In July 2014 I did a quick ride to the BMWMOA National Rally held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota for a long weekend. This would be the 42nd annual international rally for the BMWMOA (BMW Motorcycle Owners of America) and my first.
Since the national rally was so close to home, this was really just there and back, with no sightseeing along the way. Despite having ridden BMWs on and off for almost 35 years, and being a member of the BMWMOA for almost as long, this was my first BMWMOA National Rally. I really had no idea what I was expecting.
Overall, pretty amazing to see that many BMWs in a single location. Spent a lot of time walking around and looking at the bikes. Surprised by how many people I talked to also. There were quite a few vendors that came, there was a nice display of vintage BMWs, and more motorcycles exactly like my model than I expected to see. I took a lot of pictures of those like mine and there were some pretty cool license plates (cool if you knew what they meant). Especially interesting were the seminars they had pertaining to general motorcycling but some were specific about the older BMWs like mine.
The admission price included camping the 3 nights at the fairgrounds, everything you need is there so why go anywhere else? The fairground venue is perfect for this type of event. They can control and monitor people coming and going, they have buildings for vendors and seminars, lots of washrooms, the open space allows for camping and people to gather in the open, and fairgrounds are usually centrally located to a destination. Some entertainment was included in the evening to get people together and keep you busy. Food was fair, that is to say it was fair food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, but to be fair, there was some other variety thrown in above fair food. Enough variety that you could eat something different every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
Overall, it was really nice, had a good time, and would do another rally. At the closing ceremony they handed out the big prizes. I didn't win... Total miles for this trip was 877 miles (1,411 kilometres).
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