Back in the room we reviewed the registration material and decided we would go on the observation ride. This is a 50 mile ride in and around the Petersburg area. Well, after riding to the rally we got tired and decided not to finish the observation ride. Of course trying to get back to the hotel we got lost again. Fortunately the Petersburg police are awesome and were very helpful getting us back to our hotel.
Thursday nights dinner was Arbys. However, I have never been in an Arbys like this one. First off, it was huge, it had an inside and an outside dining area. When we ordered they gave us a pager so we could get our drinks and find a seat instead of standing there like an idiot waiting for our food. Oh, and did I mention there were four restaurants counting Arbys and an ice cream shop. For an Arbys it was pretty cool.
Back to the hotel, hit the hot tub and the pool. Back to the room and good nights sleep.
Friday was a very busy day there were a ton of events with the rally and we didn't do any of them. We wanted to do the poker run and they also had guided rides to the Petersbug national battlefield. Never made it, instead we hopped on the bike and visited the hosting dealer which was Colonial HD. That's where all of the vendors were along with different events throughout the weekend including Harley demo rides and a NASCAR simulator. After wandering around, buying sunglasses for myself and the wife and a new POW head rag for me we got back on the bike for some more riding. Friday night was the parade of flags in Old town and the lighted bike show. Being one who always worries about everything I wanted to visit old town to get the lay-of-the-land before the evening festivities. Well, when we got to old town Debbie decided she wanted to tour Blandford church and cemetery.
To be honest being a bit of a history buff I didn't put up much of a fight. This church was built in 1735 and has a very unique history. The main attraction are the 15 widows designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York, yeah, that Tiffany. Anyway, this tour led to several more tours. If you enjoy history and you have never visited Petersburg before your missing a lot.
After the church and several museums it was time to get something to eat, well actually it was past time to get something to eat. Since we knew we were returning for the parade and we would probably be eating junk food we decided to hit Denny's on the way back to the hotel. After a big lunch we returned to the hotel and relaxed for a while before heading back to old town for the evening festivities.
To be honest I was a little disappointed in the parade. They were expecting about 2000 bikes and my guess was they didn't get half that many. I guess I can't complain too much, if I didn't ride in the parade why should expect others to do so. Anyway, They had at least 2000 bikes in old town on Friday night. There were bikes everywhere. Okay, so it wasn't Sturgis or Daytona, but the locals seemed to be impressed and everyone really seemed to be having a good time. There were food vendors set up in several different locations and many of them had live music. It was basically a block party that covered several blocks.
At 9:00 it was dark enough to start the lighted bike show. This was pretty hard to capture on film but it is really pretty impressive. Folks who participate in this event spend a lot of money for different color lights on their bikes to highlight the engine and the chrome. They drive by one at a time and the spectators vote on there favorite with applause.
After the lighted bike show we headed back to the hotel and lights out.
Saturday morning we headed back to Colonial HD to watch the field events and take another walk around the vendors. After a while it started getting pretty warm so we decided we had had enough. We packed the bike that morning and had checked out of the hotel so we were ready to go and we left the dealership and headed home to Virginia Beach. Oh, did I mention I got lost again, a couple of times. But once out of Petersburg we were good to go.
This was a very good event and if you have never been to a state HOG rally I highly recommend you attend at least once, you don't know what your missing
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