Posted by INTRUDN on August 28, 2000 at 06:57:42:
Well, what can I say. Another great year at the Little Sturgis, MS, rally. One of the better things about it (believe it or not) was the HEAT. My kinda weather! For riding weather, it sucks, but, the hotter it gets, the better a cold beer tastes (after I'm done riding of course ). We (Stef, her Dad, and myself) had a great time. The only trouble was the Goldwing's cooling fan quit and any time stuck in traffic caused it to overheat. No problem! Pull over, have a cold drink of water out of the cooler, and watch the bikes go by!
We met some of the nicest folks this year too. I had some of my Intruder Alert buddies to meet up with, one couple from Little Rock, AR, the other couple from Madison, WI, along with some of the Savage Board Members (Has a nice ring doesn't it? Savage Board Member.) I met new friends and old ones, and got to meet the famous Witch Doctor and his Boss (WDO)! What a great bunch of folks those two are. Lisa is the kindest, most soft spoken person I have ever seen (HA! BACK AT YA LISA! ) Chad and Allison were real laid back (compared to WD & WDO, hee-hee.) My hat is off to Allison...all the way from Birmingham, AL, BY HERSELF! What a Lady!
The Bike Show was something else too. That's where we ran into WD, WDO, Chad, and Allison. We were setting up Stef's bike for the show, and after we all ganged up on WD, he went and got his Savage and entered it too. For those that haven't seen the new paint job on his bike, you HAVE to see it. The painted motor is KILLER! The 450 Rebel headlight assembly really stands out too...adds a "classic" touch to the bike. The Bike Show was "unique" to say the least. They only awarded First Place, nothing else. The category that Stef and WD were in was won by a VLX600 Shadow. I guess that means everybody else placed second then, huh? Sounds good to me! The guy with the tricked out Road Star and trailer that WDO talked about (see WD & WDO "Little Sturgis" posts below) won best Custom, and Best Of Show. He was a real class act too. While he was shining it up, trying to get ready for the show, he would stop and let folks put their children on it and take picutres. He rode all the way from New Orleans, LA, with the custom paint job less than a week old. He had GUTS. Personally, I think bike shows should be divided. One area for those that rode their bikes to the event, and one area for those that hauled them.
I must say, too, that Lisa's new Intruder is one sharp looking ride. I have always liked that paint scheme (It doesn't even cost $1400 US per gallon! Hee-hee! OK, Lisa, put the gun down!) I also know why her keys were so hot..the Cobra exhaust system she has on it has both pipes exiting on the right side (mine has a pipe on each side), and the left side pipe crosses over to the right side of the bike extremely close to the key switch. Those keys will be hot year round!
I wish we could have spent more time with everyone, but me, like a dummy, told everyone I knew that I would be wearing my leather vest with a HUGE pow/mia patch on the back, and I kept running into folks that knew "of" me all from over the place (ain't the Internet GREAT!) One guy from Baton Rouge, LA, (2000 model VS800 Intruder) parked behind my bike at the hotel because he knew who I was (he had been to my website from Intruder Alert) and he recognized the bikes and my vest, and he knew he his bike would be OK parked there (I think he put too much faith in my reputation...NAH!!!! Sturgis, MS, is Mississippi State University country, and I have MSU Bulldog decals on my bike, so anybody near me was OK! )
Well, the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. I added one more thing to Stef's bike (along with mine), that I was keeping quiet about until the rally. Stef found a set of oval driving lights with 55 watt Xenon bulbs. I put one each on our bikes just this past week. Talk about being seen! WHOA! Those suckers are BRIGHT! I mounted them onto the headlight mounting bolts, under the headlight. The oval shape only allows the light to shine about six feet wide. This means you can aim it high without blinding oncoming traffic, (I have ours set to point about 100 yards down the road.) With the driving light and high beams on during the day you are VERY visible. I could see Stef waaaaay behind me in the parade/ride Friday afternoon into Starkville, (MSU Headquarters, by the way!), and she only had the headlight on low beam. At night, with just the low beam and driving light, it's still plenty bright, and, like I said, you don't blind oncoming traffic. Hit the bright light and it REALLY gets bright down the road. If you want to know how I wired the light, just let me know...simple job anybody could do. Well, I guess that's enough for now. Like WDO said, if I think of anything else to add, I'll put it on here.
P.s. WD/WDO, that black Savage with the Rifle windshield was from Louisianna. The lady that owned it was staying at our hotel. Met her and her husband in the parking lot (told them about this board.) Her husband has a 1400 Intruder...there must be an unwritten rule---if you have a Savage in the family, you have to have an Intruder too, huh? BWAHAHAHAHA! OK WD, put the gun down!