Happy New Year

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

December Issue on the Streets

We're out distributing the December issue of Dixie Biker Illustrated. Should have it all out by Saturday afternoon, so stop by your favorite advertiser to pick up your copy today!

Things You Can Only Say On Thanksgiving

They might be taken outta context on other days of the year!

1. Talk about a huge breast!

2. Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.

3. It's Cool Whip time!

4. If I don't undo my pants, I'll burst!

5. That's one terrific spread!

6. I'm in the mood for a little dark meat.

7. Are you ready for seconds yet?

8. Its a little dry, do you still want to eat it?

9. Just wait your turn, you'll get some!

10. Don't play with your meat.

11. Just spread the legs open & stuff it in.

12. Do you think you'll be able to handle all these people at once?

13. I didn't expect everyone to come at once!

14. You still have a little bit on your chin.

15. How long will it take after you stick it in?

16. You'll know it's ready when it pops up!

17. Wow, I didn't think I could handle all of that!

18. That's the biggest one I've ever seen!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Big Engine Goes Country

Had a great time hangin' with the bikers Sunday at the Crankin' it for Hospice Run in Daytona Beach. Those high energy rock n roll boys outta Jacksonville, Big Engine, were kickin' it all afternoon. About two hours in, they countrified it and on the spur of the moment, I shot a video with my still camera. Hope you enjoy it.

Big Engine does David Allen Coe

Monk Gets a Haircut, Then Boots Gets One, Too.

Thanks to the chemo and steroids over the past nine months, my hair's thinned and comes out in clumps whenever I brush it. It's been drivin' me crazy and since my last stint in the hospital in June I swore I was gonna cut it all off. But I hadda little problem. My three-and-half-year-old grand daughter, Peyton, was mortified of "Poppi' cuttin' his ponytail off."
Well, a couple of weeks ago, she gave me "permission" to cut it off. "It's okay, Poppi. You can cut it off," she said. "I'll have a pony-tail for both of us."
Now was a new problem. Who's gonna cut it? Plus, since I hadn't hadda haircut in over twelve years (not counting getting fifteen inches cut off with a USMC K-Bar three years ago at one of our Locks of Love benefits) ...

... I was just a little leery about gittin' it cut. Shoot, I haven't been in a barber's chair in over ten years so who do I trust to cut my hair and not make me look like a dork or, worse, just another run of the mill over fifty biker dude?

Well, a couple of weeks ago we ran into a couple of readers -- Doug and Patti who we've seen around a few times at Bike Week, Leesburg and other biker parties -- at one of our events and we found out Patti's a beauty consultant, hair dresser, everything-to-do-with your appearance diva and she said she could definitely do me right. So on Saturday, November 8th Boots and I took a ride over to Mt. Dora to do the deed. I had the courage, the permission from Peyton, the confidence in Patti, so what the hell?! She went to work ...


And I'm totally happy! She hooked me up and no more brushin' out clumps of hair every morning or night! I combed it yesterday and no hair came out! Same thing today. Anyhow, here's a picture the day after (below - Nov. 9th - we went to the Volusia County Fair with our grand kids and Boots took a picture of me with Junior, our newest and youngest grandchild):

Well Boots was impressed with Patti's creativity, style and what-have-yous as she worked her magic on me and she's not been happy with her look for a while. Even more so since she's been in the friggin' wheel chair with her busted leg for two months now. So while Patti's workin' on me, Boots is askin' her, "Whatcha think you could do to make me look more like me? I'm sassy, mouthy, confident, and my own woman."
Bottom line? Patti had some free time, Boots had the inclination and so Boots ended up gettin' a haircut, too. Here's what Boots looked like a week prior with Peyton on Halloween:

Well, Boots didn't exactly get a haircut, but I'm a guy and I don't know all the artsy-smartsy stuff you call stylin' or hair dressin' or whatever. But Boots looked great afterwards and it sure gave her back a bit of sass and confidence that's been ebbin' a little low lately.

