Que the Wagner-it’s time for the 2010 Steel Soldiers Georgia Rally (10SSGR)!
Please read this entire thread, as it should cover 99% of questions about the rally. Dates, location, lodging, activities, food, etc; it’s all here.
If you are unfamiliar with the SSGR, then check out the after action threads from the last few years:
2009:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...ia-thread.html
2008:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...ia-thread.html
2007:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...bs-thread.html
We have grown steadily over the years-the first year of an official rally (’07) we had 22 trucks-in ’09 we had 40 trucks, plus trailers and a fully functioning military kitchen trailer.
Here’s the important stuff:
1.
Don’t start a bunch of new 10SSGR threads on your own-it’s confusing to members who are not computer or web forum proficient to have to get all their info from 5 different threads. We’ll cover convoy/travel ops, food, lodging and parts sales/wants here in a bit. You can’t get your feelings hurt if you create a new thread and I merge it with this one. You were warned.
2. Don’t call Durhamtown Plantation and ask about the Military Vehicle Rally-they don’t put on the SSGR on-we do. To Durhamtown, we are a bunch of guys who choose to come to their facility for a weekend of camping out and offroading. They see us as individual customers, not a group. If you call their front desk and ask about the military vehicle rally, you will likely get “We don’t put on a military vehicle rally, I don’t know what you are talking about” response.
UPDATE: The Assistant Operations/Race Coordinator, Lauren Clifton from Durhamtown contacted and told me that she is aware of our rally and will be happy to handle all 10SSGR reservations. So call her at 706.486.4603 and make sure to thank her for taking care of our rally attendees.
Ok, let’s get down to brass tacks.
The 10SSGR will be held October 20-24, 2010 at Durhamtown Plantation Offroad Park in Union Point, Ga. It is a 5 day event, although Wednesday and Thursday are lighter days, as attendees are still showing up and Sunday is light as everyone is packing up in the morning for their trips home. The bulk of the rally is Friday and Saturday. It is a rain or shine event so please be prepared accordingly.
The SSGR has vehicle displays, swap meet w/ vendors area, campfires and some outstanding offroading. The offroading is outstanding-very challenging and difficult places for the most adventurous of operators and easy, “trail rides” for those who are more cautious/conservative/inexperienced and everything in between. We have several highly experienced professional grade off roaders and recovery experts, so getting stuck isn’t an issue. One of the most important aspects of the SSGR has always been for it to be “all things to all people”-if you want to come to the rally and spend the entire weekend on the trails, you can. If you want to spend a relaxing weekend at camp looking at military vehicles, you can. There is no rule or expectation for attendees to do anything other than show up and have a good time.
Major points-
Durhamtown Plantation in Union Point, Ga. Durhamtown is a facility which has catered to the motocross and ATV markets for several years and a few years ago, they expanded to include a 1200 acre offroad park for the full sized vehicle market. Link to their website:
Welcome. Please make sure you pay careful attention to their directions page (
Directions ). See where it says “Using GPS or MapQuest will take you on unnecessary dirt roads! We recommend using our directions.”? Well, it’s the truth. This place is in a very rural area and it’s easy to get lost. Cell phone reception is very poor in this area so make sure you know exactly how to get there and make sure you have Durhamtown’s phone # so that if you get lost
and you manage to get a signal you can call them.
The owner of the Durhamtown has greatly supported us in putting on our rally, allowing us into restricted areas and giving us greater hours of access to the trails, provided porta-potties in our field free of charge, given us our own, private fenced-in area for our rally and has even come over to our campfire to eat with us. All the employees of Durhamtown love having us there and are outstanding people. The enthusiasm we have received from everyone from the owner all the way down the chain has been nothing short of outstanding.
You have several options at the SSGR: You can pitch a tent or sleep in your truck for a primitive camping fee of $15 per night for 3 people, $5 per additional person (I don’t know how this would work if you are by yourself; call Durhamtown for more details), you can rent an RV or a cabin from Durhamtown (fees vary, see their site for details) or you can bring your own camper (they do have electric, water and sanitation hookups for RVs). Please see the Durhamtown website with any questions you have about lodging. Again, when you contact Durhamtown for lodging reservations (not needed for primitive camping), simply tell them you need to rent whatever it is you are renting and on which dates-if you tell them you are there for the military vehicle rally, they will have no idea what you are talking about.
