Blue vs. Grey: Awards Videos

Sorry about the audio on this first clip. The phone plays it with audio, all the way through, but YouTube didn't make the cut!  So, I spent hours transcribing and subtitling as best I could.

Yay! BEST EVAR.
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Blue vs. Grey: Post Script

Given the number of comments I heard from the out-of-towners -- before they knew I had anything at all to do with scootnashville.com, that is (and truth is, I had almost nothing to do with the rally planning and execution) -- I would say this rally was a robust success. The comments were all about how well-organized, stuck-to-schedule and professionally everything was run, and it was. Those comments made me very proud of scootnashville. Everyone, without exception, seems to have had a great time, for sure.

Amy models the Grand Prize. She worked very hard with Kerry to make this one great event!

Stan (mechanic @ Scenic City Scooters, Chattanooga) hangs out after breakfast, while Oliver checks his breath. I had mints, Oliver!  :)  I didn't see many bloody marys being consumed.

Mike Wolfe noshing on a bagel, and Yours Truly, having coffee. In the foreground is Mike's souped-up, pristine blue Vespa PX200 (P200X?). He almost lost the engine out on the Trace a while back, I hear.  :)  Apparently, the nut to the main bolt came off at some point... it's not like these puppies vibrate, or anythang, right?  PROTIP: Blue Loktite, Mike. Blue Loktite.

Kerry prepares to hand out the awards, and draw for the P200.

The WINNER!  Name withheld for IRS purposes.  ;)

Willy, Hank and northdrums have a post-festivities chat.

I took about ten folx on the West Side's Best Ride, after the close of all rally activities at Sevier Park.

Norm picked up a deceased six-legged friend on the ride.

In all, this is the best rally I have ever attended. Well, it's also the first rally I've attended, too. :)  Hats off to everyone who made this possible -- the sponsors, Willy, Ross, Tonya, Graham and Amy were hugely instrumental to the very successful kickoff of what ought to be a new, can't-miss tradition for southeastern scooterists every year. Here's to 2013!
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Day Two, Part Two

Willy draws the raffle tickets. Much stuff was given away... but Kerry (Kerry!) forgot the netbook and helmet I had donated. So we'll draw for that this morning.

I didn't win anything, but I had a great time. Ross (who wasn't there) won a set of Stella pint glasses, I think, which is cool. Nashville Scene gave us an events shout-out last issue, too.

J.T. and I discuss current events outside The 5 Spot. I think J.T. won the $250 gift certificate from Scooter Mercato, and owning a Lammy and a Stella, that may come in handy.

I also got to meet Stan from Scenic City Scooters. The man, the legend.

Norm buttonholes another victim.  ;)  Just kiddin' -- Norm's a fun guy, and he doesn't drink a drop. Did Norm have a table at the swap meet?

Gee, I don't remember all that much about last night, for some reason. Being the old guy that I am, I left just after 11:00 p.m. Breakfast is in 90 minutes, and then we'll see who wants to do the ride. I passed out a few dozen copies of the QR code to that link, last night, so we'll see who's in.

Just found this from Junior @ Dimelo Motor Works. I missed this, being stuck in traffic mere minutes away on any other day.

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Day Two, Part One

A lovely young woman from Memphis, whose name I have already forgotten, sadly [it's Lettie, btw]. That's her Kymco People 150. She is here in Nashville with her husband, basking in the coolness of the first Blue vs. Grey Rally, evar. They're both with Memphis Kings, probably TN's oldest and best-known scooter club. Memphis is a four-hour interstate drive.

The scene at 9:00 a.m. in Centennial Park.

We had three rides scheduled: The fast ride, which Oliver led to Murfreesboro/Stones River Battlefield; the medium ride which I led halfway*, to Franklin via the Natchez Trace, and; the slow ride, led by Ed and Michele, to and through Percy Warner Park.

Memphis?  Atlanta? Elvis?

Kerry (L) and Willy (R) make up things to yell through the bullhorn to disturb the huge yoga class in the background.

Finally, all of the Trace riders come together at...

... Puckett's. I got most of us lost out TN 46 for a while. Nice seeing that end of 46, you have to admit.  :)

The MetLife blimp, as seen from La Vergne*.

By the time I battled hellacious interstate traffic (90 minutes to move 10 miles) and rejoined everyone at Marathon Village, Corsair Distillery's tap room was closing, and there were only two tables still set up in the Swap Meet. I missed the Slow Ride contest, which was won by one of the vendors from Atlanta. This tent  is for Scooter Mercato, one of our awesome sponsors, based in Atlanta. I bought one of their great t-shirts (pics to come).

RAFFLE BIKE, DAYLIGHT EDITION. The scooter raffle is tomorrow; the other stuff raffle is tonight at The 5 Spot. This blog, as a sponsor, donated a couple of thangs for the other stuff raffle.

Kerry's Tiki P. He and Amy have been constantly in motion since this all started up. What a great crew we have here in scootnashville.com-land.

More photos from "one of the hottest clubs in America," The 5 Spot (according to The New York Times). Later, or early Sunday, of course.

