Spring Cruise - Saturday, May 3rd!

[SmoknTires]

The spring cruise will be our first cruise of the year and it’ll be a 1 day cruise to offset the 2 other multiday cruises we planned this year. And we’re headed to Milwaukee as we explore ballparks, mansions, and yes… beer!

We’ll head north and make our way to Miller Park Stadium. We’ll experience the magnificence of this unique ballpark while enjoying an exclusive tour that includes the dugout, luxury suite level, visiting clubhouse, press box, Bob Uecker’s broadcast booth and other behind-the-scenes attractions! We’ll grab lunch at the ballpark before we head off to top off a great meal with a look at the Milwaukee Brewing Company factory. Here we’ll see the brewing process from start to finish for one of the best known beer makers. After the factory tour we’re headed off to another well known name in beer, we’ll be visiting the Pabst Mansion. It was once the home to Captain Frederick Pabst, founder of the Pabst Brewing Company.

We’ll leave Milwaukee in the late afternoon and shorty after leaving the city we’ll have a special dinner stop at the Brat Stop! It’s a historic place very much needing a visit at least once in your life. Known for more than it’s Brats, it has grown from 1,200 to 46,000 square feet and known to hosts many concerts and serve at the unofficial “Gateway to Wisconsin” with over 450,000 visitors each year. Then after dinner we’ll then head south as the Vipers go their separate ways toward home. This is going to be a great 1 day cruise!

The registration form and intimate details are on the website, visit http://www.illinoisvipers.com/may-tbd-spring-cruise-all-about-drinks/.

[The_Greg]

Oh yea! Very excited about this one, definitely will be in attendance. I will have to drum up all the WI guys I know, this would be a great event to try and get them to look into and join the VOA.

Alex, is it too much, logistically, to ask that WI people meet with the group somewhere in Wisconsin? I, personally, live between Schaumberg and MKE, and would rather not drive an hour south just to catch the beginning of the cruise. I could work with the cruise committee to set up a separate rally point if there is enough interest from WI members. I still want to cruise with the Vipers, just maybe not with an hour of redundant driving.
http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mil/images/fan_forum/y2012/wallpapers/iPhone%20Wallpaper-Stadium2-640x960.jpg

[SmoknTires]

Alex, is it too much, logistically, to ask that WI people meet with the group somewhere in Wisconsin? I, personally, live between Schaumberg and MKE, and would rather not drive an hour south just to catch the beginning of the cruise. I could work with the cruise committee to set up a separate rally point if there is enough interest from WI members. I still want to cruise with the Vipers, just maybe not with an hour of redundant driving.
http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mil/images/fan_forum/y2012/wallpapers/iPhone%20Wallpaper-Stadium2-640x960.jpg

Sure thing. We actually do it for every cruise. The starting point is for the majority. Often people will let me know where they'll be and they link up along the way. We will also have secondary group pickup points. If you can suggest a place on the route up for us that we can group WI folks, we can definitely do it. I can share it with them when we do the final coordination before the cruise.

No prob.

[The_Greg]

Assuming you are coming up on I94, the three points in WI that make sense to me, while still providing a little time to cruise with the rest of the group, are, from south to north:
* Right at the border: Prime Outlets in Pleasant Prairie. Early in the morning there would be plenty of parking and this strip mall is JUST off the interstate.
* Between the border and MKE in Racine: Highway 20 has a park and ride lot to the west of I94. Its not the largest or cleanest lot ever, but certainly could work.
* South MKE area: College or Ryan Road/HWY100 park and rides. Both are directly off the interstate with on-ramps leading out of the parking lots. However, these leave only 15 or so minutes to cruise with the group.


And whoever picked MKE Brewing Company did a great job. Not much of a brewery to tour, since it is smaller, but the beer is excellent! I think I've done nearly all the tours in Milwaukee and enjoy MKE Brewing Co. the most.

[SmoknTires]

Yep. Sending PM. I think the mall is a good place. However we will probably plan a rolling start for you guys as we can't stop. On ramps are good places to assemble your group (you can first begin meeting in the mall perhaps) and as we pass you can jump aboard. We have a tight schedule and to avoid too early of a start, we're doing a straight shot to the park from Schaumburg.

[Uranium235]

Is anyone from the Great Barren South/Central headed up that way?

Matt

[SmoknTires]

There's actually a large contingent. That group isn't on the forums much but I can put you in touch so you can join them on the way up. Some originate from the Peoria area, others further west (south of Kankakee). They often drive up together. On your registration mention that you want to tie into the group and we'll provide information on where they'll sync up.

See ya there!

[Photog1]

Is anyone from the Great Barren South/Central headed up that way?

Matt

Matt
There are several of us that cruise up together from Roanoke Motors. Just pm me and we can talk about it.
Rob

[viper04]

Count me in on this one!

[GT Venum]

We will plan on meeting up with the Wisconsin group.

[The_Greg]

The WI meeting point is the Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets area, in the Culver's overflow parking. There is a McDonalds right there and a BP station, so people can fuel up themselves and their cars. Alex is estimating that the convoy will be going past that area at 8am. We will join them as they are heading up (they aren't stopping to group with us), so we should be idling, ready, and waiting 5-10 minutes before hand. This means plan for getting to Culver's at 7:45ish or earlier.

This works nicely because it saves us WI people at least an hour and a half drive time, and still provides us over half an hour of cruising with the complete group on the way up!

[docwviper]

I'm going unless I get called into work which is rare :) knock on wood.