2017 Midwest Meet: August 18-21, StL

[MS3johanna]

Plans for the 2017 edition of Epic MidWest Nator Meet have been made!
2017EMWNM:
Dates: August 18 - August 21, 2017
Location: Grafton, IL (just outside of St Louis, MO)
Lodging: Aerie's Resort and Winery

Price: PLEASE SEND $10 TO paypal.me/JFoege BEFORE FRIDAY 8/18, TO COVER FOOD (breakfasts and snacks) FOR EVERYONE.
Extra money will go towards dinner on Friday and/or communal beverages, depending on costs. If you have special food requests, include them in your paypal message (no guarantees I will fulfill them though).


Schedule: Friday, Aug 18:
>4pm-6pm: check-in for Aeries at the bottom of the hill- 14 West Main Street, Grafton, IL
>Drinking/shenanigans all evening at The Lodge- where all our group activities are happening. It's at the very top of the hill, just before all the little cottages.

Saturday, Aug 19:
>8:30am: Breakfast making/eating/etc at The Lodge (all are welcome)
>11:30am: Head out for a scenic/twisty cruise around Grafton led by @burn813;
>1pm: Leave for Karts, stopping for lunch at Fast Eddie's Bon Air: East 4th Street, Alton, IL
>3-5pm: Go Karts at Gateway Kartplex: 700 Raceway Blvd, Madison, IL 62060
>7:00pm: Group dinner reservation at Aeries Winery (order and pay for yourselves).

Sunday, Aug 20:
>7:00am: Morning Autocross participants depart (AT THE LATEST) for Gateway Motorsports Park
>> 9:00am Aeries Zipline, if enough interest.
>11:00am: Afternoon Autocross participants depart for Gateway Motorsports Park
>7:00pm: Return from Autocross. No formal dinner plans (but Aerie's Winery closes at 7pm).
>>For anyone who do not wish to autocross or spectate, Grafton has a lot to offer! Aerie's Zipline, and a water park, to name a few.

Monday, Aug 21:
>7am: Breakfast making/eating at The Lodge
>11am: Check-out time for Aerie's
>>1-1:30pm: the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, if you stick around for it (but you'll need to head south/west


Details:

Location: We have chosen Grafton, IL because it has all the amenities of St Louis nearby, but is located along the Mississippi River and is engulfed by a scenic forested area. Of course, what this really means, is that it's full of fun roads to drive, and we plan on doing just that!!

Go Karts: Assuming good weather, we will participate in an outdoor karting event at Gateway Motorsports Park's Kartplex. If the weather is crappy, we can go to indoor high speed karts at Pole Position. Further details on price, location, format, etc will be released in a separate thread at a later date.

Autocross: We will be (unofficially and informally) joining the NASA Gateway AutoX Association for their event at Gateway Motorsports Park on August 20th. You can get more information about how they run things on their website, but to sum it up: you can choose to run & work in a morning session, or an afternoon session ($35), or both ($50). If you're serious about getting into the sport, they also offer a novice school during the event for those with less than 1 year of experience ($125). I highly recommend registering as soon as you know your plans- I'm not sure if there's an event cap (and also, you aren't charged unless you show up to the event). If you have questions about classing your car, we can start a new thread about it (but if you use NASA classes, they have a points system, and it's actually quite simple)!

Dinner: More details to come at a later date!

Lodging: I have a 4-room Lodge reserved for our group. It has a large shared area and patio, where I assume we will be gathering for socializing, drinking, etc. The 4 rooms in the lodge are now booked (by us), but there are many other options at the resort (I believe they are $149/night, including hotel rooms, private rooms in shared villas (without common areas), and private cottages. I'm not sure which are closer to the Lodge, but I'm sure you can request this information when you call. I believe some members have space beds left in their rooms (and maybe even common area couches) if you want to split costs. Post up if you're looking! We don't want cost to be the reason you can't attend!!

If you're looking for a cheaper option, there is also camping available 10 minutes down the road at Pere Marquette State Park. Aeries offers a free shuttle service between their winery and downtown Grafton, but they do not go to the campground, unfortunately. This means if you book a room at a different resort/hotel/B+B, you'll have a shuttle as long as it's near a winery!

SPREAD THE GOOD WORD!!!

[Mazdazilla6]

This is the perfect weekend. I am happy.

[CJ Speed6]

I'll have to talk to Emily. Hopefully we can make this event!

[macdiesel]

Does anyone know if Gateway Motorsports park offer track days this year? Their website is kinda screwy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MS3johanna]

Originally Posted by macdiesel Does anyone know if Gateway Motorsports park offer track days this year? Their website is kinda screwy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They're on the second Tuesday of every month. Asking you lovely people to take off 3 days of work for this meet though, probably wouldn't have gone over wonderfully.

[Mazdazilla6]

Psh who needs work? Track stuff is fun

[MS3johanna]

Hey everyone, just so you know, there's an epic solar eclipse happening on Monday, and St Louis is on the border of totality! So if you like cool space shit, be sure to stick around for that!

[monkey.bones.007]

Can I bring my fishing rod?

crapatalk it sucks for free

[MS3johanna]

UPDATED OP! For those that don't have rooms booked yet- get on it! We're just 5 weeks away! Post up if you're looking for a room share. We just checked the lodge out last weekend, and it's gonna be EPIC.

[MS3johanna]

OP updated with firm(ish) schedule and food cost request!
Please review and send $10 payment for food to me before Friday!
You can include any special food requests in the paypal message if you have them (no guarantees about getting them, though).