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The official 2022 Southeast Military Vehicle Rally information thread (the event formerly known as the Georgia Rally). This is gonna' be awesome!

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Recovry4x4

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Well, I'm sitting in the hotel room waiting for Jay to get ready so figured I'd type out a little post rally thoughts.
1) Facility. Overall, this place is awesome. The trail system compared to our previous venue is on another level. Trails are mild to wild. Want to hit something mild with no chance of damage to your Priceless slat grill, those trails are here. One thing you can't avoid unless it has rained is dust. You can easily avoid damage. Want to destroy your 5 or 7 ton, that's possible too.

2) Rally Field. Years ago when the rally was moved from the Durham Durhamtown pasture to the field, we were apprehensive. After the fact, it really worked out. I'm sure that many folks were apprehensive about Windrock. Don't be. The area that LRP reserved for us is extensive and has many power outlets around. The area we used was only filled to about 25% but wait. There are several more areas that were part of "our area". If I had to guess, it could easily host a rally 3 times our biggest rally. The layout was away from heavy traffic and hidden if we wanted to keep it that way. Dust at the field was minimal at worst. Weather is subject to change but it was splendid for this rally.

3) Windrock Staff. Imagine your worst experience at Durhamtown, mirror image that and you get the picture. This was no McDonalds, this was Chick-fil-A all the way.

4) Lodging. Campgrounds are awesome. Being allowed to primitive camp in the field was also awesome. Having power in the field was doubly awesome and a great benefit for a primitive campsite. I can't speak intelligently for the inside of the cabins, others will but outside, they are as nice as any home. More are being built and we will have a better chance at renting them going forward as now we know to book early. More on that soon.

Overall, LRP had provided us with the best facility yet. It's up to us as attendees to nurture it or kill it. If we pack this place and support the costs by buying shirts or offering a few bucks, it really can be 2.0 on steroids.
Lastly, Windrock is not a mom and pop or dictator and subject operation. This is corporate owned and operated and as such, very professional. Coming to the rally a few days early only gets you there a few days early. The field was secure until Thursday morning. Now it's up to you. It's your rally.
 

Robo McDuff

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Well, I'm sitting in the hotel room waiting for Jay to get ready so figured I'd type out a little post rally thoughts.
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Kenny, very good and motivating write-up. I do have to find money to come next year, and with an MV. Still dreaming about a DAF YA126, but if I get one, it won't be in the USA but over here (unless I win the lottery).
 

clinto

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Ok, got home a few hours ago, everything is in the washing machine, inventoried the shirts, counted the money, etc. So now I can take a few minutes to share some stuff.

  • Thanks to everyone who showed up and thanks to all those who helped (recovry4x4, walker hunter, squirt truck, Dumpster, AMGeneral72, more I'm probably forgetting). I hope everyone enjoyed it.
  • Thanks to Memphis for sponsoring us - as I always say, we couldn't do this without their help and I'll expound on this later.
  • Thanks to Old Guard Graphics in lovely Athens, Ga., who did the design and print work on the shirts.
  • Thanks to everyone who bought new and old shirts, as well as the people who said "keep the change" and several people made sizable donations. These people made 2023 possible.
  • Thanks to Windrock, who were awesome in every way.

Ok, more in depth stuff.

Windrock/money/dates for 2023
So, this place cost us a thousand bucks a day for the field. D-town never charged us for the field there, so this was a big financial gamble/undertaking. And we went into the event a couple grand short - i.e. if we didn't make up the shortage, we were going to have to come out of pocket ourselves, which obviously wasn't preferable.

Memphis' support, along with strong t-shirt sales and donations allowed us not only to break even (whew!) but put a little money in the bank towards next year. A rally member who shall remain nameless (unless he or she chooses to come forward) made a substantial check in the rally's name and that's gonna' allow 2023 to happen.

I think it's safe to say 2023 is going to be at Windrock. I have already emailed my POC at Windrock and asked for available dates. My goal is to have a date this week or next week and post it so everyone who wants a cabin can get one.

Also, Windrock has multiple cabins being built and I believe there are more planned so maybe next year, everyone who wants a cabin can have one.

When I have a date, I'm going to post an announcement date for the 2023 event. This will give everyone a week or so to discuss with their friends/family about their plans and when the official date is released, everyone can reserve their cabin. I think this is the best and fairest way of getting everyone who wants a cabin a reservation.

New place, learning curve
We'd been at D-town for so long, that we knew how everything worked. I'd forgotten what a learning curve it is at a new facility. As Kenny described above, the field isn't available until the day we start paying for it (Thursday) and that's just something I hadn't considered. We were at D-town for so long and they didn't care if we showed up early.

