I spent about 28 hours at the 33rd annual BMW Motorcycle Owners of America rally this week in Lima, Ohio.
I arrived a little after noon on Thursday and found the campgrounds were filling up rapidly. All of the shaded spots were gone and there seemed to be little level ground left - a surprise since I had the impression that there would be abundant good camping space.
It was insanely hot. Some friends and I took refuge at the nearby Texas Roadhouse for an early dinner and lingered there for a couple of hours to rehydrate on iced tea and enjoy the air conditioning.
We got back to the campgrounds minutes before a storm front roared through. Our tents and bikes were spared, but I know of one case where a tarp sunshade went airborne and one of the aluminum poles speared through the side of a tent and an airmattress inside. Fortunately, the tent owner was over at Wal-Mart at the time - otherwise she might have been injured or perhaps even killed. Anyone using these things should give a thought to what can happen in a big blow and either strike them when they leave their site or make sure someone nearby knows to take them down if the weather turns violent.
My bike was unscathed, but the R1100S parked next to mine was blown over and sustained a shattered right mirror.
Friday started reasonably cool, but the heat was oppressive by noon and I finally threw in the sweat-soaked towel about 4 p.m., packed my stuff and rode home.
It's hard to fault the rally organizers. Under normal weather conditions, it was a completely acceptable site, albeit a little short on camping space given the turnout. But when it gets hot enough for the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory and there are no air conditioned buildings on the grounds (at least I didn't find any), it stops being fun.
On the plus side - kudos to the Beer Garden people for giving out free O'Doul's to folks who like the taste of beer, but don't want to ride buzzed and a hats off to all of the volunteers who pitched in to help make things run more smoothly.
This was my 15th 'MOA rally since Laguna Seca in 1986. The only one I can remember that compared with this one in terms of oppressive heat was Madison, IN in '87. Yeah, it was hot at Spokane last year, but the humidity was low and there was air conditioning available.
You know it's hot when people leaving the showers are getting asked, "Is there any cold water left?"
I'm looking forward to Burlington, Vt., next year and more reasonable temperatures.
And then Fairbanks in '07.
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