Attendance 4,580

MCRyder said:

I got back last night from Des Moines, 720 miles. I thought I'd be spending a night on the road, but got to Mcalester, OK and figured I'd make it home before nightfall so I just kept rolling on the throttle.

Really liked the facility, it was huge. To my perspective that made the 4,580 attendance look smaller, the fairgrounds just swallowed up the number of attendees. I camped out with a group of members from Iowa. Man I thought Texans were a friendly folk, these Iowans made me feel right at home. Weather felt just like Texas, very warm and humid, but the nights cooled off enough to make tent sleeping comfortable. I hadn't attended a National since 2007 in West Bend, Des Moines was a good way to return. Big kudos to those who make these events happen.

Only hiccup in the trip was a citation for failing to yield to a stop sign in Miami, OK. The road I was riding was detoured and with so many signs telling where to go I up and missed the most important sign . So the state of Oklahoma will be getting a $183 (a $108 DOCKET FEE?!) donation

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Great, upbeat post, which echoes my sentiments about the Rally in Des Moines.
The traffic ticket is a piece of crap that you should not have had to endure. But, those LEOS are not that brightest individuals for the job. A plausible explanation on your part should have been enough to give you a pass, which I am sure you proffered, but fell on deaf and dumb ears.

bluebutt said:

. But, those LEOS are not that brightest or intelligent individuals for the job.

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Boy oh boy.....Are you at all familiar with the amount of members that are now or were LEO's???...…..Or does it even matter to YOU.....Good luck...….

MCRyder said:

Only hiccup in the trip was a citation for failing to yield to a stop sign in Miami, OK. The road I was riding was detoured and with so many signs telling where to go I up and missed the most important sign . So the state of Oklahoma will be getting a $183 (a $108 DOCKET FEE?!) donation

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Major bummer! I was pulled in Wisconsin for ??? in a 45 zone. Honestly with the sun glaring off the instruments I was guesstimating and as I told the deputy, I must have guessed wrong. When he bent down for a closer look at Glenlivet in the sidecar he got a big sloppy kiss from the dog. He laughed, we talked about sidecars and dogs for a few minutes, then he shook my hand and wished us safe travels. No ticket.

Maybe you should have kissed the officer..?

Pete:

Having your dog along is better than having diplomatic immunity, or a big Blue Knights decal on your sidecar.

MCRyder said:

I got back last night from Des Moines, 720 miles. I thought I'd be spending a night on the road, but got to Mcalester, OK and figured I'd make it home before nightfall so I just kept rolling on the throttle.

Really liked the facility, it was huge. To my perspective that made the 4,580 attendance look smaller, the fairgrounds just swallowed up the number of attendees. I camped out with a group of members from Iowa. Man I thought Texans were a friendly folk, these Iowans made me feel right at home. Weather felt just like Texas, very warm and humid, but the nights cooled off enough to make tent sleeping comfortable. I hadn't attended a National since 2007 in West Bend, Des Moines was a good way to return. Big kudos to those who make these events happen.

Only hiccup in the trip was a citation for failing to yield to a stop sign in Miami, OK. The road I was riding was detoured and with so many signs telling where to go I up and missed the most important sign . So the state of Oklahoma will be getting a $183 (a $108 DOCKET FEE?!) donation

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I live about 40 miles from Miami, and used to shop some there. A undeserved ticket there means I will never shop there again. It is the only power we have over them.

Rod

ragtoplvr said:

I live about 40 miles from Miami, and used to shop some there. A undeserved ticket there means I will never shop there again. It is the only power we have over them.

Rod

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That said, a note to whatever they have for a chamber of commerce filling them in makes a difference.
Followed by another a month later.
OM

glenfiddich said:

Major bummer! I was pulled in Wisconsin for ??? in a 45 zone. Honestly with the sun glaring off the instruments I was guesstimating and as I told the deputy, I must have guessed wrong. When he bent down for a closer look at Glenlivet in the sidecar he got a big sloppy kiss from the dog. He laughed, we talked about sidecars and dogs for a few minutes, then he shook my hand and wished us safe travels. No ticket.

Maybe you should have kissed the officer..?

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I'd rather had my dog with me, Zelda loves people

I was fortunate enough to get to camp with a "first timer" at this years rally. It was nice to be able to share the enthusiasm for not only the sport but for touring and our organization. He had some questions about touring, rallying and in general a very positive overall experience. He was impressed with the level of organization of the rally, camaraderie among the members., and just how friendly and willing to talk about motorcycling everyone was. He's a good guy and will be a valuable member to the MOA.

In travel across long boring flat country I sympathize, living in Maine and having only limited vacation time make multiple 700 plus mile days across the long flat boring ie. I80/I90 a necessary evil, on the way home I was a little disappointed in only hit 98 degree's, my LD Comfort shirt is good to over 100.

See you in Tennessee

Ride is what one makes it.

