• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Great things at Rallies

squiffynimrod

blah blah blah
You know, I'm getting sick of all the negatives being thrown around right now about Bloomsburg, the heat, rally times and locations, hotel rooms, price of beer, yadda yadda yadda. It seems there's a plethora of Bitchin' Moanin' and Whinin' going on. So this thread is about the great things and fantastic experiences you've had at a National Rally.
 
I posted some of my great Redmond experience inside post #116 of this thread:
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=54725&page=8
Here's a couple more:

While at Redmond I took a day trip to Silverton, OR and got to go through an original Frank Lloyd Wright designed residence that's still open to the public. An outstanding tour for lovers of architecture.
http://www.thegordonhouse.org/

One afternoon while walking the Redmond grounds up the path comes a guy riding a nice blue and yellow K1. I flag him down, and start talking about his bike because I love K1's. We talk for a couple of minutes, he hands me his card. Greg Feeler, President, BMWMOA. So I'm all "You're the man. You must be really busy. I better let you go." He said no, and we proceeded to talk about his bike, my bike, the rally and other stuff before I shoo'd him away. Class act. Thanks, Greg.
 
The complaints about the rally in Bloomsburg has been mostly about the heat. That is the one thing that was not within the control of the MOA. If the weather had been the average for that week or the rally been in the weeks before or the weeks after, it would not have been an issue.

I have only been to about a dozen RA & MOA rallies but this one was the best planned and executed one I have attended. Most things went smoothly and the need for water due to the heat was handled quickly and well. The availability of dorms and shuttle busses made the rally an affordable and comfortable event for me.
 
I remember a starlit sky walking back to my tent after closing the beer garden. Utter peace, still quiet and feeling so very safe so far from home all by myself.

And the sadness at leaving 6,000 of my closest friends when I hit the road back home the next morning.

Voni
sMiling
 
I think it is the friends I have made at MOA Rallies over the last 30 plus years.
Saturday night at the stage after all the work is done, is wonderful.
 
i love having the ability to buy just the right combination of accessories to do what you're wanting to do without having to go to four different web sites, pay four different shipping bills and finding out that not all four things fit together on your bike quite right.

ian
 
I my 'regular life', I run around non-stop. The heat at the rally forced me to slow down. I spent most of my time sitting in the shade drinking water and other liquids. I had not been able to unwind in this way for quite sometime. Chatted with folks passing by, had a great, relaxing time.
The heat made it all possible.
Thank you National Weather Service and MOA! :brad
 
At Bloomsburg the people, venders, food, and the opportunity to ride over 2k miles to/from the Rally.
 
At Bloomsburg the people, venders, food.......


I'll second that.........and on a hot and sunny afternoon......I had a chance meeting with the "LADY IN RED"........always nice to place a face with a name.....



.......yes it was overly warm at Bloomsburg......but.....as I can recall not as warm as backpacking through the Mojave desert in June......
 
--Meeting good friends old and new
--Great volunteers, always cheerful and helpful
--Finding interesting new roads and places enroute and at the rally
 
Bloomsburg was my first rally and I had a great time. See ya in Missouri!
 
Going for breakfast at a diner and seeing a mix of regulars and rally-goers. People working hard for the enjoyment of others and not complaining.

People making the best of things.

Regardless of other things was the rally a good one. Yes. Will it be a memorable one. Absolutely.

Keep it positive. Too much negative going around.
 
All the USA;

I think 90% of the USA was hot that week, so what can you say! Any rally sure beats the alternative, staying home, going to work, chores around the homestead and so on. My GSA and me had the time of our life, meeting so many other like minded nuts, getting all messed up offroad:). We had a HOOT! Randy
 
Yes it was hot, but as Randy says, so was most of the continent. At the rally, I met up with friends from afar and made new friends. It was a ball volunteering at registration, setting up rally decorations and asking folks to donate to Challenge 2011. As well, there were seminars, excellent entertainment and scores vendors who provided me with many farkles to take home. Food was plentiful, with a variety of menus at reasonable prices. There was even porter beer for sale and homemade ice cream. The rain was limited to a brief, but torrential downpour on the Tuesday afternoon which slowed some of the setup but did not interfere with rally activities. Showers were always available with very short wait times.

So what if it was warm since you were with almost another 7,000 like-minded riding comrades? :dance
 
I think 90% of the USA was hot that week, so what can you say! Any rally sure beats the alternative, staying home, going to work, chores around the homestead and so on. My GSA and me had the time of our life, meeting so many other like minded nuts, getting all messed up offroad:). We had a HOOT! Randy

I for one would have loved to be there but, due to a retina issue, I wasn't able to attend. I've had conversations with many who were there and it boiled down the to difference between disaster and adventure: Their attitude. :thumb
 
I for one would have loved to be there but, due to a retina issue, I wasn't able to attend. I've had conversations with many who were there and it boiled down the to difference between disaster and adventure: Their attitude. :thumb

No wonder I couldn't find you - and I looked everywhere beer was being consumed too! Sorry you missed a Rally. Seeing better?!

Attitude is important, but there were 'areas of concern' that have certainly been brought to the attention of the BoD, and hopefully, refinements in our rally matrix will be evident in Sedalia for 2012.

Once we start belieivng our own Press that we've created the 'ultimate rally experience,' we're in trouble.

Good rallies are an evolutionary process - applaud what is good - improve what is not - never presume perfection.

I witnessed too many MOA'ers packing up tents already on Friday afternoon, bemoaning the site as "Doomsburg" or "Gloomsburg."

I didn't feel that way, and I think far more sweat was expended by volunteers to create a site that could appeal to all who came than was perspired by those in attendance. Kudos again to their dedication and efforts.

See you next year! :thumb
 
Rallies are about people

I had the honor of having dinner with Mike Traynor, the late founder of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Deb kind of took the responsibility of "hosting" Mike as he attended a national, I believe it was Johnson City, Ambassador's dinner. In all my life I've never met a man that more precisely defines the word Gentelman. Although we were in a room with a hunderd or so people, few knew him by sight. Certainly many know of his actions. So the three of us chatted at length, undisturbed. I'll never forget one of the things Mike said, "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit." What a man.
 
Back
Top