It Had To Be Done Part 1

I’ve survived my first biker rally.

Yes, you read that right. I originally wasn’t supposed to go with my parents, but somebody ended up changing his or her minds. It started after my parents went to the rally last month. I heard all this talk that Boogie, which is the one held in early July, it has a lot of hills and isn’t very handicapped accessible. When my parents got back from it, they agreed that I wouldn’t have lasted long being there and driving my wheelchair around either. When my mom came in my room that day she picked me up from a friend’s house that they were going to go to another rally in two weeks. I was instantly jealous and angered because in TWO weeks they’d go to another one! Our plan was to leave me with my sister for the whole weekend. I think she could do it. It’s not like we’ve never been at home alone before, you know? Well, then last week my mom was washing my hair and she told me something that I just wasn’t expecting because it’s usually her doing this sort of thing. Apparently, my dad had second thoughts and wondered about taking me with them this time around. When she said this, I was a bit amazed.

I know all about these biker rallies, what goes on and what apparently comes off. The drunks, naked people smoke, and a sea of motorcycles. Lucky for me, I’ve seen all of these at some point in my life. I didn’t see anything bad in it. When I got up Friday morning, I got up WAY too early. I got up at 9am and I had a late night. My mom had been dropping hints all morning long. She shaved my legs, asked how much money nana owed me, and washed my hair (which was something she was going to do anyways) so I kind of already knew but I didn’t want to get myself all excited and find out they weren’t going to take me. My parents came into my room yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to go, I was a bit indecisive because I didn’t want to ruin their fun but I was already beaming from ear-to-ear that I could not contain my excitement anymore. My dad had already been up there once getting everything ready, as far as registering and setting up our tent.. Oh, yeah and I camped outside. I was in Girl Scouts while I was in school and that was the one thing you couldn’t pay me to do but I knew that this would be an adventure for not only myself but also my mom, whose never camped out in a tent either. We took my powered wheelchair and even took my little commode, which ended up being the most difficult thing to do then besides getting me in and out of the tent

When we were finally loaded up and everything I was in rare form, a mixture of nervous but excited. Dad drove his bike up there and my mom drove her car and I rode in the front seat as the whole back-end of the car was too packed for even my butt to sit in the full seat. It was kind of strange for me to be asking my mom all of these random questions of these rallies. Even though, she’s only been to that one she still had some answers to my questions. We ended going into one of the first places I remember growing up. Washington, it was so weird because anytime we go there we only end up still on the main highway and going to the restaurant or Wal-Mart. So when we ended up going through one part of the town, I was looking around like a kid in a candy store, remembering different things that has changed drastically. Like, there is this hotel that for years advertised on the sign when you drive right past it, said “Free cable.” Now it the sign says “Free WiFi” I didn’t know if I should be surprised or not. Things has changed around since I was last there. The pool has been turned into a damn water park. It was all a bit weird to me, it made feel old. We went through two other towns after that, Plainville and Elnora. Plainville was the place as kids, my sister and I used to call it “stinky town” because it smelled awful. Still does. Elnora is nicknamed “cheesy town” and another childhood memory for you, they have these two brides and my sister and I used to raise our butts off the seats in the back of the car and lay our heads back and watch the ralls from the bridge above us pass us by. I can’t do that in my mom’s car and yes, I tried.

