My quick trip home included a stay on Madeline Island which is a ferry ride away from Bayfield, Wisconsin.
Little did our peer group know that it was going to be "Biker Weekend" while we there. Life never fails to deliver small bonuses. Can you imagine how cool we felt, shakily steering rental mopeds around an island invaded with Harleys?
One of the bikers said it in a nutshell, "It's dorks gone wild!"
Now that is just too funny to even get offended.
Ever the worrier, I spent most of the weekend surveying and assessing our situation. I'm not scared of bikers, my uncle was the President of a big motor club for years. Those guys were great to us as kids and let us climb all over their bikes and never once yelled about fingerprinting up their chrome.
But as a group of women on a remote island, I was a little nervous wondering if we were among "weekend" type of bikers or if we were among "we've all earned these matching patches by killing someone to get into the gang" type of bikers.
Mostly, my inner voice was saying "stay cool, stay cool, don't trip" whenever I'd walk past a long row of perfectly parked machines praying that I didn't bump into anything sending off a chain reaction of crashing motorcycles.
Such a contrast to the last time us gals got together and stayed at Mountain Lake Resort which is where Dirty Dancing was filmed. You couldn't imagine a polar-opposite clientele from the married couples pretending to be Baby and Johnny. When "Baby Got Back" came over the speakers during intermission, we took over the dance floor nervously joking, "wow, I guess we're not at Mountain Lake anymore!"
But you know what? Besides a couple of random creepo-s, (which are everywhere in the world) it was an awesome time. Most of the guys were total gentlemen. And when the band busted into Jimi Hendrix "Voodoo Child" I felt like I gained a lot of respect with my signature move:
Well I stand up next to a mountain... (stand with legs firmly planted apart, left hand on hip)
and I chop it down with the edge of my hand... (raise right arm and slash the air with chopping motions)
You've got to be bouncing a bit to the heavy beat of those first scratchy chords. You will get SO much respect from other Jimi fans who know the lyrics. Please tuck this away if you ever find yourself in a sticky situation. It could save your life sometime.
Anyway, what I really wanted to mention about this whole place is my discovery of the Madeline Island School of the Arts. (Take a moment to check out the link). Doesn't this place looks phenomenal?? I'd really like to get back there someday for a writing or painting class.
But probably not during biker week.
Here's some Jimi for you. C'mon try out the move, you know you want to!