Well, this year's MOA rally is in the books. It was an odd event for me because the only rallies I have ever attended where either i-BMW hooliganism or like Bike Week in Daytona or BikeFest in Leesburg. Nothing like this so I was kind of excited. First, the staff that put on the rally were great and a pleasure to deal with throughout all of my questions. From registration to volunteering to getting a beer, it was all good.
We registered for the event some months ago, planning to take my toy hauler and at least one bike. I signed up for an off-road course put on by the BMW Performance Center for Thursday morning so we extended the dates to get there a day early. We set up the RV, cooked some dinner and drank some wine. The weather was perfect so we sat outside and just enjoyed some peace.
I was up early every day, cooking breakfast and drinking coffee. Thursday took on an additional challenge with registering and getting to class on time. I also signed up for a demo ride on the S1000R. More on that later.
The class was pretty cool. It was a half day worth of instruction, where the staff did a really condensed version of the one day class they put on in South Carolina. I didn't take any pictures of the class, but we covered slow work focusing on clutch/throttle interaction, ruts, bumps, and tight turns at low speed. All fun stuff. The staff also talked about controls, how to pick up the bike (which I was thankful to not drop my bike but others did a number of times).
A GS in its natural state of napping!
After the class, I grabbed some lunch and headed over to the demo truck to take my ride. It was short and moderated. I had wanted to ride the S1kRR as well but after riding the R in the controlled environment I decided to swing by a dealer instead and ride them back to back. I will say that the transmission/engine on the S1kR was super smooth. I can't wait to actually be able to ride it a bit like it should be ridden and not like a scooter.
We also won a door prize on Thursday, a gift certificate to Subway which was in my son's hands as soon as we got home yesterday. He was happy!
Temperatures were nice for me, a little on the chilly side for the wife. There was also a stiff breeze every day which I thoroughly enjoyed. Julie on the other hand, she has turned into a blanket woman and she doesn't even know what that means!
I thought his picture was kind of funny. A bike wash station at the rally! I could see Lee here, supervising! And then I realized that I trailered two hours instead of riding so I don't have much to say!
Thursday evening we had dinner with Tim, Susan, Lee, and Debi. Those pictures are in Tim's thread. We missed Mani who was staying at a hotel and then I got a call from Bill Morgan. It appeared as if a Bill Morgan adventure was headed my way.
Friday was more of the same. We did some serious shopping and hooked up with Mani to walk the event site. I will say that my wife and I probably walked the entire site 10 times while we were there. It was just a fun environment and there were all kinds of things to see. Bikes, vendors, exhibitions, people drinking, all good stuff. And we got ready for the tornado that is Bill to arrive. He got onto site early evening with a business partner, John. They set up camp and we walked around a bit. I cooked some chow for everyone during this time.
Saturday Bill, John, Mani, Julie and I got up and went for a ride. We worked our way out from Lebanon, heading Northeast and eventually we stopped in Fountain Run, KY where we stopped for lunch. I enjoy these little dinners tremendously. I like to talk to the locals too. As Bill and I were looking at routes, the folks at the next table asked us where we were going. When we didn't have a good answer he asked where we had been and we told him. He said there was a shorter way to get to where we were and we acknowledged that we knew of the shorter route, but we were looking for an adventure. And then it finally sank in and he gave us directions to a really hard, twisty road. I'm not sure if we made it there.
Bill working on routes
Julie telling John something incredibly important, I didn't hear a word.
Mani, well, being Mani.
After lunch, John and Mani took off and headed back to the rally site. Bill, Julie and I went searching for roads to run. We were getting into some interesting territory when we figured that we should get out to a main road for fuel. We plugged gas into the GPS and headed that way. While fueling up, another local asked where we were going and got the same answer. He asked where we had been and the answer was we had lunch in Fountain Run and the guy said that's about 15 minutes up the road. It had taken two hours to get there! LOL! More advice and directions were handed out and we decided to take them and shoot right back to the rally site.
Back at the site we started relaxing, ate a bit, drank a bit and then headed to the rally finale. It was two hours of prizes, recognition, thank you's and those things you'd expect from a large group like the MOA. It was cool. I did get to see FastEddie and KoolKaren briefly there. After the rally presentation, Julie and I wandered around a bit. We swung by Eddie and Karen's camp but they hadn't made it back yet and so we headed back to camp to start getting ready to break down the following day.
