ESTN 2008: West Virginia - exactly where and when?

[JoBu]

Works for me, Garry.  Kudos to you for doing the planning/arranging.  

Cheers,

Joe

[sprint_st]

Even though I really like the Old Clark Inn and Marlinton as a base for the rides, Canaan Valley just seems to be the best compromise for everything.  My vote is for mid to late September, but quite frankly I wouldn't worry about competing with other events or at least not let them become a deciding factor.  We all are going to have multiple events competing for our time.  ESTN08 will pull enough people to make it worthwhile regardless of other events.

[Corbeau]

Well, if the balance tips towards Sept, it might be very difficult for me, as I'll be a high school teacher and taking a day off (i.e. the Friday) to ride down to WV will be frowned upon. 3 p.m. departure, 550 miles of slab all the way, then 50 miles with the forest rats on 219 S. You do the math, I'd arrive in the middle of the night...

Damn, it might be possible...

[maddjack]

I,m cool with the dates and Canaan valley Garry

[ST-DocLizard1]

Another lodging option in Marlinton Is the Old Clark Inn. It's a very MC friendly B&B with a good rate and a very good breakfast included.
I was there last May with another group of 20+ and I would highly recommend the Inn and that area of WV.
I think they have 7 or 8 rooms but the owner made arrangements with another B&B within walking distance to accommodate our group.
Worth checking into.

my .02
 

I was there with Marty in May(17-20). +1 for the accommodations. Nelson & Andrea are superb hosts and fellow riders.  www.oldclarkinn.com

I took a group of seven down to the Marlinton Motor Inn last month(Oct 12-15) and the accommodations were also very nice. They have a restaurant on site with a bar. The food was adequate and reasonably priced.
www.marlintonmotorinn.com

Pick a date and they will come.

Doc

[airborneXX]

I was there with Marty in May(17-20). +1 for the accommodations. Nelson & Andrea are superb hosts and fellow riders.  www.oldclarkinn.com

I took a group of seven down to the Marlinton Motor Inn last month(Oct 12-15) and the accommodations were also very nice. They have a restaurant on site with a bar. The food was adequate and reasonably priced.
www.marlintonmotorinn.com

Pick a date and they will come.

Doc

We (The XX group) were at the Old Clark Inn the weekend after youse guys


Nelson said we were better


J/k. Nelson and Andrea are great people. For those looking for a weekend get away the Old Clark Inn can't be beat.





 

[ST-DocLizard1]

We (The XX group) were at the Old Clark Inn the weekend after youse guys


Nelson said we were better


J/k. Nelson and Andrea are great people. For those looking for a weekend get away the Old Clark Inn can't be beat.







 

I guess that explains the replacement of the linens with rubber sheets when we left.

Doc

[ogomer]

Canaan Valley is cool,

[airborneXX]

I guess that explains the replacement of the linens with rubber sheets when we left.

Doc

Yeah it was our second time there

What did you guys do to the hot tub? Nelson said the last group ruined it

[ST-DocLizard1]

Yeah it was our second time there

What did you guys do to the hot tub? Nelson said the last group ruined it

It must have been the shards of the broken beer bottles and the shredded pieces of fabric from the torn bikini bottoms that clogged up the filter. The "beaksters" are a friendly coed group don't ya know.

Doc

[tonyfjr2006]

Late Sept and Canaan Valley is good for me as well.

[tonyfjr2006]

West Virginia was the landslide winner in the poll for ESTN 2008. Now we need to decide exactly WHERE and WHEN. This thread is for open discussion and the top choices will be put to a poll. I will volunteer to help organize it as I've organized rallies in WV before and spend more than a little time there. R Doug has offered help as have others. I have already started checking on proposed locations. To date, the contenders are:

Canaan Valley State Park (Davis, WV) - state run facility with camping on site. In recent years the group rate was $80/night for a room with 2 double beds. No advance deposits required. No penalties for people not booking the rooms blocked out. Very Moto friendly. They have been willing to honor the group rate even after unbooked rooms are released.  Plus, no one ever said anything about drinking beer in the parking lot while hanging out. The STN National was there in 2006 and people had a great time. There are many, many, many miles of back roads and dirt roads for an ADV ride too if you want to get a little dirty (big bike friendly).

