Rally America in Salem, MO Feb. 22-23

Post by **ragtopday Johnna** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:40 pm

Is anyone interested in going to Salem for the 100 Acre Wood Rally? It's Friday, February 22nd and Saturday, February 23rd.

http://rally-america.com/index.php

http://www.100aw.org/index.html

We're heading out early Friday morning and would like to get together with others headed that way. We didn't have any luck finding a hotel room in Salem and are staying in Licking. If you're looking for lodging, the Scenic Rivers Inn in Licking still had rooms today for $60 a night.

No route plans yet...suggestions??

Johnna

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:47 pm

I'm interested, but I thought maybe just drive down that morning...........let me work on it a bit. Sounds like fun!

MiniGeoff · Post by **MiniGeoff** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:48 pm

I haven't looked at my schedule yet, but I'm certainly going to try to go. It'll depend a lot on my wife's work.

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:16 pm

OMG!

Salem, MO is just of Mo 19 (AKA ozarks own dragon). That is precisely the area I've been telling y'all about as a possible route for club road trip.

I just plugged Feb 22 and 23 into my calendar.

I met Pastrana last year at a Subie Fest in Portland, OR. He's an incredible dare devil! If MINI ever hopes to add any new wins to their historic racing heritage, they had better invent a damned good AWD R57 just to stay close to the Evos, STI's and Peugeots that are flying over the hills these days. Imagine it...Paddy meets Pastrana.

Post by **ragtopday Johnna** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 7:41 pm

dimini wrote:OMG!

Salem, MO is just of Mo 19 (AKA ozarks own dragon). That is precisely the area I've been telling y'all about as a possible route for club road trip.

So let's do it! That's exactly why we have the GRG area of the forum, since there just aren't enough months in the year for everything we'd all like to do.

You wanna plan a route, dimini? And if there's enough interest, maybe we could do another drive to this area in the Fall, too? Or in the Spring or????

monty · Post by **monty** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:21 pm

I'm in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:00 pm

Darn, website still doesn't have any spectator areas or maps up yet. Kinda cutting it close, aren't they?

here's the link to their website..........

http://www.100aw.org/

Post by **ragtopday Johnna** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:11 pm

Minidave wrote: here's the link to their website..........

http://www.100aw.org/

Umm...I linked to that website in the first post in this thread. Did it not work for you? Does it need some fixin'?

Johnna

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:04 pm

Sorry, you did indeed, I just missed it later on down the thread.......

I'm still planning to go, the first race gets flagged off at noon on Friday, is anyone else besides Ragtopday planning to go down for that or just for Saturday"s racing or?

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:00 pm

OK, plans are starting to come together for this. dimini and I are planning to drive down early Fri morniing and be in Salem for the 1st car out of the gate. Johnna, when were you gonna leave? If it's Friday, maybe we can hook up and all caravan down?

We're looking at lodging right now and don't have anything firm yet.

(I have to say tho, I'm going to be a fair weather rally observer, if it's 15* and snowing that weekend, I'm afraid I'll stay home..........)

Does anyone have any route or spectating info yet? As the first cars will be finishing after dark on Friday, I was hoping to get some good spectating spots scouted out ahead of time. I'd love to find a spot where Don could get some pics of flying Subies and Evo's as they leap the crest of a little rise or hill...........

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:50 pm

I just called the hotel in Licking. Rooms still available, but they require booking both the 22nd and 23rd. To keep our options open, I reserved rooms up in Rolla for Friday night w/Saturday option. Though Rolla is a bit further out than Licking, it's apparently quicker because of a "major" highway.

speed_racer · Post by **speed_racer** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:50 am

dimini wrote: Though Rolla is a bit further out than Licking, it's apparently quicker because of a "major" highway.

Lol, I wouldn't call Hwy 72 between Rolla and Salem a "major" highway unless they did a lot of work on in since I last traveled it. It's not a bad road, I just wouldn't call it a major highway. It was a two lane (one in each direction), smooth, slightly curvy road. A fair MINI road, in other words.