Sure we could have taken a more "boring" route from Ohio to Des Moines. Perhaps complained about running the slab and not even going at all. But...from Ohio we went up to Ludington Michigan. Spent the day at the beach on Lake Michigan, swam a bit, looked around the interesting tourist town. Next morning had a bite at the Cops & Donuts shop before boarding the SS Badger for the trip across the lake. Spend a couple of days in Door County Wisconsin, explored, went to a fish boil. Drove through Green Bay, took a few photos at Lambeau Field before making our way down to Dubuque Iowa. What a delightful town, good to see a place making a comeback. Stayed downtown at the Hotel Julien where the manager had us park our bikes right under the entrance awing for the night. Des Moines was great. Hot yes, but a great town. UBERed it into town and explored. Went on the pub crawl. Caught a Iowa Cubs baseball game. Bought way to much stuff from the vendors we didn't need. Said goodbye to our ninth rally and stayed a couple of days at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois. Cool place. Even got to see dozens of Asian Carp jumping around AND IN the pontoon boat tour we took on the Illinois River. Sure cutting across Nebraska may not be fun but fun is what you make it. Yes the journey is the destination.

For what its worth...

I got to take three days to ride with the rally chair, my friend Brian Hinton, back to Alabama. Regional Coordinator Brian Dutcher joined us Monday morning on our way out of the rally. I must say, I had heard so much negative about the riding in Iowa... I just didn't see it. I grew up in Central Illinois, Champaign Urbana area (Rantoul Chanute Air Force Base), I was expecting to see nothing but flat cornfields and long straight roads; nothing could be further from the truth. South Eastern Iowa going into Missouri was absolutely beautiful. Some of the best riding I've ever had, lovely long sweepers with new pavement, no traffic and rolling picturesque farm land dotted with barns, silos, lakes with ducks with fields of cattle from time to time.

Not that I would have changed my mind and not gone to the rally, but I'm really glad I didn't listen to any of the nay sayers. I guess you just can't believe everything you read on the internet.

All our volunteers were superb and worked really hard to put on a great rally. I'm still wearing my arm band, I don't want to let go of the good memories.... and my friends.

Good to hear you enjoyed the ride Reece.

Lee said:

Good to hear you enjoyed the ride Reece.

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It was good to see you and Deb again. I hope you two had a good time. You always had a smile on your face.

rangerreece said:

For what its worth...

I got to take three days to ride with the rally chair, my friend Brian Hinton, back to Alabama. Regional Coordinator Brian Dutcher joined us Monday morning on our way out of the rally. I must say, I had heard so much negative about the riding in Iowa... I just didn't see it. I grew up in Central Illinois, Champaign Urbana area (Rantoul Chanute Air Force Base), I was expecting to see nothing but flat cornfields and long straight roads; nothing could be further from the truth. South Eastern Iowa going into Missouri was absolutely beautiful. Some of the best riding I've ever had, lovely long sweepers with new pavement, no traffic and rolling picturesque farm land dotted with barns, silos, lakes with ducks with fields of cattle from time to time.

Not that I would have changed my mind and not gone to the rally, but I'm really glad I didn't listen to any of the nay sayers. I guess you just can't believe everything you read on the internet.

All our volunteers were superb and worked really hard to put on a great rally. I'm still wearing my arm band, I don't want to let go of the good memories.... and my friends.

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Reece...I also grew up in Central Illinois (on a farm near Gibson City) and I actually love riding through the corn and soybean fields in the Midwest. You do have to watch those blind corners, though! The smells and sights bring back a lot of great memories for me.

My mom worked as a civil servant at Chanute until they closed. She was fortunate to have been an admin assistant for one of the officers. When Chanute closed, he got her re-assigned to an office in Champaign for a year to complete her career before retirement.

Ole Gibson city. I used to run against them in trac. My mom too, upon getting out of the A/F went civil service, and moved to Redstone Aresenal around the time I joined the Army, ‘86-‘87. I lived in Paxton Buckley Loda my sophomore year till I graduated from high school, class of 80 students. Tom Mentz from monster Truck fame was in my graduating class.
Well have to link up some time (thinking Lebanon TN) and figure out if we’re related.

rangerreece said:

Ole Gibson city. I used to run against them in trac. My mom too, upon getting out of the A/F went civil service, and moved to Redstone Aresenal around the time I joined the Army, ‘86-‘87. I lived in Paxton Buckley Loda my sophomore year till I graduated from high school, class of 80 students. Tom Mentz from monster Truck fame was in my graduating class.
Well have to link up some time (thinking Lebanon TN) and figure out if we’re related.

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lol. I wrestled against Paxton '69-'72. We had the largest graduating class ever from GC with 125 students.

powwow said:

lol. I wrestled against Paxton '69-'72. We had the largest graduating class ever from GC with 125 students.

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Yeah, we’re totaly related, we definitely know some of the same people.

