Next year...

[dkaag]

I live in the Idaho Panhandle, and drove east to the Vermont rally and back last year. Not wanting to ride all of the hot, boring, parts (eastern Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota...) back and forth twice in two years, I am not riding to this year's rally, and plan to concentrate on my local Northwest rallies. "But NEXT year", I thought, "They will probably have the rally somewhere out West." I heard a rumor at my local BMW club meeting last weekend---which I certainly hope is not true---that the BMWOA is considering holding the 2008 Rally in Gillette, Wyoming. If that is true, they have got to be kidding. Gillette is a center of strip-mining, is generally low-class, and has the highest crime rate in the state. We can do better than that!

[Rasbutan]

OUCH!!!!!

:lurk

[Rich]

they have got to be kidding.


They aren't kidding.

If it's so bad, me and you and the rest of the MOA will bring it out of it's "low class" for at least a few days.

[dkaag]

Hey Rich:

Putting the best face on it, at least the place has a bunch of low-down, rowdy bars. Which may explain the high level of domestic abuse.... Be sure to wear your steel-toed riding boots.

[Rich]

I know about the bars! I spent many a week in Gillette with my last employer helping out with the coal-bed methane gas project. And I have a son living in Wright, which is 38 miles south of Gillette. Just moved him down there a couple of weeks ago.

I'm actually looking forward to the rally! But I have to agree, it seems an unlikely spot for a BMW rally, although they have a heck of a facility to handle one.

[dkaag]

I need to pull out my map and refresh my memory because I haven't done any touring anywhere around there. What do you think about local scenic roads with "twisties" in them---except for the strip mine tour, that is...?

[srb]

I guess in the spirit of the never-ending presidential campaigning we can begin to complain about Obama-Clinton-McCain-Thompson-Putin-Fudd a year and a half before they take office. We also can complain about the '08 rally when the '07 one won't arrive for another month.

I probably would have thought the same thing before Lima '05, but I went, and I had an absolute blast. These rallies aren't so much about geography as they are about comraderie.

[37071]

Quote "I probably would have thought the same thing before Lima '05, but I went, and I had an absolute blast. These rallies aren't so much about geography as they are about comraderie.
__________________
That is true!!

[dkaag]

..."We also can complain about the '08 rally when the '07 one won't arrive for another month..."

You have a point, but I just heard about it, and in my innocence I thought it might just be possible to affect the decision if I "complained" about it far enough in advance of the official announcement, which is, DUH!, at the end of this year's rally. Given all of the beautiful places in the American West to hold a rally, Gillette isn't even in the top 100. And take a guess at the temperatures in July... If "comraderie" is all you seek, we could just as easily have it at some "Six Flags" park somewhere. What about the riding?

[srb]

The time I rode to Lima it was after going from Texas to Michigan and then to Lima. I generally relax at the rallies I attend, but everyone is different. I imagine that if I go to Gillette, my riding will be consumed to and fro and relaxing at the rally will be the ticket for me. See ya there!

[Sue]

Quote "I probably would have thought the same thing before Lima '05, but I went, and I had an absolute blast. These rallies aren't so much about geography as they are about comraderie.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[Mudbug]

I've been to and through Gillette, WY twice on the way to the Black Hills. It is not my choice of destinations. It was a place to get gas and a room for the night after an IBA ride.

There are some great roads around Devils Tower and in the Black Hills which are not too far away.

I don't think I'll be going. But I will attend the Black Hills BMW Stampede.

[The_Veg]

I agree with the quote about Lima. My bike stayed parked- not even started- from when I arrived until it was packed and about to be aimed for the gate to ride home. So what??? I had a total blast as well! And I like the mountain-states, and I've only been to Wyoming once in 1993...so if the trip works out for me, I have no doubts that I'll dig it. Hell, just going someplace DRY will be a major treat during the sauna-like summers we have down here!

[knary]

The best stories come from sharing a ride with a newly met friend and old friends too, not sitting in a beer tent trying to talk over some probably bad music (or, at least, music that I probably don't like). The last thing I want to do is go to a rally to stay at the rally the entire time. I want to go out and explore. I want to ride. Gillette will be hot and the town is nothing pretty, but there's some GREAT riding in that part of the country. :dunno

:hide

[Mudbug]

Close to South Dakota, east of Devils Tower is the small town of Aladdin, WY with a very interesting General Store.

http://kjun.smugmug.com/photos/160324452-M-LB.jpg

[Rharrod]

:lurk :lurk :wave

[Rob Nye]

To each their own.

I am looking forward to West Bend very much but quite honestly it is difficult to create a memorable ride from Rhode Island to Wisconsin. Thanks to folks on the forum I do have a great ride (http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16241)up through Canada.

