4

Shine in Lapine

     When I made my way to Lapine, Alabama for the Shine in Lapine Rally I was thinking this was going to be a waste of good bike tire rubber. I promised Marvin that I would be at the rally Friday morning on the fourteen until the rally ended the sixteen of May. The word was out that this was one of those old time rallies and it was something that I had to see for myself. I remember the old time bike rallies that I attended thirty years ago. You could do just about anything you wanted to do as long as you didn't make anyone mad.

     When I went through the gate one of the first things I heard over the P.A. system is that someone was about to make a beer run to town. Lisa was asking the bikers who wanted beer to come up and place their order and then give them the money. After making the beer run to the store they would bring the beer back to the gate. I like this idea because it is a great way of keeping you off your bike and out of trouble with the law. I checked in at the gate and I met Marvin Askew the promoter of the Shine in Lapine Rally.

     After setting up my tent I headed out to do what I like to do at each rally. I go around and talk to the vendors. Over the years I have found out by talking to the vendors that you could find out more about a rally from them than anyone else. The vendors told me two things that they made money here in the past and of course they liked the rally. I was thinking they could have more vendors here but I believe as other vendors discover this event they will be heading to Lapine, Ala. What I could see is that there were enough different vendors from t-shirts to food vendors plus you get patches sewn on your vest while you waited. There were two food vendors that was set up at the bottom of the hill. One sold food such as hamburgers and hotdogs. The other food vender that I liked the best was P&A Concession of Graceville, FL. Eating at this concession was just like eating at a restaurant except it was outdoors. Mr. Ward and his wife have a large selection of food on hand. To my surprise the prices of the food wasn't to bad to be off in the boon docks.

(cont.)