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The Rally Sucked

They came in exhausted when they closed at 6:00PM and were still pleasant. Most of the vendors could not afford and/or didn't have a second shift to handle the evenings since most were small operations. There would have been more complaints if the vendors opened late so they would have the energy to stay open late.

Something about "making hay while the sun shines"............:thumb
 
My first rally...

Goals:

1) Take my son along so that younger folks get involved in BMW events. He rode his 2002-R-R, I rode my 2008-GS. Totaled about 3,000 miles through several states, originating and ending in northern Wisconsin - mission accomplished.

2) Look at, sit on, and listen to the new 1000RR - mission accomplished. BMW guy was helpful and lit it up for us... Gal was taking a ride on one of the BMW owned bikes and dumped the LT on a fence near the display. She was OK.

3) Visit friends in Illinois, and Arkansas - mission accomplished.

4) Have safe travels with some interesting riding including the dragon thing - mission accomplished. Talked to a few "locals" of line...at the event...they gave good advice on a couple of their favorite rides. We did them and it made our long day ride very fun - mission accomplished.


Comments:

We rode 3,000 miles but only spent about 3 hours at the rally. I don't camp - done that enough with the Army. Best Western was decent with a few friendly bikers to talk with.

Watched the registration process, which went smooth, but told the guy NOT to say anything about it being our first rally...didn't want to hear the cheer...nice for fourth grade but those years are over...my son put on the number one pin because they said he would get special treatment. I refused mine. No one said anything to him while we were there except for an older lady who called us rally-virgins outloud...that ruined my libido.

These events take tons of work with lots of dedicated volunteers. I commend all who did the leg work. Tough duty. I appreciate it.

Some picnic tables to sit on while eating would have been a nice but not new idea. I ate German food, being from Wisconsin, yet Dutch by heritage. It was decent but had a long line...I waited for it to get to 20 people or so at about two in the afternoon. Wondered why it took so long and found that the girl taking the order was only able to do one order at a time...even though some people had 2-3 in a group on the same bill. Once the one order was done...she proceeded to the next...until finished. Interesting way of doing things.

When I needed a restroom...I found one...I liked that.

When all bikes are funneled into a small area near the vendors...wouldn't sufficient parking be a good idea? Interesting way to do that. Perhaps I didn't do things correctly but I just followed the line. I didn't look at the map.

Talked to a few nice folks and spent about an hour watching people go by. It seemed to be a groupie type event, a time to see old friends. Expected as much.

Seemed to be a lot of solo riders coming to the event. I saw lots of solo riders along the way there and home.

My son and I were hoping to win a bike, also. Life isn't fair.

Redneck/Buckwheat in a pickup passed a big tractor in front of me...heading towards me in rural Arkansas. I had to stop in the highway to save my ass. My son saw it coming before I did and was stopped way behind me. Deep ditch with water on both sides.

Bikes all over a highway headed from the Dragon to the Skyway...on a curve a guy in his car stopped dead in his tracks so his wife could take a picture of the stream...I honked at him and nearly stopped to pound him but he took off, waving at us. Life was good for him, I guess. He could have killed a couple of people, easily.

Talked to a man who was stopped at a local hotel in TN on may towards Arkansas. He was riding a nice K bike...perhaps $20,000+...and asked if I was at the rally. I told him yes. He said he had been a member for many years but doesn't go because people are charged the same fee even if they only attend one day or part of a day. He asked if that happened to me. I said "yes." Complaining about a $35 fee for someone riding a 20K bike...now that is quite interesting. He will be one of those complaining about nursing home costs in a few years as he sits on a multi-million dollar nest egg. Enjoy it, buddy.

Glad JasonTDI wasn't hurt...he works on my car.

Thanks to everyone for the rally...I am not a virgin any longer and my libido is recovering. Life is good and so is riding a BMW! Safe travels!
 
While I had a great time at the rally overall, a couple of things DID kinda grind me. We camped in the Sherpa area, always great.

I often do a key word search on "Sherpa" on this forum.

Imagine my surprise when it shows up in a thread titled "The Rally Sucked" :blah

Anyway, yes, the portajohns near the Sherpa camp did need cleaning more often. There were five units for over 200 Sherpa campers (plus other folks camping in tents in the RV area). The units ran out of toilet paper. They should have been addressed (pumped out, tp replaced, etc) on a daily basis. I think they showed every two days.

Oh yea, and when I had about 24 tents filled Wed night, somehow I went through over 250 cups of coffee. I hate coffee poachers!!!


