Planning Team Members:
Crystal M (Crystal)
Marc M
Ralph H
Jackie S
Don T (Cajunxfire)
Gary W (Valk) - Support Role






CAA#9, as previously announced, will take place in St. Francisville, Louisiana. St. Francisville is a beautiful and historic area with plenty of pretty roads.
It is located in Louisiana Hill Country and is very close to Natchez, MS.

Beginning: Friday, May 25th 2018 at 6:00 pm (check in Friday afternoon)
Ending: Monday, May 28th at 11:00 pm (check out Tuesday morning)

We will have two Hotel Options:

Our Host Hotel will be St. Francisville Inn, (225) 635-6502
WEBSITE for St. Francisville Inn Bed and Breakfast
The overflow hotel is Best Western, St. Francisville, (225) 635-5851
WEBSITE for Best Western St. Francisville
*The two Hotels are a half of a mile apart*

If you are wanting to book in the Host Hotel, you must be aware of a few things:

*There are only 10 rooms total and we have the entire Hotel "blocked" for all 4 nights
*We MUST have all 10 rooms "Crossfire Only" for all 4 nights (25th, 26th, 27th, 28th), otherwise using the Common Areas may become a problem for other Hotel Guests.
*With the above considered, please only book in the Host Hotel if you are planning on staying all 4 nights.
*If for some reason you must cancel your reservation at the Host Hotel at the last minute (<30 days), please notify a member of the CAA9 Planning Committee immediately.

The Overflow Hotel is new and very nice with all the modern comforts.
The Host Hotel is a "Bed & Breakfast" and was built in the 1880's. It is an old Plantation Home. It is very nice and quaint, but not new and modern.

Both Hotel Options include a Full, very large Hot breakfast with your reservation.

Rates:

St. Francisville Inn:
Rooms are $90/night for one person + $10 per additional person (for the breakfast).
There are: 4 King Rooms, 3 Queen Rooms, and 3 Rooms with Double Beds
The King & Queen Rooms will only hold 2 people, the rooms with two Double Beds hold up to 4 people, per the Hotel.
MUST mention "Chrysler Crossfire" or the hotel will tell you they are booked.
You may register on their website, but be sure to mention "Chrysler Crossfire" in the notes or they will not book you.

Best Western:
Rooms are $95.99/night if you book for all 4 nights
If you're staying less than 4 nights, you will pay $109.99 for Fri & Sat and $99.99 for Sun & Mon
Options: 1 King Room or 2 Queen Room
MUST mention "Chrysler Crossfire" to get the Group Rate
**I need to confirm the above prices, as I think they might have made a mistake -
I will do this on Monday

To sign up for this event, please register at one of the two hotels and then comment in this thread the following:

*Names of those attending
*What hotel you are reserved at
*Arrival day & departure day
*What room(s) you have reserved (I need to keep track of these closely)
*What car you are planning to bring

 

Attending:

SFI = St. Francisville Inn
BW = Best Western
* means $10 received for Friday night's dinner, ** means $20 received

Crystal M* (Crystal) - SFI - Fri-Tues - SRT6 Roadster
Marc M* - SFI - Fri-Tues - SRT6 Coupe with 385whp!
Ralph H* - Limited Alabaster (Manual) Roadster with Tuxedo Interior
Jackie S - Limited Blaze Red Coupe
Steve & Jessie Z** (zip439) - SFI - Thur-Thurs - Limited Graphite Coupe
Carlo & Janet Z (cmz) - SFI - Days TBA - Graphite SRT6 Roadster
Joe* (Dementors) - Fri-Tues - Graphite SRT6 Coupe (Heavily Modded)
Randy A (Randyradio)** - SFI - Fri-Tue - Alabaster Roadster

Ron and Bee M (Ron Marx) - SFI - Fri-Tue - Graphite SRT6 Roadster
Adrian D - No Hotel - Saturday Only - Aero Blue SRT6
Fred & Mollie Jeffries (Derf) - SFI - Fri-Tue - Yellow Roadster
Robert Richardson* - SFI - Fri-Tue - Coming from the UK - Will be driving one from the Matherne Collection
Kara & Dorothy (Team Sapphire) - BW - Fri-Mon - Kara's Graphite Limited Roadster
Carl & Barbara S** (CarlS) - SFI - Fri-Mon - Aero Blue SRT6 Roadster

Dennis & Pat Jordan (dcjordan) - BW - Fri-Mon - 07 Bright Silver

 

Itinerary:

• Friday: Check-In at Hotel in afternoon or earlier if you would like to explore on your own
• Saturday: Run #1
• Sunday: Run #2
• Monday: Run #3
• Tuesday: Check-Out of Hotel in the morning or stay later to explore on your own

Breakfast will be provided by the Host Hotel daily - For those staying at the Host Hotel, this meal is included with your reservation. For those staying at the Overflow Hotel, the cost of breakfast is $8 per person.