And then she was finished up:

All I can say is, "Patti ... you're definitely a magician!" And I don't know nuthin' about all that other stuff you can do, too. The stuff you and Boots were talkin' about regarding extensions, coloring, yada yada yada - but I'll bet my ass you're the best at that, too.
On the way home, Boots told me, "Honey, I can't believe what a great job she did, and at incredible prices."
Whaddaya mean, Babe?" I asked (remember, I'm a guy who ain't had a haircut in over ten years and I ain't got a clue how much this stuff normally costs).
"I couldn't've gotten my haircut for what she charged for you and I together! And I definitely know I wouldn't've gotten near this great look. You know I've been unhappy since my local hairdresser moved a couple of years ago. Patti's good! I'm glad we ran into 'em at Biketoberfest at Trader Jack's!"
And yesterday I took Boots' picture with Junior, too. How 'bout that?! Not bad. In fact, pretty freakin' awesome if ya ask me.

So I hereby confer the coveted Dixie Biker Recommended tag on Patti. She's awesome. And lest you think I do this lightly, Patti's shop is over ninty minutes away from where we live. It's definitely worth the trip.
If you're interested, she works in Mt. Dora, about thirty minutes northwest of Orlando at:

Wanna look hot for Toy Runs, Christmas or New Year's Eve? Patti can hook you up! You can give her a call at 352-551-7465 or visit a webpage about her here or e-mail her at pattiwacker@comcast.net

Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

Veterans Day

A HUGE thanks to all our Veterans - past and present - for all the sacrifices and hardships y'all endure to ensure our freedom and way of life. Without your efforts we wouldn't enjoy the privilege of Ridin' Free!

Grizzly Adams Visits Deadwood Saloon

On Saturday and Sunday, November 1 & 2, 2008, Dixie Biker Illustrated sponsored a Poker Run and benefit for Rochelle's Boots on the Ground at The Deadwood Saloon in Ormond Beach. The run was put together pretty quickly and the poker runs on Saturday had about sixty sign ups. Sunday's weather didn't cooperate, but a couple of hundred came out anyhow.

This group is headin' over I-95 on Airport Road in Ormond Beach. We provided maps for the folks on the Poker Runs to avoid traffic, and this is a great way to avoid the traffic on Hwy 1 and Hwy 40 (Granada Blvd.) on the way to country backroads to Trader Jack's Roadside in DeLand. I followed them to Trader Jack's where we had another registration point for the Runs. We only got ten sign ups, but it was a gorgeous day to ride the by-ways. From Trader Jack's the run went up Hwy 11 to Bunnell -- about twenty-five miles of country ridin' with no traffic lights, no stop signs and no traffic. About five miles north of Bunnell is the AmVets Post, the second stop. From there it was a shot over to McHenry's Irish Pub in Flagler Beach, a six mile shot down Oceanshore Blvd, to "The Loop" and back in to The Deadwood Saloon on Hwy 1 in the middle of Daytona's "Ormond Strip." There's lotsa room at Deadwood Saloon for Bikes Only parking and even though there were a couple of hundred bikes, between back yard, front yard, and side yard, they get kinda lost.

Folks hung out doin' what we do: chowin' on an awesome, free BBQ Rib and Chicken dinner with the fixin's provided by Deadwood Saloon and smoked up by Irwin and Rodney. Finger lickin' good, guys. You done great! Live music was provided by Rock n Roll Dundee, and Boots and I gave away a buncha raffle prizes. The winners of the Poker Run Ron Jaffe, owner of Deadwood Saloon - best hand and Linda Wallace - worst hand, won two tickets each to Roscoe's Chili Challenge for next weekend. They both donated their winnings back to RBOTG to be auctioned or raffled off, helping to raise a few more dollars for the cause. Thanks! Below is a group shot of folks that signed a banner to be sent to the 7th Cav serving in Iraq.
Mr. Dan Haggerty, better known to us older folks with TV memories from the 70s, as "Grizzly Adams" - star of the show of the same name, dropped by, hung out with us for a few hours and hadda cold one or three. He graciously posed for pictures---below with Rochelle, left, Boots, middle, and Jade, right---with everyone that asked. He also did a couple of his 'magic' tricks and some sleight of hand that amused everyone.

Ken, Rochelle's grandpa and a USMC vet who is the front man for RBOTG, explained the mission of RBOTG to anyone that asked about it. After explaining to Grizzly Adams, Grizzly graciously made it a point to sign the USMC portion of a banner for our Troops.