SSGR attendees have every component of a military vehicle rally they could want-camping, social get-together in the evenings around a huge campfire, offroading of every variety, vendors selling parts and accessories, vehicle displays and an authentic Military Kitchen trailer (MKT) providing hot breakfasts, lunches and dinners for very reasonable prices. There is no set schedule for SSGR activities-the basic setup of the rally has been a short, 1-3 hour trailride in the mornings, go back to camp for lunch, then a several hour excursion on the trails, then back to the camp for dinner . We may do a post-dinner trailride this year, as the night trailrides have been very popular. We tried having a rigid schedule the first year and the complexity of getting everyone together proved to be overwhelming. So now it is more of a free-flow schedule.
This year, we are going to attempt to have 2-5 “detachments” (working title) who will help smoothe out ruffles. Think of them as “Points of Contact” between the Rally Leader and attendees. One who will manage just the trailriding aspect, one who will manage interaction between the rally and Durhamtown, one who will manage rally attendee questions and problems (the guy next to me snores too loud, can I get a better parking spot, can I get some electricity and water over to my truck, etc.).
Anyone who wants to volunteer for these jobs can at any time PM me. Please do not be offended if you do not get chosen, as I can find plenty of ways to put you to work. The trailride master will be none other than SS member Squirt-Truck (
Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite - View Profile: Squirt-Truck) and his assistant will be SS member Dumpster (
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/members/Dumpster).html.
Your only costs will be lodging (camping or rental fees), food (if you eat at Durhamtown’s excellent café or the MKT) and the offroad park access fees. Offroad park access fees are described on Durhamtown’s site. There is no admission fee the rally. So if you can only come one day and you are not offroading, you will encounter no fees. If you ride with another person in their vehicle, there is a small fee (I think $5 per day).
The last 6 years weather on this weekend:
2009 temps: 51/80
2008 temps: 46/61
2007 temps: 59/77
2006 temps: 32/59
2005 temps: 48/65
2004 temps: 56/67
Please prepare accordingly-the weather could be perfect Southern fall weather, requiring nothing more than a t-shirt or it could be very chilly and rainy. At night around the campfire, you will likely want some kind of a jacket and perhaps hat, gloves, etc.
You can bring our own food, eat at Durhamtown’s excellent café which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner or you can eat at our fully functioning Military Kitchen trailer. The MKT will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The prices are very low as well (comparable to fast food prices). The MKT also had tea and coffee. There are not any restaurants nearby other than Durhamtown’s café, so please make sure you have a plan! The menu and suggested prices are as follows:
Breakfast - Eggs (scrambled and over easy), bacon (maybe ham or sausage too), grits, biscuits, SOS, and if Walter gets froggy, French Toast and pancakes. Estimated cost $3 per person. Served Thursday through Sunday, with Sunday being leftovers also.
Lunch - brown bag, U-fixum, with a pair of cold cuts sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit (apple or banana) and bottled water. We will send tea and coolaid (but not in Gimpy's truck) to supplement the drinks. A hot lunch of some sort will be made for those staying behind with the gear in camp. Estimated cost $4 per person. Served Thursday through Saturday.
Supper - Wednesday and Thursday nights probably hamburgers or something similar with side dishes and a salad. Friday night will be chili mac (in honor of papabear and the CAMO Crew) with fixings. Saturday night is the biggie (No, we're not going whole hog, that would be too much) with steaks and trimmings (french fries or baked potato, beans, yams, etc.) Estimated costs W & Th $4, F -$5, Sat - $6. Not quite as good as the prime rib we had at the FL rally, but a whole lot better than cold beanie weenies!
