Quick thoughts on Billings rally

Enjoyed rally

Another great rally- enjoyed it all- seeing old friends and making new ones! Mustang Sally was awesome. Camped close to hwy and really appreciate the peace & quiet of being home. Looking forward to next year!
Thanks for all the hard work.

Lee said:

Out of curiosity was the MOA setup this year to scan membership cards at registration?

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No at least not at the table I was at. But we could scan a ticket if someone had pre registered or if we entered Member number it pulled up their info to help speed up registering someone.

gtlloyd said:

But we could scan a ticket if someone had pre registered or if we entered Member number it pulled up their info to help speed up registering someone.

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That's a step in the right direction

We got there Monday. Helped at and fed Camp Gears (13 youth and several adults) for 4 days with food from the - wait for it - grocery store. Showers were findable. Our camping space with shade or darkness 21 hours a day had room for ten more tents Wed nite - Sat nite. I thought the facility was excellent. If you ever presented or attended a seminar in a sheep barn in 98 degree weather with a huge fan to drown out the presenter you would appreciate Billings. I did.

Lee said:

Out of curiosity was the MOA setup this year to scan membership cards at registration?

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Yes and they worked brilliantly. No lines at registration, but the long lines to put in the tickets for door prizes was long.
How hard can that be? But it seems to be a bit of a challenge for lots of rally goers.

Thanks, Sue and crew, this was a grand rally!

Voni
sMiling

Voni said:

Yes and they worked brilliantly.

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That makes one no, and one yes

The scanned our Rally preregistration - not ID cards. A 30 second process.

my first National Rally

My brother and I camped in the special needs area since he uses a cpap. When we got there no electricity was available. He told everyone with a nametag about the problem and sure enough someone got the ball rolling and cables with 4 outlets were installed. Folks were sure nice about sharing extension cords and outlets. He ended up buying one and shared it with others. Wish we had trash cans in our area. I enjoyed the rally, especially the Bing seminar. Got some useful advice there. My big complaint isn't with the rally but with some individual riders. The beartooth was pretty crowded on Sunday. Sometimes passing on double yellow was the only option to get arround a slow car, but on several occasions I waited until I could legally pass with my turn signals on and just as I got the opportunity to pass I was passed by someone who couldn't wait at a high rate of speed from a double yellow. I guess I was wrong about BMW riders being better than the average squid.

PGlaves said:

If you ever presented or attended a seminar in a sheep barn in 98 degree weather with a huge fan

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Will you ever forgive Bloomsburg?

I'm pretty sure you've sent letters to the Pentagon recommending Bloomsburg as the next atomic weapons test site

Lee said:

That's a step in the right direction

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I'm baffled by the whole "speed of registration discussion". If you pre-register, you present your printed receipt and get in line for the rally booklet, drawing tickets, wrist band and helmet dot.

So, is it the registration that folks want to shorten or the wrist band / helmet dot interaction? With an average age of Social Security recipient, I understand that the typical rally attendee has a lot of time demands, so I would sure like to understand this recurring issue.

36654 said:

Will you ever forgive Bloomsburg?

I'm pretty sure you've sent letters to the Pentagon recommending Bloomsburg as the next atomic weapons test site

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Actually, I believe that was occurring while the rally was there - the entire site felt like it was being irradiated to borderline unbearable.

greenwald said:

borderline unbearable

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You must have a higher heat tolerance than me.............

Yes, Bloomsbury was hot, but we survived, and we have all our "Bloomsbury was so hot........." stories. My favorite, was everyone in the stands shielding themselves from the additional heat, from the flame throwing Buicks, as they repeatedly drove by the stands. You can't make that stuff up.

36654 said:

Will you ever forgive Bloomsburg?

I'm pretty sure you've sent letters to the Pentagon recommending Bloomsburg as the next atomic weapons test site

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Actually, I was referring to Madison and Lima. But I do hope the Board and future Boards never forget Bloomsburg, lest those who fail to heed history repeat it.

Bloomsburg was horrible not because of the weather, but because it was an old tired facility incapable of handling our crowd on a good day, let alone days of abnormal heat. But then again, where else could we add to the enjoyment and temperature with flame cars? A once in a lifetime experience, I hope.

But, back to Billings. It was a good rally at a good site. A bit more shade at parts of the grounds might have been nice but I don't sit in my tent in the sun at mid-day when I can be in an air conditioned vender building or seminar building or out riding. I was, after all, at a motorcycle rally, not on a cruise ship.

bikenut595 said:

Yes, Bloomsbury was hot, but we survived, and we have all our "Bloomsbury was so hot........." stories. My favorite, was everyone in the stands shielding themselves from the additional heat, from the flame throwing Buicks, as they repeatedly drove by the stands. You can't make that stuff up.

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Bloomsbury???

Is that a comic strip set in a heat dome?

Darn auto complete, Bloomsburg, Bloomsburg! Had to override it on this post as well.

PGlaves said:

Bloomsburg was horrible not because of the weather, but because it was an old tired facility incapable of handling our crowd on a good day, let alone days of abnormal heat. But then again, where else could we add to the enjoyment and temperature with flame cars? A once in a lifetime experience, I hope.

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On a serious note, finding a compatible facility with AC equipped buildings, camping and outdoor demo areas is not a trivial task. Other than Metropolitan & University sports arenas (i.e., Convention Centers) I can't think of any such facilities in my area. It will be interesting to see what is offered next year.

PGlaves said:

I was, after all, at a motorcycle rally, not on a cruise ship.

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That's the jist of it. I think of the National as camping, but civilized camping.

As for the showers, a good time to go is after the Beer Tent closes.

Over the last several decades MOA has rallied at many different places from east to west to north and south. Certainly there must be at least four, one in each direction, that had sterling accommodations, showers, food venders, friendly city officials, shade trees, air conditioning, low insurance rates, great off site activity and supplies, good gas, etc., etc.

Why don't we just pick the best of the best and simply return to the best? Set the parameters, check off the boxes, shouldn't be rocket science. Don't think I'd give a damn if the rally returned to the best venue even if we'd been there before. Change just for change sake can be enjoyed on the ride to and from.

Or is there a by-law saying otherwise?

To clarify, I loved the accommodations at St. Paul last year, not simply because it was in my backyard, but for the ease of an early breakfast, eating joints right on the campus, the clean bathrooms, the big cool buildings, the grass and trees, it was just too good, way better than I expected.

My wife and I arrived on Friday and had our pick of registrars. Our campsite in the infield was preselected as the previous occupants had just left and we had a large, beautiful, grassy area to set up our tent. We caught a cab with a couple of other ralliers to downtown and had a good meal at Montana Brewing. We sauntered back to the site, an easy 30 minute walk. I noticed the lack of food at the rally and could see that as a problem. I never expect much for showers, and so am rarely disappointed. I had my Friday night shower in one of the buildings after a 5 minute wait. I wish more vendors had come. I'm breaking in a Corbin seat and after 3000 miles, it was me that was breaking. I had hoped Airhawk or Alaska Leather would be there, but no one had seat relief. I did get my Airhawk a couple of days later at Black Hills HD in Rapid City. They had a vendor set-up for Sturgis that put the MOA options to shame. The new owner of Airhawk spent several minutes with me discussing his product before the sale.
The location of the Billings site was great. Downtown is walkable, which is great if you don't want to drink and ride. We left on Saturday, rode Beartooth, Chief Joseph and Big Horn on our way to Sheridan, WY for the evening, so our exposure to any problems was minimal.
Ellen and both enjoyed the Rally and especially, the great location.
Thank you, Sue, and everone else who put this together.
Doug