Then it was another photo opportunity with Rochelle and Jade (below) with the Grizzly Adams 'ride'. Oh--before I forget: the link above to RBOTG will lead you to their website which has all kindsa good info on how RBOTG started, who it's helped, letters from Troops, and much more.

After signin' a few - and I mean a lot! - more autographs, Dan took off home before the sun set and temps dropped into the fifties. Thanks for the awesome support, bro. You da man! See that, y'all ... you just never know who's gonna show up the Deadwood Saloon or at a Dixie Biker event. With 'Grizzly' if it's about kids or our troops, you can bet he's gonna do his best to ride out, even if it's only to make a 'cameo'. Once again, thanks!

Before Boots and I headied home for the evening, I hadda get a picture of the lovely Gina, below. She'd been bustin' butt all day behind the bar. And I can't forget how fast she was runnin' when suddenly Ronnie said, "Cuervo shots ... three bucks for the next five minutes!" Holy moly. Folks bellied up to the bar, emptied two or three bottles and Gina had her hands full, that's for sure.
Sunday morning dawned cloudy, drizzly and chilly, and the weather worsened during the day. Bummer. We still got a couple of dozen hardy bikers ridin' in, a few from Orlando, Clermont and Lake County - Uncle Bob and Jon - you guys are hard core! - and lotsa folks came in cars and pick ups. It turned out to be a pretty good turnout for such a crappy day. Plus Ronnie had NFL and NASCAR goin' on all his flat screen HD TVs.

With the crummy weather, Ronnie hadda move The Double Barrel Band to the inside stage -- they were originally gonna play on the outside stage -- and we hadda cancel our 'outdoor' bike games. No 'tater in the hay, weenie bite, slow ride, etc. Just too dangerous in the wet and slick conditions. Oh well, we had a great time inside doin' vibrator races, raffles and just hangin' with each other doin' what we do.
Rochelle's Boots on the Ground was set up on the front porch, and we got to meet Brandon and Stacey Peters of Peters Trial Group on Orlando. They're corporate sponsors for RBOTG, along with Winn-Dixie and Orlando Harley-Davidson, and are responsible for us getting on board as another corporate sponsor. Below they're with Ron, owner of Deadwood Saloon, far left, and Jennifer, far right. Jennifer, according to Ken, is a huge asset to RBOTG. She's a volunteer who handles weekend set up. web site editing, bos packing and lotsa 'behind the scenes' stuff for ROBTG. And, to top it off, her husband is currently serving a tour in Iraq with the US Army. Thanks for your efforts and hard work for the Troops, Jennifer!

Around 4:30 we did our last raffle of the weekend and gave a way a buncha Dixie Biker and Deadwood Saloon gear. But everyone was waitin' for the drawing for tickets to Roscoe's Chili Challenge. We drew those last, of course, and the winners were Crazy Horse and Mary, left, and Bob and Babe, right, all of Ormond Beach. Congratulations!

We're gonna do it all over again the last weekend of November. Only this time, we're gonna try and get all of our readers involved. We have nine poker runs startin' in eight cities in North-Central Florida all ending at The Deadwood Saloon. There's more info here: http://www.dixiebiker.com/Events01.html and we'll get a seperate page up with all the event info shortly. The entire weekend, nicknamed "Dang, I'm Sick of Turkey" poker runs and Backyard BBQ oughta be a blast.

We like the Toy Runs, under privleged kids are near and dear to our hearts, but we wanna take care of some heroes that are often taken for granted and forgotten at this time of year: our Troops. These young men and women are off in a foreign land defending what America stands for. We don't care what your politics are, these American Heros deserve our support. Hope to see y'all on Nomember 29th & 30th.

Which Way You Gonna Vote?

We're on the road all weekend doin' our Grand Opening Poker Runs and Party at the Deadwood Saloon in Ormond Beach for Rochelle's Boots on the Ground to send Christmas Packages to our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's something we got yesterday that'll get ya thru the weekend.

It's courtesy of Willie and Company, Tropical Tattoo:

Computer Use - Obama and McCain

An Obama campaign ad disparages McCain's ability to use a computer and suggests McCain's "out of touch"....

To that, we ask ...