Was a busy rally, but worth it to hear so many compliments :)
 
No complaints about you, Ted. Your service was much appreciated. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Thank you. :thumb
 
No way this rally sucked! My comments from the rally rocked thread are as follows:

It was my first rally too. I tossed the pin. I camped with the Sherpa. Several campers/riders around me were first timers. They tossed their pins to. Some of us rode every day, some of us slept or read under the shade tent, some of us spent our time in the vendor area, and some of us did it all. The showers were close by. The porta-potties were just close enough. In one direction my tent was a tad down hill, in the other direction it was a tad up hill. The food was fine with me. The lemonade was perfect. The music was good. The beer was cold. Everyone I talked to was nice. I bought some stuff. The single plane air show was cool. The fireworks were cooler. The closing ceremony was pretty long, but I didn't go so no big deal to me. Its all what you make of it or its different things to different people or some such. I'll be back. Thanks to everyone who made it great...
 
Haven't seen my belt buckle

It probably wouldn't hurt you to put the side stand down and walk the 500 feet to the showers. I can't remember [the last time] I saw so many riders who haven't seen their belt buckle in 25 years. Geez, go on a diet (and avoid the sausage gravy and biscuits)!

Vern


Hey - I wear the same size jeans that I wore in high school. I just wear them 6 inches lower.:brad
 
Tenn. Rally

I heard some complaints when I got home from other rally goers that said, the
valley didn't have air flow and it rained most of the time. I arrived Thursday afternoon and set up my tent before the rain. Friday was rain off and on, but I
had time to visit the vendors. Sat. I rode with the Chromeheads on the Snake.
My only complaint was lack of signage to direct you to the different areas and maybe number or name the different camp areas. We didn't have trash pickup in
the lower ballfield camp area but did have toilet cleanout. Just wish the rally was
during a cooler time of year and in the South more often.
 
Rally Feedback

I really enjoyed the rally, but these thoughts occurred to me.
Why so many 4 wheel vehicles parked on the site of a motorcycle rally?
Why are there never food vendors convenient to the beer hall?
The transport wagons were great.
It would seem wise to pick about 10 facilities around the country for rally sites.
This familiarity would gradually improve everything at rallies.:usa
My thanks to all involved.
 
I arrived Weds afternoon, volunteered at a couple of places and didn't get any serious riding in till Friday because my riding partner's 1150RT had a catastrophic failure on the BRP just a few miles shy of Asheville on the trip down and he spent Weds thru Friday at the GREAT dealer in Greenville SC. So I figured I'd stick around at the Rally and catch up on riding later (which we did starting Friday afternoon when his repairs were done).

Ditto on the fresh fruit vendor, though I nearly choked at the sight of that buxom lass next to a sign offering peaches and melons! :thumb Great sense of humor in their advertising!

I wish the seminars didn't overlap so much. There were many I wanted to attend that overlapped by half an hour so I was forced to choose one or the other. My other bit of constructive feedback is that late arrivals often set up their tents and arranged their chairs etc in such a way that existing campers' bikes were blocked in. Not a big problem for me since my GS was able to navigate around the obstacles, but I did notice several elder riders who missed riding opportunities because they couldn't reach open ground. My last suggestion -- especially in heat us Northerners aren't accustomed to -- is to have plenty of free water readily available. Having to fill my Camelback in the shower trailer was uncool on several fronts.

Loved the Beer Tent and the dozen or so folks who noticed my Rally Virgin pin and made me feel so welcome. Having so many vendors in one place was awesome -- we have one shop in Vermont and the owner is rather particular about which brands he carries and/or speaks well about. Being able to speak directly with the manufacturers, as well as other riders who have used those products on their bikes, was invaluable to me and I spent enough to send me directly to the doghouse when my wife sees the bill!

Mega thanks to the organizers of this fantastic event! Also to the community that made us feel so welcome. I was waiting for a light to change at a major intersection when an elderly man in an adjacent car motioned to me. I leaned over and heard him say, "You're the quiet ones; y'all can come back anytime!"
 
Oh yea, and when I had about 24 tents filled Wed night, somehow I went through over 250 cups of coffee. I hate coffee poachers!!!

Ted -- I was one of those coffee poachers Thursday morning. Sorry! We were told there would be free coffee but not where it could be found, so when we wandered around trying to get the lay of the land and saw a line for coffee we naturally joined in.

Let me make it up to you. I work for a gourmet coffee roaster in Vermont. PM me a shipping address and I'll send some high test that will blow your socks off!

