• 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?

Had a great time, except...

B

BMWBAGBY

Guest
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who put the Gillette, WY rally together! My friends and I generally had a great time!

The folks at the hotel (Days Inn) were great and we got a good room at a good price (we booked it in 2007!) The vendors who kept taking our money gave us some very good deals on the stuff we needed, and some stuff we didn't need but hey, they're good salesmen (and women)... The LD Comfort folks even sold a pair of their shorts to my buddy in the hotel parking lot after the rally was over - funny!!! I'm just (sorta') happy the vendors underestimated the turn out, didn't bring enough product, and sold out of stuff early! The fellow riders we met were all great and we enjoyed our many conversations with them. After all, that is what the rally is all about, right?

Our only "issue" was at "the best place to eat" where we ordered our food and then waited for over 1 1/2 hours for it to arrive, the food was either over-cooked or cold, and the service was terrible! We thought we were just "unlucky" that night but after talking to others who went on different nights and at different times, that was the trend with The Prime Rib - I definitely would not recommend it to anyone!

Despite that, we had a great time and are looking forward to next year, though not happy about riding across Kansas in July!!

Thanks again to everyone involved with the 2008 Rally!!!

and a special thanks to the Santa Cruz BMW folks for allowing me to make a trade on a closeout at the end of the rally - I greatly appreciate it!!!!!
 
Last edited:
Don't feel like you were the only one with food problems . The food stands ran out of everything . We had a shower that was 2 miles away and the hay rack to get you there was a joke, it never came.
 
Last edited:
Hey now!

The rally was fun, my first.
I took photos for four days and I am sure when Paul gets home we will see many.
The wagons to the north forty seemed to run all day had no problem with the showers they were at three sites. Not enough food vender's but some added
BBQ S and that helped. The New Riders were great and the beer flowed just fine.
Thanks to all the volunteers for there help without them it never could have happened. Just too much fun met many great people.
Thanks for the great time, Bruce, AKA Willie
 
This rally was terrible.

This rally was terrible! Plain and simple. The location for one was worse than I thought it could be. No shade, no trees, lots of wind. Booo! The black hills were over 120 miles away. Isn't this a motorcycle rally? Shouldn't this be held where there is good riding?? What gives? The showers were a 1/2 mile away. There were very few food venders. What food they had wasn't that good. The music was terrible. It was putting us to sleep. How about some Rock & Roll? And the closing ceremony....1 1/2 hours of worthless contest winners. Who Cares?! Could you put the "stage" any farther away from the stands? Very unimpressive for a national rally. Plus or minus 5,000 people? Doesn't sound like a very good turn out to me.
 
This rally was terrible! Plain and simple. The location for one was worse than I thought it could be. No shade, no trees, lots of wind. Booo! The black hills were over 120 miles away. Isn't this a motorcycle rally? Shouldn't this be held where there is good riding?? What gives? The showers were a 1/2 mile away. There were very few food venders. What food they had wasn't that good. The music was terrible. It was putting us to sleep. How about some Rock & Roll? And the closing ceremony....1 1/2 hours of worthless contest winners. Who Cares?! Could you put the "stage" any farther away from the stands? Very unimpressive for a national rally. Plus or minus 5,000 people? Doesn't sound like a very good turn out to me.

Not quite willing to label it "Terrible," but it did have some obvious deficiencies that many of us foretold within days after it's WY location was first announced back in 2007.

The negative baggage that comes with the remoteness of the location cannot be denied. Like the old adage "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

This in no way disparages the individuals who worked very hard to make it the best it could be....it just fell short of West Bend in so many areas, it was disappointing.

Weather? No one's control, but hey....it's not like the ferocious reputation of the open plains was a well kept secret. I personally was slapped into a ditch by a micro-burst (70 MPH winds!) near Spearfish, SD on Wednesday evening while enroute. Minor bike damge - minor injuries. It was the 2nd time that day I tangled with South Dakota weather, only to be followed by the six-hour thunderstorm at the Cam-Plex Thursday night.

Vendors? Noticed less retail vendors and certainly less food choices. A reflection of location and the cost of vendors driving there for dubious profits.

