That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the rally. As a matter of fact I had a large time and got lots of riding in. At the top of my to-do list was making sure I attended the bike shows around the area. Although the Myrtle Beach rally is not known for its bike shows (it’s more of get-down-and-party show), the bike shows at the Dog House North & South, the Harley bike show, Rat’s Hole, and the Masters Gentleman’s Club supply me with more than enough material for the magazine. The show put on by the H-D Dealers Association which normally takes place at the Convention Center was moved along with everything else including the demo rides and vendors to the new Hard Rock Theme Park where it will continue to make its home. In my opinion this was a great move as it was much easier to get around and there was a lot more room for both bike and cager parking, and most importantly it’s not in the ungrateful City of Myrtle Beach anymore. More on that later. The only problem I found was that they changed the day of their bike show and it fell on the same afternoon as the Dog House South which, by the way, is about the only place left worth hitting in the whining city of Myrtle Beach. Hold on, I also enjoy the show at the Masters Gentlemen’s Club, which is in the city. Why, you ask? Because it’s a “gentlemens club,” by golly. Bikes, beer, and boobies, it don’t get any better than that. Another show that I really enjoy is at the Rat’s Hole, but unfortunately I had a brain fart and totally missed it. Damn.

The rest of my time was spent cruising the various venues in Horry County, and for those of you who feel the need to claim that attendance was down, I would just like to say…WTF are you smoking? I have never before seen the size of the crowd on the final weekend at places like Broadway at the Beach, Suck Bang Blow, HB Spokes, as well as the Harley shop. I had a hell of a time finding a place to park my ride and forget about the Harley shop….mayhem! I don’t know who comes up with attendance figures or how they come up with them. I guess it depends on who you talk to and what their agenda is.

I mentioned the Hard Rock Theme Park that officially opened the first day of bike week. The following Thursday I was honored to be given the grand tour of the park by the lovely Megan Winnett (Hard Rock Public Relations Manager). The place is a rock fan’s wet dream. You can check out the sidebar for more info on the park or go to www.hardrockpark.com.  Let me tell you I was impressed. As a matter of fact I was so impressed that I bought a season pass. The Hard Rock is definitely going to be one of the main venues for years to come for the rallies. You hear me city of Myrtle Beach? Years to come.

On that note I would like to discuss the big news about this year’s rally. It seems that the sniveling City of Myrtle Beach, which is now being influenced by the big-money condo developers and the whining, squeaky wheels that have benefited from years of financial gain from the rally, has decided that they no longer want bike rallys in the city. The city council voted to raise taxes by three-mills to generate one million dollars and to dedicate some of the money towards ending the rallies. I wonder whose pocket the rest of the money is going into?

I know one thing, if the council ever does succeed in shutting down the rallies, you won’t catch me spending a dime in their city. As it is now, it is basically just a lot of huffing and puffing and blowing smoke on the council’s part because unless Horry County goes along with the city, it would be a moot point as almost all the venues for both rallies are not in the city proper. With Horry County bringing in over $300,000 in permit fees and over $300,000,000 in overall revenue for one week they would have to be insane to even consider it. In my experience “money talks and bullshit walks.”

Well, that’s the state of the Myrtle Beach rallies as it stands right now. I wouldn’t loose any sleep over this bit of drama. The rallies are not going anywhere anytime soon, so make your plans to come on down and party, ya hear? Make sure while you’re down there you pass by City Hall making as much freakin’ noise as you can and don’t forget to honor the city government with a single-finger salute. I know I will.