Licking and Rolla really are your only real options outside of Salem. Rolla is the largest town in about a 60 mile radius. They have major hotel chains (Holiday Inn Express, Drury) and (comparatively) many restaurants. It's about 20,000 people not counting the approx. 4,000 UMR (oops, now MUST) students. Salem is much smaller, I'm guessing 7,000? But they do have a Wal-mart.

Licking is smaller than Salem, maybe 2,000 people.

I grew up in Rolla, and my family is still there. So if anyone needs Rolla info, I'm your girl.

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:32 pm

speed-racer.... you're right

--its not a major highway, but in context to my tele. conversation with Salem locals, its major compared to snaking northbound along 19 up to Steeleville or s.w. to Licking.

As long as you're not in a hurry, this part of the state is what I call MINI heaven.

Back to Rally's. sheesh... after looking at numerous Rally casualty videos in the past 24 hrs., I wonder if there will be any YouTube-level crashes? Wow, some of those airborne jumps don't have the smoothest landings.

Post by **ragtopday Johnna** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:59 pm

We're not able to go (another "opportunity" awaits...) so we have a one-night hotel room up for grabs in Licking. It's their fancy whirlpool suite for $75 plus tax. If anyone is interested, please let me know by Tuesday.

Johnna

dimini · Post by **dimini** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:03 pm

Johnna,

You're not looking at spring thing 13 are you? I talked to my mini friend who lives in Steeleville, MO, just 15 miles from the Rally America event, but he's not attending because he's going to do a roadtrip to Orlando (same weekend) to attend ST 13. He needs a co-pilot... I'm tempted, but I'm also thinking that's pretty nutty to squeeze to guys into a mini pickup for a 2,000 mile round trip. EEKs!

Minidave · Post by **Minidave** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:22 pm

Saw this this am........

Rally In The 100 Acre Wood Feb 22 - 23, Salem, MO

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's that time of year again to make plans to volunteer at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. This event, February 22 and 23 will be round 2 of the Rally-America National 2008 schedule as well as the Regional Rally Championships for 2007.

This event needs about 300 volunteers to run smoothly. We'd appreciate your help either day or both days. Volunteers receive a shirt, cap, food, and are invited to the awards ceremony/party. Online registration is now up on the website or click here: http://www.100aw.org/workers_form.html.

We need control workers, course marshals, and ham radio operators. If you've never volunteered at a performance rally before we will provide training at the event.

Volunteer registration will be in Salem at the Holiday Inn (Rally HQ) meeting room on rally days and at the Salem fire house on Thursday. If you have any questions, contact Curt Faigle at curt@100aw.org.

Friday's events begin in Steelville, with a service break (also in Steelville) before finishing in Salem. Saturday's schedule runs from Salem to a "Super Special" in Potosi and returns to Salem (with two service breaks in Viburnum). Spectator maps will be posted on the website in the near future.

Motel rooms are already starting to become hard to find. Motel contacts can be found at the website, www.100aw.org. Consider Viburnum, Potosi, Rolla, or Cuba, MO if the rooms in Salem are all gone.

Invite all your friends to come and enjoy the show. The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood is FREE!

Regards,
The Rally In the 100 Acre Wood Committee

Post by **ragtopday Johnna** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:58 am

dimini wrote:Johnna,

You're not looking at spring thing 13 are you? I talked to my mini friend who lives in Steeleville, MO, just 15 miles from the Rally America event, but he's not attending because he's going to do a roadtrip to Orlando (same weekend) to attend ST 13. He needs a co-pilot... I'm tempted, but I'm also thinking that's pretty nutty to squeeze to guys into a mini pickup for a 2,000 mile round trip. EEKs!

ST sounds like a blast, but unfortunately it's not what conflicts my schedule. And I've used up all my Florida-time for the next couple of months. Darn.

I'm hoping no one wanted the hotel room we have reserved in Licking? I'm cancelling today.