ROK'On
RALLY TIME!
Rally 2006
Plan now to join the BMW Riders of Knoxville for our ROK' On Rally 2006! Once again it will be held in Newport, Tennessee, September 1-3, 2006, at the Newport KOA. Come enjoy some of the East's great motorcycling roads. Newport is within easy riding distance of Deal's Gap and the world famous Highway 129 - The Dragon, the Great Smokey Moutians, the flowing Cherohala Skyway, and hundreds of miles of great roads you have never even heard about. If you just want to relax for a couple of days then come sit around a campfire and share stories of the road, enjoy a cold beverage, eat some of Dave's famous White Chicken Chillie, or hang around the Club House and watch a great motorccyle related DVD or video with friends old and new.
BMW ROK always has a pot of Dave's Chillie on the stove, nacho's with hot cheese or salsa, fresh popped corn, and plenty of cold water, lemonade, or tea. On Saturday evenings BMW ROK whoops up a big pot of Jambalaya and the night is toped off by the presentation of door prizes. Last year BMW ROK gave away some great prizes just for being our guests, inluding riding gear, a motorcycle camping sleeping bag, and a power washer to keep that road grim off your favorite ride.
Along with great food the Club House is also your source for information of all sorts. Begining in 2005 BMW ROK members set up a laptop computer with mapping software to customize your own personal ride route, whether it was for one of a kind day ride, or a maybe just a new route home. Club members also lay out a pretty impressive array of motorcycle related books and magazines for your reading pleasure. Top that off with a fabulous assortment of hard to find or out of print Motorcycle DVD's and videos. Who can resist seeing On Any Sunday just one more time? So, if the day is too hot or too wet for a ride, come on into the clubhouse and enjoy a good book or a great movie while in the company of great friends.
2005 Rally Re-Cap In Case you missed it:
The 2005 ROK’on Rally is over and while the numbers (of attendees) may not have made this year’s Rally the largest ever, it was without a doubt a huge success. It seems the ROK can not have a Rally without inviting some sort of national disaster or major crisis occurring at the same time, and 2005 was no exception. With the devastation of Katrina on everyone’s mind and gas prices soaring to unheard of US levels, the Rally had two strikes against a good turn-out already in the bag. However, gas was available and 88 souls made the decision to come to Newport or else. There is a rumor going around that the famous Dave’s white chicken chili may be the real reason, but we don’t care why they came, we are just glad they did.
While Mother Nature was dishing out some serious weather to the Gulf Coast States she couldn’t have handed ROK a much nicer weekend for a Rally. It was sunny and warm, but not too hot, and evenings were cool and pleasant. That added up to a perfect weekend for riding, and people got out and did just that. Rally attendees came from the Mid-west, the Carolinas , Florida , and points in between. We had tent campers, cabin campers and a couple of folks with “Toy-Haulers“ RV’s with bikes in the back ready to ride. Jason had his laptop computer on hand and made custom ride maps for anyone wishing to personalize their Eat Tennessee riding experience. I think this was a big hit with our attendees, and definitely a ROK Rally specialty that should be continued in the future. Not only did Jason map out local rides for folks, but he also produced maps showing new routes for the ride home for many of the out of our town attendees. Thanks Jason, and I think many of our guests thank you too.
The new kitchen/club house facilities at the Newport KOA Rally site were a big hit with everyone. Not only did it provide ROK rally worked a good clean environment to prepare food, but it also became a Mecca for camaraderie and good conversation. Virtual all of these folks are motorcycle travelers and adventurers and have lots of stories, tips, and good ideas to share with their fellow riders, and the Club House provided an excellent setting for that. ROK provided hot food there almost around the clock. There was always cold lemonade, ice water, tea, and coffee available, as well as freshly popped popcorn and nachos with cheese. Another appreciated feature in the Club House was the TV, VCR and DVD entertainment area. It amazed me personally how many of these veteran travelers would freeze dead in the tracks when the introduction music for the classic On Any Sunday began to play. Thanks to Dave and Sharon Erny and Phil Daulton there was a non-stop supply of great motorcycle related movies and documentaries available for anyone to watch anytime they wanted to sit back, relax, and enjoy. I think folks really enjoyed seeing movies they couldn’t normally see at home or on regular TV, or perhaps had not seen in many years. The Erny’s and Phil have spent many years collecting and searching out these hard to find and sometimes forgotten films, so again, thanks for sharing them with us. On Any Sunday started many conversations about when “I” first saw this”, or “Hey, that was like the first bike I ever had”. It added a nice touch to the Rally and proved to be a great ice-breaker to meet and make new friends.
On Saturday evening we all met in the KOA’s covered picnic shelter and drew for door prizes and grand prizes. This year ROK had two great grand prizes to give away; thanks to the generosity of Dave and Julie Corl of Gear-up Motorsports and The power washer guy we had a very nice motorcycle friendly camping sleeping bag and a portable power washer. If you have never seen one of these “wall-climber” sleeping bags, do yourself a favor and check them out n Gear Up’s website or better yet, swing by there store (address) and check them out. We gave away leather riding gear, gift certificates from a couple of Knoxville area motorcycle dealers, and many other motorcycle related gifts. Afterwards anyone who wanted to participate was invited to the KOA furnished karaoke show right there in the picnic shelter.
Sunday morning came all too soon for many folks, and while some packed up and hit the road early, many lingered and took their time breaking camp. It was almost as if many were reluctant to leave such beautiful weather and country and all the new friends they had made, or olds ones they had caught up with. ROK provided doughnuts and hot coffee for any who wanted it and saw everyone off for what we all hope was a safe and enjoyable ride home.
This was the first time I had ever spent the entire weekend at one of the ROK rallies. I came away with an entirely new view of what going to a smaller motorcycle rally is all about. I met some great people who all shared the same basic interests that I do – motorcycling. I watched as my fellow ROK’ers worked hard to feed our guest and make sure their experience was a pleasurable one. I heard many, many compliments about how well ROK treats their rally attendees. I heard a lot of folks say that’s why they like to come to the ROK’ On Rally and why they will be back again next year. I left knowing I would be back for sure.
While I think the true worth of any event such as the ROK’ On Rally has to be measured in much more than simple numbers, here are the numbers of how the event went. Dave Erny supplied us with the following tables of what we spent, how many attended, and whether or not we went in the hole, broke even, or made a little money. I also want to thank Cindy Dobrianski for giving Dave the numbers for attendees and Rally fee totals.
So, as you can see ROK Rally Fund made a little bit of money on the 2005 Rally. These funds will be used to get ready for next year’s rally and to purchase a few more pieces of equipment we need to make the Rally workers lives a tiny bit easier in the future. Thanks to all of you who attended the Rally and a big THANK YOU to all who helped so hard and diligently to make the 2005 ROK’ On Rally such a success.