Chief Logan Lodge (Logan, WV) - state run facility located south of Charleston in the middle of coal country. I got a packet of info from them about group rates/etc and was not impressed. Rate is higher than Canaan at $89/night. All manner of stuff in the packet about absolutely no booze can be brought on the property. No smoking. They appear to want a big deposit up-front from an organizer (that'd be me/whoever) complete with penalties if you don't book 90% of the rooms you block out. They will NOT honor the group rate after rooms are released. Seems to be a good central location for exploring the Tazewell/Marion corridor, eastern KY, southwestern WV and maybe even north into Ohio. As R Doug points out, this is coal country (think Deliverance), so the locals are less enthusiastic about visitors. I was kinda excited by this option at first, but after getting the group info packet, I'm not interested. Maybe there is another moto-friendly lodging option in that Charleston area to consider?

Marlington - someone suggested Marlington Motor Inn in another thread. I'm waiting for group rate info, but the regular rate is only $80/night. Marlington is about an hour south of Canaan. Most people would probably ride most of the same roads/routes as at Canaan, just starting from a different point in the loop. It does offer the option of exploring south of 39 which was about the limit for routes based out of Canaan.

Regarding dates:

The National will be in June. There will likely be a Region 6 Meet and Eat in May (Catskills anyone? Runner up in location poll). There seems to be interest in a September date. How about late September to avoid conflicting with the MotoGP at Indy? Leaves don't really change until mid-October, but the weather in September is usually quite nice.

Shouldn't this be bumped over to Region 5 as well?

[garry]

I've asked the powers that be to make the National forum open to the major regional meets too (ESTN, CSTN, WCRM) so that there is one place to look for "Meet" info. But I've not even gotten the courtesy of a reply to my PMs telling me "No". I guess a message noting that "ESTN08: West Virginia" discussion is now in Region 6 (because that's the location of the meet) can't hurt in Region 5...

[Ron_NC]

Late Sept and Canaan Valley is good for me as well.

+1

[cognosticator]

COG had their National at Canaan Valley this past Aug, and there was plenty of drinking there  , they even have a bar in the lodge.

Last year COG had a rally at Marlington Inn and we had a good time there also.

Either place would be a great place for riding.

[tonyfjr2006]

I've asked the powers that be to make the National forum open to the major regional meets too (ESTN, CSTN, WCRM) so that there is one place to look for "Meet" info. But I've not even gotten the courtesy of a reply to my PMs telling me "No". I guess a message noting that "ESTN08: West Virginia" discussion is now in Region 6 (because that's the location of the meet) can't hurt in Region 5...

I understand. I am sure it being the Holiday season people are just busy. Thanks for putting a notice in Reg 5 Garry.

[Scratch33]

Either the Marlinton Motor Inn or Canaan Valley State Park would be fine w/me.  

Davis, WV has the Blackwater Brewing Co.  

[stefrrr]

Sounds good to me. Only thing is, if a location with prices closer to the Alleghaney's comes available, I'd be all for that. $80 a night is a little high for me.

[Doug Just Doug]

COG had their National at Canaan Valley this past Aug, and there was plenty of drinking there  , they even have a bar in the lodge

My family happened to be there on a hiking/rafting vacation during the COG.  I had no idea the COG rally was going to be there until we arrived and saw the mass of Connies.  I was KILLIN' me to watch all those bikes heading out for the twisties each morning.  After that, I was already planning to get back down to WV for a m/c trip so CV and late Sept. (or any time) sounds pretty darn good to me.

[basco]

Davis, WV has the Blackwater Brewing Co.  

Uummm, Blackwater. I remember the Porter.