MCRyder said:

Really liked the facility, it was huge. To my perspective that made the 4,580 attendance look smaller, the fairgrounds just swallowed up the number of attendees. I camped out with a group of members from Iowa. Man I thought Texans were a friendly folk, these Iowans made me feel right at home. Weather felt just like Texas, very warm and humid, but the nights cooled off enough to make tent sleeping comfortable.

Click to expand...

rangerreece said:

...I was expecting to see nothing but flat cornfields and long straight roads; nothing could be further from the truth. South Eastern Iowa going into Missouri was absolutely beautiful.

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If we could build some institutional knowledge that riding in this area doesn't suck, this facility *sounds* like a great place to regularly hold our rally. (I wasn't there, but the buzz is all good)

One thing we used to do on our web site was publish multiple excellent alternative rides to/from the rally. Another thing we did was informal group rides from various regions... like the Tour To Trenton, which was done (ahem) in conjunction with BMW Motorrad and BMW dealers (Michael cough cough Friedle). Nowadays, with on-line ride and POI sharing, we should be able to amplify that.

Reece, any chance you tracked your ride home?

Ian

Visian said:

If we could build some institutional knowledge that riding in this area doesn't suck, this facility *sounds* like a great place to regularly hold our rally. (I wasn't there, but the buzz is all good)

One thing we used to do on our web site was publish multiple excellent alternative rides to/from the rally. Nowadays, with on-line ride and POI sharing, we should be able to amplify that.

Ian

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Much effort and inroads (pun intended) we’re made by Brian Hinton and Brian Dutcher, using ReveR maps linked through the rally app. It was one of these rides that the two Brian’s and I executed on our way out. Brian Dutcher is a GS Giant and a LTC in the Air Force... I would expect no less from such an esteemed individual.

Brian H and I did have some problems in Cuba, MO transferring REVER .gpx Tracs to routes in the NAV VI.

rangerreece said:

Much effort and inroads (pun intended) we’re made by Brian Hinton and Brian Dutcher, using ReveR maps linked through the rally app. It was one of these rides that the two Brian’s and I executed on our way out. Brian Dutcher is a GS Giant and a LTC in the Air Force... I would expect no less from such an esteemed individual.

Brian H and I did have some problems in Cuba, MO transferring REVER .gpx Tracs to routes in the NAV VI.

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I know Brian Dutcher really well, he is a great volunteer contributor, his wife Tricia is a fine young lady, too. Hope to make an Alabama club meeting one of these days and actually meet Brian Hinton.

Those GPS files always need tweaking... the track capture is usually only the base layer of a project that includes photography, writing and final map production. From there you can spin out social media posts, forum threads, magazine articles, a scavenger hunt... etc.

Here is an example thread from our 2009 rally. (note, the first link is a 404 on bmwmoa.org. The routes were once hosted on our website but they didn't make it through our last bmwmoa.org rebuild Fortunately you can still download the zip file attached to the Forum posts because I host it on my own web space.)

Now then... fast forward 10 years and we know that a lot of people will be riding down from the Northeast to Lebanon, TN next year (hint).... and there is a really good place for them to take a little detour that happens to be right around where our rally was in 2009. Several of those "Putting the T in Twisties" routes are just the thing. (see pic below). This is the light dualsport option... there are some excellent all-paved ones...

To support the Des Moines rally, I didn't have a lot... mostly from GS Giants events past... but I did share them in the MOA FB group, hopefully someone tried them out.

Point is that unless we stop losing what we've all worked to produce we miss out on very significant elements of the "journey" that our members could "experience" going forward....

Ian

jandhumphreyme said:

I was fortunate enough to get to camp with a "first timer" at this years rally. It was nice to be able to share the enthusiasm for not only the sport but for touring and our organization. He had some questions about touring, rallying and in general a very positive overall experience. He was impressed with the level of organization of the rally, camaraderie among the members., and just how friendly and willing to talk about motorcycling everyone was. He's a good guy and will be a valuable member to the MOA.

In travel across long boring flat country I sympathize, living in Maine and having only limited vacation time make multiple 700 plus mile days across the long flat boring ie. I80/I90 a necessary evil, on the way home I was a little disappointed in only hit 98 degree's, my LD Comfort shirt is good to over 100.

See you in Tennessee

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Jerry...Is that you?? I assume you are speaking about me as the "first timer" and everything you mentioned is correct...I had a great time at this years rally. I contribute much of that to meeting you! So good in fact, I wasn't originally planning on attending next years rally due to a trip we have scheduled to Colorado next June. However, looking ahead at the calendar, I'm going to try and fit both trips in (assuming I can get the time off). After all, it's only 993 miles...I should be able to ride that in a day according to you!!

Thanks again to everyone involved to pull off an event of this size. I felt it was very well organized and the facility was top notch. I hope to get more involved with future rally's and volunteer like so many. Can't wait for the next one!!

Cheers!