Lamonster
04-27-2011, 07:47 AM
Spyderfest doesn't really start till Thursday but we thought we would get a jump on things and we headed out on Tuesday. I'm glad we did because there's already a party going on here and I wouldn't want to miss any of it.
We've been planning this event for a year now and I got to say I have been really excited to see this thing come together after knowing what a great time we had last year. The folks here at Cow Town and the MO Gang have really worked hard to make this a great event and one to be proud of. I would like to start off by thanking them.
So Monday there was a group of folks that did an interview with the local TV station leading up to the event. If you missed that here's the video. I loved the gal on the back of the RT, it really shows how much fun a Spyder can be even in a parking lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW0SLDTaOdE
I spent the day Monday making sure I had everything packed and ready to go. I've been planning this trip for a while so I knew what I needed to take and I got to say I was pretty loaded down by time I got my stuff and Ron's stuff in the trailer. I love the storage of the RT but I have come so use to packing with a trailer I just can't see going anywhere without one now and the RT-622 is really a nice trailer and you can pack a ton of stuff in it and the Spyder pulls it just fine.
So I got to sleep around 12:30 am and woke up about 2:30 am. The plan was to head out at 5:30 am for our 650 mile trip. I spent a lot of time watching the weather channel trying to figure the best route to take to Cuba MO. To be honest none of them looked very good according to the radar and I knew we were going to get wet but I just didn't know how wet and for how long. I wanted to cut a path through the storm and not run with it so we decided to run north on 25E and then cut over through Lexington on I-70. It was dark when we took off but it was clear and dry and the temps were great, not too cool and not too hot.
Before we left Ron and I had to pair up our G4 headsets so we could talk to each other on the way out. That turned out to be a little bit of a chore and we never did figure out what we did to get them to pair up but we did. The problem is we couldn't get it to work with anything else like it was suppose to. I wanted to use my ipod and the gps but that didn't work and Ron wanted to use the FM radio and that didn't work. It did work great for bike to bike but just didn't work as advertised.
When we got to Corbin Kentucky it started to get real dark and we knew we had caught up with the storm that we had been watching on the radar. We pulled over at a Micky D's to put on our rain gear and like always folks came up to us and started asking questions about the Spyder. I really didn't want to take the time to talk with them but I did as I was trying to get my gear on. I knew if I wasted too much time I was going to get soaked, as a matter of fact the folks we talked to couldn't believe we were riding right into the storm. Not much you can do about it other than gear up and go.
It started to rain pretty hard but to be honest I've been in a lot worst. We were stopping every 100 miles or so for fuel so we could make adjustments to our gear and take a break from the rain. I guess we drove maybe 150 miles of so in hard rain and the rest was not that bad. I will say once again my "rain gear" leaked and I got wet. I have yet to find anything that doesn't leak when I ride in the rain. At least it wasn't too cold.
This was one of our first stops after we pasted through the storm.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14498
We made good time considering the weather and the rest of the ride to Cuba was nice and dry. When we pulled into Cuba we headed right for the local carwash to blow off some of the road grime from the trip. There were Spyders everywhere already and you could tell this was going to be a great event if folks are showing up this early in this weather.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14499
After our bath we headed over to Cow Town to say hey to the folks there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn0OeaaQMi0
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14500
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14501
This is John from Seal Floor Boards on his new RT.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14502
I hooked up with Len and he asked if I wanted something to drink. He had a big trailer full of soda for the event.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14504
After we left Cow Town we headed over to the Road House for dinner. There was a good group of folks there at 6 pm and they kept showing up all night.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14505
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14506
The place was pretty much packed out when we got there and you could tell this was way more than the staff had planned on. I guess Len thought there would be about 50 or so and there turned out to be over a 100 folks that showed up. At one count there were 47 Spyders in the parking lot.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14507
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14508
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14509
Mrs. Pitbull Buggy (http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/member.php?u=4813) has a smile for you all. She's due any time and we hope she can hold out for a few days or we may have 500 Spyders giving her an escort to the hospital.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14510
There should be a bunch of folks showing up today so I'll report back in later. So far it looks like it will be a great event.
