Things didn't get off to a very good start this year. The weather got me behind things and I never got a bike ready for a long trip so it got to the point where if I didn't trailer one out there I wasn't going to go at all. Couldn't do that because the rally is kind of the opening game of my riding season.
Didn't want to take the Ferry across Lake Michigan like I always do because of the trailer costing as much as another car so I went around the bottom and through Chicago. I knew it was going to suck and it did. Then pay a toll every mile or so through the rest of the state. Ended up pulling into the campground around 09:00. Set up my tent, unloaded the bike and got something to eat. The gnats were so bad I decided to go for a ride and hopefully lure all the bugs away and loose em out on the road somewhere. Came back a couple of hours later to find the bugs still there so I went out for another ride.
When I got back I was kind of tired so I crawled into the tent and went to sleep.
Woke up when the sun moved out from over the trees and baked me out of the tent so I went for another ride.
Later that evening Jane, her husband Lee and Doneen arrived and got settled in.
Friday morning we set up the tents and all the trimmings and Jane and Doneen started cooking for the dinner on Saturday. Got to hand it to those girls, they started working when the birds started chirping and worked all day until the sun went down just to make things right for everyone that came to the rally. Folks started showing up around 3:00 or so. Ron Green aka "new guy" from CMW showed up later that evening and I started making him feel welcome right away. I told him he was going to have to make a big speech in Kevin's absence (Kevin was broke down in NM). I also told him he was going to have to give a bike away this year. Every time I saw him I asked him when the bike was going to get there and it seemed he got a bit more flustered every time I put on the spot. I'll get into that a bit more later.
It was getting into early evening and we were getting worried about Leonard. He had signed up for the rally and wasn't there yet. Totally out of character for Leonard.
I didn't have service on my phone anywhere out there (ATT Sucks) but Jane did so I gave him a call to find out he blew the bottom end out of his 65 in Iowa. He got towed to Baxter Cycle and traded in his blown up Bullet on a Triumph Bonnie, packed it up and headed home. At least he was safe.
Entertainment was provided by Bob and Philothea that night around the campfire.
Saturday, once again I stumble out of my tent sometime in the mid-morning to find Jane and Doneen working again. I swear, they never stop.
Lee was cooking up a mountain of pork sausages and the girls were cooking up an endless supply of pancakes for the masses.
Now that I couldn't move anymore it was time to go for the Sat. ride.
The ride started out with about 12 bikes but about 15/20 miles into it Bob Bezin earned his Hard Luck award when his chain broke a master link. You all know how nasty a chain can get after awhile and his hands got good and slimed fixing that.
A few folks stayed with Bob and Philothea and the rest of us continued on the ride.
We got in a good 120/130 mile ride and lunch and met up with Bob and the rest on the road. We went into a small town (Whalan) and lined up the Enfields in front of an old gas station and took some pics.
When we got back there was a crisis going on. Some of the attendees went tubing on the river that day and lost one of the girls. She missed the landing and ended up going down the river for quite a way due to the lack of places that you can get out of it. When she finally got out she found a house and the people in the house gave her a ride back to the campground.
The whole time all this is going on den mothers Jane and Doneen are back at work again getting dinner ready for the masses. I watched to make sure no mistakes were made.
A bit later the awards and door prizes were handed out and CMW's VP Ron Greene gave a little speech that included a bit of a slip about a RE Big Twin (that's all
I can say bout that!).
Then, the moment I had dreamed about all my life. Winning a bike as a door prize at a rally. I guess I had hounded him so much that he spent half a day scrounging around to dig up this jewel,
I was awestruck by the raw beauty of the cycle but not as much as this young man. I looked over at him and saw him fondling it and he had this look on his face that looked like me the first time I saw a Black Deluxe Bullet,
I just had to share my good luck with the young man and it was worth seeing my dream bike get rolled away from me and down the hill behind us in the campground.
Sun. Got up, packed up, help take down the tents and police the campground and rolled out for the miserable drive home. I hope I'll never have to trailer to a rally again.
I have to thank Jane, Doneen, Lee, Ron and all the attendees for making this another memorable event.
Here's the link to the pics I took,
https://picasaweb.google.com/t120rbullet/CMWRally11See ya all next year.
CJ
Topic: CMW RE Rally (Read 5049 times)