Bike Week 2009 - Monday, March 2

I didn't post anything about what was happenin' on Sunday, March 1st mostly cuz I didn't go out. We had a nasty front move through between 7 and 11 o'clock in the morning with lotsa rain and wind. It coulda been worse though, cuz the snow line was in Atlanta and that's only about 400 miles north. After the front moved through, the sun came out but temperatures sank like a 12 pound rock in a bucket of water. The high was 69 at 8 am and by 4 pm it was 50 and still droppin'. So call me a pussy, it's okay, but I hung around the house, wrote up our party at Trader Jack's Roadside (Bike Week - Saturday, February 28) and prepared stuff for the rest of our week.
Yesterday morning it was 33 degrees here in Daytona, but the I-95 corridor up in the northeast was gettin' pounded with over a foot of snow. Poor people - I feel for the folks drivin' to Bike Week. At least it was super sunny here, though it was chilly. Boots and Pup drove me down to Crank 'n Chrome to pick up the Dixie Glide and I figured this was probably a good day to go check out Beach Street, Main Street and areas south. I detest ridin' there, especially during Bike Week, but figured I owed it to our audience to check it out and give my impressions.
There were lotsa bikes parked along the east and west sides of Beach Street ....
.... and I squeezed the DixieGlide in a slot as someone else was pullin' out. You can pay $5 to park off the street a couple of places but then you have a long walk to the vendor and display area.

If you're a little patient, someone will pull out and you can pull in to the now vacant parking spot. I took off the leather, put it in the saddle bag and walked down the street towards Daytona Harley. They've leased the lot across the street this year and there were probably twenty of thirty vendors along the riverfront. I checked out the Chamber's Official Welcome Center, picked up some reading material and moseyed into the vendor area.

I detest goin' to this part of Daytona during Bike Week for a couple of reasons: traffic, posers and wannabees, and the absolutely ridiculous rip off prices. I've written about it in the past, but here's the pictures from yesterday. First up when you walked in the vendor area:

$5 for a cup of coffee. Then walk a little ways towards the end and you could pick up a souvenir from Jesse James ...

... or go across the street and get a whole pizza for $25 (And you saved $7!) or get a 12 oz. can of Coke for $3 (a 12 pack in the 7-11 was $2.99) or a bottled water for $3 ($5.50 for a case of 24 in Wal Mart) ...

... or a Bike Week special waffle for $8 (Waffle House All American Meal is $6.95 and ya get a waffle, two eggs, hash browns, toast, sausage or bacon - you get the point) ...

... and you can wash your waffle down with an ice cold beer ...

... or, if you prefer non-alcoholic beer, Root Beer was on special, too:

Man-oh-man. And folks think I'm cynical and too hard when I write about the rip off prices in the Main Street - Beach Street area. Jeez. I'm all for capitalism, but I also ain't stupid. You might sell 100 beers at $4 a pop or you could sell 1,000 at $3 a pop. Can't they do the math? Wal Mart has. Okay, enuff on that.
I loaded back up and figured this would be the only day I'd ride Main Street so I headed east over the Main Street Bridge and traffic wasn't too bad. Of course, as soon as I got over the bridge the first thing I see is ...

... yep, cynical me. There were quite a few folks out and about doin' the Main Street crawl.

and the traffic comin' from the East, off of Hwy A1A was a totally different story than the way I was heading ...

Well, enough of this, I thought. Normally I'd stop, walk the length of Main Street, both ways, take some pictures along the way and report on what I saw. The hell with that. Maybe Wednesday when everyone's out at Samsula at the Coleslaw Rasslin'.
I hung a right at A1A to head south to the Dunlawton Bridge in Port Orange and made a brief stop at the only toplees bar in Daytona:

They're an advertiser and I wanted to see how things were goin'. I talked with Noble, the day manager and he told they'd been slammed. "Thanks for gettin' the word out about us, man!" he exclaimed. "I can't tell you the number of folks that have been her cuz of the Bike Week Guide. It's worked great."
Well, thanks. But the place is okay for bikers - no cover charge and $3 longnecks. And half nekkid girls. Yep, you read that right. Their beer prices are cheaper than Main Street just three miles north and you're in a strip club. How 'bout that. Oh, and about my comment about the ONLY topless bar in Daytona Beach area? It's true. All the other places that advertise as "Gentleman's Club" are bikini bars. New rules, laws and regulations from Daytona Beach and Volusia County have done away with topless or nude clubs. Biggin's is in Daytona Beach Shores and is grandfathered in.

