Well, it sounds like there are at least a few people interested. That is a Good Thing™. I too was turned on to the empeg from a buddy at work, so I can probably get him to come too.
In order to encourage the PA/NJ/NY crowd to come, I would be willing to drive as far north as Philly (about 2 hours from DC) for the meet.
I am a member of
http://www.crownvic.net/ and we have had several meets in the parking lot of the Ikea at White Marsh Mall. White Marsh is just north of Baltimore, about an hour and 15 mins from DC. It seems to be a decent compromise for empeggers in the general DC/Baltimore/Philly/Southern NJ area. We even had a few people drive down from NYC (about 3 hrs).
For those who are interested, pics from the meets can be seen here:
http://crownvic.net/oeward/
Nice thing about White Marsh is that there are plenty of nearby restaurants as well as a mall with a food court.
If you want to see how far away you are from the Ikea, here is the address to plug into your favorite mapping site/GPS software:
IKEA
8352 Honeygo Blvd
Nottingham MD 21236-5906
(410) 931-5400
_owen