Biggest disappoiontment? Sturgis BMW dealer. I had lost all forward illumination (low beams / high beam / PIAA's) just shy of visiting Mt. Rushmore and hustled back to the only BMW dealership within several states for assistance with this CANbus fault indication. Upon getting there Friday afternoon, I received zero consideration for being an 'in-transit' rider trying to get back home (1,000+ miles away), and was told they were too busy to assist me - how about coming back on Monday?! I ended up limping back to WI (daylight hours only) with flashlights duct taped beneath my oil cooler as token headlamps.

Last year, Nick's BMW (DePere), Mischlers BMW (Beaver Dam) and Milwaukee BMW all informed their regular customers in advance that routine service was being limited or suspended to accomodate any traveling BMW riders with problems. Too bad Sturgis didn't get the memo.

In conclusion, the ultimate culprit was not any individual or streak of bad luck, but rather LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Every problem after that was just 'food of the poisoness tree.' I hold greater hope for TN in '09.

I brought my 'good attitude,' as I was admonished to do so in advance, along with a spirit of adventure and wads of cash. But in the end, I guess I just should have packed more tubes of lipstick.
 
The light show the storm provided was quite entertaining from inside the tent. An evening I'll never forget.
 
This rally was terrible! Plain and simple. The location for one was worse than I thought it could be. No shade, no trees, lots of wind. Booo! The black hills were over 120 miles away. Isn't this a motorcycle rally? Shouldn't this be held where there is good riding?? What gives? The showers were a 1/2 mile away. There were very few food venders. What food they had wasn't that good. The music was terrible. It was putting us to sleep. How about some Rock & Roll? And the closing ceremony....1 1/2 hours of worthless contest winners. Who Cares?! Could you put the "stage" any farther away from the stands? Very unimpressive for a national rally. Plus or minus 5,000 people? Doesn't sound like a very good turn out to me.

Dude. 2 posts and they both bitch about something you had control over?

When i saw the site location I did a little homework...
"Google" if you will, and saw what the conditions could be. "No Trees". High Plains. JULY. Hmmmm... Gas is how much? Some vendors? Bad Food?
Location Location Location.

I posted all over here a few times why I wasn't going. But to go and then admonish thoughs who volunteer to aid your comfort.

Baaaad Karma.

My favorite bemoaning is: "The black hills were over 120 miles away. Isn't this a motorcycle rally?"
HAHAHAHAAHA! Dude. Make some new friends and go for a ride.
120 miles? Sheee-it... I do that for a service!

I would suggest next year go to Disney World.
Just don't complain that "Sleeping" Beauty "wouldn't" and Goofy "would"! :brow
 
Last edited:
Oh my god. You Harley guys sure do complain a lot. We BMW riders would have enjoyed the rally for no other reason than the ride to Wyoming. Too bad they took away all of the trees before you all got there. Perhaps the short ride over to the Black Hills would have made it better had you gone. :stick
 
Not quite willing to label it "Terrible," but it did have some obvious deficiencies that many of us foretold within days after it's WY location was first announced back in 2007.

The negative baggage that comes with the remoteness of the location cannot be denied. Like the old adage "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

This in no way disparages the individuals who worked very hard to make it the best it could be....it just fell short of West Bend in so many areas, it was disappointing.

Weather? No one's control, but hey....it's not like the ferocious reputation of the open plains was a well kept secret. I personally was slapped into a ditch by a micro-burst (70 MPH winds!) near Spearfish, SD on Wednesday evening while enroute. Minor bike damge - minor injuries. It was the 2nd time that day I tangled with South Dakota weather, only to be followed by the six-hour thunderstorm at the Cam-Plex Thursday night.

Sorry you had problems, my biggest pain was gas punching me in the wallet. So you wouldn't be for a rally in the Black Hills because of weather?
 
Oh my god. You Harley guys sure do complain a lot. We BMW riders would have enjoyed the rally for no other reason than the ride to Wyoming. Too bad they took away all of the trees before you all got there. Perhaps the short ride over to the Black Hills would have made it better had you gone. :stick

I think there is a pretty popular Harley (mostly) ralley in the area already and is very well attended.... I think it is in Stugis :stick
 
Huh?

Were we at the same rally?

