Boston to Flint Caravan ? 2003 Tentative Plans

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Boston to Flint Caravan ? 2003 Tentative Plans<P>Outbound Departure Sunday or Monday July 20 or 21, 2003<P>Outbound Arrival Tuesday, July 22, 2003<P>100th Buick Centennial Celebration ? Flint, Michigan<P>Wednesday, July 23 to Sunday, July 27, 2003<P>Return Departure Sunday, July 27, 2003<P>Return Arrival Monday, July 28, 2003<P><BR>The following is very tentative planning that is only our current thoughts on how we would plan this event.<P>Tentative Boston Departure Date: Sunday or Monday, July 20 or 21, 2003<P>Actual Departure Date will depend on whether we spend one or two overnights in route to Flint. Some will want to drive straight to Flint (probably only achievable by those with modern air conditioned cars) others will want to stop for an overnight in Western New York, others might want to spend more time, and visit a place of interest in Western New York going to and returning from Flint.<P>Mileage to my hotel (Grand Blanc area) is 738 miles and 15 hours of driving according to Yahoo maps. I live in North Central Massachusetts on the New Hampshire border.<P>Definite Flint Arrival Date: Tuesday PM, July 22, 2003 if there are events scheduled on Wednesday, July 23, 2003<P>The most likely route across Massachusetts and New York will be I-90 (Massachusetts Turnpike and New York Thruway both toll roads for most of their distances). Alternate routes we have pretty much ruled out are Route 20 across both states and Route 5 and 20A across New York. We will be taking the shorter route to Flint through the Province of Ontario, Canada and not going the long way by Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.<P>Most likely rendezvous points for those joining the Boston to Flint Caravan will be:<P>1. Eastern Massachusetts Rendezvous and starting point.<BR>Minuteman Chapter origination point, first travel plaza west of I-95 (route 128) and I-90 (Mass Pike) in Natick. <BR>North Shore, Metro Boston, Metro West, and South Shore members will probably meet here.<BR>2. Central Massachusetts Rendezvous<BR>On I-90 west of I-495, I-290, and Worcester<BR>Charlton Travel Plaza. Maine, New Hampshire, Central Massachusetts, Cape & the Islands, Southeastern Massachusetts, and Rhode Island members will meet here.<BR>3. Western Massachusetts Rendezvous<BR>On I-90 west of I-91 and Springfield<BR>Blandford Travel Plaza. Meeting point for Central New England Chapter (from the Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield area), Yankee Chapter (Connecticut), and Minuteman Chapter assembled at previous two stops<BR>4. Eastern New York Rendezvous<BR>On I-90 west of Albany. First travel plaza just east of Amsterdam<BR>Meeting point for West bound groups previously assembled, Long Island Chapter, and North Jersey Chapter<BR>5. Central New York Rendezvous<BR>On I-90 west of Syracuse. First travel plaza west of I-690 near Liverpool<BR>Meeting point for West bound groups previously assembled, Central New York Chapter, Free Spirit Chapter (PA), Philadelphia ?76 Chapter (PA). Note: Our sixth stop will most likely be our first night?s stopover. Central New York may want to delay joining us until our second morning start in the Finger Lakes/Rochester, NY area.<BR>6. First night stop. Finger Lakes Region/Rochester, NY area<BR>In the I-90 and I-390 area<BR>There is a very good possibility that the second day will start with a visit to a place of interest in this area. Possibilities include a private collection of 30+ Buicks if arrangements can be made for a group of whatever size this becomes. Other possibilities include only one of the many Finger Lake attractions depending on interest expressed. Depending on time required for Finger Lakes attraction, this area may also be the second night?s stop or we could move west to the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area for a second night stop if needed.<BR>7. Second or third day start and Finger Lakes Rendezvous. <BR>Meeting point for Finger Lakes Chapter, Central New York Chapter, and West bound groups previous assembled.