Sorry I only had my telephone camera and was too preoccupied most of the time to use it.After Sunday morning's downpour, the weather stayed perfect. Great riding day and night. Warm enough day for the gals to be wearing little shirts and little shorts (don't we hate it?
) and cool enough at night to put on the jacket. Myrtle Beach by the way has great places to eat and lots to do for those that don't want to ride. Very cool place and a definite go back for me. All the Boss Hoss dealers were at the same place as the factory. Looked like there were lots of factory rides going on. While there (Colonial Mall), saw Conrad, Billy, Glenn and lots of other folks and their significant others. Spent a lot of time talking to Tom Shaeffer at Mtn. Can't say enough about those bikes, they're over the top cool. They had a Leonard Skynard and a country & western theme bike that were outstanding. Tom of course demo'd his turbine powered bar stool. It had been purchased a day or so before for a cool $50,000.00 +.
Sounded like I was on the ramp listening to a Hawker or a Citation fire up. Talked to Tom and crew quite a bit about the LS2.Finally got to meet Jeff & Joyce Hemperly. Great folks and happy to have motored around a bit with them and hooked up another time or two. A great example of these boards forging friendships.
Spent most of the time at the V8Chopper trailer with Gerry Potts and David Ward. All the times spent as well with roomie Steve Barr on his 502 trike and Chris Capps on his badass V8Chopper that he just made some excellent motor enhancements on. When Steve, Chris, David and I would take off and ride, there was lots of gawking, picture taking and funny faces being made. Yep, we got all the dumb shit questions at gas stations and stop lights from the Harley folks. Most common was; "what kind of gas mileage to you get on those things?" Standard answer was; "who gives a shit?" Hmmmm.
Some of my highlights included running into some old friends, a retired fire chief and his wife, that I hadn't seen since moving. It's been 8 years since we last saw one another. Ran right into them in a bar called Suck Bang Blow. Some pictures there to follow. Also had the pleasure of enjoying old friend Mike Kelly's company for a few days. Mike brought a very snotty new Vanquish and two other Vanquish bikes. I had the displeasure of Mike spanking me one night before dinner.
I blamed it on his Powerglide tranny and having almost 640 hp to my 520 but one way or another, he won...the bikes are totally outrageous cool. Hanging with Mike took me back to the great times I enjoyed in SW Florida. Can't wait to spend a month there this summer. Hopefully, lots of it riding with Mike and friends. Mike's right hand man, Tony, was also there and I've known Tony a long time. What a great guy and lots and lots of great tech talk.There were the usual kick ass moments like David and I getting it on coming off a highway ramp and letting off seconds before the SC State cop pulls out. He had to have heard us. Another good one was David getting sideways on that 500 hp trike when riding with Mike. What a scene!
As always, things kind of suck when it comes to traffic, the ten gazillion cops giving out tickets, everything congested, it's kind of a cluster fuck but....it's always been about the friendships to me. Getting to see these guys and hang and ride...it's the best. To Steve, David, Chris, Mike, Gerry... thanks for the company and friendship. To the new guys I met like Mr. Johnny Rotten, really glad to have met you and look forward to seeing you again.
Can't end this without thanking Mr. Stanley Hughes of V8Choppers. He re-delivered my beloved chopper with some new enhancements including a paint change that is so perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I pounded the chopper pretty hard all week and it was flawless. None of this to mention the LOTS and LOTS of attention I got. We all do indeed enjoy people admiring our bikes and I got plenty.
There's lots more but at the risk of boring everyone, I'll shut up and try and get a few pics going.
Els
