Well, I’m going to throw in my 2 cents worth…and hopefully I can do it without being called unpleasant names by others on the forum.
I realize that I may be the lone voice here, but I vote for Ralph’s. Before I get tarred and feathered, let me explain why.
First and foremost, the annual is as much a social event as a wheeling event. If the event is moved to Tennessee, there will be a large portion of the club that will not attend. Ralph’s has the advantage of being close to metro Atlanta.
Now let’s talk price. Yes, the price of Ralph’s has gone up. But Adventure off road is $25 per DAY, and you have to spend $50 - $75 in gas to get there and back. So if money is your only concern, Ralph’s is actually cheaper.
Now, having wheeled both locations, I would like to speak up on behalf of the club members that do not have 12” lifts and 39” tires. Ralph’s is much friendlier for stock and slightly modified trucks. And like it or not, I believe the club must continue to have events friendly to these trucks if we are going to continue to attract new members.
And finally, I do not want to see the Georgia Cruisers, for all practical purposes, cancel OUR annual in favor of tagging along on someone else’s annual. I think it is important that we maintain our identity.
Now, having said all that, I realize that a large portion of the club wants to go to the STLCA event. So go. It sounds like fun. Who knows, I may even show up. As a club, we should be able to acknowledge when other members within our group have different ideas, or want to make different plans. So again I say, let’s go to the STLCA event on the 18th. But let’s not cancel our annual to do it.
So, I would like to propose an alternative that is not in the list Nick posted to vote on. My idea is simply this. Let those that want to go to the STLCA event in Tennessee go. And we will move the Georgia Cruisers annual to another weekend. We may have it at Ralph’s, or we may have it at Nick’s. We can decide that later.
Regardless of where we have it, I think we should have a Georgia Cruiser annual and I think it should be in metro Atlanta. So I vote for Ralph’s, on a date other than the 18th.