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my Fest experience, Spyder included.

this might take you a little time to read and watch. The videos are very short.

Find out how it all ends, if you missed the first post you can always go back, read and catch up with the conversation.
Before I get on with it, I just want to post some random photos before I begin to ramble...............

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and yes there were many different patches.............

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even cow patches

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:popcorn::popcorn:Excellent read hope your wife lets you get back to the story.


:firstplace:

Jim:thumbup:

She is:yes:

Great stuff- can't wait to read more. Was nice meeting you for sure.


And you too FireFly, you should be in some up coming photos!
:popcorn: Great stuff... Tell your wife your fans are waiting !

Thanks for the kind words!

Hey, Ticketbait, can't wait to read the rest and see your pics! :thumbup: It was great meeting you and spending time with you at Spyderfest. Glad to hear you made it home.:popcorn:

dancogan, had a fun time talking and riding with you too. Hope those ISCI handbrakes you had installed are working out great. :thumbup:

Great story hope it has a happy ending !:popcorn::popcorn:

Me too, we'll just have to wait and see......................

Oldmanzues;320609[SIZE=1 said:
]Interesting story. As for rain gear, I love Frogg Toggs. I had the early version that last about 4 years with heavy use and now the heaver version. Good results. Another idea, put the rain hood under your helmet, so the rain does not go down your back.[/SIZE]
Keep riding and be safe.
Oldmanzues

Unfortunately I had removed and left the hood part at home, however most of the rain ended up in my throat area, as i did not secure the top properly, & the wind didn't help either.
ack2.gif


Great story! I love that despite the obstacles you just kept pushing forward. I'm half expecting an earthquake or giant dragon in the next chapter, you've made it through a lot!

hmmmm EQ, Giant dragon, ya never know, lets see what we can put in the script
rofl.gif


Great talking to you in Cuba. Glad you made it home. Look forward to reading more.:popcorn:

really great talking to you frank3 and finding out that both you and Nancy'sToy were in the
same industry. Really, really love what you did to your ride, just beautiful!

(L-R) frank3, TicketBait, Nancy'sToy, Spyderlover- forgot his handle, I know clueless knows him, I also kept his pen by accident)

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Ticketbait,
You have away of telling about your adventures with you and your Spyder that makes it always entertaining and making me want to follow in your footsteps to experience the same.
What an amazing story you shared and just like the ending of old movies saying "To be continued" I personally look forward to your post and most important the follow up with your Spyderfest adventure.
Since traveling at this time in the St Louis area, I will try and find time to make it down to where Spyderfest and cowtown was held. Only wish I had my Spyder with me. The weather is outstanding and nothing like what you experienced.
I for sure will be going to Spyderfest next year.
Thank you again for sharing your adventure here on Spyderlovers. Great group of people here and at times it seems like family.

ScottyB

Thanks for the kind words ScottyB, Hope your able to make it over to Cowtown while your in MO. and
meet Len, he is one amasing person.

:agree:
He's one of the guys here that I love to read. Good job Bro :thumbup:

Thanks Lamont for letting Spyderfest flourish on Spyderlovers.com - One big happy family as you state here.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYwrth5ncmI&feature=player_profilepage[/ame]



......I was there and i am loving this story and pic's....way to tell man:2thumbs:

What can I say, but thank you thank you thank you. First class treatment to all who attended.
You, your staff, and volunteers went above and beyond my expectations.

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........................back to the story.

The next morning (Wednesday April 27th) everyone headed over to Cowtown for registration which included
a goody bag full of neet stuff and freebies around town. We all got a bright colored wrist band to get us into
the various events throughout the fest. Included with our $30 registration fee was a Spyderfest
t-shirt.:ohyea: as depicted below.

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We had the raising of the state flags from each of the states represented.

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Setho was in charge of making sure that only those flags were released to the qualifying states, after submitting
my birth certificate I was given the flag. No flag was raised to the best of my understanding from the
great state of Hawaii:shemademe_smilie:

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Cincy'sSpyder "Teddy" didn't care about no stinkin flag, he was too busy signing autographs and
takin photos to care.

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The first state to go up was none other than the Florida X-press Huligans! Raised up by none
other than effgjamis with docodoru's assistance. I have some film were trying to get past the
censors to post later. :D (so stay tuned)

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I was fortunate enough to be the first from California, so I got the honors.

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followed by dancogan from Michigan

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As the morning progressed we were given tours of the town and shown where some of the contributing sponsors
of Cuba and also passport spots would be. The final destination led us to The vendor village where after a brief
introduction it began to rain.