I donned the leather again and headed south on A1A. It was still chilly, around 4 o'clock by this time and probably 55 or so. Folks had on full leathers for the crusin' ...

But if you weren't ridin', perhaps the sun was warm enough for some of our snow bird friends. I reckon ya gotta go back with a little tan or sunburn to show your friends you've been to sunny Florida, right? I saw these guys hangin' out in front of their hotel on A1A

... but I was ridin' and it was certainly chilly. As I topped the Dunlawton Avenue causeway I snapped a picture lookin' North towards Main Street and thought to myself, "Man, it even looks cold and stark from here ..."

Once over the causeway I turned right - north - on US Hwy 1. Figured I'd run up to Miller's and the Limpnickie vending areas. It seemed to me there were a lot fewer vendors than normal, and there was plenty of parking available at this normally very crowded venue.

I wandered around checkin' out some of the awesome "next generation" bike builders here. They build some crazy stuff, that's for sure, but they all pride themselves on making the builds ridable and 'built for the working man.'

The sun was gettin' lower and lower and I knew when it dropped that temps were gonna sink like the Titantic so I loaded up and headed north on Ridgewood Avenue (US Hwy 1) from South Daytona towards the "New" Main Street - US 1 in Ormond Beach. Only stop I made on the way was at Tropical Tattoo to smoke a cigaret and shoot the breeze with Marcus a little bit. I didn't get to talk with any of the artists this go-'round cuz every chair was filled with folks gettin' some new ink or an old piece touched up. It was SRO only and it was good to see the parking lot filled with motorcycles.
From Tropical Tattoo I headed to our home for Bike Week - the Deadwood Saloon. It was pretty crowded but I pulled around back and got a parkin' spot with no problem.

Across the street at the IHS was a totally different story, though (below). As I related on Friday or Saturday's post, traffic and parking is a bitch on the west side of Hwy 1 (and the food and drink prices are higher, too!). I'll take the east side and hangout with bikers and pretty ladies instead of sittin' in friggin' traffic.

As the sun was startin' to disappear I heard a big whoopin' and hollerin' on the front porch of Deadwood Saloon. Seems it was Bob's birthday - he's from Indiana - and Lindsey, one of the gorgeous barmaids at Deadwood was treatin' him to a semi-world famous body shot ...

I can think of worse ways to chase down the shot ...

Well I thought that was a pretty good way to end the day so after another pass through, I pulled on the leather, the gloves and the toboggan and rode home. Five or six hours of chilly ridin', but it gave me a good feel for everything that was happenin'.

Today we're doin' our free poker run from Deadwood Saloon to the White Eagle to Trader Jack's and back. Highs are only supposed to hit sixty so I better bundle up again. I'll let y'all know how the New Main Street to Swampland to Oceanside Ridin' to Cattle Country and wooded by-ways ride goes. About a hundred miles and four traffic lights - sounds like a good one to me.

Bike Week - Saturday, February 28, Part 2 Dixie Biker Kick Off Party at Trader Jack's Roadside

As we ended our last blog I was comin' down the hill to Trader Jack's Roadside and we saw lots and lots of chrome gleamin' and flashin' in the bright sunshine in the distance. Pup made a comment along the lines of "Holy shit! Look at all those bikes. No wonder Lisa called you guys!"
Trader Jack's has quite a bit of parking, about four acres, but normally the parking lot is filled, then folks park around the back fence line. The southside and out front, above, are normally where cars and trucks park. Not this fine day. The bikes took it all over. Wow.

