Hello all,
I am not going to talk about my weight this time (but it is not going up...more on that in another blog). I wanted to chat about how much fun the Little Sturgis Rally in Kentucky was.
The Little Sturgis Rally and Races for Charity is an event that helps to raise money for various children's organizations. I have not had much time to find out which charities are donated to, but will continue to look for that information. This year was the 17th Annual and boy, do these organizers know what to do. This is one of the first rallies we have attended where there was minimal problem with vendor locations, the organizers knew where you would go, and there was actually a staging of vendors so that you did not get all tangled up in the rush to grab your space and start getting set up. Kudos go out to all the organizers and volunteers that worked this event. From our perspective, it was flawless.
This was the first year we had attended this rally and frankly we were not sure what to expect. You hear stories...some X rated, some XXX rated. The only way to find out is to attend. I think we were very lucky this year regarding the weather. On Wednesday and Thursday it was quite warm and very muggy. A huge storm rolled through Thursday evening along with a really good cold front which cooled off the event for Friday and Saturday. It started warming up again on Sunday, but nothing more than upper 70's/low 80's in the sun.
There was a very large number of vendors in attendance here, and only a few spaces that were not occupied by vendors. It is difficult to get into this rally because the organizers are careful to not get too many of a particular type of vendor (leather, jewelery, shirts, etc) and once you participate, you want to come back each year for more. Vending areas were set up well with large walkways for the people to wander through. I particularly appreciated the walkways set up along the isles so you didn't have people trying to cut through your booth in order to cross over into another isle. The vendors themselves seemed to really enjoy being at this event also. It appeared to us (being Little Sturgis Virgins....) that it was almost like a reunion among the vendors. For some of the vendors, this may be the only event where they get to see each other. The camaraderie was awesome.
On Thursday, I thought we were going to sweat our brains out. I think (didn't check) the temperatures were in the upper 80's, low 90's and the humidity had to have been in the 90's. You know that once they let the participants come in, clothing was going to be optional. Coming from the desert, this was very humid and even I didn't want to wear much. It felt like you could swim through the air... I figured the humidity was bad because it had rained a little on Wednesday evening. I didn't know rain until Thursday night though. Boy, did the sky's open up! By Friday morning you had to almost swim to your booth. The good news was that a cold front came in with that Thursday night storm and the temperatures had to have dropped by over 20 degrees.
The humidity was also considerably lower for the weekend due to the cold front. So for us desert rats, we had a blast. Unfortunately, with the colder weather, you saw a lot of people with jackets and sweaters on. Not many were brave enough to wear skimpy outfits in the cool air. Don't get me wrong, we did see our share of nudity, but it was not as prevalent as it apparently had been in prior years.
The people in attendance were wonderful to talk with. They came from all walks of life, and had many experiences to share. We met a father with his sons who actually had 3 generations of sons in the Marine Corps. The father and his sons were here to relax and enjoy the weekend. The fun part about this event was the acres upon acres of camping that was set up to house all the attendees. The campgrounds even had band stages so if you didn't want to, you could stay near your campsite and enjoy bands.
The sand drags on Saturday were a kick to see. People would register and race their bikes in the sand to see who was the fastest. There were mini-bike drags (very funny to watch, but very fast) up to the regular street bike drags. It was quite a show to see, the crowd really enjoyed it. They even had bike games on both Friday and Saturday, where usually at motorcycle rallies, bike games are traditionally on Saturdays. Let us not forget the traditional poker run on Saturday which took riders on a tour of the countryside.
Overall, we had a great time, had fun people-watching and we are looking forward to returning to this rally next year. Next year I will remember to charge the batteries of my camera so that we can take pictures and post some of the tamer photos for all to see. Perhaps some of you can attend also. If so, stop by and say HI. We will be glad to stop and chat.
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