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Days of HOGs and Roses
by Jim Furey
The City of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, stepped up in a
big way as the host city for the 2005 Missouri State HOG
Rally. The “City of Roses” (not to be confused with the
site of the Annual Rose Bowl in California) rolled out the
red carpet to all the Harley riders in attendance. The
Show-Me Center, which is part of the Southeast Missouri
University (my alma mater) complex, was an awesome
main center of activity for this event.
On Thursday evening, HOG members from all over the
state started arriving in town. Different Chapters had
their individual headquarter locations at various hotels in
the area. The very full event calendar began in earnest on
Friday: registration opened at 9 AM and the festivities
were on. The opening ceremonies took place at 10:30 at
the Show-Me Center and were presided over by the State
HOG Officers. Several rides and a Strolling Dice Roll
through downtown Cape Girardeau were just a few of the
good times.
Friday afternoon brought a Ride-In Bike Show, and I
know of at least one local rider who wasn’t pleased with
the outcome. The competition for the top HOG Chapter
in the state is based not only on the numbers that come to
the convention but also on how many of a chapter’s
members participate in events. On Friday night I caught
up with some of the members of the Kirkwood HOG
Chapter at their headquarter hotel, and they were having
big fun. This Chapter is very active and always a fun
bunch to hang out with.
Saturday began with me getting up early to check out the
HOG Chapters picture sessions. I was lucky enough to be
there when my friends from the Kirkwood HOG Chapter
and another group I like—the Gateway to the West
Chapter—were being photographed. After that I set off
for some of the other centers of activity, including
Minor’s Harley-Davidson (which was not only a stop on
a run but a great place to get that t-shirt commemorating
one’s visit to Cape Girardeau). After visiting briefly with
some of the friendly folks there, it was time to visit
another hive of activity, American Rebel Motorcycle.
Although they are not a Harley dealer, they were not left
out of the festivities. They had food, a bike raffle, and
live music by a rocking band called Nebulous. That alone
was pretty awesome, but they also had Discovery
Channel World Bike Build-Off Champion Joe Martin of
Martin Brothers Bikes on site. I left reluctantly, deciding
that I had to see the parade of bikes that evening. The
bikes rode through town and ended up downtown.
It was awesome to see all the various Chapters so well
represented by their members and some very sharp bikes
too. I was lucky enough to get a seat at a table with
Belleville’s own Jim Leuder to enjoy the show. The