White Rose Adventures

Murphy is dieing a slow death

After spending the day wiring and re-wiring all 3 bikes and trailers and deciding to leave the flatbed, Bert tried to start his bike to make sure he had not run the battery down. It started up just fine, but the idle kept getting higher and higher. Bert was pissed! He had spent around $2000 on this bike to fix this problem and get it looked over so it would be ready for this trip.

We were all hot and frustrated. Bert said to hell with it, he was going to fly to CT to see Johnny graduate and then just go back to Israel. Dad told him to take his bike and I offered him my bike. This trip started out as his graduation present to his son. I was heartbroken to not be going on the trip, but it was the right thing to do. Dad and Bert started getting the trailers matched to Dad’s bike and my bike. I walked off and wallowed in my self-pity for a bit. I didn’t want to cry in front of Bert. I didn’t want him to feel bad about taking my bike.

When I get myself under control I went back to see if there was anything I could do. Dad and Bert suggested that we all go. Four people on two bikes… it would be crowded, but we could do it. At first, I was resistant! If I couldn’t take my own bike, why go?!  But as I thought about it I realized that I was being hard headed and I really didn’t want to miss this trip. When we went to bed that night, the 3 of us were going to finish wiring things up and get head north the next morning on the 2 bikes.

When we got up the next morning, we got my bike wired for the trailer. Bert started his bike and it still was idling high. He thought about it and decided that he would ride it any way. The thought was that if it would make it to CT, he could get it fixed there. We loaded the bikes, hooked to the trailers and headed north.

We rode out from the cabin with a great hope in our hearts that all the bad luck was behind us now and set our sights on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The ride was beautiful and exciting. In some places the sharp 25mph curves would make me nervous, but with each one I felt better and better. Not only was I getting over the fear caused from my accident, but it just seemed that everything was finally going to start going right. I think we all felt that way.

Because Bert’s bike was idling so high, he had to maintain a certain speed. Because I had laid my bike down just a month ago in a gravel filled curve, I was not comfortable with running his speed. So from time to time he would get far ahead of us and stop to wait for us to catch up. But finally we made it to the highest point on the Blue Ridge parkway and got a picture.

We hit some construction on our little detour down to South Carolina. Bert shut off his bike every time it looked like we were going to be stopped for any length of time. We made it to the NC/SC line, took our pictures, and rode back up to US64.

As the day went on, we started to realize that Bert’s bike might not make it to Putnam, CT. We had to jump it off twice. Once in the middle of a town at a stop light. (That was lots of fun!) While stopped, Dad put on his 4-ways and heard something pop. Now he had no turn signals on his bike or the trailer. We got Bert’s bike running and changed plans. Surly there was a Honda shop in Ashville, NC. We would ride US64 over to Ashville, grab a room for the night, find a Honda shop the next morning, get Dad’s bike fixed and carry on.

We jumped on US64 and hammered down, me in the lead, Dad’s second and Bert bringing up the rear. Bert was the only one that didn’t have a trailer and wasn’t having lighting problems. We were scooting along when all of the sudden I saw Bert make a right turn behind us. I knew what had happened… his bike had died again. Dad and I went down the road a bit. We found a place to turn around and Dad went back while I waited. When they didn’t show up in a few minuets, I rode back as well. They had tried to jump the bike off again and it just wouldn’t start. Bert was pissed and was cleaning the bike out. There was nothing we could do right then, so we might as well go on to Ashville, get a room and start again the next day. I found a place to turn around again, Bert hopped on the back of Dad’s bike and we set off to find a hotel room.

Google Latitude

I thought that some of ya’ll might find this interesting. I have Google Latitude on my phone. It ia a very cool app! For those that would like to follow along on the trip in real time, you can come to my blog and find it in the left side bar.

Please Shoot Murphy

I do believe that Murphy has set up shop in one of our pockets! Would someone PLEASE get him out and shoot him! Grab a cup of what ever ya like to sip on, sit back and get comfortable, because recounting the last few days is going to take a bit and you are not going to want to miss it.