<BR>8. Western New York Rendezvous<BR>I-90, I-290, I-190 Buffalo/Niagara Falls area<BR>Meeting point for Niagara Frontier Chapter and previously assembled Westbound groups. We will need help from the Niagara Frontier Chapter in identifying a rendezvous point in this densely populated area with few travel plazas. There is a travel plaza east of the Buffalo area in Clarence and one just over the Canadian Border west of St. David, Ont.<BR>9. Ontario, Canada Rendezvous<BR>We will need help and advice from the very active Canadian BCA members living in the area we will be passing through. We need a recommendation on a meeting point for them to join us as we proceed west through Ontario towards Michigan. There is a travel plaza/rest area on route 401 at Cambridge and one before Ingersoll.<BR>10. Proceed directly to the Flint area hotels via route 401 and 402 in Ontario. Pick up I-69 west at the Canadian/US border. We have no plans to rendezvous with any of the Michigan based chapters.<BR>11. Arrive at Flint area hotels second or third night depending on planned activities and time spent in the Finger Lakes region of New York on day 2.<P>Hotels in route: Depends on number of nights and events planned. Do not know if we will register and block rooms for participants to reserve from (this is probably more work than I want to get into) or if participants will be on their own to reserve their own hotels. This is a very difficult task at this point because number of participants is unknown and events need to be finalized based upon interest shown.<P>Hotels in the Flint area: There will be no host hotel<BR>The Buicktown Chapter first published in the December 2001 Bugle and continues to publish in the monthly Bugles the phone number for the Flint Convention and Tourist Bureau which is handling room reservations. That number is (888) 230-2587. They will offer a plateau of room rates starting at $45 per night up to $119 per night.<P>Several Reattas will be starting with our group. The Reatta Division, BCA secured their own exclusive hotel in Grand Blanc. All 90 rooms at this hotel are currently blocked for Reatta Division members only. Members of the Reatta Division were given this information at their Annual Meeting at the 2001 Buffalo National Meet and it has been published in two Reatta Division newsletters since.<P>The Minuteman Chapter recently reserved a block of rooms for Minuteman Chapter members at a hotel in Fenton. This information was announced to members in attendance at the February Brunch meeting and will be published in the Minuteman Chapter March/April newsletter within a week or two. How to get one of these rooms is explained in the newsletter. The number of rooms blocked may have to be increased if more than our regular number of National Meet attendees decides to attend. At some point chapter members will be on their own when the rooms are no longer available.<P>Since this is still in the formative stages I cannot tell you what we have for cars participating yet. I do know now that I will be driving my 1939 Special Opera Coupe Model 46-S with 37,000 original miles.<P>The Minuteman Chapter has had members drive (Buicks are meant to be driven) or trailer (only 3 or 4 trailered) their cars to many National Meets, for many years. My memory goes back to 1994 at this point. I expect that many of the cars I list here will participate in the caravan to Flint since they have already been to one or more National Meets; 1933 Model 56S, 1936 Model 61, 1941 Model 49, 1942 Model 49, 1949 Super Convertible, 1952 & 1953 Super wagons, 2 - 1954 Model 66R, 1957 Model 46R, 1959 LeSabre & Invicta, 1963 & 1964 Riviera, 1966 Wildcat GS, 1969 Skylark Coupe, 1971 GS, 1973 Riviera, 3 ? 1989 Reattas, 1990 Reatta Convertible, and 1991 Reatta Coupe. The National Meets that Minuteman Chapter members drove to were: Atlanta (1994), Chicago (1995), St. Louis (1997), Danvers (1998) BCA National Meet hosted by the Minuteman Chapter, Columbus (1999), Richmond (2000), and Buffalo (2001).<P>Two of our sister chapters we plan to meet in route to Flint hosted very successful National Meets (Finger Lakes in 1989 the originators of the 400 point judging system and Buffalo in 2001). You will be traveling with some organization and logistics pros.<P>My dream and theme for our Minuteman Chapter activities in 2003, Celebrating the Buick Centennial is ?100 years, 100 cars.?<P>While there are no surviving 1903 Buicks and the war years 1943, 1944, and 1945 eliminated 3 model years of production, we are eager to see how many years will be represented by at least one model of that year.