2014 Grand Tour Theme

[MikeH]

If anyone has ideas throw them up here.
I was told of a good one after the banquet but need to see how many towns it will be.

[LSGiant]

How about 's

Joe's auto body, Joe's bar, Steve's repair, sign must be attached to the business

All must be unique.

[Lapchik]

Landform GT? Elk Point, Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Grand Island

---

Compass GT has to have north, south, east, or west in the name

[TBONE]

I like "GLMC...it's a four letter word."
I came up with this idea two summers ago somewhere in Wisconsin.

Bena, Ulen, Yuma, Waco, Rome, Reno, etc.

I suspect there aren't enough, and they are too far apart to make this work? I haven't done a count.

[Lapchik]

Animal names GT...Elk Point, Mallard, Badger...might run into the not enough towns problem with this one though

[xander84]

Not sure what themes you have had in the past.

New and Old
Places, towns, etc, that have the words New or Old somewhere in the name.
G"old"en Valley or "New" Hope


Nature/Tree Theme
Places, town, etc that have a nature word.
Example: Maple Grove could be double = two nature words
Could also be expanded to elemental theme or anything that is air, water, land related.
Example: Lester "Prairie", "Water"ville, double points could be Granite Falls.


Directional theme
North, South, East, or West in the town name.

[UncleLumpy]

Something a bit different, perhaps: Spelling out the word "agribusiness" using the first letters of location names. Same rules about no post offices, no city limit signs, no using the same name twice.

Almost all of the participants and membership live where agribusinesses play an important role. Heck, all of America depends on agribusinesses yet they seem (to me) very underappreciated.

Have to spell it out completely once before starting to get credit for the letters of the 2nd spelling. Have to spell it out twice before starting to get credit for letters in the 3rd spelling. Etc.

Locations in the first spelling are worth 1 point each. Letters in the 2nd spelling are worth 2 points each. The third spelling worth 3 points each. Etc. Must completely spell it out to get the "multiplier." So say you have enough locations to spell agribusiness twice (2 A's, 2 G's, 4 I's, etc.) with two additional "S" towns...you'd get 38 points.

Because of the multiplier, finisher status would be 36 (spelling agribusiness twice).

OK, don't know if that's spelled out clearly--makes sense to me but that doesn't mean much.

Looking forward to 2014 no matter what is chosen!
Lumpy

[texnmidwest]

Great suggestions all! I have had two years worth of fun with these tours and look forward to next year!

[paper]

(10-23-2013 06:06 PM)texnmidwest Wrote:  Great suggestions all! I have had two years worth of fun with these tours and look forward to next year!

Umm..
Sir..

I think you owe me three breakfast's because I beat your score 3 to 1..

I'm sure you remember the bet we made about this in March.

As far a the theme, there's a bunch that were mentioned that are great!! I love the 4 letter word, the NSEW, and the colors, but all are great!!

I've thought about some other options that were sort of Rally like in theme, but they were a scoring nightmare and I'm not about to do that to MikeH.

I shall ponder..

[StarWolve]

I'll put out the same suggestion that Reaver and I came up with a while back:
Tour of Duty: American Legions and/or VFW's. 1 point for the VFW, a bonus point for military hardware static display or a Veteran (not yourself, I'm a vet and that wouldn't be fair!) in the photo.

Animal themed (maybe pictures of your bike with as many different types of animals as possible?)
Airports? (we might end up with unwanted TSA interaction there)
Historic road-sign markers?
Motorcycle dealerships? (bonus points for a test ride?)
BBQ? (chasing smoke)
Statues?
Breweries? (Reaver and I will like this one... not sure how many breweries there are near you all, but there's a ton on the coasts)

And another suggestion: double/triple/quadruple/etc bonus points for having multiple GT riders in the photos. It would encourage more riding together. I only have my Dad nearby, but it could change up things a bit.


I'm going to shoot myself in the foot by saying this (since I'm very familiar with mapping town names: http://www.glmc.org/GLMC_Garage/showthread.php?tid=81) but I would almost like to see something that's harder to map/scout ahead of time... like murals, animals, etc.

[StarWolve]

(10-22-2013 01:35 PM)TBONE Wrote:  I like "GLMC...it's a four letter word."
I came up with this idea two summers ago somewhere in Wisconsin.

Bena, Ulen, Yuma, Waco, Rome, Reno, etc.

I suspect there aren't enough, and they are too far apart to make this work? I haven't done a count.