Saturday morning we finished that last little bit of packing and hit the road, 3 bikes pulling 3 trailers. We rode over in to Alabama, picked up a skinny road, (two lane road), and went down to the Alabama/Florida line. We crossed into Florida just far enough to say that we entered the state and took a picture.

We then made our way back to the big road, (interstate highway), and hammered down to Georgia. Our plan was to make it to Blue Ridge, GA to my Aunt & Uncle’s cabin. We would spend the night, get up the next morning and ride on up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. But Murphy had to stick his nose into the mix and it just didn’t happen that way.

I had added a handle bar mounted speaker system to my bike so I would have some tunes for the ride without having to put earphones in my ears. It came with a usb charger for my iPod. With all that wired into the bike, the new break modulator and now pulling a trailer that has lights…I started popping fuses. I popped 2 before we decided that eveything I had on there needed a bigger fuse. Once we put a 20amp fuse in place of the 15amp, I have not had any more problems with blowing them. But that was not the only problem going on.

Bert bought a new shinny trailer and it has 4 wires where all our bikes have 5. We got tail lights and break lights working, but no matter what we did, we could not get turn signals. The trailer Bert was pulling had tail lights, one break light and the right turn signal. The trailer I was pulling had tail lights, break lights and left turn signal. We figured that we could re-wire everything when we got to GA for the night. We had spent all day the day before trying to get them working and couldn’t.

The tempretures got up to around 97 going down the road and by the time we got to Blue Ridge we were happy to see it! We decided that if we could get everything re-wired in the morning and get out of there by noon, we would be ok.

Yeap! you guessed it, Murphy struck again! We spent all day there working on trailers and bikes. Bert fried my break modulator and we had smoke curling up from it for a few minuets! We took it off the bike and started again with a different trailer. Nothing was working. Dad & Bert bought lights, drilled holes on the new trailer, mounted them and ran the wires to make them the turn siglals. Whoo! Hoo! We had one trailer wired to two bikes, Dad and Bert’s bikes. My poor bike was left sitting for a while.

Bert decided that they would go ahead and totally re-wire the flatbed trailer I was pulling. He cut out all the old wires, ran the news one and wired the pig-tail……nothing! Not one single light worked no matter how he wired the pig tail or what bike it was hooked to. So the decision was made to leave it.

Pre-trip Thoughts

It’s 0445 in the morning and I am excited about this trip. I can’t tell you how many time I hear people that ride motorcycles talk about how they would love to take off for a month or two, live off their bike and ride all over the country. Well, I am going to do just that…starting today. A few months ago my brother, Bert, said he was going to be coming home from Israel and wanted to criss-cross the country on his bike. One of his sons, Johnny, is graduating from high school in Connecticut and this would be his graduation present. Bert planned giving the Ultra Classic that he has now to Johnny and buying another bike. With him going to be in Israel for a few more years, I thought that was crazy. The bike would only be ridden once a year when he came home on vacation. My Dad, Albert, said he was going to go with them and how great it would be if I could go as well. OH I agreed, but both of us were worried about whether my wrists could hold up to a 10,000 to 12,000 mile, 45 day trip.

For those that don’t know, November 19, 2008 I fell off the top of my loaded flatbed and shattered both of my wrists. That fall ended a 20 year truck driving career. I had pins and external fixators in both arms for 10 weeks. It took me 6 1/2 months to be able to get back on my bike and that was after I added a clutch assist. For months I would walk out to my bike and see if I could pull the clutch lever. I figured when I could pull it back and hold it a few seconds, then I could try to get back to riding it. Five months after the fall I was beginning to wonder if I would ever be ab;e to ride my bike again, did some research and found the clutch assist. By Memorial Day weekend of 2009, I had it on the bike and rode to Gulfport for the All Harley Gulfport Blowout Rally. It was painful but I was happy to be back on my bike. (The old saying where there’s a will, there’s way is one of my favorites.)

