Bootheel Riders

2009 Springfest Motorcycle and Car Show

2009-06-02T06:17:00.004-05:00

The 2009 Springfest was a big success for the Bootheel Riders and for the charities we work with. Thanks to all those who participated. Random bike pics from this year's show:

Some of the Cars:

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It's an Avanti, in case you're wondering:

Presentations Etc.

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DJ Sonny and Joy are set up...

Stan, Joy, & Mark handle the presentations:

Mike Prince walks off with his trophy:

The CMA group from Piggott wins the participation award:

The winner of the Visa Raffle, Mr. W. from Malden:

This year's Springfest featured some new things,

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Like live musical talent

And a Tug-of-War contest, which the CMA group from Piggott won! They now have the trophy and official bragging rights, UNTIL next year!

Plenty of things for kids to do as well...

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St. Jude Texas Hold'em Tournament

2009-01-18T00:12:00.004-06:00

Thanks to all who came out for the St. Jude Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and the players enjoyed a good poker game along with free food!

The game begins:

Some of the tables:

The final table, complete with gallery:

And the Winners are:

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Floyd Hooten, 1st (center) . Mike Flynn, 2nd (left) . Stan Partin, 3rd (right) . Thanks to everyone who came out and played!

Arkansas Ozarks

2008-09-29T14:20:00.004-05:00

Just back from a nice ride through the Ozarks in Arkansas. I had the chance to travel on some roads I hadn't seen yet near Norfork Lake:

Hwy 341 (Push Mountain road)- great bike road, excellent scenery. Be careful on the north end near Salesville- the road surface is flaking, making for an interesting ride in the turns...

Hwy 14 (from Push Mountain road to Allison)- great scenery, easy road to ride. If you took Hwy 341 fast, you'll need the break.

Hwy 9 (Allison to Melbourne)- this has to be one of the best bike roads in the whole state- DON'T look at the amazing scenery, for your own safety- there's no time to look away from the road. Near Allison, hwy 9 basically has no shoulder, no guard rails, and a large part of it drops off immediately by the road. This is a "NO mistakes" road. Enjoy!

2008 Springfest Car & Bike Show

2008-05-26T18:17:00.005-05:00

Went well this year, despite a lighter turnout in the car category... (too many conflicting car events in the area) The Riders managed to raise an impressive sum of money for local charity work.

The weather was perfect, and it seemed that the vendors were happy with the crowd. A handful of pics:

Some of the bikes:

The Riders preparing for the crowd and festivities:

Other cool rides:

Now That's a Cool Car

2008-05-26T18:13:00.001-05:00

It's That Time Again

2008-05-13T12:21:00.004-05:00

Springfest Car & Bike Show is this weekend, the 17th. Joy tells me that the weather forecast looks good, and we should have an excellent vendor turnout this year. We are expecting good participation in terms of bikes and cars. Members should contact Joy or Mike if you have any last-minute questions.

Members should notice that not only is the sponsor list on the Bootheel Riders home page growing, but you can see that not all of our sponsor support is coming just from Portageville. There are numerous sponsors from other communities across the country. Perhaps the Bootheel Riders are gaining a positive image with those we deal with across the region!

Season of the Bike

2008-01-25T10:10:00.000-06:00

I've always had difficulty trying to explain to non-riders why I ride... I found this over on the Killboy blog- this guy gets very close to explaining the essence of riding; check it out:

