Merlin in Moab!

[JoFotoz]

Nice....

OK.... Merlin has a place to stay at the Red Rock Lodge and Casino all for nothing...

...how'd ya swing a freebie?


jo

[nocturnalVX]

OK.... Merlin has a place to stay at the Red Rock Lodge and Casino all for nothing..... SO..... someone convince him to come out here.

He & his wife are coming for sure. Figure on Saturday to Friday, but it's still being worked out. One of the guys he works with is taking the end of that week off, so Merlin might cut his week short. Right now... the plan is for them to rent a car & drive out, but fly home so they have more time to spend in Moab. I told him today that the room and $1000 (now $1100) was all set. That way he knows what extra $$$ he may need depending on how plans go. He is amazed that WE are doing this for him. I can't wait to meet the guy. We have a great group of people here. No doubt!

[pbkid]

never met the guy...nor have i needed any parts from him...but he seems to help everyone else A LOT, so its gonna be great to buy him a beer for helping our community

[Ldub]

OK.... Merlin has a place to stay at the Red Rock Lodge and Casino

There's a casino now too?

SWEET!...do they have soup?

[VXIRONwoMAN]

There's a casino now too?

SWEET!...do they have soup?

OR an all you can eat breakfast buffet for $.99 at 2 a.m. ??? OR the hotties walking around in skimpy lingerie serving free booze??? OR an exploding volcano every hour???

Wait a second... isn't gambling addictive??? Mormons can't gamble... or drink... ???

Where's this Casino?

[CrnCnn]

OR the hotties walking around in skimpy lingerie serving free booze???

If so I am definately making it this year....

[crager34]

Nice....




...how'd ya swing a freebie?


jo

Ancient Chinese secret.

[nocturnalVX]

Just got this email from Merlin and wanted to share it with everyone. This is easier than giving you the Reader's Digest version of it...

"Just wanted to touch base with you again to make sure I keep you updated and on the same page with me…

My wife and I are planning on flying into Denver on Saturday, and driving to Moab from there. It’s a 6-hour drive, as opposed to something like 3 ½ hours from Salt Lake City, but I want Lori to see Pike’s Peak, so we’re stopping there along the way. It was also about $100 cheaper to fly to Denver, so that worked out really well!

Unfortunately, for a few different reasons, we’re going to have to leave early on Wednesday to head back home. My wife doesn’t earn a great deal of vacation, so taking the whole week would have made quite a dent in her allowed time. Also, another parts guy here will be at a family reunion in Alabama that week, which will make things real tight for five remaining guys that have to cover parts departments in all three of our dealerships.

The other problem we had is that my kids are still in school that week, so we’re utilizing friends and neighbors to watch them and make sure they get to school and bed on time and don’t kill each other. My 6 year-old is awesome and can practically take care of herself, but my 15 year-old requires a close eye to make sure she’s getting homework done, catching the bus on time, etc. It’s so close to the end of the school year that we don’t want her getting off task and screwing up her grades! For both of us to be gone the entire week would have been difficult.

I really hate feeling like we’re cutting the trip short, but I think it’s still going to work out to be a great time as we’re planning on spending the entire day Monday and Tuesday doing whatever your fellow VX’ers want to do! Hopefully that will include a lot of trail-riding, rock-crawling, and scaring the crap out of my wife! She’s nervously looking forward to that part J

You mentioned that our Moab friend was taking care of the hotel, so I wanted to make sure that he only reserved it for Sunday through Wednesday. We might take our time getting to Moab on Saturday, so we’re planning on just crashing in whatever city or town we end up in that night!

Finally, I’ve been putting off purchasing the plane tickets because the tickets we’ll be purchasing will be non-refundable (it’s half the cost that way) and my wife is worried that if some people didn’t come through we could get stuck holding the bill. Believe me Gill, I trust it’s going to be fine, but I admit that we’re both still a little surprised of the generosity you’ve shown me so far. We just want to make sure everything goes as planned.

So my question is, if I purchase the tickets, would you be able to somehow reimburse me quickly through PayPal or something? I would provide a receipt, of course. I think that would alleviate some of the anxiety about spending that kind of money without being able to actually see that it’s going to be reimbursed. Everything else I’m not worried about- rental cars and all that stuff is quite a bit less expensive than the plane tickets, and we’ll be paying as we go on those things. But the plane tickets are a big expense.

We are becoming rather excited about the whole thing, and I’m going to schedule a meeting with the owner to see about sending some ‘gift baskets’ up to Moab for the week of the meet- possibly some air and oil filters, etc. We’ve done that one year before, so I’m going to see what I can do!

If you’ll check on the hotel situation, and let me know what you think about the plane tickets, I would appreciate it! We’re going to try and do our part to make this years’ event as good as we can, and again, am really looking forward to it!!!

Thanks,

Merlin "

[crager34]

Hotel in Moab is done.... no problem there. Might need to tell Merlin that Pikes Peak is WAAAYYYYYYYYY outta the way to see on their way to Moab. If need be, I am a Colorado native and can give them lots of things to look for on their way out to Moab from Denver. A side trip to Colorado Springs will add a number of hours to their trip for certain.

AND..... and.... if they did see Pikes Peak... they will soon forget it after coming to Moab and seeing what is out here.

And.... maybe they should check into flying into Grand Junction, CO if the donation dollars will cover it. If they fly during the day.... OMG will they see soooo much more of the Rockies then taking the trip to the Springs to see Pikes Peak!!

[MSHardeman]

Merlin's coming, Merlin's coming. It'll be great to meet him and shake the hand of one righteous dude.

If they are heading to Moab on Saturday they will miss the convoy heading in on Monday, but that's OK, as long as they enjoy themselves. If they DO join the convoy we can make sure that they see a lot of good Colorado scenery.

[pbkid]

Hotel in Moab is done.... no problem there. Might need to tell Merlin that Pikes Peak is WAAAYYYYYYYYY outta the way to see on their way to Moab. If need be, I am a Colorado native and can give them lots of things to look for on their way out to Moab from Denver. A side trip to Colorado Springs will add a number of hours to their trip for certain.

AND..... and.... if they did see Pikes Peak... they will soon forget it after coming to Moab and seeing what is out here.

And.... maybe they should check into flying into Grand Junction, CO if the donation dollars will cover it. If they fly during the day.... OMG will they see soooo much more of the Rockies then taking the trip to the Springs to see Pikes Peak!!

agreed..i would be happy to give them instructions on viewing red rocks (amazingly gorgeous area of colorado, and its on the way to moab)

[pbkid]

If they are heading to Moab on Saturday they will miss the convoy heading in on Monday,

i very likely will be headed out to moab around the same time and i would be more than happy to convoy with them to make sure they dont have any problems with their car, if they would like to join me for the trip...

[nocturnalVX]

Hey ya'll,

Just wanted to share the latest message from Merlin.

21 Days!!!!

"Hey Gill, one more thing…

I’ve never registered to post anything on the forums since I don’t own a VX and really don’t spend much time on the web outside of work (I go weeks without checking my Yahoo mail!)… As such, I was hoping that you could post something in advance of our trip to all the guys and gals that are making this possible and let them know that I’m truly humbled by their invitation and that we really are looking forward to meeting each and every one of you!



If you could post that on my behalf I’d really appreciate it!



-Merlin"

[WormGod]

You guys are awesome.

Sadly, MOAB is really not much of an option for me with my locale so I hope the VX gang can show Merlin a good, solid outing.

Good looking out for the hand that has been feeding us.

[crager34]

Ok..... just to make absolutly sure: Merlin in Moab from May 10th through the 13th. Checking in on the 10th.... checking out on the 13th. Right??