In August 2009, I rode to Sturgis, SD for the big bike rally there with my trucker/biker group that I co-founded, Road Dogs on Hogs. By the time I made it to Nebraska and met the main part of the group, I was popping pain pills like they we candy an in tears by nightfall from the pain in my wrists. I put my bike on one of the guys trailer for part of the last day into Sturgis and rode behind other people almost all week there. When the rally ended I only made it about 300 miles out of Sturgis when I decided that I was in to much pain and taking to many pain pills to be safe. I called my Dad and he hooked to a trailer and came to get me. It broke my heart to put my bike on a trailer and realize that I could not do what I had done just a year before.

When Dad talked about Bert’s plans for this trip and everything that he was doing, I really wanted to go. He asked me if I really thought I could do those kind to miles in that many days. I told him I could. “My wrist have healed a lot since last year. I will be fine,” I said. In the back of my mind I really wasn’t sure. Then I got to thinking. Johnny would be getting his motorcycle endorsement in May, and this would be his first big trip. I wonder if Bert would be open to the idea of him, Johnny and me teaming up to keep the two Harley’s going. It would save him from having to buy another bike, give my wrists a break and not put so much pressure on Johnny who is a new rider. Dad talked to him about it and he liked the idea.

So here we are, a couple of months later and will be leaving out on this once in a life time motorcycle trip in a couple hours. It has not been easy getting here. I am going to college at the University on Southern Mississippi and my boyfriend lives 500 miles away in Dover, AR. I had to finish the semester, get to Arkansas to see Danny, the boyfriend, get the bike looked over, got a cat sitter, help Dad get Bert’s bike and all the trailers ready for the long trip and be ready to roll by today. This has not been an easy task. Bert’s bike would not stay running and we took it to the shop. After finals, I rode mine to Dover, AR and put it in the shop there to have a 50, 000 mile service done. One thing after another happened and things were found on my bike that needed to be fixed before this kind of a trip was made on the bike. I got it out of the shop and in less than 24 hours later, laid it down. Luckily, the shop I had it in are great people and they had me back on the rode with a new custom paint job and a bunch of bling in a week and a half.

Dad had picked up Bert’s bike while I was gone. We decided to take it fro a ride and it had problems, the idle was to high. I called the shop it had been in and he told me some thing to look for. I could not find anything wrong with just a look over, but we decided that we would take it back to him on Thursday. I washed and polished my bike and thought I would do the same on Bert’s bike. It has been sitting for a year and really looked like crap. When I went to pull it out of the garage, it wouldn’t stay running. Dad and I loaded in on the trailer and took it to the shop. That was this last Tuesday, we got it back on Thursday and it seems to be running great now.

Bert flew in from Israel yesterday and the 3 of us got the new trailer he bought to pull behind his bike re-wired. We did the last minuet checks and started packing. I think, after we get the last minuet packing and arranging done, we will be ready to roll. I will be blogging as much as I can from the road and taking pictures. We will have cameras and a cam-corder with us. So check back often to see how the trip is going and to share in the ride!

Motorcycle Wreck

I have been told many times that there are two categories of motorcycle riders, those that have laid it down, and those that haven’t yet! Well, I am now a member of those that have. On May19th I was in Arkansas visiting Danny, my boyfriend. I was on my way from Russellville back to his house on a skinny back road. I have run this road several time when I have been up there and it has some very nice curves to hang in to on the bike. But luckily on this day I was taking it easy. I had just gotten my Harley out of the shop and had a new triple tree and it was steering a bit different than what I was use to. So I was having to get use to it again. I was only n 3rd gear when I started into the curve. Good thing, because the county had laid tar and covered it with gravel. As soon as I hit the loose gravel the back of the bike started getting squirrely on me. I tried to get it under control, but nothing I did worked. I steered it toward the grass should on the other side of the road in hopes that I could keep it up that way. The back tire kept trying to go on down into the ditch. I steered it into the ditch thinking that if I guided it there I might have a chance of keeping it up. No such luck! There had been a lot of rain in the area and the ground was soft. I went down and slid about 75 feet on the right side of the bike.

