smoke out 8...

took the annual trip to salisbury to attend the smoke out... this year there was some controversy over whether the rally was going to he held or not. the city/county commissioners passed a new law that alcohol couldn't be served on county owned property - which includes the fairgrounds. the county was saying they weren't going to issue the alcohol permit. the smoke out organizers said they had to because the contract was in place before the new law passed. with all the hubbub, there was word vendors were pulling out and people weren't going to show. our crew decided if there was a smoke out, we'd be there - alcohol or not.

the weekend started out the same - everyone showing up friday night. which really means it starts earlier here because my wife starts days ahead to get all the food ready. speaking of wife - this year was going to be especially fun since my wife decided to go. i was pretty excited about that...

friday night and people start showing up. they decided to show up in two groups this year - guess work was getting in the way for some people. that's when i had my infamous incident with the fender... we always pack our garage full of bikes - we had about ten or eleven bikes showing up this year. i decided to move my bike forward about two feet to make more room. not picking up the kickstand, i push it forward the two feet, positioning the front tire perfectly next to the lawn mower. i start to get off and the bike heads over on its side. seems when i pushed it forward, the kickstand picked up just enough that it wouldn't engage when i tried to us it. over went the bike, front fender crashing into the lawn mower. not only did it scratch the paint, it put a nice little crease in the fender. i was upset for about ten minutes until i realized it could have been a lot worse. in addition, it is only a motorcycle. the worse part was the rest of the weekend, and still sometimes, they call me freddy fender...



friday night was filled with eating and drinking, laughing and telling lies. which made saturday morning arrive even earlier. after eating some breakfast and drinking about ten pots of coffee, we're ready to head out... ride out was great - beautiful weather, traffic wasn't too bad and best of all, my wife was with me. it would be nice to take more trips with her... one day... off we went to the smoke out.





we get to the smoke out and park in our usual area. we hop off the bikes and settle in - having a couple of cold beverages, relaxing before heading into the mayhem known as the smoke out.




we wander around and check out the bikes in the build off.





stumble across some bikes by hank young.



and the ice cream man from hell...



compared to previous years, the smoke out was a bit of a disappointment. not nearly as many vendors and the crowd was quite small. it might be signaling the end of the smoke out - especially since they've been promoting a smoke out in the west. if they do have one next year, i'm sure we'll go. one thing for sure, it won't be held in salisbury - at least at the fairgrounds. if it goes, it was fun while it lasted. we'll just have to find another rally to attend. i can't imagine not having the gang down here hanging out, eating, drinking, laughing and lying. hell, we might just have to start our own rally...

on to more pictures... you can always check out the ride map, this one in blue.

'nother ride...

took a little ride around to a couple of the dealerships... had to head out to durham to pick up a check and to raleigh for the hog meeting. before leaving, i'm punching the locations into my gps. my wife is giving me a hard time because i'm taking my gps and i already know where i'm going. i figure i have it, i might as well use it.

ride out to durham was a nice, uneventful ride. let me say it was hot!! i could feel myself sweating even as the air was blowing through my jacket and cooling me off... i get to durham, take care of my business and head on to raleigh.

ride to raleigh was not quite as pleasant as i would have wanted. being in rush-hour traffic didn't help. i don't know if traffic around here is getting worse or if i'm just becoming less tolerant to it. we moved to the area from northern virginia - traffic up there is horrible. people complained about how bad traffic was down here, but compared to up there, it was nothing - heck, people were saying traffic was bad because five cars would get stuck at a light!!! as i was in the mix of rush hour traffic, i'm thinking about how congested it is. i don't know if that's because it truly is getting worse - which i'm sure it is. or if i'm just accustom to riding where there's less traffic and now i'm noticing it more. i'm sure the fact that i had a destination that i wanted to get to quickly didn't help my perception either.

i get to ray price and i notice the parking lot is rather empty - but i am a bit early for the hog meeting and the dealership is technically closed. so i mill around outside, packing away my jacket and helmet. there are two guys talking - both are employees. one guy obviously wants to complain about the level of service (or non-service) he's receiving. i could tell the way he started the conversation, he wanted to complain to the other guy - not that the other guy could have done anything about it. i didn't really pay much attention to the conversation in fear of being included. complaint-dood just wanted to complain and there wasn't anything anyone could do to make him feel better - short of the dealership fixing his bike to his expectation. i decided to keep my distance from that conversation...

i finally mill around to the front of the building and discover why it's so desolate... the hog meeting is taking place at lake wheeler!!! the good news is bbq is being served, the bad news is i'm late!!! even better news - the hard time my wife was giving me over the gps paid off!! i punch in the location for lake wheeler and i'm off.

as i'm riding over to the park, all i can think about is how hungry i am. of course the temptation of free food and the sixteen miles to the park wasn't helping. i was hoping there would be enough left for me to have a little - ole time barbecue was providing the food and it's always good. as i get there, they're scraping the last pieces off the pig - just in time for me to get some tasty morsels.

meeting was pretty much the same ol' meeting. talked about the events going on and then gave away some money. as far as events, the third annual capital city bikefest or, as it's sometimes referred to, the rally in raleigh, is going on at the end of september. should be a good time.

headed home after the meeting. for the first time in a long time, i decided not to ride with my jacket. felt a little under-protected at first, but the cool air made me quickly forget about that. the cooler air made the ride home a bit more enjoyable. sure beats sweating as you're riding. but if i had the choice of sweating while i'm riding or not riding - you know i'll be riding!!!