2005 Day 6

at RSBS Annual in Murfreesboro, TN
no miles

I wake up at a decent time & straggle down to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. A lot of Rumble Sisters arrived yesterday, four or five dozen; more are coming in this morning. After coffee and a little food, we get registration underway. It's not very formal, but we pretty much need to keep track of who's here, who's paid the nominal fee that will go toward the meeting room in the hotel, and who's signed the waiver/emergency contact form (stupid legality, but an unfortunate requirement for any riding event.) Also, there are nametags, and a few goodies & freebies to hand out, stuff that sisters have brought for everyone. Oh my heck. We don't have a clue what we're doing, and are pretty disorganized. We sort of figure it out as we go along, and it's less and less of a charlie-foxtrot as the morning goes on.

Most folks are going on a Jelly Bean run today (sort of like a poker run, but different) except for those of us who don't feel like riding. Having just come from 2000+ miles away, I'm firmly in the "my butt needs a break" group. Mid-morning, riders thunder out of the hotel parking lot (drawing curious looks from other hotel guests ... we'll be getting this response all weekend) and the rest of us retire to the bar/restaurant. Ears, Rob and I get involved in a game of darts, but no one takes it seriously. Unfortunately, it was Ears holding the camera, so I don't get a photo of her highly unusual dart throwing technique (I've never seen an underhanded delivery before, LOL. Her accuracy using this? Well, let's just say we all made sure we were standing WELL back on her turn.)

In the afternoon, a few of us borrow Froggi's car and go to the laundromat. How exciting, huh? It's a fact of life that on a long motorcycle road trip, you're going to have to do laundry a couple of times. Ears, RoadPattie and I run into Lindy at the local Suds'n'Duds. She arrived yesterday and is thinking along the same lines as we are, but she rides a sweet trike, and thus has LOADS of storage space and didn't need to borrow anyone's car! The hour spent on wash, rinse and dry cycles passes quickly with this good company. We look at maps, talk routes and roadtrips, a happy time. We all head out to the parking lot and Lindy shows off the features of her ride ... it's very cool. Chores done, we head on back to the hotel.

The Jelly Bean riders get back, most of them late. A couple of groups got EXTREMELY lost.

Gabbing, hanging out, gabbing, dinner, gabbing. Then, the general meeting, and everyone who's arrived gathers around the pool area (we had a meeting room for this, but it turned out too small to hold everyone. We have almost 90 people here.) The Jelly Bean Run prizes, door prizes and mileage awards are given out. Turns out I'm 2nd place - Honorable Mention - of the riders that have ridden here by direct route. Kathy from San Diego has me beat by a hundred miles. LOL.

After the meeting, there's more hanging out and gabbing, and the early birds head off to bed. The rest of us end up in the bar, where it's ... KAREOKE NIGHT! Oh, my, this is sounding dangerous. ;) Well, we now outnumber the handful of locals, so we sort of take over the bar and have a blast. The Rumble Sisters as a group sing "Delta Dawn", BudGirl sings "Macho Man", and I have apparently gained some reknown with my perfectly awful version of "One Way Or Another." My theory about kareoke is this ... you're going to suck, so you might as well suck with GUSTO.

Heh.

Next: Day Seven