When we finally hit Newberry, and saw this little sign that said “last stop before Plummer” that mixture of nerves and excitement hit me again for the second time. We we got there, my mom had to sign a couple of papers and then this lady came up to my door and my mom rolled down my window so she could put the bracelets we needed to get in and out of the property on my right ankle. Once that was finished we finally went inside and it was so surreal. All these people walking around and leaning up against their bikes. We pulled up against a part were our neighbors were and set up camp there, but the only thing we need to set up was getting my stuff off the back of the car. Our neighbors knew I was going the entire time but couldn’t tell me. It was okay, I had temptations of telling my friend Sammy that I was coming and I was like, no I want to surprise her. Well, jokes on me! After my mom put me in my wheelchair I was all ready to walk around and check out different venues and see the different bikes. Yeah, blame that second part on my dad. I’m as into these damn bikes as he is, but that’s how I was raised though. Being around all of these bikes and hearing them reff up everywhere you turned your head was such an adrenaline rush. I think it took us about ten or twenty minutes before we just starting walking around the place and meeting different people. Everybody was no nice and greeted you so sweetly. I’m slightly a shy person at first so it takes me a bit to get comfortable with random people but I try to stay grounded and polite as possible. Going around the first time wasn’t so bad. I knew I had to watch the hills and the gravel, as I have a problem with the heel of my foot slipping of my joystick without a warning. We went into some venues that sold patches and the guy that was doing the first one we went into gave me a Sylvester and Tweety Bird patch. Looks like I’m going to have to get a leather jacket now.

Everybody was so nice while we were just walking around the park. Moved out-of-the-way without hardly any complaints from anybody and it’s been a few years since I’ve actually ran over people’s feet and out of all the places to break that record you go to a biker rally were they have concerts and backing up in a slow speed with three or four around you keeping you safe from strange body parts from hitting you, you’re going to run over some feet. Luckily, I knew I would do it and didn’t bother me as much until I realized I actually knew about two people who I ran over with my back tires, one of which had flip-flops on. She hasn’t seen me in years and I ended up getting her foot last night. My bad! I was very impressed with myself on how well I was able to stop and get through all of the bikes, all the while point to my favorite ones to my mom throughout both days. We had to been back at the camp site around 5pm. It was hot and I was just starting to feel the heat. My mom had brought stuff to make ham and cheese sandwiches and I was starving by that time so I stuffed one down and I was doing a pretty good jump on keeping myself hydrated and a family friends let me borrow this awesome cooler wrap of some sort. It was (excuse my language) fucking cold on my neck but really worth it when my mom and I decided to go on another walk. We hit the same venues but this time I found and got a shirt. It was the one I originally wanted but it still looks badass though, it’s white, gray, and pink/purple and it’s got a bike on the front of it and a pair of angels on the back and it was only $15 too. The whole time the different bands that would be playing that night were doing soundchecks and around 6:30ish one of the bands were already starting. We were back up at the camp when they started and I was enjoying everybody’s company around me.

We spent about the rest of the evening down by the stage watching the bands perform. We didn’t get back to our camp until I think I remember my dad saying around midnight. You should have seen all three of us getting into that damn tent. That was probably one of the most weirdest things ever, the fact that my dad and I couldn’t control our laughter because I thought it would be easier for me to sleep in between them in case I fell off the air mattress, which is what happened when my mom put me in there. I went to roll over away from the door and I went tumbling right over the damn mattress. I was stuck there until I flipped over with all my might. Sleeping in the middle was actually a smart idea at first, since my pants kept getting caught on the mattress I basically had to use my dad as leverage to turn around. I also didn’t have to worry about being cold because being around the both of them I was warm and toasty. We knew that before we left the house it was supposed to rain/thunderstorm sometime Saturday morning. It started around 4am, and I’m not a fan of lightning or thunder in the house and I don’t know why but I felt so comfortable with having a somewhat front row seat to all of the intense sounds, hearing and feeling the ground shake underneath after a big boomer was pretty interesting, you wouldn’t think there would be a difference than being inside a house or laying on the ground but there was. It felt at one with the Earth and no, I am/wasn’t drunk during this time! One of the things that I was really enjoying was how many females bikers there were. When we first got through the gates, the first bike I saw was a woman driver and I don’t know why but it made me really happy. A lot of people think that only men can drive a bike or should be allowed to drive one. I firmly disagree with that statement. I think sometimes a woman on a bike can look more badass with some of these men. My neighbor, we call her “Mama” in our little clique, she drives her own motorcycle and I feel proud of that. My mom will never get her own bike. She likes riding on the bike on the back of my dad’s too much. I wish she did though so I could take her place on dad’s bike.