I manuvered the truck through the parking on the southside and kinda backed in so I could start unloadin' all our party gear. Our son, Phillip, was gonna be on hand to help out but since we got there an hour before our scheduled time, I was on my own. But not to worry ... before I got the first crate up to the stage folks were offerin' to help out -- "Hey, bro. Good to see ya. Need a hand?" or "Hey, you're old - lemme help ya out!" and we had our stuff out an' ready to go in no time. But, as normally happens, the first thirty minutes or so we really can't get too much accomplished cuz folks come up, hug our necks, shake hands and shoot the shit. And that's totally fine with us. Without our readers and friends, we don't have a magazine. Pretty simple, huh?
This group below, a buncha hooligans outta Lake County including Bob, owner of Shea's and two former bar owners in the County, Jesse and Brett, hadda give us the ol' Dixie Biker Hello.

And also in the midst of me settin' up, friends Doug and Cheezestyx rode in (below) so I hadda take a picture right away or else I'd get caught up in all the hoopla and forget.

If you read the 'Before Bike Week' blog entry, you'll remember Cheezestyx is our hair Nazi. She's the one that chopped all my hair off. (But it's not her fault! Boots told her to "take it all the way to his coller. It'll grow back." after the chemo had destroyed my hair and left it all stringy and splotchy and in patches.) Anyhow, she hooked up Boots up for Bike Week, and when I came back to pick up Boots, Boots had her do me. And, before I forget ... Cheezestyx is our cover model for the April 2009 issue of DBI. Available the end of this month at your favorite advertiser.

So we're settin' up and this group is just hangin' out wonderin' what in the hell is that dude doin' workin' so hard when we're supposed to be partyin'?! Well, I hadda get out the beads and hats and toboggans and t-shirts and all the stuff we were gonna give away. Then I got to meet

Joe, below, who was the DJ and sound guy, and when the bands took breaks he played tunes and handled all the sound for our annoucements, our little games, wet t contest, vibrator races, etc. His girl, Jill, is our main waitress at Trader Jack's and she set up our tab and kept the cold ones comin' all evening. Thanks!

My 'personal' painter, Dennis Panzik, had his displays set up on the little outdoor stage and was doin' a pretty brisk business talking about paintin' bikes, jackets, helmets and what have you, but he wasn't havin' too many takers on the body paintin' deal.

No problem, bro. I'll make an announcement. I offered $20 to anyone that would like a little body art for the weekend and Dennis commenced with his talents. He was busy for a couple of hours after that.
I finally ran into Lisa in the midst of the mayhem and we kinda got things coordinated for the rest of the evening. "Good thing you had Quality Brands put a reefer beer truck fulluva Budweiser products on the property, huh?" I said in way of greeting as I hugged her neck. Man what a turn out!"
"Biy, you're not kidding!" she replied. "I've definitely hadda reload from them a couple of times already. This is so great! Thanks so much for all that you, Boots and Dixie Biker do for my place."
"Thanks ... but there's no need to thanks us," I said. "We love to come here and so do the bikers. It's them who are sayin' 'Thank you!' and letting you know they appreciate everything you've done for the past year and a half. You take care of them and they're gonna always take care of you."
"Thanks," she said, "but it's just so awesome and with everything that's been goin' on and stuff, I'll just get emotional so please just tell 'em thanks." Done.

I wandered around shootin' the breeze with folks and enjoyin' the awesome Southern and Classic rock Southpaw was crankin' out. Hadda do it then cuz when they took their next break we were gonna hafta get a vibrator race or something else going.

And it didn't matter where you went, folks were just hangin' out, partyin', and doin' what we do. Shoot, we really didn't need to do anything to energize this party, I don't think. It was goin' awesome as it was.

I also wandered around takin' pictures and was just amazed at the folks that kept arriving. Every time two or three rode off to enjoy a little Florida sunshine and open road ridin' ...

Another group of five or six or ten or twenty would ride in to enjoy our Bike Week Kick Off Party ...

I ran into longtime readers John and Nay Nay outta Chiefland ...

and Al Coop and his lovely wife (below) from Fairhaven, Michigan. I hadda get a picture of them since I'd run a letter from him in the March issue of DBI.