After I crawled from under the bike, I checked myself to anything broken or bleeding and called the shop. Shelby’s Custom Cycles is where I had a 50,000 mile service done and the new triple tree put on. I knew they would help me get it out of the ditch and look it over. Robert answered the phone. I told him what had happened and where I was. He jumped in his car and came right down. He looked the bike over and said that he could ride it out of the ditch. I told him go right ahead because I was not going to do it. My right knee and hip were already hurting and I was still shaking a little.  We called the Sheriff and they arrived a few minuets later. A couple of guys had stopped to check on me before Robert got there and they mentioned that there was no warning sign coming from that direction. So I walk back to check it out. There was a sing, but this is what it looked like…..

The officer that showed up was very pissed when he saw the sign and called the county judge. I don’t know what he said to the judge, but he he told me that the judge said he would be out that afternoon to take a look at things. After the usual questions and answers the officer left and Robert hopped on the bike and rode it to the shop. Once there, and calmed down, I could see the damage a little better.

I called my insurance company, State Farm. They said they would have someone get int touch with me. Shelby said to not worry about it, he would have my bike back to me “better than it was” by time I was  to head home. It took till the following Monday to get an adjuster out to the shop. They started tearing the bike down before she left and had everything that needed to be painted down to Russellville to the pain shop that afternoon. Shelby explained that I had a PGR mission on the following Monday and he wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss it. They brought paint chips by Danny’s house that evening so I could pick the colors.  They told me to just relax, the bike would be fine, I would get home in time for the mission and my big 6 week bike trip with my Dad, brother and nephew.

Friday morning Shelby called me about noon and told me that they got the paint back that morning and would have the bike ready for me around 1600. At 1600 he called again and said it would be another hour. At 1645 his wife showed up to pick me up. I was excited. State Farm had totaled my bike and I had bought it back. Shelby asked me how much he had to work with on the pain and other thing that the bike needed and for “bling.” I told him and he said that I could not see the bike till it was ready to pick up. He said he wasn’t to surprise me with the paint job and everything else.

The bike was sitting out front when we pulled up. If not for the fact that I had picked the colors and know the stickers on my windshield, I would not have known it was my Harley. I was very pleased with how it looked. Shelby had chromed out the motor, put the brake mod in my back break lights and the paint looked great!

To say that I was surprised and pleased with how it came out is a BIG understatement! Shelby, Robert and the paint shop did a great job is a very short time. I was treated like family the whole time. Let me tell ya’ll this, I will take my bike back there any time that I need something done that I can’t do myself.

If you find yourself up in northwest Arkansas on hwy 7 north of Russellville, go about 10 miles north of Dover and stop in and say hi to Shelby and Robert. Tell them Cindy sent ya!

Cross Country Summer Motorcycle Trip

My Dad, brother, nephew and I are planning to criss-cross the country this summer on the motorcycles. Since I know my wrists wont be able to handle 10,000 to 12,000 miles in 5 weeks, Bert (my brother), Johnny (my nephew who is a NEW rider), and I are going to swap out on the two Harley’s. We will all be pulling trailers and will camp out almost every night we are on the trip. We will have two camcorders, several cameras, and one laptop with us on the trip. I hope that I will be able to post something every night or every other night that we are on this trip. Of course there will be the mobile shots that I upload to Facebook and MySpace during the day. So be sure to watch out for those.

To my truck driving and biker friends, please stay in touch while I am on this trip. If we are going to cross paths maybe we can stop for a few minuets and visit. If anyone would like to ride part of the trip with us, you are more than welcome to. Please just understand that we are going to be on a bit of a schedule. My brother is flying in from Israel on a certain day and has to fly back on a certain day. So if you want to ride with us, you will need to meet us some where on our route. We will be spending a couple of days in the northeast for Johnny’s graduation and down around Del Rio, TX to see my niece, Taylor.

