha95GS]

TIME ZONE!!!!!

Just realized something. When I say I'll be in St. Louis at 11:00ish, I really mean 10:00ish because you guys are an hour behind. atriot: So I would actually be going through St. Louis by 10am, which would put us in Tulsa at 4-5pm.

Searchin4acoupe, does that sound better? From St. Louis to Springfield (3 hrs later) we swing by and get Shaar along the way - around 1:00pm. Get a bite to eat, etc. 30). Then about 2.5 hrs later, we are in Tulsa - 4:00PM (give or take).

So, any others besides myself, Searchin4acoupe, and Shaar want to jump on this caravan?

 

[Alperovich]

i'll most likely be joining the caravan somewere along the way...

 

[pasha95GS]

Alperovich, approximately what time do you think you'll be going through St. Louis? I'm guessing it takes about 5 hrs from Highland Park, IL to St. Louis (Google says 313 miles), but it all depends on what time you leave and your rate of travel.

Searchin4acoupe, since you're in St. Louis, can you come up with some kind of a central location not too far from I-44 where we can all converge (maybe even right outside of STL).

i'll most likely be joining the caravan somewere along the way...

 

[Alperovich]

i get to st. louis in 3.5 hr... but i have not worked out the details yet, and due to my speed of travel, i might leave later and meat up with you guy later in the trip

 

[Uncle Stinky]

Just realized something. When I say I'll be in St. Louis at 11:00ish, I really mean 10:00ish because you guys are an hour behind. atriot: So I would actually be going through St. Louis by 10am, which would put us in Tulsa at 4-5pm.

Searchin4acoupe, does that sound better? From St. Louis to Springfield (3 hrs later) we swing by and get Shaar along the way - around 1:00pm. Get a bite to eat, etc. 30). Then about 2.5 hrs later, we are in Tulsa - 4:00PM (give or take).

So, any others besides myself, Searchin4acoupe, and Shaar want to jump on this caravan?

Now we are talking... 10 sounds much better. To be honest, I'm still cringing a little at the unknowns, but hey, my panties should be out of that wad in no time.:****:

i get to st. louis in 3.5 hr... but i have not worked out the details yet, and due to my speed of travel, i might leave later and meat up with you guy later in the trip

If you leave at 6 or 6:30 you should be able to meet up with us in STL by 10. Is Ben coming?

 

[Shaar]

we should get phone #'s up here so it would be helpful to find eachother when we're near meeting points.

whenever i join the caravan, we can grab some lunch if you want in springfield, i know my way around town pretty good. but not the northern part of springfield. since it will only be like 20-30 minutes of driving for me to get to I-44, i was planning on just fixing a sandwich at my house and heading out. but if you guys want to grab lunch thats cool with me too.

 

[Alperovich]

yeah i think Ben is coming... yeah i no have to problem getting to stl by 10, what i ment was i might be traveling faster then the pack, due to my faster driving habbits, so i was going to meet up with you guys later on... but we'll see maybe i'll get that out of my system by stl, ya know...


Shaar, its a good idea bout phone #'s... it'll make it easier to find each other and coordinate on exact meeting times and stuff...