* I had some business to which I had to attend in La Vergne this afternoon. Oh, and I am now certified in the "Testing and Evaluation of Backflow Prevention Assemblies" by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Water Supply; inspector #8164; expires 5/11/2015. Yay, me!
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Day Two Begins

No booty calls for Amy, please.
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Blue vs. Grey Rally, Day One

3 Crow Bar, Five Points, East Nashville, 7:00 p.m. Pictured at center is Ross, who less than a month ago was carried into Vanderbilt Medical Center's ER with a torn aorta after falling victim to a hit-and-run asshole. Man, we're so lucky to have him on this side of the dirt.

Some of the Atlanta crew. I had a Sweetwater 420 in their honor.

As you can see, this gentleman from Atlanta spends some time going to all the southeast rallies.

Willy in full Confederate garb. Love the beard.

Richard flips me off.  :)

Norm?  Are you even registered?

Grand Prize for Sunday's raffle.

Michael T. Davis gives us the skinny on the first day's Main Event: The Record Store Ride.

Also, scootnashville.com member Kerry Campbell was interviewed by Fox 17 WZTV's Sky Arnold (who owns a bitchin' blue-badge Allstate) in this segment, which sadly I could not figure out how to embed, here.
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The War Rages On!

Not really, but crackers throughout the south like to think so, for some dumbass reason (git over it). However, we thought it'd be kinda cool to do up a Civil War-themed rally, and so we have (others much more than I)! We're now staring at three weeks and small change until the first Blue vs. Grey Rally kicks off, so make plans to come and have a damned fine time.

This here blog is an official sponsor, and here are the goodies I am donating to the general raffle. If this will be your first trip to Nashville, hit me up in the comments and let me know if there's anything not on the itinerary that you'd like to cover that weekend; I'll see what I can do for ya.

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Who Is That Bitch On A Motorpickle?

Heh.

UPDATE, 5/3/2012: Well, fuck. Less than 60 hours after I, by chance, snapped this photo, Ross (pictured) was the victim of a hit-and-run douchebag (~11:15p on 5/2), and is now at Vanderbilt ICU. His aorta was ripped and had to be repaired, but he is recovering, and can have visitors. I'll go Saturday morning. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
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First

... let me thank Mr. and Dr. C., M.D., and their adorable infant son, Hank for having an awesome cookout at their lovely Sylvan Park home, today. And special thanks to Mr. C. for the lovely and functional Kymco can koozie.  :)

Also, thanks to Kerry and Amy for the sixer of PBR. Gifts are to celebrate the end of my cyber-beggarship.  :)
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Luck o' the Irish

For Ed, that is... I failed to win the MegaMillions jackpot again last night. But Ed picked up a sweet SYM Mio 50 recently, and got a super deal on it. That brings their scooter posse up to five, now.

O Sole Mio!
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Another Day In The 50s

Fahrenheit, I mean... not 1950s, where tax rates were more progressive, and we we able to build an interstate highway system, rather than argue about mooching grandma sucking up too many Medicare dollars, right?

Ed had posted a ride invitation to Percy Warner Park and Franklin, which sounded like a fun time. We started the ride from The Turnip Truck in The Gulch. All of the Taiwanese "Big Three" were represented: Genuine/PGO, SYM and Kymco.

Ed pauses prior to entering Percy Warner Park to attach his Hippo Hands to his Buddy.

Michele makes a helmet adjustment, and then we're into the park!

scootnashville.com... REPRESENT.

Ooooh, ahhhh.

Hippo Hands not quite what Ed had expected. Some modifications will be made.

At this point in PWP, Michele spied one of her clients riding her bike up the path. After some exchanged greetings and an incident involving bodily secretions, said client invited us to come have a beer and hear some live music at her bike shop, later.

What a neat shop, this Gran Fondo, yeah. I had no idea you could get a bike that shifts gears wirelessly, electronically... no cables!  Or that many of today's serious bicycle wheels feature fewer spokes, and they're shaped like little blades that slice the air. I did know you could buy a bicycle that cost over $5000, but I did not know where, exactly... until today. And I have owned guitars that weighed more than said bicycle. It's a whole different world, but one I was happy to graze against long enough to be curious; Ed can help me figure this stuff out, as he used to work in a high-end bike shop, at one time.

Great ride, folks... and thanks for the awesome lunch at Mellow Mushroom!

UPDATE: Oops!  Forgot the map!


View 1/7/12 12:04 PM in a larger map
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Hoppy New Beer!

 
As The Man himself once said, "Are we gonna ride, or are we gonna talk about riding?"

Well, today we rode. Eight of us set out to do the West Side's Best Ride from Thorntons, 20 minutes late (as usual -- but we were waiting for a motorcycle guy who's name I think is Allan; he discovered that he had no headlights, and left Thorntons to check at NAPA for a solution... alas, that was at 12:45).

Here's Dan, Michele and Ed, on our first stop @ Old Charlotte and Sam's Creek.

Michele and Norm with some of the scoots lined up at Grumpy's (Wiley Pardue & TN-250).

Richard was pretty happy with the ride.

Michele stowing or un-stowing something at Grumpy's. That SYM Fiddle II is their family's 4th scooter!  How cool is her GoGo Gear jacket?

Franck does some Twittering...?  :)

The fire tower across from Grumpy's.

Have a Happy, Safe New Year's!
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