|
|
For the first IRIP I wrote the following:
"...In all my years of working with the public, I can honestly say that I have never encountered a better group of people than the ones I am about to write of, the Iron Indian Riders Association. (Hereafter referred to as the IIRA)..."
That still stands.
The excitement created by the first rally generated a buzz that lasted for the better part of 6 months. The forum had literally 100s to 1,000s of hits from folks interested in what was all the commotion about with Branson and this Indian Rally. Pretty soon it was a case of needing to be here just to catch up on the excitement. We had to expand our list of available lodges as we sold out quickly. What follows is just a taste of the beautiful time that was had by all.
A rider from Ohio by the name of Iron Indian Dave encapsulated the event perfectly in one succint sentence. He said "Mike, this is not a rally, it is a homecoming" It was the most beautiful statement I had heard all week and it was nice to know everyone felt this way. And for Handan and I, it was like seeing our family come home all over again.
If you missed it, you missed something beautiful. Hard to describe it any other way than that. From the first day to the last, quite simply this is the BEST event on Indian Point and we are honored to be a part of it.
To
kick off the festivities, we held a fishing tournament on Tuesday down on
Lake Taneycomo with Big Shive, PETE, stevene, Joker, Chooch and myself.
I had been really looking forward to this event as I remembered last years
outing of Chooch and stevene landed some nice fish and heard from stevene
that Chooch was quite knowledgeable about flyfishing. Given that guides
on Taneycomo typically charge $275 a day for 2 people, we opted out of that
choice and went for the private boat rental of $160 for the day and tapped
into Chooch's expertise. That turned out to be the best decision we could
have made. Chooch was a walking Orvis Flyfishing School cacaphony of information.
And the best part of it was his patience. 
Chooch
made sure everyone on the boat was attended to and taught the finer points
of trout fishing to all of us.
Over
30 fish were taken that day with 11 keepers and a 100 plus misses. Other
than a brief pit stop, the entire time was spent chasing fish. Even though
the sun was relentless that day, I for one, was disappointed when the others
said they were ready to head back. This brief time on the lake was a great
opportunity to spend some quality time with the 5 guys and I will remember
it fondly.
Here
in Branson, chainsaw wood carving is a big deal. You will see bears, eagles,
benches etc. all carved out of cedar or elm. Wanting to give the riders
something special of their own, we hired a local artist to sculpt an Indian
motor along with the scripting at the base. I have never seen anything like
this so was not sure if it could be done. Wednesday afternoon the artist
arrived and we did the unveiling with about 50 of the riders there. 
Rusty (the artist) told me just before I pulled the cover off that he was about to be sick. Anxiety was overtaking him as he wanted everyone there to be happy with his work. I winked at him and told him "Rusty, if it says 'Indian" on it, they'll love it"
The
cover came off and a lot of applause followed. (Much to Rusty's relief)
Numerous folks wanted to photograph or be photographed with the carving
afterwards so in short, it appears that it was a hit with everyone. Even
better, it has become quite the conversational piece here at the resort
with follow up guests. Makes a nice ice breaker for telling our guests about
the IRIP.
Later
on that night, several resorts set out to do something nice for the riders.
The
Cottages donated their boat for tours around Table Rock Lake, Stillwaters
hired a Native American musician and did a cookout. Hunter's Friend and
The Cottages did a dinner for about 100 people at their pavilion and closed
out the night with Karaoke.
No one will ever think of Big Shive the same way. Besides being an overall great guy, he proved that he could sing with the best of them. Last year was Blue Lou, this year was Big Shive. Wonder who will be next years chosen crooner. I would like to send out a special thanks to my folks, my in-laws, Diane and Bob at the Cottages and the staff at Stillwaters for all their help making Wednesday evening a strong success.
Thursday's
event had been kept under wraps as a special day for the riders. Months
before the IRIP I spoke with the city about having an Iron Indian day in
Galena, MO. Knowing that the Arizona Strayfeathers were going to set up
biker games for the day, it seemed like a perfect match. Funds generated
that day through concessionaires and best of show would be put to charity
for the city's Parks and Recreation board. 
It was a beautiful ride out to Galena with police escorts from 5 different departments getting involved. I later learned from residents of Branson West that many of them had heard beforehand we would be coming through and the spectacle of that many bikes rolling through town was well received and anticipated.
Rounding the bend into Galena, I seen that the city had placed a banner up on the railroad tracks for the Iron Indian Riders, welcoming them to the city. Unfortunately, the wind caused the sign to blow upwards making it tough for other riders to see it. Still, it was a nice gesture overall and relieved my concern over how we would be received.
