Tc3 Update

“The plans sound great! I'm looking forward to next year. I'll be glad to help if needed.”

“smart move keeping the venue secret until you get the plans set. that way you don't have to put up with whining!”

“Yeah, this way you won't have to listen to a #&%!$ load of people trying to tell you how to run it.”

“I would like to see both sets of books!”

“Whoops, the above post was me!”

“Jerbear, you're a gem!”

“I say we appoint the "bear commission" to investigate the Tc promoter.”

“I will do my best.I want to see this website stay PURE! ROTFLMAO!
Some will do ANYTHING for a buck!
New trail name Judas!Mohaaaaaaaa!”

“"I hear Reese Wetherspoon is going to MC TC3.

Is that true?"
walkindude
08:25:51 PM
12/17/02


Yes, walkindude, she will be at TC3. FOR SURE THIS TIME. It was too short of a notice for her to make TC2. But assured me that she would be at TC3.”

“I can see it now. Binks will need bond money after Tc3 to get out on the kidnapping charges.”

“asked for accountability, Towndawg vanished, hmmm. At least until this blows over.
And on the OTHER site not a word. WTF?
Flim flam?
U Got my email addy!”

“When asked how the investigation was proceeding, special prosecutor "Yo" Jerbear said:

"TT will not rest until this matter is resolved"”

“You got it. May need legal service! LOL”

“This could become "The TownDawg inquisition"”

“and then we're back to Monty Python...

THE SPANISH INQUISITION...

always showing up when you least expect it!”

“I just do not care for agenda! And there seems to be a giant in the bush so to speak!”

“hehe.. you guys are hilarious.. but I know it is all in good fun. birch raises good issues, and I do not shy away from them.. just trying to keep my bosses happy by not posting at work.


Essentially, the question posed is what is the spirit/intent of the Titanium Chef project? (And why the business/marketing perspective?)

Without writing a dissertation -- I see it this way. TrailTalk folks have chastised me for several things, most of which can be resolved by transferring the rights of conducting such an event to another entity.

So what is the intent of Tc events? I want an opportunity to allow backpackers to share their thoughts, their fellowship, their gear ideas, and their cooking recipes in an environment that promotes everything we are.

There is not intent to create a profitable entity, only one that stands on its own. By allowing backpacking manufacturers, and outdoor stores to underwrtie this event, we can have something that will be envied,, and something we can share in pride together.

I gladly open books to anyone. We made mistakes this past year. I take full responsibility for that. Should the bear investigation commence, I welcome that opportunity. :) The results of that investigation will show that TownDawg had good intentions, conducted a safe/fun event, but we didn't exactly make any money.

I have no plans to ever make money. My only plans are to transfer the ownership of this backpacking challenge cookoff idea to a group who can manage it professionally, and their honor will never be challenged.

Should Tc events turn profitable in the further, the stipulation I will make in any contractrual agreements shall be that all excess monies go to the CTC.”

“TD, Thanks for the explanation. I was not trying to be a jerk, ad I apologize if I came across that way.

Its sounds as though you have a well thought out idea on what you would like TC to be. Good deal. Hopefully it works out for ya.”

“TownDawg, the only mistake you made was forgeting to bring red pepper. Who amoung TT would spend countless hours every week for months getting thousands of dollars of prizes to let a damnyankee (I understand that's one word from where you come from) steal first place. Everyone had a great time. Everyone who entered won a valuable gift. Now my wife wants to do some more winter camping. And now your on a scheme to double the prizes. Fabulous.”

“TD- send me a phone number at jerbear@backpacker.com
I will discuss it with you!”

“jerbear begins the "interrogation", expect him to form a Grand Jury of TT'ers sometime next week”

“Mohaaaaaaaaaa! TD is a reject from the "other" side anywho! LOL”

“What's wrong Jer? You upset because you didn't get any nookie at TC2? ;)”

“Jerbear-- GET A JOB!!! QUIT RAISING HELL!!!

lol”

“jerbear: My cell is 731.694.7807 -- but I won't be back at my hotel until after five. Go ahead and call me, leave a voice message, and the number to call you back at. I will call you about 6pm tonight.”

“Birch: No problem Birch. You suck anyway.

LMAO!

How's Michigan? You guys still got plenty of cold weather?.. It has turned like 60 degrees here.. and rainy. Nothing like it was a couple weeks ago.”

“The high in the Bham area is 67 today. 67 freakin degrees on Dec. 19.”

“Khatru was willing to accomodate any sexual desires from the group, as he was really practicing hard with Forest, but he specifically told me..."NO JERBEAR!!! he's way too hairy".

sorry man...”

“It's about 48 or so today. I think we're due a cold front tonight and snow tomorrow. Bring it on!!!”

“Yea I had nookie! Wasnt all that ! ;) How did ya all miss it smell my hamster beddin! Mohaaaaaaaa”

“TD I WILL Call.Perhaps after this call this thread will DIE!!!!!!!!!!!Yo bear!”

“You got nookie from a hamster? EEWWWW GROSS!”

“Not sure what's worse, that or what Richard Gere does with them...”

“Jerbear: You didn't call. There is no voice mail message. Are you out in the woods?”

“Uh-oh, has the bear been spooked off?

TD, the weather here sucks! Too warm. It looks like I am gonna have to drive really far to snow-shoe this year...”

“NPS called me today to get background information. They have checked our references at BSF and the permit has gone to the superintendent with recommendation for approval. I was advised there would be no problems. The questions involved the number of people and the way the entry fees will be handled.

