for most bikers, a rally is a great time...i have over the years attended a couple, ok maybe more than a couple :D we hit cherokee for a day way back when...my bday falls on the fall myrtle beach rally and that was a blast the two years that i went. daytona bike week is a zoo and biketoberfest is way more fun in my humble opinion (less people but same daytona). but at various points in time, various friends and i have discussed making the pilgrimmage to sturgis...
strugis for those of you that don't know is deeply embedded in the black hills of south dakota...supposed to be some of the most beautiful scenery that the United States has to offer. there are famous areas surrounding this little humble town that is bombarded by bikers once a year including: mount rushmore, deadwood, badlands national park, devil's tower, and the crazy horse memorial...suffice to say it's supposed to be breath-taking and historical.
but yea, this isn't about that...this is about the mamas..the divas...teresa, alecia, judy, pammie, and a few others. i lived in south carolina for 8 years. i attended clemson university. i can honestly say that sometimes sc is the most backwards, backward thinking place you can find. it's pretty bad when other southerners have a saying that "nothing good comes out of south carolina". ok, it is where the movie "deliverance" was filmed and yes, they grip tight to keeping that rebel flag in front of the statehouse. they did start the civil war and they still have never officially re-ratified the Constitution of the United States. in a place where some cling desperately to "old ways", there has to be some form of balance. that balance is the equally strong polar opposites to these gross stereotypes. there are more female bikers in the state of south carolina per capita--ok, maybe just back then...haven't checked recently. but yes, really. to this day, i've never seen as many women on their own bikes anywhere else. and there was where i rejoined my old love of motorcycles, deeply ingrained in me by a beloved uncle that dragged nhra in the 70s.
it is also where i got to meet some of the most independent, self-sufficient, good-hearted women on the planet. the mamas, divas, were more than a dozen of us; you didn't have to ride to be a diva, but the general populace were, of course, bikers not riders. it was a great time by all when we'd take off for a trip. the greatest part about us was we are the same but yet we are so different--bar owner, accountant, nurse, accounts rep, real estate, assembly, housewife...suffice to say in some version of the world we had nothing in common. but bikers don't have to have anything in common but the wind and the asphalt.
what made us unique is probably the fact that all of us loved the long run. burning, boiling hot one summer day, we agreed to meet and ride to helen, georgia. helen is this somewhat remote town--an old german style town with buildings that are supposed to be old world-ish. there's a creek that flows through the town where you can go tubing (no tubing for us that day though). we had a blast. no whiners in this bunch. we actually joked that some of the boyfriends and husbands had thought it was too hot and we were crazy. it was hot and humid and completely insane and georgia has a helmet law--it was dripping sweat the size of bullets hot and those helmets kept the wind from the hair...but it was great!!
we rode poker runs. we participated in abate (judy is still anderson county abate president today, i believe). we were sisters, family--that bond which even blood sometimes cannot create.
this year i was going to sturgis with members from my vfw post--that was the plan in february/march. about 15 or so had originally committed to the idea, by a month ago, there were 3. suffice to say, the best laid plans of mice and men often never come to fruitition.
i got to thinking, especially as the post members dwindled down--no offense meant to the ones that were left--but it got me thinking: if i were to go, who would i want to go with? i'm happy go lucky. i can have fun with anyone. i can make just about anyone laugh. i also can be polite even if someone makes my skin crawl...(ok, almost always, but that's another blog)....but a week? i put off going to the carribean cuz i have it in my head that i should go with someone that i can appreciate the memories for years to come. certain things, well, i can do them myself. who cares? would it be awesome to go with a boyfriend? probably. but i think we've covered that quandry before. on the other hand, this is the pilgrimmage that me and several of my closest friends have joked and talked about on and off for years. a bunch of acquaintances from my post? 2 or 3 that aren't even friends from the post? hmmm, comrades in arms aren't seriously beating out the sisters that i love are they? not when none of us has ever been--not even OTB as riders instead of bikers...
nope. i wanna go with my divas, my best friends, my sisters. we've talked about it for years. we've joked that we would take over sturgis, this sisterhood bonded by a love of adventure, motorcycles, the wind and the asphalt. afterall, you can make memories over and over and over again, but it's the first time that always counts the most...
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