We did make it to Spyderfest but...

[wd8ajj]

Even with the rain and wind was a good time. Made it 1 day to the fair grounds and talked with venders and old friends.
left on Monday heading west and cold and windy. ran into rain in Ok and Texas. Then the cold wind. Made it back to Southern New Mexico Thursday night.
The Pie Run was a blast..... Was right outside my hotel room door.
Other than that 5.5 in of rain was not a pleasant sight to see.
Hope anyone living east and south east made it home OK without being flooded out.

[Jim&Teresa]

We took 2 days back - normally about a 13 hour ride. Left Friday after the rain stopped and headed towards Minnesota via Interstates....did well up to Kansas City, then the north wind kicked in at about 15-20 mph, rain increased, and temperatures dropped! We ended up calling it quits at around 5pm in mid-Iowa for an overnighter to warm up! The next day we got up a 4am to beat the rain coming into Iowa! We did arrive at home just after lunch on Saturday....really hated to cut Spyderfest short, but I think we made the best decision to leave based on all of the impending weather! It rates right up there in the ranking for most miserable rides!! To make matters worse, my heated jacket liner was not working for this trip and is on it's way back to Tour Master. My wife was nice and warm with her heated jacket liner and heated gloves. I did put on the seat warmer and the grip warmers!

Overall enjoyed Spderfest: all of the people were great, vendors village was nice under the roof, beautiful areas with lots of twisties! We did get a nice ride in Thursday to Peels Ferry, Eureka Springs, and Beaver Lake Dam areas - full day of riding - awesome!

[Bob Denman]

They need to move it to the summer months like Americade did and it worked, I should know, I've been doing Americade for more than 20 years. I feel sorry for all the people that traveled in that muck but I have my fair share of that as well.

Americade was only pushed back about two or three weeks...
And to get that done: there was some really serious "negotiating in LOUD voices.
You feel sorry for the folks who attended?
That's funny... when I traveled there in 2013: I felt sorry for the ones who didn't!

[Firefly]

Roger,
Actually; there is!
We took the Southerly route last year through West Virginia, Kentucky, and then into Missouri.
There was only about a 100 mile difference between the two routes.

You couldn't go south.. it was flooded worse than north of 44.

It was a nightmare.... and still is for those down there....

[Bob Denman]

Unless things have changed... it's a pretty big Country, and there is always another route available!

[ronrico]

Moving up the dates of Spyderfest has been talked about for at least the 4 fests that I have been too. It seems like every other year that the weather is great. The last one that that atteneded, before this year, was 2015 and the weather was great.

I left on Friday and it normally takes me 14 hours to get home. This year I made it to Amarillo and stayed the night due to the rain and snow. I then went south to try and miss the snow along I-40 but that did not help. I was in and out of rain and snow all the way home. Someone made a comment about the spyder not handling well in snow; as long as the back wheel is in one of the ruts it does well.

[Yazz]

I will also say that I mainly go to Spyderfest for the people, not the riding. The riding is okay, but if you really want great riding then the Maggie Valley area is the best around... will be going in the fall for that reason!

+1 Spyderfest is more about the people than riding!

Decided to rest a day and head out Monday. I was in the cold wind and rain half a day, the other half once turning south was windy. Tuesday I was clicking my ruby shoes to get home and got through Dallas and Houston before rush hour.

Wednesday I woke up in zombie mode, sick as a dog, hoping to get better soon.

If I knew before what the end results of the road trip would be, I'd do it again anyway. I loved meeting everyone again and making new friends.

Spyderfest is about the people...

[Bob Denman]

Spyderfest is about the people...

Well... the Pie-Run also matters!