I was told this will be taken care of in the next week to 10 days and the permit will be issued.”

“WooHoo!!!!”

“Permit has been approved. I have signed it and returned it to NPS for signatures and I will have the fully signed copy back in hand within a week. No more last minute theatrics.

Also, the town of Cumberland Gap continues to show enthusiasm and can arrange for a BBQ on Friday night as follows:

I talked to the owner of Heavy's BBQ. Dinner will be $7.00. That will
include a choice of BBQ chicken or pork sandwich, baked beans, cole slaw,
and a 20 oz pop or water (extra drinks will be $1.00). They will provide
disposable chaffing pans, plates, napkins, and plasticware. I'll get some
volunteers to help serve it. (That helped keep the price down.)

Is anyone interested?”

“The details of the BBQ are from an email I received from the event coordinator in Cumberland Gap.”

“Also, at Trail Days in Damascus Va. The town people from Cumberland Gap were there passing out info about TC3. I found that very encouraging that they drove all the way there to really support this thing and to get the word out.”

“I'm confused, but that's normal. ;)
Where is this BBQ going to be?
I thought TC3 was going to be at a backcountry area.”

“Sounds great!

My understanding is that this will be a combo type trip. Most activities will happen in the town and then on Saturday everyone hikes into the backcountry (8miles) for the competition.”

“This ought to be prety wild, if last year was any indicator.”

“The BBQ will be in the Town of Cumberland Gap where they will have vendors, music, food, etc.

The TC3 competition will be at Martin's Cabin. It will be a 7 mile hike into the Tc3 site, which will be in the "backcountry".

Those who bring a spouse or friend can enjoy the festivities in town on Friday and they can stay in town during the hike/cookoff if they so desire.

The purpose was to attempt to make the "event" accessable to those who would like to "hang out", but bring the actual "cookoff" back to the point where it is indeed a backpackers challenge.”

“The question I've had about this dual setup is about sleeping location. Where will most folks be camping on both Fri and Sat night. I can see the festivities on Friday being quite eventful. Hiking 7 miles in the dark while being mildly intoxicated sounds like a challenge. Maybe that could be an event unto itself.

Anyway, is there a campsite close to the town? I'm sure there is and this has been covered I just haven't heard the game plan.”

“This is what had me puzzled dayhiker. Where are we to stay Friday night? At a B&B in town?
I don't think the town will be very welcoming to our bunch if It's anything like last year.”

“Barb will have more details on this. She is the pulse of this year's activities. At risk of misquoting her, this is the way I understand it:

1) Martins Fork area encompasses three campsites all within a mile of the Martins Fork cabin. The capacity is 40/30/30, or something close that total to 100 persons allowed to overnight the outcountry. (Emphasis on overnight.)

2) Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon -- there are several areas available. I don't have details on individual locations, and etc -- but Barb's store is across the street from Cumberland Gap SP. She has had all sorts of folks 'camping out' in her parking lot before. There are better alternatives of course. Once we get a little farther along, we will identify all of the surrounding camping areas, SP group sites, and the like.

3)Beyond that, I can only speculate -- but let me say right now -- I am not the authority -- Barb Smith is. (CGHiker)

I have no doubt from what I have seen so far, this will be a first class, well-organized event.”

“Oh, the logistical naysayers.


I am a #&%!$ing logistical genius so it doesn't bother me.

A complete list of lodging facilities is being sent to me by the Town of Cumberland Gap. I will post each and every one of those here.

Camping arrangements are being made to accomodate as many as 100 tents withing stumbling distance of where the "festivities" will be.

They are aware that we like to have fun. I have assured them that we won't play "Freebird" at 2AM and rev up the engines on our Firebirds. However, they certainly don't expect us to be like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

They are looking for this event to become a "fall Trail Days" type of event. They were at trail days and have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

While we don't have complete logistics at this point, I can quite comfortably assure you that EVERYTHING will be in place long before we get there.

I am going up in late July to survey the site and take care of anything that needs to be done before we can conduct Tc3.

Neither Towndawg nor myself even remotely think this can be done with one or two people and those who volunteered last year will be asked to volunteer again to their respective committee assignments. Our detailed planning last year (allbeit late) is what impressed the NPS at BSF and is what got us a very positive recommendation this year.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering on this project can send an email to Towndawg or myself.

Anyone who doubts the amount of energy be expended in organizing this can contact Barb at Zoe's Mountain Sports. I am very excited about the level of involvement I have seen from the Town up there and I for one am very appreciative of their efforts.”

“I hear that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are some party-hardy mofos....”

“Guys- In my opinion. Don't spill or say any of the details of the event at all on TT. After you have everything worked out just say "Here is the date and time of the event. If you would like to be there then come. If not don't go."

Any event that I have ever been to doesn't air the details on a public forum like this because of all the criticalness that it will bring to the event and yourself.

At this point anyone(including myself) just needs to know the date and place. All the details will be posted later when they are decided.

EXAMPLE:
Super Bowl: you just know time and place, if you want to go, then you better do the research.
Trail Days: I just knew the time and place and that there was a campgroung close to where the festivities were. Once it got closer to the event then the exact directions were posted online. I decided if I wanted to go or not.

I guess my thinking on this is for it not to be aired out and open to criticism like it was last year. In my opinion, just as stated before. Don't spill anything or discuss anything til everything is worked out. This will save you and others from having to answer a 1000 emails and questions between now and then.

We just need to know what time it is, not how the watch was made.

Does that make sense?”