Here we are at the Smokeout on June 21, 2008!

Whew - what a blast! I never saw so many homebuilt bobbers and choppers in one place! I was prepared for a wild weekend, and surprisingly, it was actually pretty mellow. The wildest part of the trip was riding the crosstown expressway in Winston-Salem and trying to get off on the exit I needed when some guy was oblivious to me and was crawling up my bike’s butt. Wait, the wildest thing we SAW was a topless chick doing burnouts on a huge chopper in the Days Inn parking lot Saturday night!!

The locals were so afraid that there was going to be a problem with so many bikers that there were cops at just about every intersection on the way out to the dragstrip, and lots of cops on the grounds. You would have thought they were expecting WWIII to break out at the event, but the cops said that they have more issues in the WalMart parking lot on Saturday nights than they had at the Smokeout!

The ingenuity of the builders, and the tenacity of some of these riders is amazing. Some of them rode these bikes all the way from the Smokeout West in CA to attend this event - hardtails, no saddlebags, no fairings, no windshields. My arse hurts just thinking about it.

We really enjoyed talking to the other builders and painters and regular folk who shared their love of building, chopping, and tweaking bikes. What else can I say other than it was a wonderful weekend of hanging around with like-minded folks!
My $6 camera mount that I made for the bike worked out great, too. I hid the PVC piping with my little beanbag Patrick (Spongebob’s buddy), and he was a hit with the bikers - more than once, someone broke out into the Spongebob theme song! Nothing funnier than seeing a big biker sing that tune!

I would go to this event over Daytona in a heartbeat. This was the real deal. The Horse BAckstreet Choppers magazine is to be commended for a well-organized event, especially since this was the first time in a new venue. There was something for everybody - besides the bikes, there were rat rods, roller derby girls, anvil tossing contests, lots of food, live music, the obligatory wet t-shirt contests, informal drag races, and stunt riders…and I know I’m missing half of what they packed into the weekend!

I’ve put together a webpage of our pics (and a friend’s pics) from the event (warning, not all pics are family-friendly; if boobs offend you, then do not go to the page). All the little stories and cool bike pics and party pics and rat rods are there, so check it out!
Smokeout East, Farmington Raceway in Mocksville, NC, June 20 - 22, 2008

And here’s a video if you don’t have time to click through all those pics…

Till next time…never ride faster than your angels can fly!
Eclectic Dawn

2 Comments to “The Horse Smokeout East 9, Mocksville, NC”

1. Scott — July 4, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
   

   How did you know the water was ice cold if you went to bed before the party started?

2. Dawn Schmidt Ventimiglia — July 5, 2008 @ 7:31 am
   

   LOL, Scott…because the pics I DIDN’T post show the ice cubes in the water…and well, um…women have visual temperature gauges…LOL!!

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