Can Barack Obama, the annointed one, land a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier? At night?

'Nuff said.

From reader Patty S.

1st & 2nd Amendments in One Picture

Says it all, doncha think?

Here's Something to Warm You Up

Man, it's freezing in Florida today. In the 30s and it's still October. Holy Moly. Must be global warming. Here's something to warm you up - a little rock 'n roll from Big Engine:

Florida Anti Biker Law - License Tags, Wheelies, Speeding

After hearing so many interpretations of Florida's new Anti-Biker Law, we wondered what in the hell was the real deal. Luckily for us, we have a reader who's also a practicing attorney. He's put the legalese into laymen's terms for us.
Thanks, David W., Esquire.
----------------------

The weather for Biketoberfest this year couldn’t have been better, but there was one subject other than the perfect weather that was the big subject of discussion everywhere we stopped. Everybody’s talking about the new Florida motorcycle law that went into effect on October 1st, 2008. The new law is FL Statute 316.1926, and it covers wheelies, tags and ex-ceeding the speed limit in excess of 50 mph. This new law originated last year from Florida House Bill #137, which quickly became known as the Anti-Biker Bill.
This new law that came from the Anti-Biker Bill is a little difficult to understand because it is written in typical legislative legalese. It’s vague; it references several other statutes for much of the information (FS 316.2085 (2), (3), and FS 318.14 for the penalties), and it’s just plain hard to understand as it’s written. It’s as clear and fun to read as a how to book on changing a transmission gear on a metric rice rocket. But, remember most legislators are lawyers, and while the convoluted mumbo-jumbo legalese expressing the legislative intent of statutes is sort of a professional self preservation for we attorneys, it’s not allowed in statutes. Laws must be clearly written to be valid, and so far this new law has been misinterpreted by everyone. This should lead to its ultimate repeal, but that will take awhile, and there are going to be a lot of tickets issued between now and then.
So here’s the plain talk. The basic intent of the new statute is three new rules:
1) no wheelies.
2) license tags must be displayed horizontally, and
3) enhanced fines for exceeding the speed limit in excess of 50 mph.

