We went to the Buffalo Chip on Monday. We really had a full day and night there. As you can see from the pictures above, it was packed. John McCain and his family were there for a presentation and tribute to the veterans. It was pretty exciting watching the security get ready for his appearance. Here you have thousands of motorcyclists who had been partying hardy before there arrival. They have a fenced in area in front of the stage and they let so many 100 bikers bring their bikes in to sit on to watch the show. So just as Jim and I got there, they announced they would be doing a security sweep and anyone who wanted to get their bikes out of the fenced in area were welcome to do so before the search, otherwise their bikes would be searched. Only a very few moved their bikes because they had prime seating in front of the stage area. While we were waiting in line for the search to be over, we met two sisters who were out and out Obama haters and loved McCain. One of sisters is in pic above, along with another McCain supporter as you can see from his sign. We met several people just standing out in front of the gate, and had a lot of fun talking to them. Somebody was so lucky with the motorcycle search; they found pot in his bags. We never did get to see who owned the bike, but the pic above is them searching and finding the pot. They finally let us in and we had to go through metal detectors and they searched our chairs, camera and my purse. They did it for everyone entering the staging area - I was impressed how well they got the lines through with all those people. Anyway, we put our chairs right up front of the stage (about 20 ft away) and settled in for the wait. Of course it wasn't a problem waiting, because we met more people to sit and talk to. Then the buzzing really got started when a half dozen snipers with their guns got on the roof of the stage. (see pic above). Then we started looking around and you'd see these guys with clean jeans and pressed shirts and ball caps standing about trying to fit in and we noticed the wire on the sides of their heads which indicated they were secret service guys. I couldn't image having their responsibility in that huge rowdy crowed. The guy in front of us (Sean) had his motorcycle and he put up bungee cords across the backs of several bikes of people he was with so the crowd wouldn't push through. It was great for Jim and I because we sat right up to the bungee cords and no one got in front of us. Sean was a hoot. He had this apron with a woman's body (see pic above). He kept slipping it on and woman all around us where flashing him. Ed and Jim kept thanking him for all the good scenery! Anyway, when McCain and his family finally came on, the bikers went crazy revving their engines and the crowd was clapping and cheering so hard it was amazing. He gave a short little speech mainly thanking the veterans for their support. He only zinged Obama once when he said, "my opponent thinks we can solve the gas problem by keeping our tires aired up and although keeping our tires aired properly is a good thing, its going to take more than that..." His wife gave a speech too and again she was focused on the veterans. It was really awesome being their and being that close to all the action. I'm sure McCain was happy with the huge welcoming reception he got. When he closed his speech, the bikers revved their engines til he and the snipers were gone from the stage. After a little while, Kelly Pickler, (from American Idol) came out and did a concert. She was great. She has some really great songs coming out. You could tell she had a ball doing the concert even though she seemed a little shy and inexperienced. Then Kid Rock came out. My goodness did he put on a show. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even Ed and Jim liked some of his songs. He did a little of everything -- rock, hard rock, rap, country, honky tonk, and some comedy. He also did a gig where he went around the stage and played every instrument his band used. It was pretty awesome. The crowd went crazy the whole time he was on stage. I would say it was a very high energy talented show. It took us almost 2 hours getting back to the camp sight, which is only about 12 miles away. The campground (Glen Co) across from the Buffalo Chip had the band Kiss there. So I think everyone who went to the rally was either at Kiss or Kid Rock concerts on Monday. I never saw so many people and bikers in one place. There are definitely more bikers here this year than last year. It's pretty amazing. Tuesday, Jim, Ed and I went over to Dean and Mary's for a little get together then we all walked over to an event called the 1/2 mile flat track race. What a fun time we had. Those bikes flew around the track. Dean used to race when he was younger and he was also one of the workers at the race; so it was pretty handy having him sit with us explaining who the racers were, and what their track records were. At first I was a nervous wreck watching because it started off with teens and I was scared they were going to get killed. But Dean explained that it is very rare that they get hurt at all. They wear a metal boot on their left side that helps them take the curves as they put their leg down to keep the bike up as it rounds the curve and of course they are dressed in all leathers and have their helmets. There were 3 wrecks while we watch that afternoon, but just as Dean said, they didn't get hurt; their bikes did but they got up and walked away. I'm sure they got some bruises. One guy who was running second in a race, slid off the track as he rounded a curve, got up hopped on his bike and still managed to come back in second. It was amazing. They run about 8 laps and on the final lap he caught up. Friends that we met that are camping in Deans yard, were racing too. Its a grandfather and grandson team. The grandfather, John, came in 3rd in two of the top races. The races lasted all day, and by that evening we were too tired to go into town to check out the sites, so we went home and had a quiet evening. It was a good thing too; we no sooner got home when a huge storm came in with rain, hale and high winds. We sat in the motorhome and watched the bikers out on the highway trying to get back to their camps while we were cozy and dry. Wednesday, we have another big concert. We are going to see Kenny Chesney out at Glenco. We're looking forward to it.
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