He wrote: Monk, A year ago, one week before Bike Week, we were supposed to leave for Daytona and I got the flu and my wife got pneumonia and we were to sick to make the long drive down. I was jonesin' real bad for some sunshine and motorcycles and remembered Dixie Biker from previous years. So I went on-line at dixiebiker.com and read a bunch of past articles about Bike Week then I subscribed for a year's worth of the magazine. Well, that year is up so enclosed please find a check for another year. You guys do an awesome job every month. This year we plan to join you at Trader Jack's and hope to meet you and Boots and some of the others on the staff. See you in a couple of weeks.

I wrote him back and told him to make sure he introduced himself so I could thank him. He did, I got the picture and let him know that his comments are exactly what keeps us and our awesome staff working hard to put out a real deal, real people magazine each month. As we're fond of sayin', "Without y'all, we ain't shit." Thanks for the memories, Al. And thanks for takin' the time to introduce yourselves and come out and party with us.

Just after this I get a big ol' hug from behind, it felt real good lemme tell ya, and someone covered my eyes and said, "Guess who?" Seein' how there were a couple of soft pillows smushin' into my back, I knew it was a hot lady, but I didn't have a clue. Then I hear a voice say, "What's up, bro?" I recognized Ed, Fire and Iron MC, and, with eyes still covered, replied, "Hey bro ... my goodness. That must mean your lovely wife's got my back!" And she did. Dani, our March cover model, below with reader Boyce, was huggin' on me. Yes it was nice. No, sorry ya didn't get the hug. Good for me, sucky for you. Anyhow, they'd rode up with a whole mess of their bros and sisters in the Club and even had a little surprise for later on.

Dani and Ed introduced me to their friends down from Ohio, below. Dale and Ruth have been together for over 35 years and still have the passion for each other. Too cool "Shoot, Monk," Ed said. "This guy was ridin' Harleys before I hit puberty! And he's the one that got me into ridin' in the first place. Good folks." Well that's kinda obvious from the picture. So I wander a little more and run into this motley crew, below, outta Dunnellon. Bogart and Robyn always put together a ride and party time from their business -- Bogart's Smoke Shop -- and always bring lotsa excitement and atmosphere to our parties. Thanks!!

'Round about then Lisa musta woke up from her nap -- just kiddin' cuz she was runnin' around puttin' out fires all day an' makin' sure everyone and everyting was taken care of -- cuz she grabbed my arm and said, "Hey! It's bike week! Let's get 'em really rarin' to go." Hmmm ...
"Okay. Cool. How 'bout I give a Trader Jack's tee shirt to give away?"

"Of course. But what's that twinkle in your eye?"

"Lisa, you know better than to ask! You want some whoopin' and hollerin', you'll get it." While she went over to see Shorty who was runnin' her t-shirt sales tent and grab one, I asked Dani, "Hey, you wanna get the crowd goin'?"
She musta seen the little twinkle in my eye, too, cuz she asked, "Is it gonna be naughty? Knowin' you it must be."
"Nah, it ain't gonne be naughty. It's gonna be frickin' awesome. Lisa's gittin' you a Trader Jack's ladies tank and I figured I'd kinda ask you to change into it on stage. Whatcha think?!"

"Yee haw --- lesdoit!" Ed just grinned, got that "Oh what am I gonna get into now" look on his face and slowly shook his head.

I told Boots what was goin' on, got a hot microphone from Joe and introduced Lisa and Dani and Lissa Rochelle (our February Cover Model and the harmony singer with Southpaw (www.myspace.com/southpaw) to everyone there. And the Lisa was kinda embarrassed that I asked everyone to give her a shout out since she's an awesome hostess and is always takin' care of bikers. She doesn't need, or probably want, the limelight, but her and her awesome crew do a great job all year long for bikers. Free bbqs every Friday night, free bbq every second Sunday and they're always throwin' in free food, goodies etc. for any number of poker runs or benefits. Anyhow, I think she, and her staff, deserves a little recognition and based on teh sustained cheerin' and applaudin' from y'all, I reckon y'all agree with us.
Anyhow, I'd briefed Boots on what was happenin' and then turned the mike over to her to get the crowd pumped up. As most of y'all know I often call her "The Mouth of the South" and she certainly got folks goin' while Lisa, with help from Tara, helped Dani change outta her outfit and put on a Trader Jack's tank top in front of about 5,000 people.