I took cover under Baker AirWings awning and grabbed this photo of John from "sealfloorboards" new
Special Edition RT he picked up from Len at Cowtown. Just before this photo was taken I assisted Joe "JOESPY "
from Vertika trykes and Jeff "TnIceman " from Ultimate Seats in helping secure down Sealfloorboards awning from
blowing away with of all things, Floorboards! Vendors helping fellow vendors! :2thumbs:

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The rain turned into a downpour. Everyone else headed back, but I stuck around and met Dora and her
husband who got me outfitted in there amazing embroidery work.


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Later that night we all met over at Recklein Auditorium for the opening welcome from Len at Cowtown and were
introduced to the entire volunteer Mo Gang staff, followed with some delicious food.
yesnod.gif


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And another nice thing happened as each of the Supporting vendors was brought up on stage along with 4 representatives
from BRP, who we will hear more good things about later. No pics as I was too busy clapping:clap:along
with the rest of the attendees.

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That night I looked over my Spyderfest program to read about which group ride I wanted to go on. There were
just too many good choices, and i kept switching which one I would go on.

(Thursday April 28th)


I had the honor of meeting Scotty, aka NancysToy and couldn't keep my eyes open in the bright sun. One
thing I like about editing my own thread is I get to pick and choose which photos I get to touch up, this
would have required too much time to put in eyeballs, that just a simple explanation that the "sun was too
bright " would suffice. So needless to say if I post an unflattering picture of You, the reader, my appologies,
it was done unintentionaly. I know you all look better in person. Well almost all.
lol.gif


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Thursday I also had installed by Harvey at spyderpops "LaBlock'

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That night we were treated to a Chili cook off, that couldn't have been placed in a better setting.

The Wagon Wheel, and their big back yard.

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This was one of the first times i got to walk around and admire so many beautiful spyders.

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Since my ride is an RT I was looking to see what others had done to their ride.

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and just loved this seat that I saw on this RS :thumbup:

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and at the same time met a new friend wa3wheels that i know I will share many great funny moments
with. Ray is currently traveling the United states and keeping me posted via email of his and Johns exploits.

These are two of the funiest and knowledgable guys I have ever come across, hope you all have a chance
to get to know them. :cheers:

(L-R) wa3wheels,and John (Goldwing trike & trailer) attendee :thumbup:

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The Bonfire was a perfect setting for the reverse races.

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li9KnaduIis&feature=player_profilepage[/ame]

here are some cool sounds to leave you with,

to the right you can see the spyders flashing waiting for their turn through the maze, and you can hear
the roar of the current bike winding through the turns against the crackling of the Bon fire.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8kiynpU1Mw&feature=player_profilepage[/ame]

tomorrow Friday the 29th of April will be never before seen photos, so please
check back for pancake contest,find out which ride I went on, and lots and lots of photos and videos.​

here is a sneak peak...................................... I'll tell ya the story later if you don't already know.

I wasn't the only one having a good time.............................

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everyone pointing the finger at G-Man , including himself...........................

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so the police got involved.....................


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and especially ken5517 / Wish Again getting a back rub, and Carlo was next. :ohyea:

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to be continued.............................

TicketBait
 
I had the honor of meeting Scotty, aka NancysToy and couldn't keep my eyes open in the bright sun. One
thing I like about editing my own thread is I get to pick and choose which photos I get to touch up, this
would have required too much time to put in eyeballs, that just a simple explanation that the "sun was too
bright " would suffice. So needless to say if I post an unflattering picture of You, the reader, my appologies,
it was done unintentionaly. I know you all look better in person. Well almost all.
lol.gif


Spyderfest2011Cuba069.jpg
If you get PhotoShopped eyeballs, I want some, too! :roflblack: Guess we shouldn't knock the sunshine, though. Thanks for all the great photos (and some not suitable for framing). Very photojournalistic, with nice narrative and lots of attached memories. :2thumbs: Can't wait for Part IV.
 
If you get PhotoShopped eyeballs, I want some, too! :roflblack: Guess we shouldn't knock the sunshine, though. Thanks for all the great photos (and some not suitable for framing). Very photojournalistic, with nice narrative and lots of attached memories. :2thumbs: Can't wait for Part IV.

Part IV, will be later this week, may actually need a Part V, I found a bunch more photos, as I was using my iphone, sony HD and a little digital camera.




:2thumbs:

Great update, thanks for sharing.

