Since I have purchased my MINI I have learned a lot of interesting facts, for example, did you know a large percentage of MINI owners are also motorcycle riders? In particular, I meet a lot of fellow Harley Davidson riders. I was simply amazed to find MINIs parked outside Harley dealerships when I went to Bike Night in poor weather.
It seems a contradiction to ride a big, loud, burly motorcycle and drive a little, quiet, nimble MINI.
I have also seen a couple of MINIs at bike rallies, of course, one of them is often mine or Sue Ann’s.
Since my wife doesn’t ride we take a couple of vehicles down to the bike rally in Galveston. This also allows me to come down earlier than she does. The Airbnb we have stayed in our last two times is owned by a former professional motorcycle rider from England who is a great guy.
No trip to Galveston is complete without a trip to Nicks on the seawall. His happy hour specials like the $5 appetizer plates shown above are amazing, as are the drinks like my Tequila Sunrise also above (limit one if I am driving or riding of course).
Everyone at a bike rally is a friend, and friends share things like parking spaces.
The sunrises and sunsets on the beach are amazing. I particularly like to arrive before sunrise and watch the sun come up on the end of a jetty while the young sharks play just feet from me. Calm, cool, and peaceful as the rest of the town sleeps.
Sue Ann may not ride, but she certainly does like to dress the part. She fits in better than I do! As you can see there are more than a couple of bikers in town for the event. I believe I read somewhere that they bring in around 200,000 riders from all over the US. That would not surprise me at all since you can not get a hotel room on the island hardly at all during the event, and if you do, it is insanely expensive. Think a normally $99 a night room going to $499 and up. The trick, of course, is to book early.
There are a ton of vendors, and concerts almost all day, every day, on two stages. One stage is downtown and the other is next to the seawall. While we don’t see a lot of the performances, sometimes there are a few really good ones.
Most people leave Sunday morning or early afternoon. The best time to leave is actually Sunday night as there is less traffic and you can sometimes score a good deal from people who are closing up their booths and want to get rid of stuff. The official event booths where they sell event t-shirts etc typically give good discounts on Sunday afternoon, as do many of the local artisans. The booths owned by chains and national distributors usually do not give any discounts, ever.
Once we have had our lunch and gotten all the last minute deals we want, it is time to head back over the bridge and home. Until next year that is!
