Nationals 2012?, Hmm... Options

[Eric Lind]

Ha! One of the first signs of aging!

My kids (who are both under 3) cry and cover their ears during the worship service at The River Classic. I'm fairly confident that if that volume was present in a workplace, OSHA would be all over it.

And just to clarify - although I could see the possiblility of Springfield, MO hosting Nationals in 2012 - it would not be my preference. And for teams having to fly - it would prob be too expensive directly into Springfield. In the past we've flown into Kansas City, St Louis or Tulsa (yup, flying from Seattle we can actually get good rates to Tulsa - weird. )

Quote true. Flying into Springfield, while better than it used to be, is still pretty expensive. When I had my lone year of college at Drury, there was roughly 1 flight a day that I could take, and that was on a wee, tiny prop plane that connected to St. Louis.

I'd actually love to see Nationals in Kansas City or somewhere in Colorado - either Denver or Colorado Springs. But my bet is that they'd consider Colorado too far for a lot of the Great Lakes & Gulf teams to drive. That, plus the fact they'd have to drive through Kansas, and many quizzers would tire of counting cows along the way.

I think everyone should have to suffer through Kansas at least once. We do it several times a year. The nice thing is that there are plenty of good places to stop. This is in stark contrast to our impending drive through northern New Mexico and Texas, where there are nearly no places to stop, other than the truly spectacular Texas rest stops. Those things are like the Taj Mahal of rest stops. They're marred only by the numerous "Warning, Rattlesnakes" signs.

Denver is actually a pretty solid flying value. United, Southwest and Frontier are in a huge battle for supremacy, so we get fare wars pretty often. Sadly, I fear Frontier may wind up the odd man out, but, for now, it's a great airline.

Driving-wise, Springfield/St. Louis are roughly 13 hours from Denver/Colorado Springs, about the same as from Dallas. It took us 2 days to drive to Detroit. I think the Google estimate was 20 hours, but it has no idea how to factor in 3-week olds being involved. That hurt. I'm glad my youngest is now 1, and capable of handling longer drives.

[Doug Black]

The airlines here in Atlanta advertise flights into Branson. Don't know if that is the same as Springfield. The rates from here aren't super bad. Driving is. The drive has some of the more boring stuff I have seen in a long time. When Poplar Bluff is the excitement on the trip, you know it is boring.

Evangel or CBC does sound appropriate for a 50 year ceelbration, but I have no idea what we will see. We will know in about 16 days. Be interesting to find out.

[Joey Bohanon]

I think only AirTran flies into Branson and it has to be on a certain day of the week.

[Lucas Cox]

The James River tournament is always well done, and bigger than Nationals. My one request would be to turn the volume down on worship. Ouch!

Amen! Haha. It's quite painful.

[Richard Fair]

I am not so sure this is as easy as it sounds. Any college or church is going to charge us for using the facility. They will have additional costs for us to be there, especially in the summer for the college. We will have to eat on site or the quizzing will go on well into the evening.

The logistics of people moving a couple times a day is not simple.

Hotel rooms are not as cheap as people think. I just checked the rate for the Holiday Inn Express in Springfield for the same week as nationals in Dallas. Room rates are a little over $92 plus tax. La Quinta is about the same. I do agree that there would be no parking costs. The bigger hotels are just not as flexible on this. I did hear some time ago that one of the reasons is that they don't operate the parking. It is operated by another company and the hotel doesn't have control over what they do.

I understand about the costs. It is not an easy thing to do. The only thing is that most teams at nationals had a pretty good idea that they would be incurring those costs and had some time to prepare.

I spoke with a friend who works in the hotel business, and he said Springfield rates being this high during our summer is an anomaly. There are a lot of people still displaced from Joplin who have been residing in Springfield hotels, and that's one (if not the only) reason rates are higher.

[Doug Black]

I spoke with a friend who works in the hotel business, and he said Springfield rates being this high during our summer is an anomaly. There are a lot of people still displaced from Joplin who have been residing in Springfield hotels, and that's one (if not the only) reason rates are higher.

That makes a lot of sense. I think it would be fun to go to Springfield for the 50th anniversary. However, no one ever asks me.

[Tim McDaniel]

Alack that I am too late to defend Valentine, that jewel set upon the Niobrara! Indeed, the population is not even above 3,000. And the Nebraska Ornithologist's Union meeting of about 200 people (which I was in attendence of) two years ago was probably one of the larger conferences held there. But really, for Bible Quizzers, who are by and large among the truest practizers of brilliant, clean satire left within our rapidly digressing society, I think it is far below you to pick on a little town in Nebraska:-)
And by the way Mr. Lex, it is also below your intelligence and computer skills to throw around geographical facts without first at least consulting Wikipedia:-)

(I am now finished with my state-pride induced tirade. I am sincerely sorry to those who had to witness that. May God forgive me.)

As to where Nats 2012 will actually be, I hold with Mr. Kloefkorn's logic. Such an event as the Golden Jubilee Nationals is almost sure to be held in the Blessed City of the AG.

This is where the Forum needs a Like button. Very nice. Perhaps we should start a "Best Post of the Month" thread.

[Nathan Dahlin]

LIKE BUTTON!!!!

[James Lex]

And by the way Mr. Lex, it is also below your intelligence and computer skills to throw around geographical facts without first at least consulting Wikipedia:-)

So you want me to go to Wikipedia for reliable information?

[James Lex]

As usual, the forum was 100% accurate in predicting Nationals next year. Columbus, OH July 1-5.

[Robert Carter]

As usual, the forum was 100% accurate in predicting Nationals next year. Columbus, OH July 1-5.

No hotel was mentioned. I'm guessing the Hyatt Regency Downtown, adjacent to the Greater Columbus Convention Center. I've stayed there before, but it's been almost 30 years ago. Assuming this is the place, TripAdvisor rates it fairly well, no one ecstatic about it but consistently good ratings. Parking is expensive.

[Ryan Albrecht]

No hotel was mentioned. I'm guessing the Hyatt Regency Downtown, adjacent to the Greater Columbus Convention Center. I've stayed there before, but it's been almost 30 years ago. Assuming this is the place, TripAdvisor rates it fairly well, no one ecstatic about it but consistently good ratings. Parking is expensive.

I've stayed at the Regency for the Fine Arts Festival and Youth Convention before. It's not the fanciest hotel in the world, but it's pretty good.
It'd be cool to actually use part of the convention center, it's a really unique building...and it's humongous.