Postings from the road while out looking for America
Day Two: Saturday
After a chilly night in the tents we awoke to a fantastic morning. Dave scrounged up a plate of steak strips from the house that we washed down with a beer or two for breakfast.
After the round robin through the shower we got serious and readied for a long day uptown at the bike party.
Before we left Dave's sister from Hawaii stopped be for a quick visit and then we helped Dave's nieghbor install the head and valve train on his Jeep's 4.0 liter engine.
We finally suited up and rode off to join the festivities. We rolled in the back way avoiding any traffic. The mainstreet was closed off to car traffic and only bikes were allowed on the strip.
The town was alive with roaring engines and black leathers! We rolled past the barracade into the bike grounds in search of a parking spot. It soon became a mission to get out the other side without running anyone over!
After what seemed like forever we made it out the other side unscathed. It was a blast slowly wiggling through the crowd. Chris and I were left with big grins and cramping clutch hands.
From this point the endless parade of bikes swung out into Bussiness 31 and everyone gaves it all she's got back to the starting point to do it all over again. It was great to watch all the bikes racing off as fast as they can.
Once we made the big circle we found a spot just off the main drag next to a sailboat on a trailer. We later met the boat owners who trailered it down so they could use it as overnight accomadations.
The party was great! It was like Daytona's Bike Week without the angry cops and sunburns. The police were present yet very reserved. Throughout the burnouts and hell raising we never saw anyone being hassled or ticketed.
We soon hooked up with Dave's brother Craig on his Harley and found the beer tent
People had fun and policed themselves all weekend. I was amazed at the amount of unlicensed bikes were on main street. It seemed odd to see moto-cross bikes and snowmobiles riding up to the bars.
The streets were lined with countless food vendors and biker paraphernalia tents as far as the eye could see.
Everything from shish-kabob to deep fried twinkies were available from one end to the other. There were three beer tents strategically spaced out each with a band.
A six dollar wrist band got you in any of the beer tents for the whole weekend. After that it was $3 dollar cans of bud. There was also several bars on the strip that party hard also.
The weather held out all day. it was in the low to mid 60s but dry. It was great leather weather and poor boob flashing weather.
The signature boob flashing that is the staple of every bike function since the dawn of the motorcycle was not to be seen at this autumn like bash.
We rolled over to the East end of the party and Hotrod Harley Davidson in time to stumble upon the Miss Bike Time 2009 contest.
After that display of bikinis and babes we settled in front of the stage with fresh beers for the Mitch Ryder's concert.
After Mitch's first set Chris and I wandered back up into the strip to walk the street checking out the endless collection of bikes.
We managed to find a wild ass bar in the upstairs of the C.I.O Headquarters that was jammin! Beers were $450 for 16oz buds in aluminum can. Chris' UAW card even got us a dollar off each round!
Dave managed to track us down after multiple text messages and we rocked to the band for a couple of beers there before staggering off to Mike's Inn down the street.
Mike's Inn fenced off their parking lot and with the addition of a canopy and a dozen port a-potties it made a great outdoor party spot.
We people watched there for a few three dollar beers before avoiding the 20 minute lines to the outhouses by peeing in the alley on the way out.
We then made one last pass down main street checking out the diehards still staggering around at the end.
Once back to the bikes we rolled out back to Dave's where we fired up the bonfire, ate steak and drank Jack till we dropped.