Runs planned for CAA#9:

• Avery Island Run - Leader: Ralph (Donze) H.
• New Orleans Run - Leader: Crystal M.
• Natchez, MS & Natchez Trace Run - Leader: Marc M.

***Details on each run will be updated as we receive updates from the Leaders***

Avery Island Run (Ralph/Donze):
This is the one I am most excited about. It is sure to be fun and a beautiful drive out to Avery Island. I know we will have lunch somewhere in the area. Waiting on Ralph to give more details on what is planned.







New Orleans Run (Crystal):













Natchez Run (Marc):








Dinner each evening will be cooked for the group by someone on the CAA#9 Team. Options are: Jambalaya, Crawfish Boil, Red Beans & Rice, Gumbo, other Cajun foods possible. Exact meals will be announced at a later date once those are finalized. The cost per person will be announced at the time the meals are finalized.

 

This seems like an idea that was not thought out very well. No offense, but when I think about rides to enjoy my crossfire, I don’t think of the swamps of Louisiana. There’s no good curvy winding roads with awesome elevation changes. If you’re wanting to bring in people from across America, you need to have a bit more to offer than a historic area and a host hotel that can only sleep 10 rooms. That sound exclusionary and pretentious given the majority of people would be at the “overflow hotel”. It’s not an “overflow” unless you plan on only 10 people showing up.

Why not not take it out west like Park City, Utah? Give the west coast peeps a chance to participate easily and get some good Rocky Mountain runs in? While ES has been the host for several years, if it’s not going to be there move it someplace that is convenient for the outlying members, not a few hours south.

Not beinging ugly or rude. Just trying to inject a bit of reason behind the planning of this event. I missed this year because of timing and my joining the group, but I was hoping to go next year. Louisiana doesn’t appeal to me unless I want to mudbog in the bayou or getting trashed on bourbon street. I grew up in central MS and went to college in south MS so I have been all over Louisiana and there isn’t a whole lot there.

I vote to move it out west. Rocky Mountain runs are calling and I want to answer and ride with y’all out there.

 

If you were truly not trying to be ugly or rude, then you would have approached one of the Planning Team Members to ask your questions, rather than bashing us here publicly. First post in the Forum to come here and bash us really? Okay then. Thank you for the insult, this has actually been very well thought out, but then you never bothered come to one of us with your concerns before assuming.

The Best Western could not accommodate a Common Area for us, so we had to move the Host Hotel location to the B&B. It is actually a fantastic Host Hotel because we will have the whole place to ourselves AND they have a bar where people can order drinks. The BW does not have a bar. There are other hotels in the area, but they have bad reviews. And, many of the rooms at Fontana (Spring & Fall Dragon) are more than a half of a mile from the lodge. The overflow hotel is not far. It is not exclusionary at all. If that is what you think/assumed, then I think that is your problem.

As per you not liking Louisiana, good for you! We have had lots of interest from people around the country. Anyway, Crossfire events are more about the people and the cars, and less about the location. The purpose of CAAs is for it to travel to different parts of the country. From what I understand, the California Group is planning CAA#10, so maybe plan on attending that one. In the meantime, there is still the Spring Dragon and the ES meet in the summer. The location has been chosen and we have a whole lot of support. We understand that we will not make everyone happy, and that is okay.

 

Thanks for setting this up and coordinating this event. I know it takes a lot of time and effort. Not sure if I can make it but I will look into it.

For those not able or liking or unable to make this event, there are others to consider. Also, others should take the time and effort to set one up on your own in an area that may suit your liking and geographical desirability. The more options the better.

