Driving tours

[linc400]

I have an antique car along with my Camaro and belong to several different car clubs. All of which have driving tours. After going on driving tours with CNG, I can say that they are very well organized. The routes are actually driven by someone before the event, not just picked off a map. Everything is organized with the restaurant, and we even have priority parking with everyone parked together. Not always the case with the other clubs.

However, with CNG, we do a spirited drive to someplace, eat together, and then everyone leaves or is left on their own to find something else to do. With the other clubs, we always do some other activities. We go to a car museum/classic car dealership, historic house or building, brewery/winery tour, or some sort of interesting stops that are more than just bathroom/gas stops, and then go eat together.

Am I alone one this, or would others like to see more activities included with the driving tours? I would be willing to look for interesting places to stop for the regular driving tours or even come up with ideas for new driving tours.

[linc400]

I can't make it to Dave and Busters or the meeting because I will be on a driving tour with another club on Nov 6. Is there another time this can be discussed?

Also, while I would still like to do this, judging by the lack of responses, there doesn't seem to be much interest other than Wytlighting and me.

[Lawdog]

I am always looking for interesting places to go to when I plan an event. That's a big part of the social club atmosphere around here. Some guys don't like to drive their cars too far which make that difficult at times to find interesting things at reasonably close distances. In past years I have actually done some of that, ie. movie premiers, we filled a whole theatre and had 56 cars, miniature golf events with 27 cars, indoor go cart racing with aout 12 cars and trips to places like galena, Route 66 cruise and Museum, ect. . Those are great things to do so long as peeps sign up. So I say yes to your suggestions keep them coming.
I have one right now I am looking at for next year that looks interesting .
Plus you should definitely do the muscle car cruises next year those are a lot of fun and several of our members enjoy that long weekend.

[TigBaby]

I can't make it to Dave and Busters or the meeting because I will be on a driving tour with another club on Nov 6. Is there another time this can be discussed?

Also, while I would still like to do this, judging by the lack of responses, there doesn't seem to be much interest other than Wytlighting and me.

I would definitely be interested in driving tours.

[Toasty]

Having additional things to see on trips like this is always a good time. You'll tend to find that once an event with details is discussed, interest usually picks up...theoretical discussions can tend to not generate as much discussion, don't get discouraged.

[NicKey]

I have an antique car along with my Camaro and belong to several different car clubs. All of which have driving tours. After going on driving tours with CNG, I can say that they are very well organized. The routes are actually driven by someone before the event, not just picked off a map. Everything is organized with the restaurant, and we even have priority parking with everyone parked together. Not always the case with the other clubs.

However, with CNG, we do a spirited drive to someplace, eat together, and then everyone leaves or is left on their own to find something else to do. With the other clubs, we always do some other activities. We go to a car museum/classic car dealership, historic house or building, brewery/winery tour, or some sort of interesting stops that are more than just bathroom/gas stops, and then go eat together.

Am I alone one this, or would others like to see more activities included with the driving tours? I would be willing to look for interesting places to stop for the regular driving tours or even come up with ideas for new driving tours.

Sounds a lot like what we do at Muscle Car Adventures for the whole weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday or just pick a day. The dates for 2017 have been set. www.musclecaradventures.com

[Catonfarm]

I agree with the OP. When we have cruise events (e.g. Lake Geneva, Starved Rock) they would be more fun if we had planned places to stop along the way to get out of the car to see or do something. Everyone seems to enjoy the along-the-way activities as much as the driving and final destination.

[linc400]

I went to Muscle Car Adventures last year and had a great time there. I didn't go this year because it conflicted with a meet in Denver, Co. with another car club. But I will probably go again next year.

As long as there is interest then I will look into stuff for next year. If we are going to do Starved Rock again, I already have some ideas for that.

However, I still cannot make it Nov 6, so hopefully there will be another time this can be discussed.

