Sorry Roger, this is gonna be a long post but a couple of the Ga guys rarely post on mud but they are very much committed.
Ted have you ever wheeled Moab in July? Rob and I have and yes it is a bit warm during the day, you need a bikini top or sun screen on a 40. When the sun goes down it cools rapidly with average lows in the low 60's if you are going to tent camp you need to be off the ground, like on a trailer as the ground stays warm. And the very low humidity really does make a difference, we were there in late July and the highs were in the high 90's and I was comfortable then I came back to TN, high 80's and high humidity and Moab was much better.
In Moab, nope I have not and thus the reason for stopping short of calling it a deal killer. I can only look at the empirical evidence and draw conclusions on 0 experience.
Digging through the Accuweather website and looking at the temp ranges from this past June/July it looks like highs ranged in the 97-103 for highs and 59-71 range for lows. I'll admit the lows are more compatible than expected but as always you never know what it will be like until it actually happens.
Now for our list:
Rob wants to take Hailey and cannot take her out of school for 2 weeks, Hunter has a work commitment every October , Elbert can't get off work in September.
I was awake pretty late last night and noodled your post quite a bit and it finally dawned on me that Rob's schedule was likely a huge factor for the June/July dates and understandably so. It's important that a dad, son and grand-daughter spend time together and I for one applaud your thinking!!!!
Are there any dates in the fall that are more compatible just out of curiosity? I remember from last year Rob was talking about Hanna's fall break being early Sept. i think. How about Elbert and Hunter, don't know their work schedules but maybe if we can start blacking out dates it will help.
There are still several people we've not heard from that expressed interest since last year that we should tag in order to draw attention to the debate. A few have hit me up directly on info so you may not even be aware, this includes but is not limited to
@radioridge,
@FJCRAWLER,
@jason in tn,
@kletzenklueffer and a few others, sorry if I missed you.
So if I'm reading the issue(s) correctly there are really 2 main challenges, 1 we each have some control over the other we have no control over.
Challenge #1: Personal schedules - We each have some control over this but I'll admit my schedule is a little more flexible than most. What dates absolutely DO NOT work? Is a year ahead not enough time to plan around? Again, I do not know.
Challenge #2: Grandpa's schedule - Again, assuming this is the desired location which has many, many, many benefits his schedule will largely dictate ours I suspect.
Just for arguments sake, If June/July are the anticipated dates we'd be looking for 3 straight weekends where he has little to nothing going on. That might be a tall order but again I am only anticipating and the only way to know is to reach out to him. To further the debate, what happens if Grandpa comes back and says "no way" to June/July?
Roger--you still have his #?, I do not but could probably get pretty easily.
Other things of consideration: While I do have selfish desires such as wheeling type, makeup of rigs going, time of year, anticipated wheeling locations, etc... All of these are personal decisions to each of us and will need to be factored in.
Finally, at risk for speaking for a couple of the Ga. guys who don't post I'll state what I believe is their position, I leave room for error.
John's work schedule will probably not support a June/July trip. He's in the boat dock business and that is his peak season so I suspect he'd be out.
@schmitty would likely fall in line with his dad's schedule but I don't know for a fact, maybe he will chime in.
I fully expect to be at Windrock in a few weeks for further debate but this is the nutshell argument as of right now.
