The Finger Lakes BMW Club hosted their 44th annual Finger Lakes rally this Labor day weekend and the Long Island BMW Riders Club once again went in force to show their support. The rally is hosted in the Watkins Glen state park and its an extremely beautiful area!
The lodge was $95 for the night making it a bit over $45 each which was very reasonable. The food and drinks at the lodge are pretty good although service was a little slow. They where very busy with bikers and people from the Watkins Glen race track that is very near by. We showed up early in the morning to the Rally area at Watkins Glen State Park and staked our claim to our usual camping grounds which we have had the last 7 years. On Friday we checked in with the registration we were number 4 and 5! Others started filtering in throughout the day and setting up tents
with the assistance of those who were there. The area filled up quite quickly and beer and wine flowed that night.A few members took a short ride to Corning NY for lunch at Slammin’ Jammin’ BBQ which some of us had
previously visited during the Wellsboro RA 2018 rally. It was fresh in our minds! Mike C was greeted with “welcome back buttercup” by the host (inside joke if you where at RA you know the story) and we all had lots of laughs.
For a laugh, take a look at the video for Harold’s foot burning along the road.
After the BBQ we visited Walmart for supplies and our way back to the campsite we went to the local Beer store as well as liquor store for the supplies for evening entertainment.
One of our members decided to go on their own and visited the corning museum for another day of lunch and viewing the glass blowing. Other ended up at local beer makers on RT 414 right outside of Watkins Glen. The club is great because we can do things together as well as individually.
After we got back, we flew the drone over the Rally without hitting anything this time! Hanging out that night produced many laughs and new friendships were forged. It was a great start to the rally!
For the first time in 7 years it is sad to say that many members, including myself, were disappointed with the Rally due to poor food and poor hosting. We were most disappointed by the lack of vendors at the Rally. We all decided to give the organizers a heads up and I am sure they will fix it for next year! With work and personal lives its sometimes hard to please everyone and we thank the organizers for working hard to put the rally on.
It was suggested that we do Mike C’s (AKA “Buttercup”) house in Foxboro Canada next year around the rally dates. He is only about 80 Miles into Canada off 81 and it’s an easy ride down the 401 Highway. I am planning on bringing my RV with bike in tow as he has room for at least 3 RVs in a clearing behind his house.
This would be an awesome trip guys lets make it happen!
As always it is a great time hanging out with the LIBMWRC crew and its never dull, thats for sure! My full length video is below, please check it out!
Editor’s note: Frank shared his Google Photos album for everyone to see and enjoy. https://photos.app.goo.gl/KEPY8rzP792jra4JA
Also follow Frank on his YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq19zQzP90l-gW2-dS9J6jQ