That was pretty fun and got folks fired up, fer sur. Then Ed told me about a little surprise inside for one of his brothers in Fire & Iron MC - seems it was John's birthday and they'd made him a cake and everyone got together and sang "Happy Birthday" in the middle of a Bike Week kick off party. Bet he'll remember that one!

Southpaw played on the outside main stage until 7 o'clock and then, as the sun went down an awesome group of young guys from Stetson University, just down the road, set up their gear on the back deck stage. Oh, before I forget ... we'd been givin' stuff away, doin' vibrator races and other silly biker games but I don't have a whole lotta pictures cuz I was too busy conducting the dang games and such. If ya got any you wanna post, e-mail 'em to us and we'll do our best. I now some of the stuff got outta hand, but hey! when it's a bunch of happy bikers, it's just an awesome time!

Anyhow, this group of young guys formed a band called Run Rhino. While they're settin' up and then doin' their sound checks I bet seven different people came up to me and said, "Yo, Monk! What's up with these kids. They're young enuff to be my grand kids!" Or "Hey! I don't wanna hear no rap or punk or new age stuff. Are they gonna play what we wanna hear?" I just smiled and said, "Trust me on this one, okay?"

I still had folks askin' me what was up with these 'young' guys, so just before they were set to play, I told 'em I wanted to introduce them, did they have a problem with that. "Nah, of course not," they said in unison. So I grabbed a mike and related the story above to everyone and then asked, "Have you ever, and I mean ever, at anytime in the past ten years been to a Dixie Biker party and been disappointed with the music?" "HELL NO," the crowd yelled. "Then why in the hell are some of y'all doubtin' us now. Lisa knows what bikers like. We know what bikers want, so, if you're ready to get your asses kicked with some awesome Rock 'n Roll, give me a Bike Week HELL YEAH!" And they did. 'Bout blew the steel roof off the deck. Then I looked over my shoulder at the band and said real softly into the mic - "kick their asses, boys!" And they did ... They opened the set with a kick-ass cover of Jimi Hendrix's 'Fire' and it was all over from there ....

... folks were whoopin', hollerin', screamin' and dancin' their asses off. And when they went straight into Cheap Sunglasses then Red Hot Chili Peppers, and then a little Led Zepplin everyone was a believer. The dance floor was shakin' as they were rockin'. Take my word for it - these kids kick ass. You can check 'em out at http://www.myspace.com/runrhino or come back next Friday night for our Leather and Lace party at Trader Jack's and see 'em for yourself. You'll love 'em. And we'll get 'em in our rotation for any upcoming Dixie Biker parties, too.

So the music's crankin', folks are dancin' and happy and I got another chance to take a break and shoot the shit with our readers. Ran into this group outta Keystone Heights (below), Hooker, Blueberry, Dr. Jon and Amy, and hadda get a picture of 'em sayin' "Hello" to y'all. Then Hooker and Dr. Jon helped me and my son, Phil, out with security during the Wet T contest - Thanks! - and Blueberry graced us with her lovely assets during the contest - double thanks!

Somewhere around 8 or so, when Run Rhino took their first break, we got the wet t contest in gear. Trader Jack's is a good thirty minute ride on country roads from Daytona so Lisa doesn't hold her contests late at night to keep y'all there drinkin' and spendin' money. She knows you'd probably like to hit the road before it gets too late so schedules stuff at reasonable times. Then, if ya wanna take off, that's cool. And if ya wanna hang out and keep partyin', that's cool, too. Like I said earlier - They know how to take care of bikers.

We always break our wet t contests down into two classes: stock and modified. That way ladies with what God gave 'em ain't overshadowed by those that have spent a few bucks to be, ahem, 'enhanced.' Gotta keep it fair, donchaknow? We ended up with seven lovely ladies in the stock class and no takers in the modified so just threw all the prize money in the fund for the stock class. Boots helped the ladies get their 'costumes' ready (above) and then it was time to get stupid and crazzzzzzy! One of the contestents, Arlene, below with husband, Bill, was ready to go before the contest even got underway so I hadda snap a picture before I got busy with announcements and stuff!