I do appreciate everyone's patience in that issue and Recovry4x4's work in managing the issue.

General observations
I loved the field, it was gorgeous, private, quiet, etc.

The cabins were GORGEOUS. I simply can't tell you how nice they are. I'd be perfectly content to live in one. They're that good.

I only went on one trail ride (much thanks to u/Walker Hunter) to see the wind farm and it was amazing, but the views from up there were just amazing

The drive wasn't too bad - I went from a 50 mile commute to the event to about 200 and I will totally bring my Deuce next year (it went down about 4 days before the event and I just didn't have time to fix it - first rally ever I didn't take a vehicle to).

Being 10 minutes from a town was awesome. So nice to be able to go to Kroger and get what you need and my cabin had pots and pans, so I was able to cook a real meal there, versus just having a microwave at D-town).

Finally, do ya'll wanna' post all the pics/video here or do we want a separate multimedia thread like we've done in the past?
 
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clinto

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clinto

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Update:

I emailed my POC @ Windrock Sunday when I got back, asking for the invoice for this year and dates for next year. Talked to her just now and they're busy prepping for a big event this weekend, but next week, they'd sit down and see what dates they had available.

So as soon as I have those dates, I'll let everyone know so they can reserve a cabin.

C
 

CallMeColt

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Update:

I emailed my POC @ Windrock Sunday when I got back, asking for the invoice for this year and dates for next year. Talked to her just now and they're busy prepping for a big event this weekend, but next week, they'd sit down and see what dates they had available.

So as soon as I have those dates, I'll let everyone know so they can reserve a cabin.

C
Thank you. If you make a new thread for it, please come back here and post a link if you don't mind. I don't browse the site a lot but do get e-mails on my Watched threads. Appreciate the hard work!
 

clinto

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clinto

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I have updated the rally Facebook page to the Southeastern Military Vehicle Rally.

If you have this bookmarked, update accordingly

 

m715mike

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I had an absolute blast attending the rally this year and can’t wait to come back! I managed to log 2,200 miles on the Tundra over 5 days and wish that those miles were put on a MV!

First, thank you to @clinto and everyone else that worked hard to make this event happen. I really appreciate the effort you put into it! I also want to thank the sponsors that made this rally a reality!

For me, attending these events is about the people just as much as it is about the MVs. It was a pleasure to meet folks in person that I’ve followed virtually on this website for years. It was also a great opportunity to make new friends. And to top it all off, there were vendors selling goodies to fuel my addiction!

Having never attended a rally at D-town, I had no frame of reference. That being said, I can’t imagine any place better than Windrock. That place was top notch!


@clinto - It would be nice if Windrock was willing to reserve a group of cabins in one location for us so we had the opportunity to camp closer to each other. Just a thought.
 

m715mike

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Okay, I got a minute to do some math. We logged 2,201.6 miles on the Toyota Tundra and consumed 182.06 gallons of fuel for an average of 12.09 miles per gallon. The fuel consumption wasn't too bad considering that I was pulling a 20' trailer with a heavy load going to Tennessee and a light load coming home to Texas.

Lastly, I highly recommend the Gallo Loco Mexican Restaurant in Oak Ridge (80 E Tennessee Ave, Oak Ridge, TN 37830). We ate there Friday night during the rally. The service was great and fast. The food was great (and I don't say that lightly about Mexican food) and the prices were less than what I pay in Texas. The salsa was like red water and disappointing, but the rest of the meal more than made up for that.
 

SCSG-G4

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Kenny and Clint (and all the other worker bees), the guys from Columbia were talking about the Rally till my ears fell off last night! They said comparing Durhamtown to this venue was like comparing visibility at midnight to high noon! They are stoked to come back next year! Now if we could just get someone near Knoxville/Oak Ridge to buy the critical parts of my MKT system (one shop van and the two MKT's), you would have something that could make a few coins for the rally. Based on their recommendations, I'll be coming there next year.
 

clinto

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Kenny and Clint (and all the other worker bees), the guys from Columbia were talking about the Rally till my ears fell off last night! They said comparing Durhamtown to this venue was like comparing visibility at midnight to high noon! They are stoked to come back next year! Now if we could just get someone near Knoxville/Oak Ridge to buy the critical parts of my MKT system (one shop van and the two MKT's), you would have something that could make a few coins for the rally. Based on their recommendations, I'll be coming there next year.
Oh man, your post really made my day. Thanks!

I'm glad it was enjoyed. We got a lot of very positive feedback this year - I'm a little sad we didn't have a bigger turnout but I think when people see the pictures from this year and read the reviews that next year will be bigger and better.

I'm currently in talks with Windrock and I think I already have the date for 2023 set. I need to call them and verify a couple things.
 
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