Here is our schedule:

Saturday June 12: Drive from MS through AL and FL to North GA

Sunday June 13: Drive from GA up to start of the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC and into VA with short trip to SC

Monday June 14: Blue Ridge Parkway takes us to Harpers Ferry in WV and into DC Maybe

Tuesday June 15: DC Area into MY and DW and up to PA to Dutch Country

Wednesday June 16: PA to NJ and NY and into CT to the Boys House.

Thursday June 17: Day trip from CT through RI, MA and NH and into ME for lunch then back to CT

Friday June 18: Dinner with the Boys

Saturday June 19: Johnny’s Graduation

Sunday June 20: Day with the Boys

Monday June 21: Drive from CT through MA and VT then into NY to Cooperstown

Tuesday June 22: Baseball Hall of Fame then down to State Park outside NYC

Wednesday June 23: Trip into City to the Statue of Liberty

Thursday June 24: Drive up to Niagara Falls

Friday June 25: Drive from Niagara to Detroit through Canada

Saturday June 26: Leave MI drive through Waldron MI into OH then over to Waldron, IN and down to Louisville KY

Sunday June 27: KY to Cave in Rock IL then over to Paducah and down to TN Maybe in MO but at least to AR

Monday June 28: AR down into LA and over into TX

Tuesday June 29: Over to the Alamo and into Del Rio

Wednesday June 30: Camping with Taylor

Thursday July 1: Camping with Taylor

Friday July 2: Camping with Taylor

Saturday July 3: Camping with Taylor

Sunday July 4: Camping with Taylor

Monday July 5: Up to El Paso and maybe into NM

Tuesday July 6: NM to AZ

Wednesday July 7: AZ to Hoover Dam Area and NV

Thursday July 8: Death Valley up to Lake Tahoe CA

Friday July 9: Out to the PCH

Saturday July 10: PCH up into OR

Sunday July 11: PCH inward to ?

Monday July 12: up into WA or over into ID

Tuesday July 13:through ID and up to Glacier Park in MN

Wednesday July 14: drive toward WY and Yellowstone

Thursday July 15: Yellowstone

Friday July 16: down to UT

Saturday July 17: UT over to Denver CO.

Sunday July 18: Drive through NE and into KS

Monday July 19: KS to OK

Tuesday July 20: OK and Mo then into AR (I will be splitting off at Harrison, AR and going to Dover, AR for about a week then will ride home)

Wednesday July 21: Day in DeWitt

Thursday July 22:Drive to Biloxi

Friday July 23: Drive to Lucedale

“Bikers Are Animals” Children’s Book

I get many emails pointing me here and there toward all sorts of subjects, but this one I had to look at. My grand-daughter is around 17 months old and I am always teasing my son that I am going to make a ‘biker chick’ out of her. When I saw this email and looked around the site, I decided that I am going to have to get this book for her.

From the site:

Short Description:

“BIKERS are ANIMALS” – A Children’s Book on Motorcycling” by Paul Jamiol is a unique and fun way to introduce young readers to the world of motorcycling. Using a menagerie of cartoon animals in motorcycle dress and riding “cool” motorcycles, the author shows children and parents alike that motorcycle riding is fun and that motorcyclists are intelligent, appealing, hardworking, independent and family-oriented individuals. They are concerned with helping others and working together, regardless of who or what they are.

The characters in this riding adventure speak to the child by what they do. Their brief little stories tell of what they love, and how motorcycles and riding enhance their lives and their relationships. The emphasis is on safety, working together and caring about yourself, others and your motorcycle. read more

Excerpt:

Thor is one of the founding members of the Bears Motorcycle Club. He can be seen riding the highways of Maine on most days in the late afternoon and evening.  read more

About the Author:

Paul Jamiol, an avid motorcyclist, has been cartooning and illustrating for the past 40 plus years. He has been recognized for his work locally, nationally and internationally. His cartoons and illustrations have been featured in various motorcycle magazines and mainstream newspapers.

