Sorry Tom for hijacking your United thread (for which I've reserved my hotel per your suggestion) but since the issue has been raised...
There are several problems with a SUNI. Many Tiger owners just don’t do road trips for whatever reason, much less long road trips. Personally, we’ve found the trip to & from is frequently the most fun. My wife and I did a circuitous route to and from the SUNI at Rapid City and logged 3,500 miles over the ten days. We went south of the Sierras, through the Rockies over the Beartooth Highway in Montana, visiting Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and the Devil’s Tower along the way. SUNIs tend take 2 or 3 days on the road. That one took 2½. This summer’s trip to Wisconsin will probably take 3 days.
Some have complained about the location of past SUNIs. I’ve tried to start a discussion on what ground rules we all can agree on when considering sites for a SUNI. I’d like to see a fair location by trying to center the event in the middle of the country. Others float the old idea of alternating between west, center and east. We already have annual east and west events so isn’t it fair to the heartland that we try to get an event close to the center even if it’s only once every 5 years?
During this discussion I’ve discovered some have what I consider a warped view of geography. Some think Dayton is “west”. Some think the Mississippi is too far west. And west coasters like myself point out that driving-wise the middle of the country is in the middle of Nebraska, 400 miles west of the Mississippi. (I believe the acknowledged geographical center is about 100 miles south in northern Kansas.)
So I created an imaginary 400 mile radius around the driving center. It stretches from the Rockies to the Misssissippi, from North Dakota to Texas. All of Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota are included. Anywhere inside this circle can be reached with a 3-day drive for some and a 2-day or less drive for most.
This circle starts in southern part of North Dakota as far as Bismark, then goes over to Minneapolis and most of Iowa west of Cedar Rapids, the NW half of Missouri including KC, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, all of Colorado, the eastern half of Wyoming and the SE tip of Montana.
Obviously there’s a lot of other factors in determining a SUNI location, weather and things to do come to mind. However before spending a lot of time I was hoping for a general consensus as to where we want to stage future SUNIs. Without the clubs taking that first step, I’m unwilling to invest a lot of time working on details.
That being said, we have investigated an inexpensive possible SUNI site near the SW corner of that circle in a cool Rocky Mountain valley for a June SUNI. It looks quite promising. If the clubs decide to support it, we could possibly put one on in 2020. Right now I'm waiting to hear responses from the clubs. If their responses are positive we will start investigating intensely. However if the club responses insist on staging a SUNI in Orlando or Monterey in order to get one in the center of the country, then I'm not interested. I suggest if you want a SUNI then let your clubs know and let them know where you want it located.
But after all, what can any of us non-buckeyes really know about anything?