There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle. Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold. The wind's big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don't even feel like water. They feel like shards of bone fallen from the skies of Hell to pock my face. I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that's just an illusion, just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds.Despite this, it's hard to give up my motorcycle in the fall and I rush to get it on the road again in the spring; lapses of sanity like this are common among motorcyclists. When you let a motorcycle into your life you’re changed forever. The letters "MC" are stamped on your driver’s license right next to your sex and weight as if "motorcycle" was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition. But when warm weather finally does come around all those cold snaps and rainstorms are paid in full because a summer is worth any price.A motorcycle is not just a two-wheeled car; the difference between driving a car and climbing onto a motorcycle is the difference between watching TV and actually living your life. We spend all our time sealed in boxes and cars are just the rolling boxes that shuffle us from home-box to work-box to store-box and back, the whole time, entombed in stale air, temperature regulated, sound insulated, and smelling of carpets.On a motorcycle I know I'm alive. When I ride, even the familiar seems strange and glorious. The air has weight and substance as I push through it and its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer. I feel the cool wells of air that pool under trees and the warm spokes of that fall through them. I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around, wider than Pana-Vision and than IMAX and unrestricted by ceiling or dashboard. Sometimes I even hear music. It's like hearing phantom telephones in the shower or false doorbells when vacuuming; the pattern-loving brain, seeking signals in the noise, raises acoustic ghosts out of the wind's roar. But on a motorcycle I hear whole songs: rock 'n roll, dark orchestras, women's voices, all hidden in the air and released by speed. At 30 miles per hour and up, smells become uncannily vivid. All the individual tree- smells and flower- smells and grass-smells flit by like chemical notes in a great plant symphony. Sometimes the smells evoke memories so strongly that it’s as though the past hangs invisible in the air around me, wanting only the most casual of rumbling time machines to unlock it. A ride on a summer afternoon can border on the rapturous. The sheer volume and variety of stimuli is like a bath for my nervous system, an electrical massage for my brain, a systems check for my soul. It tears smiles out of me: a minute ago I was dour, depressed, apathetic, numb, but now, on two wheels, big, ragged, windy smiles flap against the side of my face, billowing out of me like air from a decompressing plane.Transportation is only a secondary function. A motorcycle is a joy machine. It's a machine of wonders, a metal bird, a motorized prosthetic. It's light and dark and shiny and dirty and warm and cold lapping over each other; it's a conduit of grace, it's a catalyst for bonding the gritty and the holy. I still think of myself as a motorcycle amateur, but by now I've had a handful of bikes over half a dozen years and slept under my share of bridges. I wouldn't trade one second of either the good times or the misery. Learning to ride one of the best things I've done.Cars lie to us and tell us we're safe, powerful, and in control. The air-conditioning fans murmur empty assurances and whisper, "Sleep, sleep." Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that's no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride.

More Main Street

2007-10-22T05:41:00.000-05:00

Main Street Madness Bike Show

2007-10-19T06:56:00.000-05:00

Just Back

2007-08-16T09:53:00.000-05:00

From a great ride to the Florida Keys, and wouldn't you know it, I lost my camera... I did manage to find a few good places to eat, if you're passing through:

Atlanta, GA (Vinings/Marietta) Bella's Pizzeria Good all-around, huge slices.
Gainesville, FL La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant Some of the best quesadillas you will ever eat!
Key Largo, FL The Fish House Can't beat fresh seafood in a very laid-back restaurant...
Key Largo, FL Mr. C's Homemade Ice Cream Speaks for itself.

Don't Forget

2007-07-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

that motorcycles are transportation, too...

2007-06-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

2007-06-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

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MAY 19TH, MOTORCYCLE & CAR SHOW PICS

2007-06-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

MORE PICS FROM OUR VACATION

2007-06-26T20:23:00.000-05:00

OUR NEW FRIEND, ALEX FROM THE UKRAINE

OUR FAVORITE THING TO DO, STOP AND EAT!

BALD RIVERS FALLS - TELLICO PLAINS,TN

2007-06-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

NORTH CAROLINA VACATION

2007-06-26T19:40:00.000-05:00

RELAXING AROUND THE POOL IN NASHVILLE

JACK DANIELS DISTILLERY-LYNCHBURG,TN

2007 Springfest

2007-05-22T00:36:00.001-05:00

Turned out pretty well. Here are some of my pics, but other members should certainly post their own pics or comment about Springfest on this post:

The Real Bike of the Month,

2007-04-23T07:12:00.000-05:00

according to Stan P:

I don't know... What do you think?

Random Motorcycle Picture of the Month

2007-04-06T15:42:00.000-05:00

Here's an Example

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of what members can do with a post: (a few pics from my ride last year, passing through 29 Dreams Motorcycle Resort, Birmingham, and the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum)

Welcome

2007-03-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

to the blog of the Bootheel Riders. Our motorcycle club is organized for charity work and plenty of rides and fun for the members... This blog will be a place for members of the club to post about their rides, recommendations to other club members, and any club-related experiences they wish. Feel free to comment, and check out our website- www.bootheelriders.org Enjoy!