The big problem with the statute as it’s written, is that it made all three issues punishable by the same penalty as the penalty for the excessive speeding, and that penalty is steep. Whether this was intentional or a mistake is still unclear, but here’s the law as it is now written:
For a first offense it’s a $1,000 fine; second offense is $2,500 and loss of license for one year, and the third offense is a third degree felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and loss of license for 10 years. Yep, you heard me right—having your tag mounted vertically is a $1,000 fine for the first offense, etc.!
I know you’ve heard many different stories already about the tag fine. I heard several versions myself while at Bike-toberfest. This has been a matter of great confusion so far, and there have been many different interpretations of the penalty portion of the statute. Even the cops don’t seem to have a uniform understanding of this new law. Recently the Tallahassee Clerk of the Courts issued an Advisory Bulletin that clears up the confusion and clearly states the rules and penalties. With the publication of the bulletin, there is now no doubt that the penalty for wheelies, tags or plus 50 are all the same. For those so inclined, you can read the bulletin at: http://www.floridaabate.com/Library/Library/CourtClerkBulletin082008.pdf Mr. Mike ‘Radar’ Price, State Legislative Director for ABATE of Florida, Inc. has been actively following this bill on behalf of all bikers since its inception, and we all owe him a thank you for his efforts. On the ABATE website, Radar tells of checking with his local police department and then with the local sheriff’s office to get some clarity on the new law. Both offices looked up the statute and both departments incorrectly interpreted the fine to be $125.50, instead of the correct amount of $1,000. But the lucky chance that you may get a ticket for only $125.50 for one of these offenses has now run out since the clerk’s office published the official interpretation with the higher penalties required.
You may be asking yourself, why do we need this wonderful new law to regulate motorcycles, and who came up with such a great new idea. Well, this whole mess started last year when this newbie state representative, Carlos Lopez-Cantera of Miami, witnessed some bikers driving recklessly, in his opinion, during a biker rally ride-along with the Miami police. That’s right! A ride with the Miami Police Motorcycle Division, and they didn’t have a problem with the riders. (Here’s this ding-a-ling’s website; please send him a letter thanking him for his fine work against bikers. http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4357&SessionId=57).
Anyway, the bill he introduced was targeted specifically against motorcyclist and quickly earned its more popular name of Anti-Biker Bill. Well, Mr. Cantera is not a lawyer, and it seems he didn’t know that laws have to meet constitutional standards of fairness and can not be unjustly discriminatory, so with the help of some of the other legislators, the law evolved to include not just motorcyclists but all Florida drivers exceeding the speed limit by 50 mph. Earlier versions of the bill also had proposed penalties of forfeiture of your bike, but with the efforts of several motorcycle support groups such as ABATE, that seems to have been excised along the way also. Well, here’s the problem: the bill may have been broadened to include all drivers as to the speeding, but the wheelies and tag issues are still subject only to motorcycles. So presumably you could mount you car tag vertically, or pop a wheelie in your street-legal dune buggy and it would only be a $125.50 fine. But do it on a motorcycle and you pay the big fines. Now you understand why the bill earned the name Anti-Biker Bill.
Hopefully, this new law will be overturned. But, it’s going to take awhile for the cases to make their way through the court system and ultimately to the appellate level for review.
As for wheelies, we already have laws that prevent wheelies. Wheelies have always been subject to reckless driving citation; just ask someone who's done one in front of a cop before this new law. The best lawyer in the state isn’t going to get you out of a reckless driving citation if you get caught doing a wheelie in traffic. But if it’s open road and no one is at risk but the rider, who cares? Not me. (e.g. helmet law arguments). At the risk of overstating an obvious, wheelies have an inherent penalty; if you blow it, you’ll pay in both injury to yourself and damage to your bike. So why do we need a new law with an unreasonable penalty that specifically restricts wheelies? The laws we have cover it, and raising the price on the ticket to a ridiculous amount isn’t going to stop it from happening. It’s just going to tempt the person doing it to run.
On a side note, the new law doesn’t address wheelies with passengers, and I’ve seen those before and think there should be a heavy fine for that. But like I said, we already have lots of laws, and a wheelie with a passenger can already be a criminal offence and a civil tort (you can be sued by the passenger, even if you land the wheelie and the passenger is not injured). We already have tons of laws; just ask a lawyer.
The way to stop wheelies and unsafe driving is talking and showing safe riding. Attitudes are contagious. Encourage friends to ride safely, and tell friends when they shouldn’t ride home. On the other side of that and, more importantly, let’s all listen to our friends when they try to tell us the same. Legislators like making new laws, but we have laws that cover anything you can think of several times over already. New laws usually just muddy the waters and make things worse. What’s next? No black leather jackets when riding at night, because it makes the rider hard to see.
Let’s hope Rep. Lopez-Cantera doesn’t get that one started. Next time let’s talk about the do’s and don’ts when you get pulled over for a ticket.
Have fun, but keep it safe.

Biketoberfest Silly Politically Incorrect Biker Game

Had a great time last Sunday (October 19) with a couple of thousand of y'all at our Traditional "C ya for Bike Week Party" at Trader Jack's Roadside in DeLand. Here's a shot of the infamous Vibrator Races, one of several games we did that day. Pretty funny.

We'll get more on the Party posted as soon as we get the November issue of the magazine put to bed and to the printer. This picture is from one of readers, Dennis P. of Paisley.

United Socialist States of America

Sent to us fourteen times in the past three or four days.

'Nuff said.

What Happens if we elect a moron?

But what happens when we elect folks that nominate judges that ignore the constitution or believe it is a "living" document?

Political Statement - BIketoberfest 2008

One of our readers, Z-Man from Winter Haven came out to our Biketoberfest 2008 "C ya at Bike Week Party" at Trader Jack's Roadside in DeLand with a shirt that got lots of applause from the hundreds of folks there. We like it. Thanks, bro.
And thanks to the thousand or so that dropped in throughout the day. We hadda blast and will have all the coverage in the December issue of Dixie Biker Illustrated. We'll try to get some stuff posted here in the meantime, but gotta get November issue finished up first.

