Kennesaw Mtn GA MVPA Show and Swap Meet

[CycleJay]

Hi guys,

In my own honest personal opinion. I do NOT think this event was THAT bad...

And there is nothing wrong with at least some events being small..
Sometimes crowds can get TOO big... And that causes all sorts of problems... (traffic, security issues, harder to get around,etc..)
Also, there was some places within walking distance to eat...

I think the location for this particular event was not THAT bad either...
And I can understand the trains being a bother to those that camped out overnight,
because trains are very loud machines, BUT that location was never meant to be a campground to begin with.

My family and I had a good time, it was a pleasant environment... And it was easy to get to,
since it was not as far out of town as the GA rally will be.

As I said earlier, I met some of you, all good people I think, saw some good deals, learned a few things,
saw some cool vehicles I had only seen online or heard about, etc....

But, I do have to agree, it would of been nice to have some food vendors there, and maybe a slightly larger crowd,
but not by much.. I just wish I had a budget to pick up a few of the parts I saw that I could use.

It also gave me a slight hint, as to what to expect at the upcoming GA rally next month..
I just hope I can go at all.. It depends on so many things, I am just not sure...

Have a good day, God bless all of you, and thank you for your brave service to our country,
My family & I thank you all, it is greatly appreciated.

CJ

P.s. This world is NOT a bowl of cherries, people must learn to make the best of a bad situation.

P.s.s. Great photos from all you guys by the way, if anyone is interested in seeing mine posted here,
please let me know, and I will start posting them when they are ready to post.
I took photos of just about everything.....

 

[Capt.Marion]

no NOT a negative event at all, we had a good time, if we had been 503ers, we would have come together like a well oiled machine, being SSers, we are at the other end of the MV hobby, i just think the GMVPA felt overwhelmed by the steel soldiers turnout, it looked to me that there was more SSers then GMVPAers, i think it cought them by surprise. the GMVPA is more of a local club and this was there mode of thought, where as we are a national group, we think nothing of DRIVING our trucks hours for a event. with everything said I would go again next year, hopefully with the 819

As a member of the GAMVPA, I agree 100%. It is also a bit of a jeep club, as nobody but maybe two or three people with larger, M-series vehicles are ever at any meetings. After all, the world is run by those who show up.

 

[hndrsonj]

As a member of the GAMVPA, I agree 100%. It is also a bit of a jeep club, as nobody but maybe two or three people with larger, M-series vehicles are ever at any meetings. After all, the world is run by those who show up.

I totally agree. I have noticed there is a huge separation between the GAMVPA and SteelSoldiers. How many GAMVPA rigs show up to the GA rally? I think this is the perfect oppertunity to bring them together. I have been to a couple of the meets on Delk road, but our BRAC move to NAS New Orleans killed my participation after that. Maybe, have someone from the GAMVPA contact Clinto for example, and come on out in force. Or contact David Doyle and put something in Supply Line or Army Motors about the GA rally? Why not put an ad in MVM? Seems simple enough-just takes a leader-someone step up.

 

[airmech3839]

I think you are right on guys. We need some guys that can make the meetings in Marietta and we need to be mixing and joining the MVPA group so that we can help each other in bringing together our resources!!

 

[hndrsonj]

When you really think about it, there is the ability to easily surpass aberdeen there in GA. All it takes is a little planning and leadership. Hopefully someone up there takes the helm and does it.

 

[CycleJay]

Hi Guys,

I am technically close enough to the Delkwood grill to attend those meetings.
I went to the last one in August. So I can go again, it is just a few blocks away from me.

But if I volunteer to be the "Steel Soldiers Ambassador" to the GAMVPA,
then I would need to be advised on what to say/do, etc. once I get there.

Any information would be helpful, as I would like to do what I can to help out
Steel Soldiers, as a way to pay back the help I have received from you guys here.

Have a good day,

CJ

 

[airmech3839]

Wish I was closer to the meeting point! I cannot afford to travel up there but maybe once or twice a year.. I would love to help in any way... I would go again next year for sure!!

 

[hndrsonj]

By the way, roll it to Columbus and you'll get the national stage with SS right there. Guarantee it.

 

[CARNAC]

All,

Some folks take my post as a short shoot at the MVPA. In everything there has to be an assessment. If someone doesn't do an AAR on an event like this, then nothing will become better. Only the event organizers can tell me if they "Grew their business" from last year. If they don't want to grow their business and remain stagnant then that is their business model and so be it. If they want to grow then they have to at least acknowledge the observations and try to improve.

I have been to the event last year, the GA SS Rally, couple SS drive-ins, the NJ Show, the Aberdeen Show, Gilbert Show. So I feel i have a been to several of the larger shows and some smaller ones in between. If the intent is to have a jeep drive in (ie a small event) then list it as a drive-in unless it is trying to grow to something larger. I saw no growth from last year.

Those that did not camp out nor stayed the entire event don't know half of the issues caused by the trains.

My observations (which is a summation of my own and several members there) stand.

If/when I organize an event, my intent would be to have the AAR sitting on the table or handed out to the vendors and display participants to fill out during their vendor/participant dinner night. If someone said that something needs to be done about something, then it would be taken into the planning for the next year if physically and fisically possible, especially if it was something major like the trains.

I offer no appologies. It was good meeting folks but the same effect for effort could have been attained by performing a drive-in for jeeps and us SS folks having our own drive in for the our stuff.

JIM,

Yep, I think we need to do a joint GAMVPA/SS event in the Columbus area and just like Aberdeen, bring in the local govt and military to indirectly support it. Meaning the museum brings over displays and the military does recruiting by bringing in a Stryker or something. Scout troop to do the meals. Civ Air Patrol to do trash and traffic control. Seen a lot of these things work elsewhere and there's no reason they can't work here in the GA.

