The Horse Smokeout 10

Enjoy the video>>>> You can view a larger version on my youtube channel! Clicking each photo will open a larger version in a new window so you won't have to keep reloading the page. Things I want to remember about this trip... Though I wished we had ridden the bikes, I was glad we didn't when it started pouring on Sunday. I felt bad for all the folks who had to ride through that to get home (been there, done that), especially the bikers with no front fenders!
The roadside flowers were in full bloom on the way to the Smoke Out - lots of poppies and lupines waving in the breeze. We stopped in Asheboro for lunch, and two guys asked us if we were on the way to the Smoke Out - yup, we were! We had a great chat with Anthony and Chris, and bumped into them at the drag races on Friday. When we got to our hotel in Pinehurst, we met a couple from TN who had ridden out to Vegas to get hitched by Elvis, and then they joined up with the Long Ride to Rockingham, NC. It was her 1 year anniversary of riding - you GO, girl! Nature-lover that I am, I was thrilled to get a shot of a Broad-Headed Skink right in front of our hotel. He was about 8" long, and a beauty! At the event, I got a chance to chat with the Ice Cream Man from Hell, Jim Trotta. What a cool dude, and I wish him luck in his job hunt. The people-watching was fun, and the bikes were phenomenal. I snapped lots of shots of sissy bars to get ideas for my bobber, and between my quest for the perfect sissy bar, the people, all the incredible details on the bikes, and the drag races, I took over 200 pics and vids! I was astounded to see a bike run at 120 MPH (its in the video), and then, less than 10 minutes later, I got to see a drag bike go 168 - wowzers, it just whizzed by the stands!!	The drags were great because you'd see an old-school chopper racing against a Buell, or a bike with a sidecar up against a sport bike, or a bobber running with a bagger...I couldn't get enough of the drags. The bikes, the bikes, the bikes!! The variety and the ingenuity and creativity of the builders just floors me. I fell totally in love with a bike that had a "steampunk" look - brass fittings, a faucet handle for a petcock switch, brass and glass jars for the liquids. So Jules Verne! It would have been fun to camp, but I hear it got pretty crazy on Friday night. Our friends, Ricky and Frank said the folks were whoopin' it up until 5:30 in the morn. John swears we are camping next year and I guess I can put up with a couple of sleepless nights for this event. I'm gonna see if I can cut the poles for the Taj Mahal (my 2-room tent) so it will actually fit on the Tourer. I'd hate to spend the weekend in the heat in the mini-tent. The Taj has room to breathe. We had a blast again this year, and we were surprised to see only ONE cop the entire weekend! Quite a change from last year at Farmington where they were hiding behind every tree and bush in the county!! All the locals we met were very friendly and asked about the event. I hope SO11 will be held at Rockingham, too.
Friday was a beautiful sunny day, and we enjoyed seeing the flowers blooming. We saw more and more bikes the closer we got to the hotel. We decided to "sit a spell" in front of the hotel and have a chat with another biker who was waiting for his brother to show up from California. He spotted the Broad-Head lizard.
We headed to the Rockingham Dragway on Friday afternoon to drop off a cooler at the campground for Frank and Ricky. There were already lots of bikes rolling in. We headed up into the stands to watch some of the drags, and we met up with Anthony and Chris, who we had met at the McD's in Asheboro earlier. There's a few of the drag runs in the video, so be sure to watch the vid, too. I got a chance to talk with the Ice Cream Man from Hell for a bit - he gives good hug. As the sun was setting, a few folks lit up some fireworks.
Here's some miscellaneous cool stuff we spotted over the weekend, including a double-engine Norton! That Harley extinguisher is only about 6" tall. I would laugh my ass off if I ever saw someone wearing one of those boob helmets!
I really loved this creative "steampunk" bike...there were so many interesting parts on the bike, I wish we would have had a chance to talk to the owner. Isn't that Rat Fink in the headlight a great touch? The giant nut on the tank with a Bell jar for the sight glass, the glass jars and brass fittings...everything was perfect for the "look"!
John, Frank and Ricky partake of some Hillbilly Lemonade, served in soup cans. Check out the lovely engraving. There were only a few rat rods this year...sigh.
Men are so predictable - they'll do anything to get a picture of a chick if it's even remotely possible she's gonna flash a boob. Look at the dudes swarming like piranhas around those 4 girls in the first two shots!! BWAHAHAHA! I have to admit, tho, the chick with the spike-heeled boots looked very hot riding that aped bike! She's riding in my video at 2:30 - she looked so killer that I put her in the video twice.
I took pics of sissy bars to get ideas for the bobber we're building. I love the goth looking ones!


In no particular order, here are just some of the bikes I shot over the weekend. I picked these photos because I liked the overall look of the bikes, the lines, and the stance, or I liked the well-worn, ridden look, or some detail of the construction or paint caught my eye. Some just made me smile!




Lots of folks were riding around the grounds on mini bikes, and of course, there was at least one moto-cooler buzzing around, too!
Sunday morning it started to rain, and I felt bad for all those bikers getting soggy on the road. As we were heading north, we came upon The Horse trailer - I don't know who that was driving, but I'm sure he was wondering what that crazy lady was doing taking his picture!! Thanks to The Horse for putting on such a great event! Git yerself a beer!

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