My ride over was GREAT! The weather was cool, the wind minimal (but, I'm from Kansas), and I slept through the little shower we had Thursday night.

If I was to bitch about anything it would be the volume of the band; when they were playing, conversation outside the beer tent was hard. But then, I am not a fan of loud music or pipes, so it may have been fine for many others.

I'm glad I went even though I had to leave Friday.

Tom
 
Come to Trenton, Ontario

Glad you all made it safe home, sorry about the storm. :stick Next year we will request it to go to the Sturgis area..


So Now you can all come to Trenton,Ontario for our annual rally "Return to Trenton" Lots of time to plan for one of southern Ontario's best BMW getogethers
I have had this in my sig line. You won't be disapointed, it realy is a great one and the Steaks that we make for you will nock ya of you feet and into a frogy chair :buds Great local winery's around the Prince Edward County and the Trenton airbase the home of Wing 8,with a masive aircraft display,Free or donations. Great accomidations and lots of free stuff we at the Loonie-tics give out. All year preps, with pride we present this Rally..Michael
Thanks for reading,:clap :gerg :ca :ca :ca :bikes


Map of Trenton,Ontario

http://maps.google.ca/maps?amp;hl=en&;ie=UTF-8&;rlz=1T4DBCA_en-GBCA246CA246&hl=en&tab=wl
 
Whine, whine, whine. Why not just get a motorhome and be done with it?

I had a great time, and that includes riding across Nevada and Utah on I-80. (I found a great restaurant in Elko, NV.)

During the rally, I rode out to the Devil's Tower, then on out to Rushmore, and had some really great riding there. (Hint: US-16 Alt.)

I don't like fast food, so I don't usually patronize the onsite vendors. We went into town for food each day and, with a little sleuthing, discovered some really good restaurants. (If you didn't go to Pokey's BBQ, you missed out -- relatively inexpensive, good portions, great food.)

The weather was extremely accommodating, with temperatures only in the 80s and sunshine every day. The rain and wind were at night, when I was asleep, which is about as perfect as it can be.

We were able to choose a camping site, based on viewing where sunrise and sunset were, that kept our tents shaded by a building. Besides, how much time do you spend in your tent during the day? Go riding or go shopping. In fact, we were able to surf the web from our tents in the evening.

I didn't have to wait one minute for the showers, with plenty of hot water. I chose to take the shuttle out to the North 40. I walked up to the stop, which was at the edge of the field where I was camped, the shuttle arrived, and it dropped me right next to two shower buildings. What was not to like about that?

Wyoming is generally a state I find myself riding through to get somewhere else. It was nice to stop and look around a bit, and the rally made that easy to do.

The volunteers were wonderful and the whole thing ran like a well oiled machine. If you've been to previous Nationals, you know that compressing the awards ceremony into an hour and a half is nothing short of miraculous! To add to that the fact that everyone got to sit in the shade the whole time was an added bonus.
 
Sorry you had problems, my biggest pain was gas punching me in the wallet. So you wouldn't be for a rally in the Black Hills because of weather?

Basically....correct, Roy. While weather is no one's fault, choosing to ride thru the weather of SD and eastern WY again would be MY fault. As for gas bills, I'm afraid to tally up my pump charge slips.

Storms in this region of the country seem to attack with a vengeance!

I hope to visit WY again some day on a bike (I spent several afternoon hours riding WY HWY 59 north from Gillette to the Montana border and back, and found it to be a picturesque and very enjoyable cruise - saw numerous antelope and mule deer - should have been a 'suggested' ride in the Handbook), to see Yellowstone, but South Dakota? Been there, done that, and probably won't be back....sorry.

Hope your rally experience didn't have quite all the pitfalls mine did. Like I said....nothing that happened to me was anyone's fault at MOA.

But with Colorado as a neighbor to the south, I just can't help thinking.....Location, Location, Location!
 
Basically....correct, Roy. While weather is no one's fault, choosing to ride thru the weather of SD and eastern WY again would be MY fault. As for gas bills, I'm afraid to tally up my pump charge slips.

Storms in this region of the country seem to attack with a vengeance!
Yes, gas was an ouch.:) The rain at the rally was all at night, but my tent stayed dry. I was lucky.