Pete
 
Hey Pete, does that go for all Teds? :laugh

In all seriousness, I am betting a dedicated coffee vendor would have done well - I know I could have used a redeye or two Friday morning..

That and a cigar vendor - hmmmm (sees way of financing trip to Redmond next year!)
 
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Ted -- I was one of those coffee poachers Thursday morning. Sorry! We were told there would be free coffee but not where it could be found, so when we wandered around trying to get the lay of the land and saw a line for coffee we naturally joined in.

Let me make it up to you. I work for a gourmet coffee roaster in Vermont. PM me a shipping address and I'll send some high test that will blow your socks off!

Pete

Much appreciated. Funny thing is, I don't even drink coffee! So, I decline your offer to send me coffee.

And, yes, there were a lot of people that mistook me for the MOA coffee mess the first day. Putting up signs on the coffee pot helped, but so did activating my 12 gallon propane fired coffee pot. Actually, it was capable of making 24 gallons of coffee rather quickly, as long as I woke up at 3am to start up the propane.

That helped keep my customers happy. That plus using about 10 bottles of creamer each day.
 
Thank you

It would seem wise to pick about 10 facilities around the country for rally sites.
This familiarity would gradually improve everything at rallies

Thank you, PJHELMJR01. The best idea yet. How about it, MOA Board? With repetative site selection, maybe the dates could float to match the weather patterns to the site.
 
I often do a key word search on "Sherpa" on this forum.

Imagine my surprise when it shows up in a thread titled "The Rally Sucked" :blah

Anyway, yes, the portajohns near the Sherpa camp did need cleaning more often. There were five units for over 200 Sherpa campers (plus other folks camping in tents in the RV area). The units ran out of toilet paper. They should have been addressed (pumped out, tp replaced, etc) on a daily basis. I think they showed every two days.

Oh yea, and when I had about 24 tents filled Wed night, somehow I went through over 250 cups of coffee. I hate coffee poachers!!!


Was a busy rally, but worth it to hear so many compliments :)

OMG,Ted..I am appalled that we pigs did so much harm in terms of gallons!! I did "visit" Sherpa Central in my Saturday morning haze and visited with the rest of your satisfied customers, only after downing a cup realised my err, and knew you wouldn't want it back.... I confess, I did pour a short one!! I will make it up to you somehow!! I think I will go the Sherpa route, and hotel to and from Oregon....Would that be a place to start? When do you start taking reservations?
 
I work about 10 events in my city each year. For the bigger events we
post signs at the intersections where directions will help. And we also
have Block Captains that are radio carriers and can offer up to date
information or forward issues higher up such as potty problems, Lights
too bright, whats the location of,. But this takes volunteers, and sometimes
you can't please everybody all the time. So we attempt to do the best we
can. The people that complain we don't want them back. The majority has
the most fun because they adapt and compensate with the issues at hand.
Remember " This time next week, it won't really matter".
We do a BBQ and Blues that pulls about 9G of people over 2 days, and
a boat race that pulls 30G over 3 days. And a arts festival that pulls 40G over
3 days. So each event has different tasks that need to be addressed.
I wish I did'nt have to work over the rally. Talked to some people who were
traveling thru town, and coming back from the weekend.
Maybe next time.
B.;)
 
OMG,Ted..I am appalled that we pigs did so much harm in terms of gallons!! I did "visit" Sherpa Central in my Saturday morning haze and visited with the rest of your satisfied customers, only after downing a cup realised my err, and knew you wouldn't want it back.... I confess, I did pour a short one!! I will make it up to you somehow!! I think I will go the Sherpa route, and hotel to and from Oregon....Would that be a place to start? When do you start taking reservations?

Don't sweat the coffee. My main concern is running out of coffee for my customers, which has happened in the past and Thur morning (before I put the behemoth in action).

Reservations for 2010, hard to say when. Much of it depends on the state sales tax requirements for OR, some states tax services, others don't.

I usually have to wait until the MOA vendor package is issued (with sales tax info), and that often doesn't happen until the Jan/Feb time frame.

I once jumped the gun and opened a tax account (WY), only to find out MOA opened one for me as well once I submitted my package. Two tax accounts with a state can cause issues.
 
If the numbers are going to be in the 8,000 area, we might should consider larger fairgrounds.

Do you REALLY want a larger rally? The larger it is, the less likely it will be in an interesting place. At some point, there's no real advantage to being bigger. Think Lima. The size is already very limiting for the MOA. This was a really great site for the size, IMO.
 
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