TLCA Trip Across America
Note and ideas for the possible event.
Trip across America?
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I had a thought last night about having a TLCA event across America.
Here are my ideas.
Start on the west coast at a time when it would be very nice. We could pick any state to start from.
Work our way across the southern part of the US all the way to the east coast then do a return ride across the northern part back to the west coast.
Of course only the crazy, insane people are going to do the whole trip. But certain segments would be possible for some.
Have a starting point agreed on by the initial state state club members and to go through some of the nicest parts of the state. And exit a some point where their state ends.
The next state has the task of starting off where the pervious stated ended and plan a route through their state ending at the next state line their choosing.
If multiple clubs are in a state have them either split up the route choice. Or if one is in a different segment of the state have club who is closest to the start of the run start with the later finishing it.
Each state plan an event (trail run in their area that would be great for all ranges of vehicles)
You would have to submit a plan on the event as well as what attractions rides would be seeing as well as a list of hotels to stay along the way that meet a certain criteria.
Clubs would provide assistance along the way to TLCA members who needed help. Of course.
The TLCA board would have to decide what states we should travel through. I don't know if a route through all the states would be possible or desirable. But it would be worth looking into.
Any TLCA member could start and stop at any time.
I've got a ton of other ideas for this.
Example since I'm from South Carolina
Georgia Cruiser ended their segment at HWY 85 on the boarder.
We meet everyone at the state welcome center and drive 25 miles and have lunch at Ralph Hayes Toyota (who is our clubs sponsor) Then drive 25 more miles into Greenville for the night. We wake up the next day and travel down to the Gulches off-road park for the day spending the night there camping or staying in a local hotel in Laurens. Wake up the next morning and travel through Greenville SC stopping for lunch with the entire Upstate Cruiser Club and then drive on up to the SC/ NC line where the NC club would have a drive planned. I imagine a trip to URE and then on to Tellico through the Blue Ridge parkway would be something they would plan.
If Florida had it to hand off to us maybe we would route it through Charleston, SC. In any event we could plan our own state.
Well I don't think you could get every state. That might be impossible. There are TLCA members most likely in every state. Given they all read TLCA it is possible give enough time to respond I would think someone would step up to the plate and work out a route. It might even be a great way of getting new clubs formed. If we have a list of people in those states that don't have clubs and one person stepped up to the plate in that area could we not let them have a list of TLCA members in their area to call. Who knows at the end of the trip you could potentially have at least one club in every state.
A couple other ideas. Have TLCA print up some big door magnets that advertise TLCA with maybe the logo and website info on them. Have them passed on from state to state. Or the people who have been on the trip the longest get to display them on their vehicle. More advertising for TLCA. (can you imagine how many people would read those after 50 states).
Our club has almost a hundred cruiser between us. Not that all of them could make the trip but at least a third to half would. Then throw in the other who are from surrounding states and even farther and you could potential have over a hundred or more cruisers traveling down the road one after the other definitely an eye catcher. I'm pretty sure in Greenville where I live, a string of 50 or more vehicles and I could get a police escort through the city and a lot of free press coverage.
The thought of being able to go into most every state in the US and have a group of people show you all the great spots and the all the vehicles and the people who represent the TLCA in that state would be a pretty good reason to be a part of it.
Get Toyota involved in it and you have an even better reason. I would think the idea of having a group of cruisers going from state to state including the FJ Cruiser would be reason alone to be a part of it. Great publicity for them and us. Toyota needs something like this.
You get the FJ Cruiser Trail team to be a part of it and it will be even better. I bet they would love that.
You get some big sponsors to donate items to the event. Have those who join the TLCA at the time of each segment or are currently part of the TLCA who make any part of the event put there name into a drawing for some nice big prizes to be drawn at the end of the event. Hey even you get Toyota interested enough they might even throw a Land Cruiser or FJ Cruiser into the drawing. Can you imagine the response you would get from that alone. Get the TLCA advertisers to donate some goods.
You get the local clubs to give out their club stickers to all the participants of the trip at both state lines and you give members one more reason to attend the whole thing.
Imagine starting at the beginning and finishing at the end 2 or 3 months later and having been to most every state, taken your cruiser to some of the coolest places and trails there are personally escorted by the local club and all their resources and get to the end and have a sticker from every club on your vehicle signifying you made the journey and you have something special.
Bring an RV and trailer the cruiser. Tow it behind a truck. Truck it in for a certain segment that will work for you. The great thing about this idea is it doesn't require you to do the whole thing just what your comfortable with. Who knows it may just turn into an adventure of a life time.
I say any one who is a current member of TLCA can plan out a section of the trip I think the clubs in good standing should have first dibs on the route through their state and work with the states around them to pick out the most appropriate route.
One thing we need to do though is require you are a current TLCA member or have just signed up for the membership in order to enter the drawings for the prizes. We also need to have a prize for the member who acquires the most miles on the trip.
It will probably be better to have it start at either a state like FL, CA, WA where it could encompass the whole US. What would really be cool is if we could run it from Alaska. But FL might be a better idea since TLCA has a bigger presence.
Where is Toyota of America's headquarters. Might be a cool place to start of finish.
As long as we give the clubs the tools and the ability to work together then they will make up a large portion of the work.
We need some sponsors once we have a good idea this will become a reality. More sponsors means more participation from clubs and that translates into more potential members for TLCA.
What do you think?
Trollhole
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