As the event ended and the trek twisted through that tired port town and inland across Mississippi and Alabama , the flowering springtime with the blossoming magnolias, rich jasmine and gardenia added another dimension to appreciate as we enjoyed the pockets of fragrance along the canopied roads that threaded along the ancient coast.

     The trek took us back to Panama City where Mike, who helped me last year and this year both, was excited about helping all season. He has a background in the video and music production industry and enjoys helping me with motorcycles, customers and being a roadie again. Mimi is his three year old lab who became our goodwill ambassador and is a nicely behaved addition to the staff. Once packed, the trek to North Carolina began, with stops to distribute literature about Letterfly services at RV parks and motorcycle service centers all along the way.

     The terrain began to take on that populated familiar look as we went past Atlanta and the urban areas became packed together. The Eastern Seaboard is home for a while now and familiar faces are a bright spot in the routine of setting up at Harley stores and interacting with the locals and the travelers from other states that stop by to get a souvenir shirt on their long trip.     

     The first destination is Concord at Pat Rogers Harley-Davidson for a festive week of creativity with the pinstriping service and bringing additional activities to the HOG community including the seminar “Rolling Art,…Why a Mural?” During this gathering, I saw new faces mixed with a number of folks I have served in the past. During the talk I explained about the experience that is the result of having custom artwork on your bike, explained in detail, aspects of motorcycle paint that prompted lots of questions and had fun joking about making the bike happier with decorative paintwork. One surprise in the crowd was a familiar face from another part of the country. George is my vendor coordinator in Seaford , Delaware during the September Delmarva Bike Week event. He is part of a clump of cronies that stopped by on a bike ride to see how things were going at Myrtle Beach . They reported that there were no lines at any of the hot spots (except for the police check point at the city limits) and a few of the vendors were taking naps in their booths. Later they had a restaurant all to themselves.

     The decline of that successful major event is a testimony to selfish greed. Hotels, eateries and promoters gouged. The participating vendors had to overcome high rent and pass the cost of the overhead on to the consumer driving prices up. Despite the demand, high prices prompted resentment. The behavior of a few bikers prompted new rules to check chaos. This dynamic can only go so far before it gets to the breaking point. The bubble of popularity had to burst sooner or later and the mayor saw to it that it was sooner. Now in the aftermath, I hope that as intelligent human beings, especially during this tough economic time, we recall what made this country great and learn a lesson as we step up to the plate once again to give our best at everything we do. As our evolution takes place, let’s be unstoppable.