We were up and about around 6:00 and relaxed in the room for a while before heading next door to Denny’s for breakfast. It was pretty chilly out, a big change from the usual MITM weather of “damned hot and steamy.” Denny’s served HUGE meals there and we stuffed ourselves. We wandered back toward the motel and noticed that there was a motorcycle there with the seat off. It belonged to someone in the small group we’d met the night before. There was a sticky note on it. Apparently somebody noticed their brake light had been flashing on and off all night and it wore the battery down. They’d taken the battery out to get it charged.

We dawdled a bit, then headed back out to the farm. Since it was getting on toward 10:00 AM, I mentioned to CrowDog that if we saw the Cornfield Tour riders coming down the driveway, I was just going to pull over and let them all go by since everyone needed the full width of that nasty road to navigate it. We didn’t see them. When we arrived at about 10:15, they hadn’t left yet. It ended up just being a half dozen or so that went. Because Ed had a torn up shoulder from a bike wreck a few weeks earlier, his brother Marty led the ride.

The ride up the driveway this time was much better because I kept my speed at about 25 mph and was in second gear. The more speed, the more you’d kind of “float” over the gravel, rather than bog down in it. We parked the bikes and just visited with people and hung around the campfire trying to stay warm. At one point, CrowDog and I toured the camping area. There were a lot of tents back there! The trees blocked the wind and it was a bit warmer there. We ran into Maggi Maggi and talked with her a bit.

We saw Charlie riding his old Panhead. It’s even more beautiful now--he painted it since last year. In our meandering, we saw some folks we hadn’t seen in a while, such as Karen, MaGGie (both with her cute kittie ears--oops, could I say cute?--on and the shirt she says she wears when she has garage sales), the Ultimate Poser, Steph, Pat and Joi, and I finally got to meet Len. He’s as much of a sweetie in person as he is in his e-mail.

There was a cold wind that made everyone wear their leather (and some their gloves). I eventually settled near the fire where I was kind of out of the wind, and talked with people. Later on, Cuda said she was going to do some crafty-type work making wine glass charms. I said I’d grab my beads and join her so we picked a table under the tent. It was pretty windy there so I went and got my leather jacket to keep a bit warmer. June in Southern Illinois and I’m wearing a leather jacket, sweatshirt and a t-shirt and am still freezing.

The Assholes(tm) had decided to have a “tequila tasting” and a bunch of them brought different brands along. I joined in and we decided that “El Humidor” was pretty good, but “Old Taxidermy” wasn’t so hot. We all got silly and things went downhill from there. Red Haired She Devil said we were sloughing off weak brain cells, so Cuda said it was like a facial for your brain. This became a “brainal.” Then we got on the subject of telekinesis, which led to telekinesia. Chuck said this is when you forget you can move things without your hands. Penny and I were on a roll and I laughed so hard my sides hurt. Laurel added that we could soak her earplugs in tequila and it would act like a filter so we could understand drunks! (She also told the story of her SO, asking for the toothpaste earlier in their motel room, and she accidentally gave him a tube of Benedryl! He said he’d never had such a dry mouth in his life, but she told him his teeth wouldn’t itch.)

Soon it was time to eat and we got in line for some good barbecue chicken and pork. Very tasty as usual. We sat at a table with Tom K. from way up north in Minnesota. He was a very nice guy and good to talk to. Soon we were joined by MIDLF and his friend, Jim L.

After supper we meandered here and there and talked to a bunch of different people. We sat by the fire a while but got smoked out. Eddie Keiger and his mother were there. He seemed to be enjoying all the activity. Ken D. was wandering around and for some unknown reason, decided to wash his own mouth out with soap! Or maybe he just enjoyed the taste of it. With him, you never know.

I got my camcorder and took stills of plates from as many different states as I could and that was fun. It really made me realize how many people from how many different places were there.

We eventually settled in with Janet and Milo at a big spool. We had fun laughing and joking. The wind had finally calmed down and the sun came out and it was much warmer, so it was pleasant standing around.

Around dusk, we decided to leave so I wouldn’t have to navigate the driveway in the dark. We bid farewell to a few people, and Steve L. gave me the polka tape he’d made to surprise me with when he arrived.

Back at the hotel we crashed for our final night before going home. I slept well again.