<BR>We are also very interested in assembling every model from the 50th Anniversary year 1953.<P>I envision our efforts to caravan together to Flint as a rolling National Meet, the Buick event of the Century, and more than half the fun of Buick 100th experience.<P>Where do we go from here?<P>The Minuteman Chapter needs to get a commitment from its chapter members on their participation in this event. We are very busy right now finalizing our event planning for the remainder of this year and preparing for our Plymouth Rock BCA Northeast Regional Meet. We will be discussing our plans with our members at our monthly meetings through July this year. We will be trying to determine a general consensus on when members want to leave, what they want to do in route, when they have to be back, and if the chapter will subsidize any part of the costs of this venture.<P>We will be attending three of our sister chapter (Central New England, Yankee, and Long Island) monthly meetings and/or car shows through the end of May to discuss their interest in participating in this once in a lifetime event. We will be contacting our other sister chapters via email and postal mail to determine interest.<P>Our discussions will culminate at the Northeast Regional meet we are hosting in August when we should have representatives from most Northeast Chapters since there is an election scheduled for the Northeast Regional Director.<P>I hope that we can finalize our plans shortly after the Northeast Regional Meet in the August/early September time frame.<P>While it may be a little bit early for most to plan this far ahead, we have to start somewhat early so that when we are just little less than a year away, folks can plan their trip to Flint with some degree of certainty of the caravan schedule. <P>If you are interested in participating in the Buick to Flint Caravan 2003 event, please send me an email at the following new email address I just created for this event, expressing your interest:<P>MMCBCA2003@aol.com<P>Your email should include the following information:<P>Name<BR>Address<BR>City State Zip<BR>Email address<BR>Phone Number<BR>Cell Phone Number<BR>BCA Member Yes/No BCA Number<BR>BCA Chapter Member Yes/No<BR>Chapter Name<BR>BCA Division Yes/No<BR>BDE/Reatta Div/Performance Division<BR>Own FRS Radio Yes/No Number of FRS Radios<BR>Camera Yes/No 35mm/Digital/Video<BR>Mechanic Yes/No<BR>Tools Yes/No<BR>Your planned departure date from home<BR>Your planned arrival date in Flint<BR>Year and Buick Model<BR>Average Miles Per Gallon<BR>Experience Level Touring with vintage automobiles:<BR>Novice (First time)<BR>Intermediate (Several times)<BR>Advanced (Many times)<BR>Willingness to:<BR>Lead your decade group (must have FRS Radio)<BR>Follow the leader (middle)<BR>Be the tail of your decade group (must have FRS Radio)<BR>Rendezvous Point you would join us at:<BR>1. Eastern Massachusetts<BR>2. Central Massachusetts<BR>3. Western Massachusetts<BR>4. Eastern New York<BR>5. Central New York<BR>6. Finger Lakes New York<BR>7. Western New York<BR>8. Ontario, Canada<P>Participants and their cars may be organized by decade groups for common speeds and schedules for fuel stops (same average MPG)<P>I will not be responding to postings on the BCA General Discussion Board. <P>I will create an email group for those interested and keep you up to date via email as we make progress finalizing the various stages of this endeavor.<P>eSpecially yours,<P>Marc<p>[ 03-25-2002: Message edited by: MMCBCA2003 ]

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I have made some corrections and significant additions to the original post on the Boston to Flint caravan. If interested in this caravan, please reread above.<P>While much of Buick's history took place in Detroit and Flint in the early days, there are connections between Massachusetts, the City of Boston, and prominent people in Flint, Buick, General Motors, and Michigan history.<P>Because of this connection we are proud to start one of two caravans to Flint, identified so far, within several miles of a street called Buick Street.<P>We are going to start other original postings asking trivia questions on Buick history related to Massachusetts.<p>[ 03-24-2002: Message edited by: MMCBCA2003 ]