OFFICIAL VANPOOLING FROM CINCINNATI AREA TO NATIONALS 2011 INFO THREAD

[uthminister [BR]]

Leaving Crosspointe Church of Christ (5630 State Route 122, Franklin, OH  45005) at 8A.M. on August 10th.
Anyone getting here on August 9th can stay at the church and use our shower facilities.
The cost will be $25 per rider which includes your round trip to and from Nationals from the Crosspointe building.
The names printed on the schematic are guys in my group and the open seats are for those on my list below (1st listed / 1st reserved).
If you have not contacted me yet, I would try another way to get to Nationals since we are already 2 people over capacity.

Reservations in the order I received them:

1 -- Mark
      Alecia
      Brian
      Isaiah                +4

2 -- Tyler
      Chris                 +6

3 -- Randall
      Whitsun
      Chris
      Bret
      Kevin                +11

4 -- Matt                 +12

[TheMarti]

The three of us (me, Brandon, Dwayne) will not be able to come. Thanks for the offer though!

[uthminister [BR]]

Updated...sorry to hear that Marti. Different plans or just not going to nationals altogether?

Also, I am working on housing for Saturday night since we are planning on heading back Sunday morning. Bill wanted me to remind you all to go ahead and get pre-registered so as to expedite that process before be arrive. If you are solid on riding with us, give me a confirmation and then get yourself signed up with the folks in Minnesota.

[Prof Underwood]

Also, I am working on housing for Saturday night since we are planning on heading back Sunday morning. Bill wanted me to remind you all to go ahead and get pre-registered so as to expedite that process before we arrive. If you are solid on riding with us, give me a confirmation and then get yourself signed up with the folks in Minnesota.

Ahh, I didn't notice that you weren't coming back until Sun.  That makes things a bit tight for me as classes start on Monday, but I think I can make it work still.  I'll try to get back with you regarding solid numbers in the near future, and when I do, I'll make sure to pre-register as well.

Also, do you know what route you plan to take?  Are you going straight North and then over, or going diagonally up through Indy?  Will you be going past Chicago?

[TheMarti]

Not going to nats. I can't justify the costs this year. Definitely next year, it seems to be an every other year thing for me.

[uthminister [BR]]

We will be going through Indy and Chicago both Mark.

Marti, I understand for sure. If it was not part of our ministry schedule of events, it would certainly be a less oft attended event.

[Mr.Hiatus]

If it's cool I will be driving to TN to meet with Chris, then we will ride up to KY to meet up with Underwood, then off to OH. Me and Chris keep missing each other but I left him a PM/voicemail so I am sure this will get verified, just want to make sure a seat is available for Big Daddy Ty. I will have the whole week off work, so whenever y'all wanna leave I'm cool, are we staying at the church or hotel? And what's the share on gas? PM me please Uth!

[uthminister [BR]]

Wait Tyler, were you and Chris part of Mark's count or are you a new addition to that? As far as where we are staying, I was planning on staying at the church building. If you pre-register, Bill will get the housing reserved for you. As for the housing Saturday night, we are still trying to find out something. Bill told me he would try to find places for us to stay that night. I will have to get back to everyone about that when I find out. The anticipated cost per person will be around $40 a person for fuel depending on the number of people we can split the cost between and the price of fuel at that point in time.

Consequently, I will be out of town for the next week and will have little to no access to the internet, so I will tie up all loose ends when I return. Try to have all of your individual plans finalized by next weekend so I can go ahead and determine costs and seats, etc. Thanks!

[Prof Underwood]

Wait Tyler, were you and Chris part of Mark's count or are you a new addition to that?

They weren't part of the group I was counting.  However, if I have room in my vehicle that I drive to Cincy, they may join me for part of the trip.  We'll have to work that out.  As for my group, I can now confirm myself and my daughter Alecia as 2 of the seats.  I will post again soon regarding the other people in my group (Drew Wills, Brian Jones, Isaiah Johnson, and Kayleb Matthews).

The anticipated cost per person will be around $40 a person for fuel depending on the number of people we can split the cost between and the price of fuel at that point in time.

I am anticipating when it is all said and done that it will be a $25-$35 per person gas fee in case you need to have a number to work with.

There's a big difference between $25 and $40.  Is there a reason why you changed your estimate to be above the previous maximum of the range?