[Lawdog]

The obvious problem with starved rock is we have to get there to eat before the brunch ends which means if you want to stop along the way and lolligag then we have to wake up earlier and leave earlier and in October that's not a good thing to do cause the temps are cold in the morning and more chance for frost or condensation on the roads. this year the roads were wet but last year they were dry. same problem for lake Geneva, early means colder roads and more chance for morning mist or condensation. That seems to be the variable I have always been concerned about in October events. leaving a little later helps out.
We have a route 66 cruise we use to do with a museum that was really great. I have been trying to get that back on the radar and one of our members started that one. The cruise to Galena Illinois provides a whole bunch of things to do once we get there. I think that overnite stay we had there gave everyone an opportunity to check things out but they had to go search on their own after we gave them the ideas cause people have different interests and I didn't want them to feel compelled to go somewhere they would not enjoy.
in summary we need to look at traveling time to where we are going, proper times to sit down for lunch or dinner and how we work something else into it. With our group most of the time, we just can't stop somewhere and say feed us, it has to be preplanned so we get good service and so that everyone gets a meal they will enjoy. Sometimes actually most of the time it's easier to find a place interesting to go look at and then work a cruise and meal around that.
I really look forward to your input.!!

[linc400]

I am not a fan of early morning departures either. However, arriving when we did, there were 3 different things I would like to have done in the area, and there was only time for one of them by the time we finished brunch.

However, that same weekend, the lodge had an Oktoberfest dinner going on. So we could have left at the same time in the morning, done stuff, and then had the special Oktoberfest dinner.

In 2013, a friend of mine and I planned and hosted the Grand Invitational meet for another car club in Milwaukee (where neither of us live). We had about 80 cars from all over the country and organized the hotel reservations and registrations, and all events for the meet which included driving tours, bus tours, assorted daily activities, lunches, dinners, a car show, judging, awards, and a banquet dinner. Usually it takes about 10-20 people to organize this type of event, and we did it with 2 people. Everything went flawlessly.

I have also organized for another club a Christmas party with catered dinner, drive-in movie with reserved parking and lunch before, and some other misc. events. So it is not like I have never done this type of event before.

[Lawdog]

Yep we can certainly do some more dinners. I would like that too. Some of our peeps want to get home for their kids though. It's nice when we can organize something that they can take the kids too as well. It may get expensive for some though. Sounds like you want to organize something next year ! I hope !

Oh and yes we should try the drive Inn again, we did that a couple years ago and it was great ! We even made shmores on the BBq grills they had there. Alot of fun !

[linc400]

Yes, I could organize an event or two.

I have learned that no matter how awesome your try to make it, you will never make everyone happy with one event. Personally, I have never been a fan of the events where you pay $25 to sit in a lawn chair behind your car in some parking lot, pay overinflated prices for lunch, and then usually the buddies of the show organizer win all the trophies with crappy cars. But some people obviously like them, or this type of show would not be everywhere. At one show like this near my house, none of the cars drive more than 5 miles from home, but they are there every week.

I would rather drive someplace, do interesting things, and then have a meal. From what I have seen from CNG, there are usually 2-4 events per month. So that should allow for more than enough different types of events to keep everyone happy.

[wytlighting]

Lync you are correct. With a group this large you will have different ideas about what is fun. For instance, we do like paying $25 for sitting in a parking lot and supporting a charity. It isn't about sitting there for a trophy for us. We normally take this time to go around and meet new people and see new things as well. If we do end up getting a trophy in the meantime that is great but not expected. Some of these events support some of our small towns south of here. I also enjoy making them smile for a short period of time by showing up and making them feel like they matter. These events help their town in some way or they wouldn't do them.
All this being said we do like your input and support the idea of new events and are looking forward to you assisting with the coordination of an event or two.

