Re: COG Fly In
For the past few years at least you've selected locations for fly-ins favoring members in the East and midwest.
(Caveat: I am *not* on the COG Board. Nor would I want to be. Anything written here is my own personal opinion. Also, Carol, we met at Sedona and I love you. Don't take this as criticism.)
If we look at the location of the fly-ins, it's really not too difficult to see two patterns emerge:
1999 Laughlin, NV
2000 ???
2001 Factory, OKC
2002 Factory, OKC
2003 Factory, OKC
2004 Gatlinburg, TN
2005 Sedona, AZ
2006 Factory, CGI
2007 Factory, CGI
2008 Fredericksburg, TX
2009 Boyne, MI
2010 Jekyll Island, GA
The first pattern is that the COG spends entirely too much time visiting the factory, wherever it may be located. I wasn't too thrilled about going to CGI two years in a row, but I understand the motivation was to support CPAC both years (2006 was CPAC's founding year, 2007 was supposed to be a big announcement that never came).
The OKC trips were before my time and -- while I would have attended if I owned an airplane -- I would not have been thrilled to visit the same place three years in a row. However, I imagine part of the reason may have been to support the factory (especially if they were picking up the tab), and another part may have been because OKC is kind of in the middle of the country.
If we skip the factory trips the second pattern is that the fly-ins alternate between West and East coast, in terms of convenience. We have 1999 West (NV), 2004 East (TN), 2005 West (AZ), 2008 Central (TX, nearly smack dab in the middle of the country, longitude-wise), 2009 East (MI), 2010 East (GA).
So, yes, we probably should have gone west again this year. I'm sure there is going to be a lot of motivation for the Board to plan a western fly-in next year. Personally, I'm aching to go visit Sedona in my 114 and wish we could do that again (or anyplace in that general neighborhood).
My guess is that it would be really great if folks on the West coast started researching locations for a large fly-in over in that part of the world. Having been on the planning side of a large convention for a different organization I know it's no small task. That group has Chapters which actually compete to host the annual event, and we started our planning a full year in advance.
While I don't think that type of competition is appropriate (or possible) for the COG, I do think that if the West coast members are feeling at all slighted then they need to step up and be more proactive. The Board can undoubtedly use all the help they can get when it comes to planning this one annual event of ours. If you're thinking it should be in your neighborhood then maybe a bit of leg work to kick things in that direction would be worth your time.