UPDATE:
I can now confirm that myself, my daughter Alecia, and Isaiah Johnson are going to be coming.  I can now confirm that Kayleb Matthews and Drew Wills will NOT be coming.  I am still unsure at this point if Brian Jones will be coming, although it is likely that he will.  So at this point, my playgroup is only going to need 3 or 4 seats.

[uthminister [BR]]

Yeah, but there is not a big difference between $35 and $40. How is this...between $25 and $40. When we carpooled to Boston it was $60 a person so I am trying to leave myself room to wiggle so that I am not eating a majority of the cost. I will make it fair for you all but I will need you to give me your empty upc's after the trip so...  inside joke for those who have attended any of my tournaments

[galadgawyn]

Ok, I just registered, hope I got a spot in the church.  It looks like most of the people in this group haven't registered yet. 

There's a big difference between $25 and $40.

I don't want Travis to go broke, so I think there are some things we could do to lower the cost:

Drive with the windows up and no air conditioning.
Take turns pushing the van in parking lots and running/being dragged behind it on the roads.
Only drive downhill.
Get our politicians to stop attacking industry, reduce government, allow freedom in the marketplace, and promote personal responsibility.
End conflict in the Middle East.

Not sure which of these are most feasible but you don't get anywhere if you don't try!

[Prof Underwood]

How is this...between $25 and $40.

Fair enough, the price has might determine whether my last guy can come though.  When he asked me for an amount to budget for the trip, I forgot to factor in gas.  So when I read your note and told him, he was concerned whether he could come up with the extra money.  And then for myself I've got to double everything (since my 8 year old really isn't a very dependable source of income yet).  Anyway, just let me know when you get it all figured out

Get our politicians to stop attacking industry, reduce government, allow freedom in the marketplace, and promote personal responsibility.
End conflict in the Middle East.

Amazingly, the second one seems more likely.

[SomeKittens]

Travis, sorry to burden you with more passengers, but would it be possible to fit four more?  I'm fairly skinny, if that helps.

[uthminister [BR]]

From the looks of it that would not be a problem...I am at camp and have only gotten away to a coffee shop with wifi to work on the camp video so I can finally get the specifics nailed down when I get back this weekend.

[SomeKittens]

Sweet, thanks!  Additional questions/comments:
1.) We'll probably be arriving Tuesday and crashing
2.) Will there be a tournament like last year?
3.) What time are you planning on leaving/arriving?

[Crashfach2002]

Hey Travis, just so you know #2 Crashfach2002 + 1 and #3 Tyler and Chris are the same people!  We are planning on being up there on Tuesday night, is there a place for us to crash?

[SomeKittens]

I may be bringing along a fifth person, praise the Lord!

[Prof Underwood]

It's looking like I will have 3 others with me (Myself, Alecia, Brian, Isaiah), and we will also be arriving Tue night to sleep at the church if possible.  We'd prefer to sit as far forward as possible, so as to avoid the back seat if possible.

[ArmedKevin117]

I may be bringing along a fifth person, praise the Lord!

If you're talking about me, that's pretty much a definitely.  I just need to get in touch with Brett about getting to OH, but from what I can tell he's farther west than me, so it shouldn't be a problem jumping on board.

[SomeKittens]

You guys only need to get to Oneonta, we'll be driving in my Echo the rest of the way to OH

[uthminister [BR]]

Alright everyone, I just got back from camp and am now in Nationals mode... The trip is 721 miles one way from Crosspointe which puts us at just shy of 1450 miles round trip. It will cost me $25 per hundred miles which means the total cost of transport will be $350 rounded down. When we split that between the number of passengers possible it will come out to just shy of $25 a person. Therefore the official cost per person riding will be $25 for the round trip. I used the trip to and from camp to make my calculations so they should be very accurate so that I don't end up paying a bunch out of pocket and you all don't end up giving me extra spending money

I will work out a new floor plan including everyone who has backed out from my group and all of you who have asked for me to reserve you a seat. I will have that up later today...hopefully in a few minutes.

[SomeKittens]

For the plan:
Randall Koutnik
Whitsun Koutnik
Chris Ericson
Bret Niford
Kevin Somethingorother (lol -- Roy's Edit: McIlrath is his last name, right, Kevin?)

We'd prefer to be somewhat together.  Will there be a rolling tournament?

[uthminister [BR]]

I would like to do a rolling tournament, but that may be pretty tricky with a full load. When we did it last year we only had 8 people in the van not including myself driving. It seems that we will have a full load.