I have found there are interesting areas and roads almost everywhere and I'm sure the planning committee will do a great job with their attempts to coordinate some fun cruises. I do it for my Maryland group all the time (and we do have some amazing roads here) and we have a fantastic diversity of roads and geography in such a small state -- mountains to seashore!

Keep us posted on your progress. Thanks again.

 

Crystal, We are in; Reservations made for a week at SFI, Steve & Jessie Zimmer, A queen bedroom arriving on the 24th departing Thursday the 31st and we are driving a limited graphite coupe. St. Francisville looks like a very nice local with interesting casual drives.

 

Hey, that's GREAT Steve & Jessie, hope to see you there !

 

I must say I agree with most of this, my only difference is the Rocky Mountains. I would love to go there but it's too far.
I have been to this proposed area, and I don't care to return. Sorry Crystal, I'm just giving my opinion, and I don't think it will sway people who want to go. I'm just taking sides with someone who wants to give his opinion.

 

Morning George! Yes, we both would like to see you there. Looks like just the sort of place Jess & I will enjoy with many possibilities in the trip coming and going and a very casual kick back sort of weekend with good friends.

 

Hey Crystal, Count Jeff and Diana Pierson in!! Not sure exactly where we will stay yet, but plan to attend!!! Always open to new ideas and areas to drive.

 

Thanks Paul for your support. I know we won't make everyone happy and that is okay. Many are interested in visiting Louisiana, many are not. Since it is more for me about the cars and the people rather than the area (unless it is just too far to travel or too cold), I really don't care myself where a Crossfire event is held.

I hope you will be able to make it, if not I certainly understand. It is far, probably a full 2 day trip for you. We travel to Williamsburg, Virginia about once a year and we do it over 2 days (though it is really only 18-20 hours of driving). If I recall, you are a few hours from there (we are friends with Tom).

 

No problem, I understand completely. I am not trying to sway you, but I do want to add that we have members on our Team that know the area very, very well... We did our first Club Cruise GTG in that area and we had so much fun. Lots of pretty (casual drive) roads and lots of unique areas/things. We also are trying to figure out strategically how to incorporate a run over to New Orleans... Very possibly a track day and then maybe some good Cajun food there plus beignets. It would be a full day for sure, but would be fun.

In short, we do not plan to have every run just in that area. It is just our Home Base. We are confident this will be a very successful (and well received) event. We would not have taken this on if we felt otherwise.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

We are very happy to have you. And from what I understand, George is not officially signed up, but plans to attend this event.

 

Glad to hear Diana. I have added you to the list.

 

Hi Crystal,

We would LOVE to come and play with our Crossfire friends at CAA#9 but unfortunately we have other overlapping commitments that will prevent us from joining the CAA#9 fun. Sorry . . . Wishing you only good thoughts for a successful and fun event . . .

Hope to see you and Marc again at the 1st Annual Crossfire Fun in the Ozarks (Eureka Springs June 24-28) and / or at the 2018 Fall Tail of the Dragon (Oct 4-7) . . .

Best personal regards,
Bob & Cindy Davis (RED DOG)

 

Thanks Bob. So sorry to hear you guys can't make it. I have verbally committed to ES, just waiting on a sign-up thread for that. Are we able to make hotel reservations now? If so, can you pass on that information? Marc is seeing if he wants to go to ES with me, he is not sure at this time. We are working on finalizing our 2018 vacation plans.

And I booked my room for the Fall Dragon 2018 before I left. I will be there without a doubt.

See you in June!

Crystal

 

Count me in.

 

Thanks Joe, got you added.

 

Thanks for the input guys! Just so you know, CAA changes states, or at least venue every year. Two of the last four years were west coast events. NWCC (thanks Bloo and Kevin) hosted CAA7 in Yakima Washington year before last, and two years before that was in Colorado, I believe Boulder, though I did not attend that one as we were out of the country. I would like to personally thank Crystal and Marc and the rest for hosting CAA9 and all the planning that goes with such a huge endeavor. I am certain that CAA9 will be a great event, and all the attendees will have a blast enjoying Cajun culture and I am certain there will be some great drives during the event. If either of you would like to assist or host a future CAA, please get with your local clubs and set things up. Louisiana is a new venue for CAA, and next years event is as far as I know still up in the air.












On another note, are either of you attending Les Bois?




Herman and Laurie