Sunday was a quick breakdown and we were out of the rally site before 9 am, home by 11 am. I had a great time. I doubt this will be a yearly event for me, but if they hold the rally in a location that sounds interesting to get to, I could do it again.
We registered for the event some months ago, planning to take my toy hauler and at least one bike. I signed up for an off-road course put on by the BMW Performance Center for Thursday morning so we extended the dates to get there a day early. We set up the RV, cooked some dinner and drank some wine. The weather was perfect so we sat outside and just enjoyed some peace.
I was up early every day, cooking breakfast and drinking coffee. Thursday took on an additional challenge with registering and getting to class on time. I also signed up for a demo ride on the S1000R. More on that later.
The class was pretty cool. It was a half day worth of instruction, where the staff did a really condensed version of the one day class they put on in South Carolina. I didn't take any pictures of the class, but we covered slow work focusing on clutch/throttle interaction, ruts, bumps, and tight turns at low speed. All fun stuff. The staff also talked about controls, how to pick up the bike (which I was thankful to not drop my bike but others did a number of times).
A GS in its natural state of napping!
After the class, I grabbed some lunch and headed over to the demo truck to take my ride. It was short and moderated. I had wanted to ride the S1kRR as well but after riding the R in the controlled environment I decided to swing by a dealer instead and ride them back to back. I will say that the transmission/engine on the S1kR was super smooth. I can't wait to actually be able to ride it a bit like it should be ridden and not like a scooter.
We also won a door prize on Thursday, a gift certificate to Subway which was in my son's hands as soon as we got home yesterday. He was happy!
Temperatures were nice for me, a little on the chilly side for the wife. There was also a stiff breeze every day which I thoroughly enjoyed. Julie on the other hand, she has turned into a blanket woman and she doesn't even know what that means!
I thought his picture was kind of funny. A bike wash station at the rally! I could see Lee here, supervising! And then I realized that I trailered two hours instead of riding so I don't have much to say!
Thursday evening we had dinner with Tim, Susan, Lee, and Debi. Those pictures are in Tim's thread. We missed Mani who was staying at a hotel and then I got a call from Bill Morgan. It appeared as if a Bill Morgan adventure was headed my way.
Friday was more of the same. We did some serious shopping and hooked up with Mani to walk the event site. I will say that my wife and I probably walked the entire site 10 times while we were there. It was just a fun environment and there were all kinds of things to see. Bikes, vendors, exhibitions, people drinking, all good stuff. And we got ready for the tornado that is Bill to arrive. He got onto site early evening with a business partner, John. They set up camp and we walked around a bit. I cooked some chow for everyone during this time.
Saturday Bill, John, Mani, Julie and I got up and went for a ride. We worked our way out from Lebanon, heading Northeast and eventually we stopped in Fountain Run, KY where we stopped for lunch. I enjoy these little dinners tremendously. I like to talk to the locals too. As Bill and I were looking at routes, the folks at the next table asked us where we were going. When we didn't have a good answer he asked where we had been and we told him. He said there was a shorter way to get to where we were and we acknowledged that we knew of the shorter route, but we were looking for an adventure. And then it finally sank in and he gave us directions to a really hard, twisty road. I'm not sure if we made it there.
Bill working on routes
Julie telling John something incredibly important, I didn't hear a word.
Mani, well, being Mani.
After lunch, John and Mani took off and headed back to the rally site. Bill, Julie and I went searching for roads to run. We were getting into some interesting territory when we figured that we should get out to a main road for fuel. We plugged gas into the GPS and headed that way. While fueling up, another local asked where we were going and got the same answer. He asked where we had been and the answer was we had lunch in Fountain Run and the guy said that's about 15 minutes up the road. It had taken two hours to get there! LOL! More advice and directions were handed out and we decided to take them and shoot right back to the rally site.
Back at the site we started relaxing, ate a bit, drank a bit and then headed to the rally finale. It was two hours of prizes, recognition, thank you's and those things you'd expect from a large group like the MOA. It was cool. I did get to see FastEddie and KoolKaren briefly there. After the rally presentation, Julie and I wandered around a bit. We swung by Eddie and Karen's camp but they hadn't made it back yet and so we headed back to camp to start getting ready to break down the following day.
Sunday was a quick breakdown and we were out of the rally site before 9 am, home by 11 am. I had a great time. I doubt this will be a yearly event for me, but if they hold the rally in a location that sounds interesting to get to, I could do it again.
It is so good to see Julie getting more involved in riding and attending our get- togethers, and now she is one of the Blanket Women! 
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