I hope to visit WY again some day on a bike (I spent several afternoon hours riding WY HWY 59 north from Gillette to the Montana border and back, and found it to be a picturesque and very enjoyable cruise - saw numerous antelope and mule deer - should have been a 'suggested' ride in the Handbook), to see Yellowstone, but South Dakota? Been there, done that, and probably won't be back....sorry.

Hope your rally experience didn't have quite all the pitfalls mine did. Like I said....nothing that happened to me was anyone's fault at MOA.

But with Colorado as a neighbor to the south, I just can't help thinking.....Location, Location, Location!
Actually, I even really enjoyed riding across Iowa and South Dakota (more so on the way there), and we had great weather all the way there and back. I had a great time at the rally, and met many forum members. I missed the forum frenzy due to a geographical timing error.:blush
 
Biggest disappoiontment? Sturgis BMW dealer. I had lost all forward illumination (low beams / high beam / PIAA's) just shy of visiting Mt. Rushmore and hustled back to the only BMW dealership within several states for assistance with this CANbus fault indication. Upon getting there Friday afternoon, I received zero consideration for being an 'in-transit' rider trying to get back home (1,000+ miles away), and was told they were too busy to assist me - how about coming back on Monday?! I ended up limping back to WI (daylight hours only) with flashlights duct taped beneath my oil cooler as token headlamps.

Last year, Nick's BMW (DePere), Mischlers BMW (Beaver Dam) and Milwaukee BMW all informed their regular customers in advance that routine service was being limited or suspended to accomodate any traveling BMW riders with problems. Too bad Sturgis didn't get the memo.

Sturgis BMW is multi-brand dealership that is very small. Since the Black Hills BMW Stampede, Monday, July 14, they were overwhelmed. They had no idea how many demands for service goes along with the hundreds then thousands of BMW riders in the area. My experience is that during Sturgis, they do not get that much business. Nick's BMW, Mischlers BMW and Milwaukee BMW are all much, much larger and equipped and able to assist travelling riders with problems.
 
Rally

As this was my first MOA Rally, I will say I enjoyed the ride to Wyoming and back, but I did think the rally lacked in something. I know others say this is whining, but I guess I was expecting something different. I will say that the sites one travel to and experince was great. I do look forward to next years even though it will be closer to home.
 
Good grief, I can't believe I'm about to feed the troll but I feel I must...

The location for one was worse than I thought it could be. No shade, no trees, lots of wind. Booo! The black hills were over 120 miles away. Isn't this a motorcycle rally? Shouldn't this be held where there is good riding?? What gives?

It's about the Journey, NOT the Destination.

And the closing ceremony....1 1/2 hours of worthless contest winners. Who Cares?!

Did you volunteer for Awards & Tallies? No you didn't. Did you volunteer to co-chair Awards & Tallies. No you didn't. If you don't like something, then do something to change it.

Besides, how often do you see a couple who are 91 and 88 ride two up for over 500 miles? Folks who sign up for awards and win deserve the recognition for accomplishments. If that were you on stage, you'd be glad to get the applause as well as the recognition for your accomplishment and be inspiration to others. I only hope I can make it to 91 and still be riding a motorcycle to MOA rallies.

If you don't like the closing ceremonies, don't come. They'll call you to pick up the prizes that you need not be present to win.
 
This rally was terrible! Plain and simple. The location for one was worse than I thought it could be. No shade, no trees, lots of wind. Booo! The black hills were over 120 miles away. Isn't this a motorcycle rally? Shouldn't this be held where there is good riding?? What gives? The showers were a 1/2 mile away. There were very few food venders. What food they had wasn't that good. The music was terrible. It was putting us to sleep. How about some Rock & Roll? And the closing ceremony....1 1/2 hours of worthless contest winners. Who Cares?! Could you put the "stage" any farther away from the stands? Very unimpressive for a national rally. Plus or minus 5,000 people? Doesn't sound like a very good turn out to me.

If you followed the forums and did a little investigation, everything you complained about would have been known and expected. After I did my research, I decided the rally was not for me. I talked with friends who went and the weather was apparetly much cooler than expected and they enjoyed themselves.
 
Back
Top