He produced the Classic Motorcycle Calendar© (a collection of his pencil drawings of classic motorcycles) and has illustrated a children’s book on motorcycling, Patrick Wants to Ride. He created a 30-ft mural, Women in Motorcycling, for the opening of the American Motorcyclist Association Heritage Museum in Westerville, OH. In addition, Paul’s award-winning editorial cartoons have been seen and appreciated worldwide. Read More

Women Riders Now- Getting Past The Road Blocks

Women Riders Now

Getting Past The Road Blocks Physical handicaps aren’t stopping her Cynthia Morgan, Lucedale, Mississippi 8/26/2009 I am a flatbed truck driver. I ride a 2002 Harley-Davidson Road King that I bought from my brother and put 16,000 miles on in the first 13 months I had it. I have only been riding on my own for less than 2 years. Cynthia standing with her two favorite machines — her flatbed truck and her motorcycle. Last November I fell from the top of a loaded flatbed, 7 feet in the air, head first. I shattered both my wrists, broke my nose and took 10 stitches in three places on my face. I had pins and external fixators on both my wrists for 10 weeks and lost all strength and flexibility on both. The doctor said that she doubted that I would be able to return to work till this coming November, if then. She also said that she doesn’t know if I will be able to continue pulling a flatbed because of the physical nature of the job. I may have to go back to pulling a box. read the rest -> Getting Past The Road Blocks

Recovery and Summer plans

As most of ya’ll know, I saw Dr Waguespack about a month ago. She did an x-ray and said that my bones are not fully healed yet! That sucks! After 5 months you would think they would be healed. She decided to put me in bone growth simulators to help in forming the needed bone. I have have it for a couple of weeks and it is a real pain in the tail. I have to wear it 3 hours on one wrist and then 3 hours on the other. I can move around and do things, but it is a bit bulky and uncomfortable. The worst part of it is that she doesn’t want me on my bike yet. At first she said I could, then after thinking about it she said no. She didn’t think that riding my bike with the braces on would be safe and with the bones not healed yet, if I went down I would re-break my wrist. She says that if I re-break them, then I will never go back to my job. So, I have done my best to stay off the bike, but this week I just could not stand it any more! I have been out a couple of times, with my braces on and everything seems to be OK. I have not ventured off to far, only about 30 miles from the house, and I am doing good with it all. I am in hopes that when I go see her at the end of May that she will OK my riding, course, it really wont matter by then because I am going to ride anyway. I am working the bike show with the PGR at the Gulf Port Blowout and I have a couple of trips planned this summer on my bike.

First I am going to ride to Phoenix, then Hollywood, CA and on to Lompoc, CA to meet my brother. Then we are going to ride to Texas and see my niece, then to Arkansas to my mom’s and then home. I will be gone about 3 weeks, home for about 2 weeks and off again. I am going to ride to Ogden, UT for the PGR’s “Gathering of the Guard” and  plan on riding through Yellowstone on my way there. I will be in Ogden for 2 days and then ride to Sturgis and meet up with the rest of the Road Dogs on Hogs. I will leave there the following Saturday. If my wrists are still holding up, then I am going to ride up to Oregon and ride Hells Canyon. On my way home from there I plan of hitting the north side of Colorado and riding across hwy14 between Steamboat Springs and Ft Collins. I have a trucker/biker friend that lives in that area and he says it is a GREAT ride. Then I will come home. I am thinking that is going to take me about 4 to 5 weeks.

So as ya’ll see, I need to get healed up enough to do all the riding. If anyone is going to be at any of these events or in my path, give me a holler and maybe we can meet!

1st Annual RDOH ride to Sturgis

Road Dogs on Hogs arrived at Sturgis Saturday night around midnight and had one heel of a great time!!

Jimmy the Junk-man and I packed our bikes and left my house in Mississippi early Wednesday morning. We had a great ride to Helena, AR to see my new grand baby and then went on up to Jonesboro, AR for the night. Thursday started with rain and we had to dig out the rain gear for a couple of hours.