4,925.

=LEN(Cell) returns the character count in excel. Just did a quick sort on the USGS List of Populated Places.

---

(10-23-2013 04:44 PM)UncleLumpy Wrote:  Have to spell it out completely once before starting to get credit for the letters of the 2nd spelling. Have to spell it out twice before starting to get credit for letters in the 3rd spelling. Etc.

For something like this - if you included time/date stamps, you could also make sure that it's done in order (A, then G, then R, etc.) That makes for some interesting route planning.

Also - I mentioned the GT to some of the ADV riders in Charlotte. I might be Starting a U-Turn Crew, CLT Chapter. Hopefully a few of them will join the GT for 2014.

[Weatherhead]

Feed the addiction, get a fix from your dealer...

Motorcycles shops.

[Frump]

Rock and Roll Towns:

Rock: Rock, Stone, Earth, Boulder, Pebble, Ore, & Jewel
Roll: Roll, Cycle, Run, Turn, Reel, & Wind
Extra bonuses for Cleveland and Nashville.

Also like the 4 letter name theme and motorcycle shop theme (with some restrictions and KISS).

Rock & Roll and the 4 letter names would make for a heck of a t-shirt theme.

[Bob C]

Flyin' high

Names of airports, air fields. From major airports to county grass strips.

[Lapchik]

Water names on water towers? And before the flack starts, I know there was already a water type GT.

Saints tour...St. Helena, St. Peter, St. Paul . . . .Obviously a jackpot for Minnesota riders

Pairs of cities . . .like Utica in both Minnesota and Nebraska, Aurora MN and SD...

Town names on local (no chain restaurant) cafe/diners

Hello, my name is ________ tour. Towns with names of people like Gary, Edna, Virginia, St. Paul (a lot of saints would work here too...), Perry, Beverly Hills

Lumberjack grand tour . . .logging, lawn/tree service, or lumber businesses

[Shooter]

okay i'll take a stab at this....

Fire and Water theme

Fire Depts. in towns with the beginning letters F-I-R or E and water towers with the word "water" in the name like Waterloo or Watertown...etc.

This would make it challenging to have to actually search for something specific.

And bring back double point week. just saying

[texnmidwest]

Paper wrote "....remember the bet we made back in March...."

If you remember, I invited you to breakfast last Saturday and you made a bunch of excuses.

BTW, Although I don't remember the bet (I have slept since then) I will gladly pay up!

But, other than a CMP match or two and the Guzzi rally......I have successfully avoided you! HA!

[MikeH]

Shooter brings up double points. Question to all, what is a fair way to do it? 1 week, 2 weeks? During BL7? No weeks?
Also for those that weren't at the banquet, I floated the idea of extra points for riding in a group. Too many lonewolves out there? Does everyone in the photo need to be in the GT? Getting too complicated?
I need opinions folks!

[Lapchik]

(10-29-2013 09:15 PM)MikeH Wrote:  I need opinions folks!

K.I.S.S.

The fewer rules, stipulations, and regulations, the better.

I like riding alone, and that way shooter isn't there to give you the finger or a dirty look in every picture he is in. (see below)

[Shooter]

I was joking about double points. It really isn't fair that someone might not get out during that time. And as I proved last year if you do have the time and ambition you can knock out a lot in a week!!!!! I don't think that has ever been the intent of this event. The spirit of The Grand Tour has always been to go out and explore places you probably wouldn't have went to the entire riding season.

So my .02 is I would like to see it kept simple and fun for everyone. I do think that a point per rider in the pic would encourage more group rides but do we really need points to call up a fellow rider and go GT'ing?

BTW lots of good theme ideas!!!!!

---

this is the "real" translation of those pics.

1. That is me showing Lapchik my disgust of not having a drink in my hand. We were waaaay behind schedule and I was thirsty!!!!! Shortly after that pic we outran the Minnesota Highway Patrol....lol true story

2. Okay that one I was flipping you off but only because you thought you would beat us there with your "short cut" that ended up being the gravel road from hell. Which was followed up shorty there after by another mere 10 mile gravel road trip with Farmer, Blinky, Haley, and you. just a little dusty

3. And the last one was It's windy, cold, off and on rain, and a long way from Hudson, WI so hurry with your pic cause my camera is already put away!!!!!

I know you like to ride alone most of the time but you have to admit riding with me makes for some pretty good stories.....