- submitted by Derek Post
My riding partner and I headed to the show, getting there at 9:45. With our e-tickets, we were in when the doors opened and didn’t have to wait in the long line. Once inside we were greeted by some very eye-catching women handing out the loot bags.
After a stop by the custom earplug stand, John and I wandered around looking at the various stands for a couple hours.
I ran into Rod at the Cycle Gadgets stand, with mention of Drew, Price and Don wandering around the show as well. John and I ran into Gene and his son Cameron at the Yamaha stand.
I did have the pleasure of running into the beautiful Jemee at the BMW stand, she and I met at Mid-Ohio last year when I test rode the R1200GS, I was quite surprised when she remembered me...(not that it mattered, because I knew even at that moment that someone even more beautiful was out there, waiting for me, and all I had to do was find her.)
Sorry...back to the subject at hand. Jemee and I talked about the BMW rally schedule for the year. She told me that they will set the final schedule after the Daytona show (posted to the BMW site). They (the marketing company for BMW) are trying to make more rallies this year I hinted that she needed to be at the Dells. With a promise to meet up again this year, I said goodbye.
After signing up to win a trip to Australia from Edelweiss, John and I were getting bored. So we headed for the barn, thinking that some beer might be getting stale.
Unfortunately, I felt that the venue was too small and was very crowded as a result. I personally found the show much smaller than the Chicago Show. It seemed that was more vendors at the Chicago show. I felt that the Minneapolis show had too many non-motorcycle related vendors pawning trinkets and other yuppie rider items.
This rider will be headed to the Chicago show next year, with a hotel connecting to the Rosemont Convention Center!
So, if you are heading to the Chicago show, hope its better than that Minneapolis show.