Someone really ought to organize one of these for somewhere along the lines of Chicago of St Louis. I'd love to make it to one of these meetups, but all the ones I've seen so far have been too far for me to travel at the moment.
Start one then! That's what I did, posted it on HN and got 10 people out for a lunch.
I'm not exactly a hacker but I'd love to come hang out and chat.