Johnson City is hitting us up to move a East Coast Rally there

[Marsh White]

I received the following email this morning and I thought I'd share it with the group.  They also list 12 ride routes on their website.  Of course I know NOTHING about the area...so you east coasters talk amongst yourselves.  Still, kinda cool that a town is actually hitting US up to hold our rally there!

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Hi Marsh,

I was checking out your website and I thought I would send an email!  We just launched a new site http://www.ridejohnsoncity.com and I thought you may enjoy it. It includes rides all over East Tennessee and North Carolina.

I also wanted to ask if you had ever considered having the east coast rally anywhere other than Tellico Plains or Boone?  We would love to see it here in Johnson City, TN!  We are in upper East TN near Boone!

Let me know what you think of the website! 
Have a great weekend and talk to you soon.

Tallie Shelton, Director of Sales
Johnson City Convention & Visitors Bureau
603 East Market Street
Johnson City, TN 37601
423-461-8007 - direct line
423-461-8047 - fax
tallie@johnsoncitytnchamber.com
www.visitjohnsoncitytn.com


May 2006 - Johnson City is Forbes #9 Best Smaller Metro; Inc. #40 Hottest Small Cities; Johnson City Ranks - Top 40 Best Performing Small Metros; Most Affordable; Best Performing City in Tri-Cities - 6th in Tennessee and Top 100 Cities to Relocate!!

[Klavdy]

I'm going to send Tallie(is that a Sheila's name? Never know with you Seppos) an E-mail outlining upcoming visits from International Dignitaries, explain the protocols involved and the reception the Johnson City Convention & Visitors Bureau should host.
This has potential.

[racerman_27410]

yeah they want the revenue that the Tenn state highway patrol is generating on "the snake" by writing tickets for even a couple miles over the now 35mph speed limit....... F&%K them and the state of Tennessee
...they are pulling the same shit there as they are at the dragon..... and thats just wrong on many different levels.


Kookaloo!

i just wanna be free to ride and not be hasseled by the man

[mst3kguy]

altho i'm usually law enforcement-friendly, i have to agree in part with frank on this one.  fuck tennessee and any revenue they want.  tennessee highway patrol and their governor has said "fuck you" to motorcyclists and visitors to deals gap the past two years with their nazi enforcement.  check it out at tailofthedragon.com.

if we were to move one of the rallies to johnson city, it would be the boone rally, as it's about an hour and a half away, whereas tellico is much farther.  and why, pray tell, would we move the rally from north carolina, to tennessee?  321 is nice from elizabethton to boone, and elizabethton is near johnson city, but screw that.

i'd suggest a reply to the sender would be to remark on the nazi-like patrolling by the tennessee highway patrol, the indignant attitude by their governor on this selective enforcement (motorcyclists riding on the dragon getting ticketed for under 5 mph over the limit; trucks crossing double yellows all through the dragon and the THP looks the other way), and point them to the complaints as seen on tailofthedragon.com.

i will end this with this appears to be a STATE issue, as many employees at the crossroads of time diner/shop mentioned that the county sheriffs are fine with bikers going thru the dragon, it's the highway patrol that is in a nazi state of enforcement.

[gdfj12]

I'm with Frank & Dean on this, keep the Rally in Boone. I was one of the 'Lucky' (TM) riders to get popped by the THP & they are very unforgiving & as Dean mentioned, a bit Nazi like in their 'enforcement' of the new speed limit that they dropped by 15 mph. I for one do not plan on much riding near there any time soon.

George Denison
'89 FJ1200

[FJ Flyer]

Might even send a note to Ron at tailofthedragon.com to let him publicize it even more.  TN has gone way beyond even keeping 'reasonable' in the review mirror.  Screw 'em.

[rktmanfj]

<snip>TN has gone way beyond even keeping 'reasonable' in the review mirror.  Screw 'em.

+1   Boone has been pretty good to us...   

Randy T
Indy

[Klavdy]

<snip>TN has gone way beyond even keeping 'reasonable' in the review mirror.  Screw 'em.

+1   Boone has been pretty good to us...   

Randy T
Indy

Well, send a copy of that Email to the Boone Chamber of Commerce or whatever their equivalent is,tell them we're thinking of taking up the offer of moving the Rally, and see what they will do.
Could get all sorts of goodies out of this.
It is the Chamber of Commerce or Tourist boards (whatever) job to promote Tourism and they have already got a budget to spend on promotions.
They might as well spend some on us.

[racerman_27410]

LOL K man......Boone is in NC.... it's a big money area (as in people with big money live there) and they dont have any problems with people wanting to visit there.... matter of fact if we told them we were having a rally they would probably want to make us buy a permit!
best to not draw too much attention to our fun..... we all know the anti fun nazi's are just waiting for a reason to swoop in and shut us down.

i hate it but thats the way it is

KOokaloo!

[Fred]

Somebody should send an email to the folks in Johnson City. I suppose it should be Marsh since they contacted him, but if he doesn't want to I would volunteer to do it. The only way to get the gov. to back off is to make his grandstanding painful and the only way to do that is let his supporters know its going to cost them money. We may not be big but every little bit helps.

Fred

[Klavdy]

Somebody should send an email to the folks in Johnson City. I suppose it should be Marsh since they contacted him, but if he doesn't want to I would volunteer to do it. The only way to get the gov. to back off is to make his grandstanding painful and the only way to do that is let his supporters know its going to cost them money. We may not be big but every little bit helps.

Fred

Fuck me dead Fred!
You are a fair dinkum genius bastarard!
Get them to Deputise us all for the Rally!