We rode up hwy63 out of Arkansas into Missouri and grabbed hwy14. I have to tell ya, that was a great stretch of road to run. We lost a little time, but it was well worth it. The hills and curves were great to run. It was one of those roads that you fight with yourself over how fast to run….go slow and enjoy the scenery, or go fast and hang in the curves to get the adrenaline rush!!! We even stopped for a break at the White River and watch some Salmon swim up stream.

We arrived in Springfield, MO with time to spare before we had to meet Loose Nut, Strychnine, Bubble head, and Brit Brat. I took that time to visit some old friends. Then it was off to Clinton, MO to camp for the night. We met up with 96Ultra at his hotel before getting to our camp site. After putting up 3 tents in the dark we sat around and chatted for a while before hitting the sack.

The next day started about 0600 as we packed up our tents and headed out. We crossed into Kansas on hwy2 so we could miss the Kansas City traffic. 96 Ultra caught up to us in Ottawa, KS and we ran on over to hwy 99 and started north to Buzzards house. We arrived there late in the evening to a house full of people. Slider had flown in from Pennsylvania that afternoon and Derrick had ridden up from Lincoln, NE. Hugs went round and round. It was so cool to finally meet people that I have heard on Carl P., Freewheelin’, and Jonesey.

Saturday started out kind of crappy. Buzzard’s party wagon had a break problem and we were delayed for several hours. Finally we unloaded the party wagon into the back of the pickup and headed out of town around noon. We arrived in Mitchell, SD where Old Dog, Thumper, Mutt, were waiting on us. Once again, hug went round and the connections were made. We saddled up, 10 bikes, and 4 cages and headed west.

We arrived at the Iron Horse Campground around midnight. We had great fun in setting up that many tents in the dark, but you know how truck drivers are, we got it done. Everyone sat around a visited a bit and then hit the sack.

Sunday started with a trip to town. We did the bike walk down the street in the middle of town and went to the store to pick up all those things we all had forgotten. Then some came back to camp, some hit main street, and some went for a ride. Idaho Hunter showed up during the day and we got the phone calls from people that were going to be arriving later.

We all met back up at camp that evening and went to the bar to hear the Band and for some dancing and the Wet T-shirt contest. Congrats to Strychnine for winning! We danced and drank, and partied till about 0300 in the morning. That is when I was dropped on my head!! I hit the nape of my neck on the rim of a 5 gallon bucket! That kind of ended things for everyone. Truckin’ Up Chick and Jimmy walked me back to my tent, put ice on the back of my head, and put me to bed. Even with that in mind, it was a great day! But the next day you could tell who were the drunks from the night before and who stayed sober. The Sober people made a ride to Mont Rushmore and the drunks stayed in camp. Course,  I was made to go to the hospital to get my head checked out by Jimmy and Buzzard. As I told them, as long as I land on my head I will be OK! Hey I still got second place!

We even had a small bout with the weather on Tuesday evening. We call it Hurrican Meredith!! The wind and rain came in hard and fast. It laid our tents down and even snapped the pole of a couple of them. That night, many of us slept in water soaked tents and bed rolls.

All through the week we had people arriving and leaving, riding, partying, and just having great fun.

I don’t know how to put into words the feelings I have on how all of this has come together. I had a crazy idea and it has become everything I had hope it would. Don’t tell me that truck drivers can’t come together on anything. Don’t tell me that truck drivers can’t get along. Don’t tell me that there is no camaraderie in trucking anymore. Today, I see all that in our little group. We have truck drivers here from all over the country, from different backgrounds, and different aspects of trucking, and we had a great time!

Who knew that 30 people that listen to a trucking channel on a radio, who had never met before coming to Sturgis, could come together and have this much fun?! The world is a smaller place today because of these people and their love of trucks and motorcycles. Who says that truck drivers are not just one big family? I don’t! Because this group of gear jammers just proved them WRONG!