Red River Rally 2001

In a cute little town tucked away in the Northern mountains of New Mexico, my favorite Memorial Day bash awaits, and my fun-lovin’ ass wouldn’t miss it for the world. This is a weekend, in a place, where a girl can really let her top down and see who salutes. Memorial Day weekend is a time we can all pay respects to the men and women, who gave us the freedom to fuck, fish, fight, and party, or whatever the hell else we as freedom lovin’ Americans might want to do.

After a week and a half on the road Stan and I arrived early Friday afternoon and checked into our room at the newly remodeled, Lodge at Red River. The Lodge is the center of the party and we stay here every year. This year Steve & Priscilla, owners of the Lodge, had added a new attraction to add to the fun.

Balconies, balconies, balconies! They put balconies off each outside room of the lodge and one long one on the second story overlooking Main street and "The Bull O The Woods Saloon". They gave us one of the best rooms in the house and our balcony overlooked the outside stage of the Motherlode Saloon. In November I was at the Steel Pony Express rally in New Orleans where they put balconies to real-good use. It was Mardi Gras in May at Red River and the possibilities were endless. (If only I had beads).

After getting settled we took a stroll down the street to Brandenburg Park in the center of town. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored games, concerts and contests such as, the oldest Red River T-shirt, the furthest distance ridden to the rally (without a trailer) and longest mustache. There were vendors O-plenty and even one of those human-slingshot-bungee contraptions if you were game. There were bike and merchandise giveaways; tattoo contests and the smell of barbecue filled the mountain air…

Friday evening was spent partying and getting re acquainted with old friends and running from balcony to balcony at thalconies and I vowed that by the end of the weekend, everyone would know how to use-em’.Saturday at high noon, everyone was amazed at the iron that came out of the mountains for the bike show. The Motherlode Saloon, Jack Daniel’s, Jose Cuervo and Camel Cigarettes sponsored the event. The winners received cold hard cash and subscriptions To Easyriders, In The Wind and BIKER magazines

.After all the awards had been given to the bike show winners, Mark Drummond, local business owner, presented Stan and I with a plaques of appreciation for Ourselves and Easyriders from the town of Red River. The plaque was for supporting and being part of the rally for the past several years and helping it to grow.

By Saturday afternoon Main Street was lined up and down with bikes as far as the eye could see and hotels and campsites were full up to 140 miles away. The Bud truck parked beside the stage at the Motherlode Saloon made for a great photo opportunity with Otis Watkins, who had climbed up on it and was stroking his guitar and belting out blues. Otis invited me to join him in his jam session and I could hardly resist. I hopped up on stage, then climbed up on the truck with Otis. I delighted in dancing, teasing and tormenting the crowd and especially the police below

.I made eye contact with a Farmington Officer who was enjoying the show, but kept shaking his head from side to side and tapping his handcuffs. Stan was nervously clicking away and passing a hat, probably for bail, but I knew that as long as I showed no nipple I would stay out of the pokie. Later on that day I was deputized with a small gold badge by the same officer as a thank you for not being a royal pain in his ass.
Saturday evening the line was so long to get into the bars, I slipped in through the window of The Motherload to get inside so I could get on stage and give away goodies to all the bad boys and girls. Once inside, I ran into Brina, this totally hot brunette from Denver that I’ve partied with now for three years in a row. She and her old man Tony brought a handful of their very good looking friends to the rally this year and I could tell it was gonna be a late night.