You can see a slideshow of all the pics and videos here. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/51016821@N08/sets/72157626452361073/show/)
We've been planning this event for a year now and I got to say I have been really excited to see this thing come together after knowing what a great time we had last year. The folks here at Cow Town and the MO Gang have really worked hard to make this a great event and one to be proud of. I would like to start off by thanking them.
So Monday there was a group of folks that did an interview with the local TV station leading up to the event. If you missed that here's the video. I loved the gal on the back of the RT, it really shows how much fun a Spyder can be even in a parking lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW0SLDTaOdE
I spent the day Monday making sure I had everything packed and ready to go. I've been planning this trip for a while so I knew what I needed to take and I got to say I was pretty loaded down by time I got my stuff and Ron's stuff in the trailer. I love the storage of the RT but I have come so use to packing with a trailer I just can't see going anywhere without one now and the RT-622 is really a nice trailer and you can pack a ton of stuff in it and the Spyder pulls it just fine.
So I got to sleep around 12:30 am and woke up about 2:30 am. The plan was to head out at 5:30 am for our 650 mile trip. I spent a lot of time watching the weather channel trying to figure the best route to take to Cuba MO. To be honest none of them looked very good according to the radar and I knew we were going to get wet but I just didn't know how wet and for how long. I wanted to cut a path through the storm and not run with it so we decided to run north on 25E and then cut over through Lexington on I-70. It was dark when we took off but it was clear and dry and the temps were great, not too cool and not too hot.
Before we left Ron and I had to pair up our G4 headsets so we could talk to each other on the way out. That turned out to be a little bit of a chore and we never did figure out what we did to get them to pair up but we did. The problem is we couldn't get it to work with anything else like it was suppose to. I wanted to use my ipod and the gps but that didn't work and Ron wanted to use the FM radio and that didn't work. It did work great for bike to bike but just didn't work as advertised.
When we got to Corbin Kentucky it started to get real dark and we knew we had caught up with the storm that we had been watching on the radar. We pulled over at a Micky D's to put on our rain gear and like always folks came up to us and started asking questions about the Spyder. I really didn't want to take the time to talk with them but I did as I was trying to get my gear on. I knew if I wasted too much time I was going to get soaked, as a matter of fact the folks we talked to couldn't believe we were riding right into the storm. Not much you can do about it other than gear up and go.
It started to rain pretty hard but to be honest I've been in a lot worst. We were stopping every 100 miles or so for fuel so we could make adjustments to our gear and take a break from the rain. I guess we drove maybe 150 miles of so in hard rain and the rest was not that bad. I will say once again my "rain gear" leaked and I got wet. I have yet to find anything that doesn't leak when I ride in the rain. At least it wasn't too cold.
This was one of our first stops after we pasted through the storm.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14498
We made good time considering the weather and the rest of the ride to Cuba was nice and dry. When we pulled into Cuba we headed right for the local carwash to blow off some of the road grime from the trip. There were Spyders everywhere already and you could tell this was going to be a great event if folks are showing up this early in this weather.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14499
After our bath we headed over to Cow Town to say hey to the folks there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn0OeaaQMi0
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14500
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14501
This is John from Seal Floor Boards on his new RT.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14502
I hooked up with Len and he asked if I wanted something to drink. He had a big trailer full of soda for the event.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14504
After we left Cow Town we headed over to the Road House for dinner. There was a good group of folks there at 6 pm and they kept showing up all night.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14505
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14506
The place was pretty much packed out when we got there and you could tell this was way more than the staff had planned on. I guess Len thought there would be about 50 or so and there turned out to be over a 100 folks that showed up. At one count there were 47 Spyders in the parking lot.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14507
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14508
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14509
Mrs. Pitbull Buggy (http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/member.php?u=4813) has a smile for you all. She's due any time and we hope she can hold out for a few days or we may have 500 Spyders giving her an escort to the hospital.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1301&pictureid=14510
There should be a bunch of folks showing up today so I'll report back in later. So far it looks like it will be a great event.
You can see a slideshow of all the pics and videos here. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/51016821@N08/sets/72157626452361073/show/)