We also like to let the audience participate in our events, so they can purchase water to pour on the lady of thier choice. A couple of bucks and you too can enjoy the fun. Red Beard came up to me, gave me a twenty and said, "My son-in-law, Gary, (below) is in the Air Force and headin' to Afghanistan right after Bike Week. What can I get him for twenty bucks."

"Shoot, bring him up here and we'll see," I said.

I told the crowd the story of Gary and he ended up gettin' to wet all the ladies, several times over, cuz folks kept handin' Boots dollar bills and wantin' to thank Gary for servin' America. Oh-by-the-way: the money donated to pour the water all went into the ladie's prize fund. Not to us, not to Trader Jack's. It went to all the ladies who were providin' the entertainment. That's only fair, right?

I only got a few pictures during the contest, I'm sure our readers got a ton of 'em though, cuz I was handling the microphone and doin' the name announcements. Boots isn't good with names and I hadda contest to conduct! I did manage to get a few shots in between the annoucing chores, though.

And I had the tough job of payin' off the winners at the end - below. My son , while taking the picture, got smart assed with me -- certainly not for the first, nor last, time and said, "Damn, dad! You get to have all the fun!"

"Hey, c'mon!" I replied. "It's not easy! It's hard work and someone's gotta do it!" Just a little perk, I reckon.

But ya know what? It is hard work. But it's also very rewarding. All the hours of planning; the hours of figurin' out what y'all want; the hours of preparation to prepare for a huge crowd; the hours of worry hopin' the weather's great or this or that or whatever. Yep, it's hard and it is a lotta work, but what a blast. And it's all definitely worthwhile when what happened yesterday happens. We had a great time, and from all the comments we received, we know y'all hadda great time, too. And that's what Bike Week's all about. Forgettin' the day-to-day grind of daily livin', blowin' off the worries and hittin' the road to ride and hang out with great folks havin' a great time. We definitely had that. Thanks!

We hope to meet more of y'all at The Old School Show on Thursday at Tropical Tattoo, our Old Skool Biker Party at Deadwood Saloon on Thursday night or back at Trader Jack's Roadside next Friday, Saturday and Sunday for our other Bike Week Parties. Our calendar of events is here: http://dixiebiker.blogspot.com/2009/02/dixie-biker-bike-week-events.html if you're interested.

Be safe and enjoy the rest of Bike Week!

Bike Week - Saturday, February 28, Part 1

We need two parts for Saturday since we did two things: the DeLand Bike Rally and Dixie Biker's Bike Week Kick Off Party at Trader Jack's Roadside. Holy moly was Trader Jack's outta control! The biggest party we've ever done, I think. But that will come later in a seperate article.

Unfortunately Boots' girlfriend Pup's flight from Manchester, NH was canceled (effin' US Air - the worst airline in America in our humble opinion) on Friday morning five minutes before boarding and Pup didn't fly out until Saturday morning at oh-dark-thirty. It was a gorgeous Spring day in sunny Florida, 66 and the temps were climbing as we headed to the Daytona Beach Airport around 10:30. We were in the pick up truck cuz we were loaded down with our Dixie Biker gear to give away later in the day. I snapped the picture below on the the Seabreeze bridge headin' over to the Mainland from beachside.


Bikes are definitely beginnin' to out-number the cars, Below is the traffic comin' outta the east side of Daytona International Speedway -- the side with the Harley and Triumph demo ride set-ups and another entrance to the vendor area,

US Hwy 92 - International Speedway Blvd, intersection at the Volusia County Mall. Definitely not one of our country by-ways. We were headin' west on Hwy 92 to DeLand for their fourth annual Bike Rally. It's always held the first Saturday of Bike Week. Just west of I-95 is the turn off to Hwy 415 - Tomoka Farms Road (below). This is the route to the Daytona Flea Market and The Cabbage Patch. The waiting line at the light was at least a half mile long. Man. We just breezed by and continued on to DeLand, about twenty minutes west.

We got to DeLand and it was packed. Holy cow. They close off Hwy 17-92 - Woodland Blvd. and several side streets for motorcycle only parking and there were miles of bikes. (below). We found a convenient spot to park the truck in a bank parking lot, unloaded the wheel chair and moseyed over to the main drag ...