Biketoberfest 2008 - Old School Chopper Show

Thursday morning dawned sunny, bright and I was headin' to my favorite Bike Show during Biketoberfest and Bike Week - Willie's Ol' Skool Chopper Show at Tropical Tattoo. This is the show for folks that appreciate building a bike to ride. No $50k bolt on parts; no $10,000 paint jobs. Just bikes folks build in their garages to ride.

I rode out about 9:30, hooked up with half of our Jacksonville writing team, Tim (below with a Dixie Biker Hello as we headed over the Granada Bridge) and headed to the Deadwood Saloon on US Hwy 1 across from the Iron Horse. I hadda drop by to pick up our Dixie Biker Illustrated Biketoberfest 2008 spokesmodel, Missi R. She was gonna be the Hot Chick part of the Ol' Skool Chopper Show.

After loadin' Missi on the DixieGlide, in Boots' seat (Boots was comin' in the pick-up cuz of her broken leg and wheel chair), we headed south on Hwy 1 about six miles to Tropical Tattoo. We hadda get in early to get things set before the hordes started arriving! Before I forget ... I gotta give a shout-out and thanks to my bro Ronnie, owner of Deadwood Saloon and McHenry's Irish Pub in Flagler Beach, for lettin' us hijack Missi for the day. She's workin' a beer tub at the Deadwood Saloon the entire 10 days of Biketoberfest and we kinda 'borrowed' her for the day. She'll be back workin' today (Friday) and thru the weekend, and will definitely be on hand for our Dixie Biker Biketoberfest Happy Hours party tonight!


The Ol' Skool Bike Show registration 'officially' starts at 12 Noon, ends at 2 o'clock and then the judges do their thing. Those in the know, however, start arrivin' by 11 am and Marcus graciously gets 'em registered and parked. Though this bike (below) isn't what the show's all about, Chopper Dan outta Jacksonville asked Missi if she'd git on it for a couple of pictures before the lot got jammed.

Looks pretty good, doncha think? Nice lines, huh?

Each year we've met hundreds of folks enterin' their bikes in the show, and are also surprised by some of the industry's long time chopper builders droppin' by. Below is Dave Perowitz with Willie and Missi.

In true-to-the-core old school fashion, Willie doesn't pay appearance fees, endorsement fees or any shit like that. The builders drop by to see what folks like you and I are buildin' in their garages with help from small, local shops or wrenches. They may be 'famous', but they're true to their roots and just wanna git out and see y'all - the real deal folks buildin' for the love of ridin' the open road. Not buildin' those pieces of crap Bike Night bar-hoppin', bolt-on chrome from a catalog bikes with thirteen miles a month on the odo. But I digress ...
Missi was lookin' fine as hell in her basic black bikini, but Willie wanted to get her in a Tropical Tattoo "I'm Not You're Role Model" tee. No problemo. She got one on but Boots (though a little hindered with her full-leg cast) hadda make some modifications after Missi said "C'mon Boots, help me out here ... make me HOT!"

"Shoot, girl," replied Boots. "You're hot-as-hell as it is, but com 'ere - I'll hook ya up."


Well Boots hooked her up and Missi was hot so of course I hadda get a picture of her with the Dixie Glide.



Then Chopper Dan decided he needed some more pictures of Missi on his bike so he rolled it around back and we kinda did our thing. He promised Missi a good tip for some pictures ...



' Course anytime you get a hot chick on a chopper you're gonna git lotsa whore-doggin' men around shootin' pictures. Least the folks were generous with the dollar bills when Boots hollered, "Tips, boys! She's gotta make a livin'!"


Our West Coast writer-rep, Dice, rode over for the day with his road bro Magic. Ya know I hadda get a picture of them ...



... and then a shot of the lovely Missi on Dice's awesome Shovelhead.


This bike show is what livin' in the Southland's all about - good folks hangin' at a local joint, shootin' the shit under a couple of old oak trees out back, sippin' beers and tellin' lies. Then every year, guaranteed, you'll see some shit that just makes you say, "WTF?!" And some crazy dude, like Noah (below), rides up on something he put together in the back yard under that ol' oak tree. This is the PBR Bobber. Course he didn't put it in the show, he just rode up to check out the bikes and then folks were checkin' out his shit, shakin' their heads, laughin' and sayin', "WTF" or something similiar. Way to go, Noah.