[Xello]

As a coordinator of a driving event, I think it appropriate to throw my 2 cents in here. I totally agree with Linc400 that a driving event which includes interesting stops with things to do and see along the way could be a lot of fun. As mentioned by Lawdog, the Route 66 cruise was of this type. This type of event emphasizes the driving part while at the same time includes fun destinations within the drive. As opposed to a driving event like the Lake Geneva cruise which has a fun drive and a fun destination but in reality they can be considered separate vehicles (i.e. you can do one without the other as there are no connecting points in between).

It's important to consider that driving events with destinations (either along the way or at the end) can take lots of planning and coordination. From my personal perspective, the single biggest impediment to putting together one of these types of cruises is participation. I'm not just talking about the number of people/cars attending, I'm more so talking about the commitment from those who want to attend.

With a small number of cars, say up to 10, you can probably get away without making special arrangements for the stops. But once that number begins to grow, in order for a successful cruise, there needs to be commitment from those that say they will attend to actually attend. As an example, some have asked if we could do a boat cruise on Lake Geneva as part of the Lake Geneva cruise. It would be fun, but it isn't cheap either and not everyone would want to do the boat cruise. Regardless, in order to do a boat cruise, I would need solid commitments and pre funding in order to guarantee a time and rate with a minimum reservation of participants. Not impossible to do but in the past, it has just been too risky for me to take on the monetary risk, as typically around 10% of those who sign up for my cruise do not show.

All that being said, a driving cruise with events along the way can be done. Muscle Car Adventures does a great job at it and Jill and I have enjoyed it the last three years.

I believe we can come up with various cruises that include along-the-way destinations and that can be coordinated with minimal planning. We need to be cognizant that not everyone will want to do every cruise. Either because its an all day thing, an overnighter, an early morning starter, a late ender, etc. And that's okay. I think we tend to focus on the number of cars attending too much. Yes, a long line of 30 Camaros tearing down the road is freakin' cool, but so is a group of 10 or even 6. So getting a large turnout is great but I personally don't think its necessary to have a great fun cruise.

[Lawdog]

It's a fairly simple formula. we cater to the largest common denominator. we try and plan events that will get the largest participation so that the majority of the club will enjoy the club.
On ocassion we do plan some events knowing full well that we will not get a large turnout but we plan them anyways because they are interesting things to do. But when we do plan those events we know they may be too expensive, too long, too far or too risky weather wise for many members of the club.
We understand that we have members in this club that are single, we have members that have families with small children, we have members that have extended family that have medical issues requiring the members not to stroll too far from home for too long, we have members themselves that have medical issues that don't want to stroll to far from home, we have members that don't drive in the rain, we have members that are unemployed or on a limited income, we have members whose cars are set up for short runs because of their performance mods or tires.

As a result , we will never make everyone happy. When you take all that into consideration, the person planning and responsible for the club events has to insure that whatever event it is, it is going to be what was expected and then some, for those that signed up. That is a huge responsibility when you are trying to put together a variety and number of events each month. And as xello has mentioned it is a huge financial committment.

I can honestly say that I monitor the other clubs and we do alot more here then any other club in the Midwest. Their is really no comparison at all. We have a local club here not a national one and our events will primarily be local as a result of that but we also try to participate in other events out of state on ocassion as well with other organizations. I am doing the best we can with the resources that I have been provided. I always look for your input and ideas but just because we don't necessarily follow your suggestion please don't get discouraged. Having done this for 6 years now on and off I can tell you I think I have a decent idea about what will get a minimum participation level to make it a successful club event. unfortunately, there does have to be some minimum participation levels for every event and those numbers are never written in stone.
Last year and this year I have handed out over 75 survey questionnaires to members with prepaid postage and envelopes to mail them back to me. I was shocked to receive only about 10 returned. I followed the comments on those surveys and gave those people for the most part what they asked for in this years schedule.
Like Xello said 10 cars is fine, but less then that people have to understand that someone is taking time away from their family to make sure this event runs smooth. Thats alot to ask out of an individual for a few cars I.e.4-5