Leesburg Bike Fest 2

This year Boots and I decided to do things a little differently then in the past. We wanted to enjoy the Leesburg Bike Fest as a 'vacation' instead of 'work.' Since our line of work is a biker magazine, we hadda figure out just how to do that, but still be able to report to y'all, cover the event, and get lotsa pictures.

For the past couple of years, we've set up at Gator Harley-Davidson. They're great folks, gave us a great place to hook up and meet lotsa readers, and extended an invitation to set up there again this year, too. But we respectfully declined. Not cuz we don't enjoy their hospitality, nor because we don't enjoy meetin' lots of y'all, but we wanted to try a different approach. Here's our RV last year (2008) ...

Definitely a prime piece of real estate and a great place to be, but constantly hectic and we spent fourteen or sixteen hours a day shakin' hands, shootin' the shit with y'all and never really got a chance to get out and see Bike Fest. Well, we did manage to get out (5 or 6 photo esays are here, Leesburg 2008, if you're interested) ...

But we got lotsa e-mails after the event with folks complainin' they hung around waitin' for us to get back or wonderin' where we were or whatever ... We don't like to give the wrong impression, so this year we 'hid' out at our friend's house. Thanx Doug & Patti - your hospitality was great, but your friendship is even better! Love you guys. So we set up the DBPB (Dixie Biker Party Bus) a couple of miles from downtown and had the perfect location as our Headquarters for the rally ...

Man, oh man ... it don' git no mo' better 'an this, y'all.

Boots and our son Phillip took the bus over on Wednesday, April 22 while I was stuck in the office workin' on the May issue of Dixie Biker Illustrated. It was gonna be a challenge to get that finished up and to the printer first thing Monday morning, so I was poundin' on the keyboard. What a relief it was not havin' to worry about gittin' the bus and the bikes to Leesburg this year. Thanx Phil!!

Boots and I rode the Dixie Glide over on Thursday, April 23, around lunchtime, and got to Leesburg after a leisurely hour and a half ride down 44 & 44A. We had our Kick Off Party set up by our Lake County moto-journalist, Hark, that evening startin' at six o'clock, but were nice and relaxed for that. Boots even had time to get a little hair work done [the way we do it in Dixie] by Patti (who happens to be an awesome beauty consultant, hair dresser, etc., at BLOW Hair Design in Mount Dora) ...

... while Doug and I got to do stupid, silly middle-age boy stuff that we're always doin' in 'Dixie' ...

... on Doug's extremely dangerous, ass haulin' mini bike. Speakin' of 'Dixie' stuff, y'all know what famous last words are in Dixie?

"Hey, y'all ... watch this shit!"

The girls did their thing, but I know they were probably talkin' shit about "BOYS" the whole time mumblin' under their breath some shit like... "Someone's gonna git killed or seriously injured." or "At least they haven't got too much alcohol in their system yet..." or "They ain't ever gonna grow up, are they?!" or "Well, ya gotta figure that this weekend we're gonna hafta make at least one special trip!"

"Yeah, either to the hospital or to the jail. So, ya wanna bet on which one it's gonna be?"

But they just kinda kept ignorin' us so Doug finally rode up ...

... dropped in and talked some smack. I think he said something like, "Hey, go get me a beer!" and got some smart ass response back like, "Right. That's only gonna happen in your fantasies. You got two legs and two hands -- got git yer own damn beer ...

... and, bring us one back, too while you're at it!"

Man, what a great way to spend a gorgeous Spring afternoon in Lake County. Really, really good and we weren't even out 'partyin'!. Just hangin' with good folks makin' good memories.

We hung out a couple of hours but then hadda ride off to Sports Time Bar and Grill for our Rally Kick Off Party. We haven't had a DBI event in Lake County for a while and Hark thought this would be a great time to have one. He was right, as usual. We wondered what kinda turnout we'd get since it was just us advertisin' and promotin' it and it was happenin' on a Thursday night. Even though we've never had a party where at least several hundred of y'all have shown up, we always worry if folks will show up for our events. All the worryin' was about nuthin' cuz there were a boat load of folks at Sports Time when we arrived, and y'all kept comin' an' goin' all night. Holy moly, what a party ...

But that's gonna hafta wait til the next blog.