The Bloomington, Indiana Chapter's first event will be a cruise from Bloomington to French Lick, Indiana, Saturday June 19. (Day before Father's Day.)
We will group up beginning at 9 am at Sam's Wholesale Club, at the intersection of state highways 37 and 45 on the southwest side of Bloomington. (Sam's is on the soutwest side of the interchange.)
Our route to French Lick will take us down 37 to Bedford. From there we will take state highway 450 to Williams, Indiana, where we will jump to some scenic county roads, including crossing the second longest covered bridge in Indiana.
We plan on getting to West Baden Springs, Indiana in time to take in a noon tour of the 8th Wonder of the Architectural World, the West Baden Springs Hotel National Landmark. For 61 years it had the world's largest free spanned dome roof - it was finally surpased by the Astrodome in 1963. During the early part of the last century is was the place to be. It was a favorite vacation spot for Chicago mobsters as well as numerious celebrities. It was sold to the Jesuits for $1 after the depression and made into a seminary. It later was sold by the Jesuits to an educational institution and became a college, which one of my wife's cousins attended. In the 80's it was sold to a California real estate company which shortly thereafter went bankrupt. For over 10 years the property sat vacant and started turning into ruins. An exterior wall collapsed, exposing several floors of hotel rooms to the weather. In the 90's the California bankruptcy court which controlled the property during its quick demise turned the property over to a group which has been restoring it. Approximately 1/3 of it has now been restored. Costs for the tour are $10/adult, $5/teenager, $2/6-12 year-olds, free for 5 and under.
After the hour-long tour, we will travel on into nearby French Lick, and eat lunch at the French Lick Springs Resort and Spa. (This lunch will probably be at 1 pm or later. If that is later than the normal for you, be prepared and bring some snacks to eat before we start the Hotel tour.)
After lunch we will have about an hour and a half of free time. People can explore quaint French Lick, play putt-putt, explore the old train equipment at the Indiana Railway Museum (next door to the Resort and Spa), and/or hang out and show off Avalanche mods. I might bring one (or more) of our RC toys for racing anyone else who might be interested in "getting it on". Z66 Butch will be bringing copies of the computer Album and Screensaver he made with photos from last year's modding GTG he hosted, together with Avalanche songs by Supermobile, which we will be demoing during this free time.
At 4:00 we will go on the Indiana Railway Museum's Train Ride. The 1 and 3/4 hour trip goes through 20 miles of Hoosier National Forest, limestone rock-cuts and the 2200 foot Burton Tunnel, one of the longest railroad tunnels in the state. Costs for the train ride are $9/adult, $5 for kids 3 - 11, and free for under 3.
We should be rolling back towards Bloomington at about 6 pm, and get there about 8. Those not yet ready to call it a day can arrange to go somewhere to eat together. The wife and I are partial to Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse, both off of 37 one exit north of where we will be grouping up in the morning. Little Zagreb's is a favorite local streakhouse in downtown Bloomington. It shouldn't be much trouble to get into a Bloomington restaurant with most of the Indiana University students gone for the summer.
We hope to have many people join us on this cruise. Z66 Butch has promised to be there, so we're going to have at least 2 Avalanches, and hopefully many more. Please reply if you are planning to come. I will update this post to track our planned attendance, as well as indicate any changes to the above plans.
We will group up beginning at 9 am at Sam's Wholesale Club, at the intersection of state highways 37 and 45 on the southwest side of Bloomington. (Sam's is on the soutwest side of the interchange.)
Our route to French Lick will take us down 37 to Bedford. From there we will take state highway 450 to Williams, Indiana, where we will jump to some scenic county roads, including crossing the second longest covered bridge in Indiana.
We plan on getting to West Baden Springs, Indiana in time to take in a noon tour of the 8th Wonder of the Architectural World, the West Baden Springs Hotel National Landmark. For 61 years it had the world's largest free spanned dome roof - it was finally surpased by the Astrodome in 1963. During the early part of the last century is was the place to be. It was a favorite vacation spot for Chicago mobsters as well as numerious celebrities. It was sold to the Jesuits for $1 after the depression and made into a seminary. It later was sold by the Jesuits to an educational institution and became a college, which one of my wife's cousins attended. In the 80's it was sold to a California real estate company which shortly thereafter went bankrupt. For over 10 years the property sat vacant and started turning into ruins. An exterior wall collapsed, exposing several floors of hotel rooms to the weather. In the 90's the California bankruptcy court which controlled the property during its quick demise turned the property over to a group which has been restoring it. Approximately 1/3 of it has now been restored. Costs for the tour are $10/adult, $5/teenager, $2/6-12 year-olds, free for 5 and under.
After the hour-long tour, we will travel on into nearby French Lick, and eat lunch at the French Lick Springs Resort and Spa. (This lunch will probably be at 1 pm or later. If that is later than the normal for you, be prepared and bring some snacks to eat before we start the Hotel tour.)
After lunch we will have about an hour and a half of free time. People can explore quaint French Lick, play putt-putt, explore the old train equipment at the Indiana Railway Museum (next door to the Resort and Spa), and/or hang out and show off Avalanche mods. I might bring one (or more) of our RC toys for racing anyone else who might be interested in "getting it on". Z66 Butch will be bringing copies of the computer Album and Screensaver he made with photos from last year's modding GTG he hosted, together with Avalanche songs by Supermobile, which we will be demoing during this free time.
At 4:00 we will go on the Indiana Railway Museum's Train Ride. The 1 and 3/4 hour trip goes through 20 miles of Hoosier National Forest, limestone rock-cuts and the 2200 foot Burton Tunnel, one of the longest railroad tunnels in the state. Costs for the train ride are $9/adult, $5 for kids 3 - 11, and free for under 3.
We should be rolling back towards Bloomington at about 6 pm, and get there about 8. Those not yet ready to call it a day can arrange to go somewhere to eat together. The wife and I are partial to Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse, both off of 37 one exit north of where we will be grouping up in the morning. Little Zagreb's is a favorite local streakhouse in downtown Bloomington. It shouldn't be much trouble to get into a Bloomington restaurant with most of the Indiana University students gone for the summer.
We hope to have many people join us on this cruise. Z66 Butch has promised to be there, so we're going to have at least 2 Avalanches, and hopefully many more. Please reply if you are planning to come. I will update this post to track our planned attendance, as well as indicate any changes to the above plans.
Confirmed Attending
Main One + 0-4
Z66 Butch + 3
Smart_AV + 2
stepsidez71 + 1
The Mox + 3
HunterAV + 1
Tanc Crusher
Raychevy + 2
8 Avalanches
20+ people
Maybe
yelotrk +1
Northface-of-NW-IN + ?
Just_Jeepin + Texascwgrl
3 Avalanches
5+ people
Main One + 0-4
Z66 Butch + 3
Smart_AV + 2
stepsidez71 + 1
The Mox + 3
HunterAV + 1
Tanc Crusher
Raychevy + 2
8 Avalanches
20+ people
Maybe
yelotrk +1
Northface-of-NW-IN + ?
Just_Jeepin + Texascwgrl
3 Avalanches
5+ people
It will depend on how I feel after the Niagara Falls GTG 
Instead of turning around once we have crossed the bridge, we could cut through the country and end up on hwy 50 near Huron. This would take us to Shoals, wich is where we would end up if we took 450 past Williams. Don't worry, I know the way. 
We all have to have priorities in life, and for me Avalanche mods fall in between family responsibilities and home theater. 