There is a thread on the food component of the rally, it can be found here:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...d-service.html
Durhamtown is in a rural area and cell phone reception is spotty at best. This year we are going to attempt to put together some basic communications operations using surplus military equipment so that people out on the trails can communicate with the people back at the camp. At this time there is a thread where members are trying to hash out the details (see thread here:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...-ga-rally.html ) If you are knowledgeable about short range military/civilian commo gear and wish to assist please post on the thread and the commo master (SS member tennmogger) will put you to work. We also plan to have a functioning PA system at the rally like we had in 2009 so that people can be alerted to the food being ready and trail ride departures.
People come to the SSGR from all over-Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia and everywhere in between. If you are interested in meeting up with others and coming in together, please post (in this thread) where you are leaving from and when. If there is enough interest in a “convoy to the SSGR thread” I will start one and I will link to it from this thread. I am really trying to keep most of the rally information in one place-we don’t need 5 threads for one rally.
There is now a convoy thread covering people who are coming from Alabama, Louisiana, etc. It can be found here:
North Alabama Convoy for GA Rally
The information regarding the convoy from Florida can be found here:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...oy-thread.html
Parts wanted/for sale/swap meet thread:
As opposed to having a thread where we discuss the rally (this one), a separate thread where we discuss what parts we are bringing to sell and what we want to buy and another thread where we discuss convoy ops and travel directions/times, what I’d prefer would be for all this to be here on this thread. If you plan on coming to the rally, your post could read something like “Hey, I plan on leaving on Oct. 20 from Loxahatchee, Florida; zip code 12345 at about Noon if anyone wants to meet up. I will be bringing 5 gallons of Gillespie 383 paint for sale or trade and I am looking for fiberglass dropside troop seats for a Deuce”.
20-September-2010- EDIT: There is now a thread for parts wanted/for sale/swap meet. Since some members had already posted their lists on this thread, you will need to read both threads in order to have a complete idea of what's coming for sale and what's needed by other members.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/ga-rall...de-thread.html
Is the rally child and animal friendly?
Yes-but as in all aspects of life, please show consideration for others. Aggressive dogs or constant barkers should be managed in a respectful way and poorly behaved children will be drafted into cleaning mud out of tire treads. The SSGR is a family friendly affair, so behave accordingly.
How many people will be there?
It’s safe to say we should have over 150 attendees and at least 40 military vehicles, plus trailers. Last year’s turnout was over 50 vehicles if you count trailers.
Do I have to be a member of www.steelsoldiers.com to attend? What if I don’t own a (or can’t bring my) vehicle?
No, you have to be interested in the historic military vehicle hobby! If you do not have a vehicle, this isn’t a problem. We can probably even find someone to let you ride with on the trails if you wish to go.
Parts for sale/wanted/vendors/separate threads for parts
If you have parts you are looking for or parts you are bringing to sell, please post them in this thread. If this thread gets to be too long (as determined by me), I will break it out and create a new thread.
Is there electricity at the rally?
Yes and no. One of our attendees does rent an RV spot so he can pull power for his MKT, but there is a limit. Some members bring generators, you may be able to convince someone to let you use theirs. If you have a consistent need for electricity (a/c units, etc.) you may be well served bringing your own generator. One member is planning on bringing a large generator to supply power for attendees but that is dependent upon him finishing it.
Do I need to bring firewood?
YES!!!!!!! Bring an entire forest! We can not have enough. Gimpy and Jerry like a BIG campfire. Let's give it to 'em.
It shouldn’t have to be said, but it does:
The website
www.steelsoldiers.com and/or Durhamtown Plantation, nor any person acting in conjunction with those entities will be held liable for any injuries to anyone attending the SSGR or damage to personal/private property during the SSGR. All persons accept this personal responsibility and release
www.steelsoldiers.com and their agents (rally organizers, volunteers, etc.) and/or Durhamtown Plantation and their agents (employees, etc.) from any liability resulting from injury or damages to property by attending the rally. Attendance at the rally is and will be understood to signify acceptance of these terms.
Official 2010 SS Ga Rally Info thread
I'll probably leave out of Benton , AR that Wed. the 20th @ around 8 or 9 am. I'm sure plans will change between now and then. I would be up for some convoy action with anyone leaving out from the area or any one that I can meet along the way. If you guys need some donations or an extra helper, let me know and I will see what I can do. I do have a question and that would be what about some souvenir T-Shirts?