I hadda take a picture of Dennis Panzik, artist extraordinnaire who does all my paint, airbrush and mural work, cuz he was wearin' one of our not-so-world-famous Dixie Biker Gun Shirts.


The back yard is great for parkin' -- if ya get in early. If you come in late it's across the street or next door for the bikes not in the show. Frontside is reserved for Show Bikes.

GI Bill rode in from Ft. Hood, TX for the show. He recently retired from the Army and had the time to ride his Pirate themed bike across the Southland. I took this picture early in the day, and later on Bill was rewarded with a Show Trophy - I forget which class.

While the show was goin' on, the Willie's ink-slingin' crew were inside workin' -- Tropical Tattoo is a workin' Tattoo Shop, after-all. And that reminds me -- I gotta talk to Willie about some kinda special party. They'll be celebratin' their 20th Anniversary at this location this year. Man-oh-man - twenty years. Here yesterday, today and tomorrow. With that kinda history, why in the hell do folks go to little tents or trailers to get some ink during Biketoberfest and Bike Week? I don't understand that -- what in the hell are they thinkin'? Some scratcher that's gonna be gone in two days when ya got a shop that's been in the same location for twenty friggin' years. Oh well ... I'll get off the soap box. Below is Bosco layin' down some art on Justin.




Willie and Company started givin' out awards a little early - around 3:30 instead of the 4 pm annouced time ("Man, Monk, it's friggin' hot, bro! Can you bring Missi up now instead of at 4 o'clock? I'm gonna start the awards at 3:30 cuz it was so friggin' hot!" Good call, bro!

On the way out front, I ran into old friend and long-time advertiser in Dixie Biker, Andy Anderson, owner of Custom Iron in Deleon Springs, and his world famous rat shovelhead. "Yo, Andy!" I hollered. "Com'ere. I gotta git a "Beauty and the Beast" picture!" Oh, by-the-way, Sandy: I put him up to it. Kick my ass next time you see me, not Andy's!



We got around front finally and immediately ran into Billy Lane of Choppers, Inc. A good ol' Florida home boy who builds awesome, one-of-a-kind bikes famous throughout the land. But, like I said earlier, he's one of the ones who keeps it about Bikers - not YUP RUB weekend ten-mile ridin' folks.


Anyhow, first award of the show was "Billy Lane's Chopper, Inc. Choice Award." The proud winner had an awesome Panhead which was his daily ride. Here he gets congratulations from Billy and told the crowd a little about his ride.


Roadside Marty, MC of the Show, was whinin' (above) about not seein' enuff boobs and ass so he made an announcement beggin' and pleadin' for some hotties to give him a shot. Some pretty ladies obliged the fat boy, gave him the view then turned to the crowd.

'Course all the camera hadda come out then!


One of the class winners with Missi.

Roadside Marty got a big surprise when his Shovelhead was chosen as Cycle Source Editor's Choice for the Show. He's been MCin' an judgin' the show for several years, but was really surprised this year! He was so excited he swept Missi off her feet. Look at that big ol' shit-eatin' grin on his face. "Just goes to show you can get an awesome ride for under $5 grand," he told everyone.

Dixie Biker readers Chuck and Lori (above) rode in from Interlachen and went home with an award for best Rat Bike. Congratulations to you guys! Then reader Jimmy, from Weeki Watchee (right) got his picture with Missi. He won the Panhead class after ridin' in straight from Ohio. He hadn't even made it home to the West Coast of Florida. "I wouldn't miss this show, Monk," he told me. "First heard about it through Dixie Biker five or six years ago and I've been comin' ever since and it looks like it finally paid off for me. I've been coveting this award. It's the best chopper show on the planet! Thank you Willie and Company and DBI! You guys keep it real."

By the time Missi and I loaded up around 5 o'clock, the back yard had pretty mcuh emptied out, the shadows were gittin' long and it was good to get back in the breeze.

It was a long, hot, but absolutely great day. Hangin' with awesome people, kick-ass bikes, a great host in Willie and Company, and not to mention gittin' to hang out with our Spokesmodel Missi all day. Man, it don' git no mo' better 'an 'at, y'all.

Hope to see y'all on Thursday of Bike Week 2009 for the next iteration of this awesome show.