As for arriving on Tuesday night, plan on crashing at the church. We have plenty of room and have showers for your use.

[SomeKittens]

I'd offer my host services to make that a reality.

Showers?  This is Nationals, who showers?

[Prof Underwood]

the official cost per person riding will be $25 for the round trip.

That sounds GREAT!  Thanks so much for putting this together

As for arriving on Tuesday night, plan on crashing at the church.

Thanks for this as well!

[uthminister [BR]]

The trip will be roughly 10.5 hours long. That means that we will likely leave the Crosspointe building at 8A.M. on Wednesday morning to arrive there at about 7P.M. with stops and time zone changes. Currently we are one over capacity, but I am anticipating that one person will drop out before we finalize things. If not, someone is getting strapped to the hood. (we will draw straws to see who gets this honor)

I am working on getting a place to stay Saturday night, hopefully somewhere along our route if Wild Bill can't get something put together for us. If we could get a few hours of our trip under our belt before sleeping, that would be preferable since many of you will have a decent drive after ours is over. I will keep you posted!

[Prof Underwood]

I am working on getting a place to stay Saturday night, hopefully somewhere along our route if Wild Bill can't get something put together for us. If we could get a few hours of our trip under our belt before sleeping, that would be preferable since many of you will have a decent drive after ours is over. I will keep you posted!

Would you like me to contact a few of the churches that I have connections with along the route to see if we could crash there for one night?

[ArmedKevin117]

Showers?  This is Nationals, who showers?

I like your thinking.

BTW, I noticed that the Mall of America trip on Thursday keeps one from playing then.  Maybe we could have our own trip over there going in/coming out of the tournament?

[slugfencer]

Showers?  This is Nationals, who showers?

I like your thinking.

I don't--sounds like stinkin thinkin to me! 

[ArmedKevin117]

Showers?  This is Nationals, who showers?

I like your thinking.

I don't--sounds like stinkin thinkin to me! 

That's the point.

[uthminister [BR]]

I updated the original post again. We are currently 2 over capacity. If anyone in your group is not coming, please let me know so I can let those waiting for confirmation of a seat. If push comes to shove we could fit a couple more if our riders are smaller people but I would rather not try that...

[Prof Underwood]

Cool, I'd like to move up to seats 7,8,9,and 10 if possible

I have also confirmed all 4 of my party as definite for the trip.  They are excited and ready to go.  I even taught my daughter Alecia and Brian how to play Booster Draft this week just so they'll be ready for Thur

[ArmedKevin117]

Did anyone catch my question about a separate Mall trip, since the one being arranged already would interfere with participation?

And what's our lodging plan, anyway?

[uthminister [BR]]

First of all, I would not be opposed to making a trip to the mall either Wednesday night when we arrive (but I think we will be ready to settle in instead) or Saturday evening (if we don't hit the road early). It is unlikely to happen though, so if you want to make the trip to the MoA, plan on going Thursday.

Housing is up to you, but the van and I will be staying at the church...

[ArmedKevin117]

Does the church have Wifi?

[Professoralstad]

Does the church have Wifi?

Yes and no. The church has several WiFi networks, but not all of them are accessible from all parts of the building, and only one or two are available to the public. So I wouldn't rely on it too much, but if you need internet access, I'm sure that something could be arranged.

[ArmedKevin117]

Alright.  I'm good as long as I have reliable internet.

[SomeKittens]

If we need to, would it be possible to stay at the church Sunday night?

[Mr.Hiatus]

I need to know when we plan on leaving MN.

[lp670sv]

I wouldnt worry about your being two over. Randall and whitsun combined only comes to about half a normal sized person.

[uthminister [BR]]

Alright...I got a message yesterday from Allen Collins who is in the Cincy area. He and his daughter are driving up to Nationals and will be leaving about the same time we will be leaving. He has two seats in his vehicle and so our two over problem has been solved. Also, he is driving back after Nationals is over on Saturday which makes me want to do the same as long as we have people over 25 years old who would be willing to share the van driving duties with me on the way back. That means we will get back to Crosspointe late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. If you wanted to sleep a few hours at the church building before heading home, that would be fine. Any volunteers on who will ride with Allen and Rebekah?

[SomeKittens]

Thanks so much for being willing to volunteer your time!  I can't drive (only 20).