Spyderwolf, you have a beautiful ride, did you make it to Spyderfest? I remember seeing some bikes with the lighting similar to yours at the GolfCourse Friday night, was that yours
bigear.gif
 
Thanks for the compliment on my Spyder, but unfortunately you did not see me at Spyderfest. :( I will be at Lamont's BBQ and the Maggie Valley event though.
 
sit down and enjoy, tons of photos

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(Friday April 29th)

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Began with Pancake cook-off contest,

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One team had a take no prisoners attitude................
It was differently delicious.
.....


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.....................and with a waffle on a stick maker being
served with chocolate syrup and whip cream all that was needed was singing Happy Birthday. So we did!


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We all picked different rides and adventures to go on, I chose the
Meramec Caverns, and
took a tour that the photos can't come close to capturing the awe.

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Some of the group got to experience the Zip Line, Having done that before I knew they were in for a real treat.

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The photo below was one of Jesse James hideouts they would escape to after robbing a train

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This gang looks like the just got away from the Law too! :D


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But actually this was not taken at the Caverns, but at the Cuba Lakes Golf Course


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Photo has been approved by Kurt & Carlo! BRP Rocks:ohyea:


Spyderfest was made up of wonderful people!


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I forgot to mention that the chili cook-off was won by painter Dan,

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here is one of his beautiful works, this trailer use to be a damaged silver RT622

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The following day Saturday April 30th was fortunately spent for me at the Cowtown Headquarters. I say fortunately because
I was going to have my rear shock replaced if one was available after The senior head technician for BRP determined it was
faulty. At the exact same time I pulled around to the service dept. at Cowtown that afternoon my bike started acting up
with intermittent parking brake engaging when going just 1-2 mph. It turned out they didn't have the shock in stock but it was
a blessing that it happened when and where it did. First Cowtown mechanics took a stab at it, and advised me that my rear
brake pads were very worn and needing replacing at next service. They thought they had fixed the issue but the problem persisted
and rose to the level of Kurt Otteson spending several hours with computer laptop connected to spyder trying to diagnose
the issue.

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With no concrete result determined it was presumed that possibly the culprit was the aftermarket gauges I had installed at my
dealership back home. They were disconnected and taped and the issue did stop for one day, but on my ride back home I got as far
as Albuquerque, New Mexico before the same issue reared it' ugly head. Again it was so intermittent.
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I have to thank Kurt Otteson:2thumbs::thumbup: with three thumbs up, (my highest recognition award) for taking the time to address this,
and even though it wasn't a final fix, I don't think I might have gotten back to California had he not.

Here I am at a rest stop where I was always having people come up wanting to take a pic of my Spyder that I asked this tourist
from Italy to take a snap shot of me.

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Well I finally made it home and did not ride the bike again until I took it to my dealership on May 10th..............................the jury is
still out.
sad.gif
Stuff happens, and I have confidence we will get to the bottom of this. I have nearly 23 thousand adventourous miles
logged so far. I so want to eaarn my 25K pin

I so loved this traveling adventure, the new friends I met, and the memories I will always cherish. So a big thankyou To
Len and his entire staff at Cowtown :clap::clap::clap:.

And to Lamont for allowing me to share all of these memories of my Spyderfest experience with you on the best
Spyder site there ever was.:yes::yes::yes:

And here is hoping that next year my wife will join me. Since her back surgery she can't sit in the saddle day after day, but as
someone suggested she could fly out, and i could bring her to all the wonderful festivities. She gave that on a scale of zero
to two stars the highest rating possible. Two Gold stars! :roflblack::joke: I mean victory peace sign
LOL.gif


Thats why I love her so much. We are like two trains coming together.
trainwreck.gif
rofl.gif


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:roflblack:. Ticketbait thanks for sharing your pictures even if it took you a long time to tell the story. That is a great idea to fly your wife out next year Spyderfest is just too much fun for anyone to miss.
 
:roflblack:. Ticketbait thanks for sharing your pictures even if it took you a long time to tell the story. That is a great idea to fly your wife out next year Spyderfest is just too much fun for anyone to miss.

Yes, I did drag out the story, :D I found a funny video of wa3wheel, I am gonna post once he gets back from his epic
trip across America, he is in Arizona right now.

Thinking out loud, What airport from LAX to Missouri would be the one to have my wife fly to next year? And then just pick her up.
bigear.gif




also here is a link to my last photo post if you missed it http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=331722&postcount=28
 
Columbia or St. Louis I think would be the closest. St. Louis would probably be direct whereas Columbia would probably connect through Memphis.
 
Outstanding ending to a great adventure

Ticketbait,
I must say that the conclusion to your story at Spyderfest was not only entertaining but also a riot that still has me laughing with your own commentary on your own picture.
Hoping you get your Spyder back soon. LET'S RIDE!
ScottyB
 
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