If you missed This Year's Rally, You Missed a Great Rally

[PGlaves]

or it could be that a lot of people stayed home because a rally held in July in MO is sure to be a blast furnace.

glad everyone had a good time, i enjoyed looking at all the pics that have been posted. hope everyone makes it home safely.

Sure it could be that, but history has shown that many western riders won't come east and east coast riders won't come west. Every "middle" rally has suffered from this in attendee count. The exception seems to be Florida, where everybody wants out I guess. They even won a biggest club attendance award at Sedalia.

p.s. The three hottest rallies since 1984 have been Lima, Ohio; Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; and Spokane, Washington. Not exactly middle southern locations. Looks like it is time to go back to Canada to me. Trenton 2015 anybody??

[James.A]

MC at the Closing Ceremonies did a great job.
Best Closing Ceremonies ever, nice brisk pace.
AC didn't sure didn't hurt!

The M.C. , Tom Macintyre, is a good friend of mine. When I learned that it was his gig, I knew it would turn out well. He's a professional. I ended up being on the team that kept the Airhead Central going and as such spent most of the rally there.

Great Rally!, one of the best Iv'e ever attended. Hats off to Chuck and Julie Manley and their crew. A job well done.

[RIDERS]

We were only at the rally Thursday and Friday and thought it was one of the best we have been to and this was our 21st, first one being in 89, missed last year due to mechanical problems. The heat was pretty brutal Thursday and we stayed in a motel 70 miles away so the ride back there was tough. We couldn't imagine camping that night but haven't camped for at least 15 years. The seminars were very well done and the airconditioned buildings were wonderful. I was talking to a friend that had just gone to the Goldwing rally and it doesn't sound as if it is near as well done as ours. Don't know if we will make next year or not being over 2000 miles. Thanks to all that did a GREAT job!!

[derost]

Had a terrific time and met a ton of great people. Even a couple I met on the way down pulled over with a flat didn't let the mech failure distract them. And the heat... so what! Yeah it was hot, but with so many AC buildings and so many functions, there wasn't a time of day that you couldn't find a reason to pop in and get cooled off if needed. Thanks you to all that made it possible and to all that gladly extended a hand to shake.

On the down side...

Can we talk about the ANTS!!!

[jnerges]

Great rally, no shortage of characters and really nice people, a few butt holes but they declared themselves early and they were easy to avoid.

Well done, MOA.

[terham]

This was the best national I've ever attended - of course I've only been to the last two. All kidding aside, I had a great time. The facility was top notch with plenty of room for camping and air conditioning and shade when you needed it, vendors with lots of goodies more than willing to take your money, amazing bikes, the nicest people and great roads for day tripping. Yes, it was warm but the humidity was low, each day had a breeze and the nights cooled off enough for sleeping. Oregon's a long way from the east coast, but who knows. If next year's rally will be as good as this year's, I'd hate to miss it.

[i-scream-stop]

Had a terrific time and met a ton of great people. Even a couple I met on the way down pulled over with a flat didn't let the mech failure distract them. And the heat... so what! Yeah it was hot, but with so many AC buildings and so many functions, there wasn't a time of day that you couldn't find a reason to pop in and get cooled off if needed. Thanks you to all that made it possible and to all that gladly extended a hand to shake.

On the down side...

Can we talk about the ANTS!!!

ANTS? Least of our worries, We walked down by a barn and at first thought they were ant hills but soon realized they were HORNETS. About two inches long, once I looked one in the eyes we hurried out of the area and avoided the short cut rest of weekend.
Our biggest problem was we expected the heat so we didn't pack sleeping bags and about froze over night.

[1074]

As Voni says, "Welcome to the dysfunctional family." I'm certainly not going to let a little heat get in the way of my annual family reunion. Without it, I wouldn't have family in every state as well as Canada and Mexico. Not to mention how much I've learned at seminars.
And of course, one of the high points every year is to map out a route on roads that I've never been on as well as roads that I've enjoyed so much in the past.

[agmom98]

This was, in my opinion, one of the best rallies yet! Those who chickened out because they THOUGHT it was going to be too hot....well, you were wrong! As Paul Glaves said in this thread, the hottest were Lima, Bloomsburg, and Spokane.

Everything about the rally was well-organized, the facilities and layout of everything were terrific, even the food in the variety of restaurants on-site was significantly better than what's been offered at previous rallies (Gillette and Burlington were, IMO, the worst) and not expensive. I gave the Amish folks who were running the little produce-stand ample business, as their peaches were superb!

Yes, it got hot in Sedalia by late afternoon but, as has been amply pointed out by others who did attend, there was always a good breeze, there was plenty of a/c, plenty of nice shade, plenty of places to sit under a canopy of trees, and a nice breeze blowing through the beer tent in the afternoons/early evenings.

I didn't camp, but the campers can't complain about the overnight temps. Thursday morning we had a brief, gentle rain which really kept things nice and cool all morning. Friday morning the temps were in the low 70's. Saturday morning it was 68 degrees!! How do I know this? I know this because I checked the weather each morning before leaving my hotel room and walking the two miles to the rally grounds. By dusk, temps cooled off sufficiently to make my walk back to the hotel tolerable.

[Voni]

Yes I probably missed a geat rally but I did buy a 100.oo ticket as suport of the moa foundation and you'all missed some great flat track racing at 2 excelant tracks of the mid west. close to home,lots cooler. I'd never expect to win anything but I'm still a winner,Ive been told

You sure are!

And we missed you too

Voni
sMiling

[DLilah]

Definitely a great rally! STRESS and I have missed the last several. However, after being at this one, seeing old friends and making new ones, we are now gearing up to attend as many gatherings of our MOA friends as we can over the next year.

Wish we had made more seminars, but really enjoyed the ones we made it to. Bought way too much from the vendors, but happy to support them and thrilled with all of our purchases. And, enjoyed all of the food options. Most importantly, we enjoyed all of the people. There wasn't one person we talked to that we didn't genuinely enjoy.

Not sure we'll be able to make it to Oregon, as we might not be able to get enough time off to do it. However, you never know!

Thank you to everyone that put their heart and soul into making this event special! We really appreciate it!

[MANICMECHANIC]

Welcome back, D-person and Stress! Really happy to see you both again. Let's try harder to stay in touch!

[motorradmark]

Well done Chuck and the rally team!
Great location, good eats, facilities were very supportive.

Had super time in tent camp land, met some great folks from Ga, Michigan, Minn, and other points.

Look forward to seeing / meeting more folks next year and beyond.

Semper Fi

Mark

[Rpbump]

GREAT RALLY!!! A/C buildings with many vendors, excellant food, clean rest rooms, excellant entertainment, the chance to make new friends and meet with old ones. I hope to make the trek to Salem in 2013.
Ride Safe

[DLilah]

Welcome back, D-person and Stress! Really happy to see you both again. Let's try harder to stay in touch!

We have spent a lot of time since Sunday talking about how much we had missed all our MOA friends. Promise, you will have a very difficult time getting rid of us again!