A rose amongst the thorns...

No, this post has nothing to do with roses.

I was getting a touch of cabin fever late this afternoon.  Joan was taking apart our Bose DVD player (yes, really), Izzy was taking a nap... I decided to take the scoot out for a short ride.  The wind was blustery, but I rode out of the resort; when I got to Highway 100 (the main road through town), a police car was pulling across the road, blocking traffic on the side street.

Oh, I forgot about the "bike parade" at 5:30 - motorcycles run from Port Isabel, across the causeway to South Padre Island.  Looking to the right, I saw 4 Harleys parked in a driveway... with a few people with chairs set up on the sidewalk.  Well, this looks like a good place to take in the parade.  I pulled my shiny red scooter in between the Harleys.  The guy on my right looked like he smelled something bad.  The one on my left was sitting on his Wide Glide, sporting a mohawk (him, not the bike) that led to a braid in the back.  His bike had a Minnesota license plate.

I asked him, "Are you from Minnesota?"

"Used to be.  I live in Harlingen now.  You?"

I said, "We used to live in the Black Hills..."

Of course, that led to the usual discussion of the Sturgis Rally (he told me about the DUI he got during the 2011 Rally)... cold winters... not missing cold winters.  My new buddy, Mario.

I told him that when I've seen this "parade" in the past, it was more like a race: several hundred motorcycles blasting through town (the local law enforcement blocks off the east-bound lanes) at somewhere beyond twice the 30 mph speed limit.

Before long, we heard sirens... then two squad cars, followed by two police motorcycles, all with sirens blaring.  Four pick-up trucks, sporting ads for different beer companies, then the bikes... all going the speed limit, since the vehicles ahead of them filled the lanes and set the pace.  Once they got to the causeway, the speed limit goes up to 55... so, the paced picked up... a bit.  It was pretty tame compared to the blur of bikes we've seen in the past.

In about 10 minutes, it was over.  Mario stuck out his hand to shake, fired up his Harley, and followed behind "the parade."

No, I didn't have a camera with me; not even my phone.  You'll have to paint the mental image of 3 black Harleys, one black with flames painted on the tank... and a shiny red Honda PCX.

Born to be wiiiiiiii-iiiii-illd!