... and had no sooner stepped into the streets when we ran into friend Vic, from Casselberry, and his son Jake (below).

It was homecoming week for us cuz it seemed we couldn't walk six feet before another reader or friend or acquaintance was huggin' our necks, shakin' hands and sayin' "Hey, how y'all doin'?!" or"You're lookin' great~" or "Man, what a helluva day." Lotsa greetings and kind words about DBI, life and ridin'. Pretty cool, that's for sure.

We stopped at a local bar's street side stand and got a couple of those cold ones in the icy aluminum cans. 16 ounce for three bucks - definitely a fair price - and enjoyed 'em as we strolled along checking out vendors, sayin' hey to folks and doin' what we do as we headed to the Main Stage area. The streets were packed, but folks are always accomodating to Boots' wheel chair for the strolling was easy and life was good.

At least until we got to the area in front of our new $300 million county courthouse. That's where the main stage was set up and the bike show and some more vendors. Boots and Pup hadn't finished their long necks and one of the event staff said, "You can't bring the beer in here."
"What?!?! There's no beer allowed?"
"No, you can have beer in there," he replied, "But it's gotta be County beer, not City beer. You can wait here and finish it, though. No need to throw it out."
Well, thanks for that. But he was just the messager, not the idiots that run the place. F*ckin' politicians. They'd screw up a wet dream. In the picture below, Boots and Pub are drinkin' their $3 "city" longnecks while the couple on the left are drinkin' their $3 "county" drafts.

Give me a break. And the political elitists wonder why we hate 'em so much. A**holes. They couldn't even agree on something simple and waive whatever rules or regulations are in place for one day so folks could enjoy the entire venue without some silly little BS like this. It's a shame because it's a great event, great people, great location, but then something petty like this is what folks will remember and talk about.
We had an adage in the Army that applies here: One "ah shit" over-rides ten "atta-boys."

Somewhere around here, my cell phone started vibratin' in my pants, I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Lisa, owner of Trader Jack's Roadside. I answered, "Hey, Lisa, Wassup?"

"Monk! Holy Mackeral, We are slammed. I mean really, really slammed. I know the party's not supposed to start til 4 o'clock, but could you get here earlier? Folks are asking about you guys and they are ready to PARTY!"

"No problem! We'll be there in thirty minutes and are headin' back to the pickup now. See ya soon. Yee haw!"

So we beat feet back across town and Pup had Boots doin' wheelies and burn outs ...

... and passed this local bar doin' 'rip off' business on the side walk(and not selling too many beers, I might add) ...

... and passed this awesome little watering hole, jammed up at the tables and doin' brisk curbside sales of the same beers, only for three bucks ...

... and then I hadda pause to snap this what I call "Ya gotta love bikers pictures" a couple of spots over from our parking spot ...

... loaded up in the truck and headed North outta town on Hwy 17 for the five mile run up to Trader Jack's Roadside. About a mile south we noticed quite a group at one of our advertisers, Pinups Gentleman's Club, so we pulled in so Boots could pee, I could take a couple of pictures and shoot the breeze with folks, and Pup could pick up a little bottle of Mr. Cuervo for the flask (they have a package store, as well).

Turns out the group, outta Ocoee, had stopped in on their way up to Trader Jack's Roadside for our DBI Party. "I was leading the group and knew I recognized the place from one of the ads in Dixie Biker," Mike told me. "Figured we'd stop in and check it out. Nice strip club. Friendly as hell and like you told us in the story - $3 for a long neck. At a titty bar. Wow."

They rolled out on to Hwy 17 for the mile trip up to Trader Jack's Roadside (above and below) ...

... and we were right behind them. As we crested the hill and started back down, off in the distance was the glitter of lots of chrome. "Holy shit!" exclaimed Pup from the back seat. "Look at all those bikes. It's only 2:20!" Yep, there were lotsa bikes. And where ya find lotsa bikes ya know what else ya find? Lotsa bikers! And when you find lotsa bikers know what you're gonna get? One helluva good time ...

To be continued!