 

[wreckerman893]

I agree 100% with Jim Henderson on a major event in the Columbus, GA area.

There is the Confederate Gunboat Museum (located very close to Papa Bear's LZ), the new Infantry Museum and Columbus is a military town.

I think with some coodination with local officals and a good location we could have a huge turnout for a combined Steelsoldiers and MVPA event. We might even entice some support from local businesses.

I know there is always a lot of support for the big air show they have every year at the Columbus Airport.

Maybe Papa Bear could do some "snooping and pooping" on this issue.

 

[clinto]

Or contact David Doyle and put something in Supply Line or Army Motors about the GA rally?

There was a mention in Supply Line last month in the article that Gimpy wrote for Haspin-it was a mention at the end of the article saying the next SS event would be the Ga Rally and David added a link to the Ga Rally website (at the last minute I might add).

I considered getting an ad in Supply Line but this allowed me to see how many
hits the rally site received after the issue came out and it wasn't much. In fact, it was much lower than I anticipated, to the point of wondering if any MVPA members have internet access.

I will probably run an ad in MVM next year, although I am concerned about the Ga Rally getting too big for it's own good. Plus, I think most people who see an ad for an upcoming event in a national magazine don't expect to show up to a field filled with horse poo.

 

[hndrsonj]

Well Clinto, the horse poo wouldn't happen if it went to Columbus and overtook Aberdeen....Just my 2 cents

 

[joeM62]

Looks like you guys had a good time, wish I could had made it. Nice pics.

 

[clinto]

Well Clinto, the horse poo wouldn't happen if it went to Columbus and overtook Aberdeen....Just my 2 cents

No offroading-the Ga Rally has grown a lot because of the offroading.

Not to say there isn't room for a National-sized meet in Columbus-but it won't be replacing the Ga Rally-just supplanting it.

 

[Chief_919]

I agree 100% with Jim Henderson on a major event in the Columbus, GA area.

There is the Confederate Gunboat Museum (located very close to Papa Bear's LZ), the new Infantry Museum and Columbus is a military town.

I think with some coodination with local officals and a good location we could have a huge turnout for a combined Steelsoldiers and MVPA event. We might even entice some support from local businesses.

I know there is always a lot of support for the big air show they have every year at the Columbus Airport.

Maybe Papa Bear could do some "snooping and pooping" on this issue.

A big event in Columbus would be great.

I remember the GAMVPA events in Helen, those were a blast. The location was perfect- you had a tourist town, it was close enough to the main drag that lots of tourists came through and were introduced to the hobby, food joints abounded and the hotels were right across the road. I am not sure what made the relationship with the city of Helen go sour, but that was an A#1 site to have a show.

If you want to see how a well run, big event looks like make the trip to the WWII weekend in Reading PA every June. It is all WWII themed, and you have 1800+ reenactors, 400+ vehicles, 300+ vendors, lots of airplanes- and the paid attendance is around 30,000 all paying $25 each to get it. On years where I only make one show, that is it.

Some day I would love to put one on here in the mountains of NC. With the Wheels Thorugh Time museum in Maggie Valley the are is becoming more and more of a tourist destination for antique auto folks, and we have tons of good places to stay and camp.

 

[hndrsonj]

So you don't think off-roading could be achieved at the base at Benning???? That is exactly my point. I guarantee you the base would be all over it. It is public relations 101. All it would take is someone who has the time and the knowledge. I Wish I was there. I vote CARNAC to be the go between with the Army and civvy's and make it happen. This has grown to something bigger.....It needs to evolve while it can.

 

[Chief_919]

So you don't think off-roading could be achieved at the base at Benning???? That is exactly my point. I guarantee you the base would be all over it. It is public relations 101. All it would take is someone who has the time and the knowledge. I Wish I was there. I vote CARNAC to be the go between with the Army and civvy's and make it happen. This has grown to something bigger.....It needs to evolve while it can.

Being certified to use and draw ranges and training areas at Benning, and having worked with range control and enviornmental there, I would say the chances of them allowing a group of civilians to go rooting around the tank trails come somewhere between slim and none.

A limited drive very controlled on some tamer training areas, maybe. Anything like real four wheeling, or turning folks loose to explore on their own? No way.

 

[Heavysteven]

A military vechile swap meet on a large scale in Goergia is long over due. So many locations and a draw from surrounding states could put us on the map. This kind of event would take a focused individual, with money, experience, and pull to achieve. Who I don't know. Hopefully soon.

 

[73m819]

in ca, north of Paso Robles is a military base (camp roberts, army reserves training or something, i checked what it would take to have a off road mv meet, I asked what was needed and was told what do you need or went, ended up there was chow hall, barracks, TWO tank training trails (with tracks authorised), driver training trails, ect, basically the training side of the base, just had to work around training , what ever ealse that was needed , a lot more i ever thought was possible, would even have our dedicated leison, i was working with the 3 or 4 mvpa groups, not sure what ever happened with the effort, last i heard, thay started up the roberts recon again about 5 or 6 years ago.
the benning plan may REALLY surprise you

 

[hndrsonj]

I would say the chances of them allowing a group of civilians to go rooting around the tank trails come somewhere between slim and none. A limited drive very controlled on some tamer training areas, maybe. Anything like real four wheeling, or turning folks loose to explore on their own? No way.

Getting access to a base is easy. Getting a group to drive a trail is simple. Whoever said unlimited access is going to happen, is a moron.