Coming into the town, I was surprised to see they had blocked off the entire town square for us, using a firetruck at one end and a police car at the other.
A brief welcome speech was given by the Chamber of Commerce along with a certificate declaring May 19th, Iron Indian Day in Galena, MO. At this point we turned the festivities over to the Arizona Strayfeathers who provided the evening entertainment with their biker games. John and Adam Kautz went SO far overboard preparing the events that it is impossible to express enough gratitude to them for all their hardwork and assistance in pulling this off. Singlehandedly, they made the day one to remember forever. I was even able to win a trophy for myself. I had no clue that simply laying down your bike would win you the coveted "Idiot dumped his bike" award.
At the end of the games a Best of Show contest was held with all proceeds going to our selected charity. 1BIGdogg's bike was declared the winner. And as they always say, in these kind of events there are no losers. Just a beautiful day all the way around.
Once
we arrived back at the resorts a special treat was in store for the riders.
A PA system was set up for Posie and Blackhawk who did a wonderful Q&A
session with about 70 people listening on. It was apparent from those in
attendance, many learned valuable bits of information from these 2 masters
of the craft and their time speaking to the riders was greatly appreciated.
Friday kicked off with breakfast provided by Golden Corral
followed by a small ride led by Will Fuller (Cowboy) through the Ozarks.
Other
riders took off to Alpena, AR. where they hooked up with a novelty cafe
ran by a guy named "Frenchy"- at his 
Indian
Motorcycle Cafe. Needless to say, next years IRIP will have to schedule
in a trip to Frenchy's place. Everyone who went there agreed it was a highlight
of the IRIP. Note to Frenchy - prepare...BIG
Friday
evening the IRIP kicked into high gear with our first ever wedding for Joe
Joe Guns and his soon to be beautiful bride Kelly. Ceremonies were officiated
by handyman and dinner hosted outdoors by Golden Corral, accompanied by
a live band out of Branson West. The meal went well but the band had quite
a few problems with power load distribution. After kicking the circuit breaker
the second time, we had to obtain a 50 amp cord which helped to even out
the load, but still lost power once more.
Eventually, the band was able to play a few more songs before turning over the microphone for a charity auction in memory of Mike Wilson - Benefit 4 Kids.
colo.gw
was kind enough to donate some handmade chrome holders for the air breather
and his wife donated 2 sets of Indian head earrings. At the end of the auction,
between bidding and raffle tickets, we had raised $1,016 for B4K. Really
beautiful and greatly appreciated.
Then the highlight for many of us finally came Friday night when David Wright took over the microphone and demonstrated his passion for Indian Motorcycle and how they would return the line to its once proud heritage. Dave originally was asked to only speak for 10 minutes, but you could sense early on he wanted to demonstrate his conviction to those in attendance and his speech ended up going for close to 1 hour. At the conclusion of his speech, Dave had convinced many there that the new owners of Indian would take their job to heart with a conviction lacking previously. Dave received endless applause and congratulations based on his strong presentation and folks walked away feeling a lot better. Best of luck to him and his company.
 |
Saturday everyone broke into smaller groups and headed out either into the city or the Ozarks. Some of us hit the lakes while others whiled away the day at the pools. All of us knew that tomorrow would bring the close and didn't want to see it come to an end.
Finally, everyone departed Indian Point and I was left to ponder this beautiful gathering. Simple in its concept, easy for it's location, and made wonderful because of all the fantastic people that attended. Great, great friends I have made over the past year and a half. The members of the IIRA. The whole time pondering to myself how to make it more memorable than it ever has been and I think we have something we are onto.
Next years event will kick off on the 14th of May and go through the 21st of May, 2006. It will mark the final IRIP that Handan and I will organize and I promise we will go out with a bang and it will be a big'gun. (That's Missouri for HUGE, FANTASTIC, UNBELIEVEABLE and so on...)
And with that I looked to the sunset reflecting on all of this and here was what I saw.
A perfect Missouri sunset on the 23rd of May, 2005. The culmination of a perfect week with perfect friends. It was a fitting tribute to a beautiful gathering.
But the more I looked at it and pondered, the more I realized this sunset looked like a firestorm. Sweeping down from the heavens. A precursor to the awesome storm that will soon come to Indian Point for the 3rd Indian Rally on Indian Point.
That storm's name is Oz-ee. Be prepared to be smoked!
Michael and Handan Kugler
