Who's interested?

[DaveinOlyWA]

Hi all,

as this is the official kick off of the WA State chapter of PriusChat.

let me know if any of you want to get some sort of event together.
if you are interested, then post your name, location, and how far you are willing to travel to meet.

then with that we can decide on the easiest and most conveinent thing to do.

some possible thoughts might include taking all the locations and finding something that comes closest to the middle that would be easy to find.

or if we really get things going, we can rotate through locations as we probably will have a concentration of people in the South sound area and then the north sound area not to mention south to Vancouver or where ever else.


another thing that might be good is that there is a million places to go see here. we are pretty blessed in the tourist attraction department and maybe picking places that we can gather outside and walk and talk maybe while the weather is still good. obviously later, restaurants and such would be the better deal..

ok?? keep in mind that the only bad idea is one not ventured. this is our group and its up to us to make it a worth while place to be. so im game for just about anything at least once...well except for meeting at SIR or something... one of the many reasons i bought my Prius was to help bury some bad habits and lower my insurance rates!!

for those of you that dont know, SIR is Spanaway international Raceway. they used to allow people to take their street cars out and race on the track. and i have decided to take advantage of a different kind of performance measure in my car.

if you dont feel comfortable posting any specifics (i dont recommend it) feel free to PM me. PM's are fairly secure and i wouldnt worry about any info getting out there. also if you PM me, please let me know if you have any special needs as far as privacy of any info you have. im not worried too much about anyone here as i feel that many here would welcome a chance to talk with other owners in person where it is so much easier to compare notes. but one should always be careful in a public post such as this one.


as for me, i am living in Olympia and i would be willing to go up to 100 miles (maybe more) at least occasionally to meet. i currently work weird days but im on an east coast schedule for the foreseeable future so im usually off work by 1-2 PM. I usually get one weekend day off but not always, but i work with a great group of people so its possible to get days off if i know about them far enough ahead of time. ( a week or two is good)

[Frank Hudon]

on a Friday Saturday or a Sunday We would probably be willing to travel down to see the group on the left coast of the USA Post some times and lets see if it works. Sould be able to make it down.

[Starbug]

Since I still have to drive my mega-gas-guzzler (trade someone for a Prius? LOL), I am at the moment going to say Fall City, Issaquah, Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue area is fine with me (after I get a Prius, I won't care where we meet!). I get off work by 5pm Mon-Thurs, and I'm off at 8pm on the weekends (Fri-Sun). However, Sunday's are pretty flexible, so I can usually squeak out of work on those days. (Note: Aug 8th is a no-go)

[InTheWASide]

Dave!
Glad to see someone's gonna be setting something up. I was curious if there was anything going on in WA with Prius owners yet.

For myself personally, escrow is set to close around August 27th, possession can happen as early as September 2nd. That means I'll be at my new condo in Everett (Eastern, near Lake Stevens) and settled enough to go out in the world :wink: by September 15th or so. I grew up in Kirkland from age 2-19 so I know the eastside like the back of my hand. Seattle metro, east of Redmond and into the foothills, north of Everett or south of Bellevue starts getting a bit sketchy.

I would say with the exception of an occasional "Hey, let's all get crazy and venture out to Snoqualmie Falls/Ocean Shores/somewhere else that's touristy and not a typical weekly "locals" destination" that we try to find central locations so people are going maybe 20-40 miles TOPS. Keep in mind, the closer and more convenient you make it for people, the more likely it is that more will come, EVEN if they have other things to do that day. Follow? :tongue:

Since the MAJORITY of WA's population falls around Lake Washington and the south sound (mostly Tacoma and Olympia) and as far north as Everett, I would say we should either go in the vicinity of Redmond (just make everyone go east and to a central (North/South-wise) location. Lots to do in Redmond from golf courses, to Marymoor Park, the Burke-Gillman (sp?)Trail, etc.

Another idea would be to always at least have the PARKING take place in a huge touristy spot in Seattle. Near the Space Needle/EMP/Science Center, Pike's Place Market, the Stadiums, Pioneer Square, Kerry Park (Queen Anne Hill) or Alki Beach... Perhaps the Ballard Locks... Places where we'd have a great social setting that either has a touristy or environmental "theme" so we can just meet and do our thing, and should someone come up and say "Hey is that one of those...?" we can engage conversation with a prospective buyer (it's Capitalism boys and girls... EVERYONE is a prospective buyer...). Currently here in Orange County, I've seen people that go around with business cards they've had made up in order to bring awareness of this board and www.priusonline.com In addition, John-1701A's website has info sheets we could carry in our cars (and don't EVEN say you don't have a storage location to put them in. :wink: ) and hand out to anyone that's curious.

The main thing here is to come up with things that a lot of people can get together and enjoy regardless of age, gender or very specific interests (if most WA owners in here happen to be 60+ for instance, Gameworks in Seattle may not be the wisest choice out there) Come up with a backdrop where we could enjoy ourselves, talk about mods to our cars, mpg experiences, good/bad dealers, etc.

And remember, in the early days, recruitment may be a big factor. Come up with something we can pop under the windshield wiper of a Prius we see in a parking lot at the store/gym/university/worksite/whatever... "Hi fellow Prius owner! First off, great car! Second, if you're interested, have a spare 2-4 hours 1 weekend a month, contact ______ at (xxx)xxx-xxxx and find out when other Washington Prius owners are getting together to do everything from ask questions to just meet and talk about a great car! Hope to see you there! Sincerely, ___________

See how easy that was?

Okay, I think I may officially be rambling now, but I want to see this happen as much as it sounds like you do, and was fully prepared to start something up should I have made it to WA on schedule and there was no mention of a Washington group.

Hope to see you all there in the not too distant future!
(I'm going to post this thread into Priusonline.com so that WA owners that only use one board/know of one board can be made aware as well.

Until then,

[DaveinOlyWA]

welcome Brad!!

[Dilbert]

If there is a rally in Redmond on a weekend I would be glad to attend.

[rayburt456]

Rally on!

[DaveinOlyWA]

well its beginning to look like the first meet spot will be near Redmond since most of you are from there so far...

cmon Olympia!! i know you are out there!!

[Starbug]

Yay, right in my backyard! My mega-gas-guzzler won't cost me an arm and a leg for our first meet! LOL. Lots to do in Redmond, so I guess we should find out what most of us are interested in and then pick the best spot, because as bradca21 said: you don't want to pick Gameworks if most of us aren't into that sort of thing.

[DaveinOlyWA]

well i was looking at maybe a place outside that has food. i think we have to take into consideration people that dont have their car yet. im sure they will want to get a closer look and ask questions and stuff. so if we were inside, it would have to be a place where the parking lot is close at hand.

a restaurant maybe that has outdoor seating or even we could just picnic it or something.