Next year because the rally is in Wyoming I will take two weeks or even a little more to tour the west or ideally I will ship the bike to Vancouver and head to Alaska, then make the rally the last stop in a great tour.

I have no interest in getting to the rally site early so I can score a "better" campsite because when I am at the rally I am not so interested in going out for day rides, I would rather hang out on site and check out the bikes, vendors, entertainment and all of you. :kiss

The best sites support the above activities with 100,000 square feet of air conditioned vendor space, plenty of food and for all the folks the prefer not to camp 2,500 hotel rooms within 25 miles. You just don't find sites like this with great riding out the front door, the two just don't go together.

My advice is to do what I am doing this year which is to find the best route to the rally, go with a few close friends at a relaxed daily pace, enjoy two days at the rally and then haull a** home.

The days of the National Rally being an event where you could show up on Monday "volunteer" for set up, score the best spot and then have great riding every day (while the 200 or so hard workers do the real set up) are coming to a close. If this is the experience you seek there are some fantastic club rallies (Top of the Rockies, Georgia Mountain, Damn Yankees) that offer great times and fantastic riding, but you gotta like camping.

Gillette, it's more than a shave.

[BernieEcht]

This is what I have done for the last 4 Nationals. Enjoy the ride too the state the rally is being held at, spend a few days exploring it and it's back roads, and then spend 3 days at the rally attending seminars and checking out vendors.
I think just strolling through the camp ground and the parking lot is great entertainment.

[sbsmith]

This is a rally for the Black Hills. Gillette is the closest venue to the Black Hills able to handle the demands of a rally of this size.

[dkaag]

Uh, O.K.... Half a million Harley riders think Sturgis, S.D., is "a venue big enough..." and it is about the same distance from the Black Hills. And frankly, once you have seen the Big Heads, there aren't that many roads through the Black Hills to ride.

[bluwing]

The Bighorns are only 125 miles west of Gillette, and they are spectacular riding... if you get on it before the RV's.
Black Hills twisty roads are almost all posted 35mph which is fine if you have floor boards, but they won't cut it for most BMW guys who want a thrill.
GS riders will be thrilled with the back roads on top of the Bighorns.
B

[dkaag]

Yeah, the Bighorns are an awesome ride, but as you say, they are 125 miles west of Gillette, and it is flat and straight semi-desert highway on both sides, east and west. Flaming Gorge is southwest of Gillette, too, in the far corner of the stte,but it is a far haul, and unless you are coming in from that direction is probably not on the program.

[Rharrod]

The Bighorns are only 125 miles west of Gillette
From Gillette to the base of the Bighorns is 70 miles to the town of Buffalo. Nice day trip from here is up and over to do the Bighorn loop. Gillette-Buffalo-TenSleep-Manderson-Greybull-Burrgess Jct-Dayton-Sheridan-Ucross-Spotted Horse-Gillette or back the othere way.:D

[kantuckid]

I am new to this rally thing, but not to bikes or travel in the western USA. I plan to start taking in a few rallies in the coming years. I think Wyoming is a great place for a rally as I am a hiker/backpacker type-BUT-Gillette-with all due respect to whomever lives there etc., that is not a place where people go in Wyoming!!! Lets be real. I have been to a lot of places in the west , BUT there for a rally??? I would definitely find something else to do if thats the place for next year...

[The_Veg]

Might be kinda like the Lima rally- not much riding really nearby, but we'll all show up anyway because we'll have so much fun hanging out and such.

[srb]

We promise not to have another national rally there in 2009. Now when can we start complaining about the '09 site?

[GRANT63RT]

We promise not to have another national rally there in 2009. Now when can we start complaining about the '09 site?

:laugh Never fails to amaze me what people will complain about.

I stopped in Gillette on the way home from Spokane. To be honest, I don't remember that much about the town itself but I do remember some great roads around there. I'm looking forward to getting back there to explore some more. I've already started checking out my maps of Wyoming!

[DarrylRi]

:laugh Never fails to amaze me what people will complain about.

Some people would complain if they were hung with a new rope.

[Sue]

This year marks my 20th BMW MOA International Rally in a row.

I can tell you flat-out that there have been rally locations that never would have crossed my radar as a vacation-destination.

Flagstaff, Arizona in July? Was I ever WRONG about that preconceived notion. It was beautiful country!

Fredericksburg, Texs? What were they thinking, I thought... But WOW! I was delighted to learn how mistaken I was.

Seriously... this is such an amazing country that I would suggest that you open your mind to new ideas and new locations, and you will surely find the magic that makes every part of this country such a great place to live and ride.

[bobs98]

Seriously... this is such an amazing country that I would suggest that you open your mind to new ideas and new locations, and you will surely find the magic that makes every part of this country such a great place to live and ride.

And there are lots of us who wish we could be there, whever it will be. Enjoy the ride and make it fun! :thumb

[srb]

Well said, Sue.