Subject: RCR Recon results Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 16:42:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Martyn Wheeler Reply-To: east@dnrc.bell-labs.com To: Multiple recipients of list Yesterday I arrived back from a trip to recon the RCR site. 1400 miles, longest day was 560 miles. The decision to do the trip that weekend was almost a last-minute, as we had planned a different long ride then, but for various reasons we moved up the recon at short notice (that's why I couldn't announce it or send out various invites). Thanks muchly to Mike and Melissa Ragsdale, who offered me the home base in Knoxville from which we did the recon trip. Summary: The place should be great. No bike need ever leave pavement. The soil drains well (we were there just after mondo storms), electrical and water hookups abound, the place is well-kept, beautiful, and eminently suitable. The campground layout is such that would could (in theory, I'll be calling the park staff later this week to work out definites) take over a dead-end of the campsites, and thus have our own central RCR camping/activity centre, as it were. We can probably average four tents per campsite at this part of the grounds. I have several options in mind to work with the park on payment and "reservation" of this area. There is one catch -- the beach shelter, although perfect for the RCR dinner, has a *steep* climb back to the campsite. Since there's a twisty or two on the way up that hill, I'm thinking we should set the schedule to make sure we can ride it. Thus I'm considering doing the dinner at the beach pavillion, and then move up to the campground for the awards presentation and most of the drinking. The campground is high enough above the lake that we should only have to deal with normal Kentucky insects, not lake ones. It looks like all designer beer will have to be hauled in with us. A brief examination of local stores indicates that "exotic" means Fosters, Lowenbrau, Becks, and Heineken. OTOH, liquor is plentiful and Busch is cheap. :-) Hopkinsville is, to combine comments by myself and Mike Ragsdale, a Quaint Dump. It does, however, have the necessities: on alt.41 are both a Honda and Yamaha dealer which we passed on the way, the beer/wine/liqour drive-thru's, grocery stores, fuel, &c. I didn't get to Dawson Springs, but if you're coming from the south, fill up in Hopkinsville. There is *no* fuel between there and the park. Prospective ride leaders will want to plan an early fuel stop as part of their routes. There are two ways into the park from 109 -- the right one, and the wrong one. Both have twisties, mondo elevation changes, blind crests -- and some sand and gravel on the surface -- not enough to be a hazard, but enough to make strafing unwise. It's *extremely* rural. As for the dinner, I've pretty much decided to have the park cater it. It would be approximately $10 a head for cookout-type stuff (bbq and fried chicken, sliced ham, &c, not hamburger/hot-dog) including soft drinks and various side dishes. The final decision on that awaits me calling the park later in the week to verify a good vegetarian option. (Do we have any vegans on the list? Is it safe to allow cheese and/or eggs in the veggie option?) Any questions? I'll probably be calling the park on Wednesday morning, so if you ask anything to which I don't have the answer, I'll need the questions by then. I might well do one more trip out there next month, this one was so much fun! :-) I love my bike. :-) :-) Martyn --sasmjw@unx.sas.com--(Martyn Wheeler)--SAS Institute Inc.--DoD #293--- "I have a vision of a very calming place" -- single gun theory "Life has a funny way of helping you out" -- Alanis Morissette "Can't fight the Seether" -- Veruca Salt