Early Caravan Planning

[Verruckt]

<terrible A-team quote follows>

"I love it when a plan comes together" :D


Well, probably the best thing to do, would be to break it up by regions. Then maybe someone or a group, from each region work on getting train info together.

Am I the only one that hates amtrak's site?

[AgentOJ]

Hear, hear...

Amtrak's site is rather confusing for my often [tired] [drunk] [caffinated] [insert your own word here] mind. Anyway, I'd definately like to be one of the organizers for some sort of mass exodus out west for DC 11. c0nv3r9, looks like you've got the eastern states covered, I'd be more than willing to take the north-central states. It's too bad we don't know quite when Defcon will be next year as of yet, but for now we can work out basic differences in the train timetables (or driving times if we're doing it that way, but I like this train idea, it's been growing on me) for the central and eastern states, perhaps get a general poll going of what city should be the "central gathering point" for those that can make it there, get a list of ppl interested in possibly joining this, etc. Feel free to email me at AgentOJ_@hotmail.com to discuss this. Anyway, time to head back to that programming assignment that I don't want to do...

AgentOJ

P.S. Anyone wanna get a listserv set up for this thread in particular?

[octalpus]

I considered Amtrak last year... now that it was pointed out, I remember it was the bus thing that convinced me not to do it. I love the train... I don't do busses. I can't stand the thought of anything more than an hour in a bus.

[astcell]

I would not have my worst enemy in a bus, they suck but there are more women on busses than men. Trains cost the same as planes so save the time for drinking.

[Verruckt]

I'm sure there is a way to get there that does not involve a bus... I will just call in the morning.:D

Now, on to a more fun topic...

http://www.amtrak.com/press/atk20020122009.html

"...and can surf the Web onboard the train with a simple to use, slim and powerful Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC. There are no additional fares or fees associated with the Yahoo! Internet train or use of onboard Internet access."

nuf said :D

[ashman]

Well the slightly longer trip time would make up for the whole NOT HAVING TO DRIVE crap, plus the ability to sleep at some point over the trip would be nice. Amtrak does sound quite entertaining. Damn, this is starting to sound rather interesting... I'd be up for renting a car at wherever we'd end up (if not vegas) and taking it from there. Hmmm, interesting...

[converge]

Well, there are a few things that need to be done.

Yes, the date is undefined.. but the people from closest to furthest need to determine a few keys things.

When will the eastern uber caravan collide upon Vegas? DC will be on date x. Next closest caravan meet will be x + y days away. And so on. I personally prefer getting to the con at least a day or so early to chill and meet others (would also give good time for the caravan to party it up pre-con).

When and where will other caravans heading west meet up with your caravan. Highly dependent on the above, but also includes such things as geographical area that your caravan covers. For example, the New England caravan will most likely meet somewhere in Mass. or slightly northwestern of it on a specific day, and maybe hang in the area with computers powered to let stragglers get there. The next group of drivers will have a date/place for our next waypoint, and so on. Determining the best route from east to west may help dictate where converging spots might be best, and not out of the way.

Planning it this way can allow for an early jump start. After all the travel time between states is relatively predictable. Simply plug our plans into when the actual date for the con and we are done.

I am not particularly interested in the train. My portion of planning will be for those in the driving mood. If I travel by ground, I will be bringing gear and a car for the wardrive, with the luxuries mentioned earlier. Elsewise, I would fly there in 1/4 of the time for a fraction of the cost.

[astcell]

PONTIACS FOR EVERYONE

Have you seen that Pontiac commercial? It is called "Where would you go in a Pontiac?" They will give you a car for a weekend and you are supposed to have fun in it and return it (they want you and your peers to buy it).

Someone call Pontiac and ask for a few hundred cars for the next con!

[ashman]

LOL, I just had a thought... let's bring an AP and keep it going at all times, make it easy for stragglers to find us. Post kismet/Netstumbler results of the AP's GPS coordinates on an hourly basis. Broadcast the SSID as "DC-Caravan". Just a thought. :)

[Verruckt]

Originally posted by ashman
LOL, I just had a thought... let's bring an AP and keep it going at all times, make it easy for stragglers to find us. Post kismet/Netstumbler results of the AP's GPS coordinates on an hourly basis. Broadcast the SSID as "DC-Caravan". Just a thought. :)

Oh hell yes! :D

As for the Train-Con...

I would think that we should find the route first (that works for the majority) and then everyone else plan (from their region) on hooking up with that train, so that it can be ONE caravan... Logistically it will be a bitch. But in the long run, I think it will be worth it.:D

[bigezy]

Defcon Cannonball Run

Seeing as how New Englanders would have to start first. Maybe we should decide what day we want to get in to Vegas. So we can work back from there.

[converge]

I think the actual arrival date could be decided on by the collective, not necessarily the closest or furthest from vegas. The timing of meets in between is where depedancy comes into play.

As far as the New England path, it would probably be best for us to plan the actual path to vegas, seeing we have the most distance to cover. From that point, others could plan meeting points along the path (with sub-points in other areas if they so deemed). That would keep people from travelling off course to meet up with other caravans.

Its probably safe to assume that the next con will be a similar config.. fri/sat/sun with blackhat preceding. Are there any blackhat attendees interested in the caravan that have to be there by a certain date?

[Verruckt]

Im assuming most people dont go to Blackhat due to the co$t...

Really for something like this, we need to just go for what works for the majority. Democracy in action. I do agree though, that perhaps it should be mapped from a point on the east coast, and everyone else will work to meet up with that train.

What is a fair origination point on the right coast? Baaston? NY? DC?

[bigezy]

Maybe we should get some type of straw poll to find out who is thinking of doing this. We have plenty of time to plan this. I might go to Blackhat, but, if this thing really takes off, I can always go to Blackhat in September.

[converge]

I will look at a map this week and post my thoughts about it by the weekend.