........Mack Truck Parade

[~ Timbrwolf]

....Well, Chili and I "drove" up to Mackinaw City last Saturday for the annual Mack Truck Parade.
Its a pretty cool event they hold every year, and the trucks line up in St Ignace...drive over the
bridge and slowly drive through town, blasting their horns and showing off their rigs.


We met a good friend if ours Dave Pettit and a couple friends of his. They were out on their
bikes, exploring a sweet back road, H-58, which has now been paved all the way from Grand Marais
to Munising. Sixty two miles of nice back road sweepers that rides along Lake Superior with some
bodacious stops along the way like Pictured Rocks and Miners Beach.


Last year the restaurants were packed with lines spilling out onto the streets, so we decided
to eat dinner early at one of our favorite Bars, The Key Hole, while we waited for our friends to
get back from their adventure. After we ate we drove back to the motel to wait, but then we
decided that we should go back to town and try to get a parking space early, which are always
at a premium. We drove back and wound up getting a good one right across from the Key Hole,
which is where we usually park with the bike. I knew it was going to be harder this year, because
we were going to need not just one space, but multiple ones, but everything worked out great.
Some Harley Boys who were parked next to us, came up and were getting ready to leave, and
right then Dave called to say they were back at the motel. I told him to get up to town quick
and get the space, which he did.





. ...I love the color scheme on Dave,s bike, very original. And soon his friends arrived also.





...We hung out told some lies for a while, as it slowly got dark, and then off in the distance
we could hear the faint sounds of horns getting louder and louder until. ...finally.. .





...One after another they began to slowly round the corner.....Horns Blasting !






...Of course, day or night...every parade needs the American Flag flying proudly !





...They had a lot of classic antique trucks strutting their stuff also...






....Very cool, seeing these giants slowly lumbering around the corner..








....I dig walking out into the street and right up to them as they are slowly advancing on me, horns
are blasting and Im not sure if they are warning me or entertaining the crowd, or both...I dont use
a flash because I want to try and capture the true feeling of the event, and I feel like the the lights
flashing across the picture give it more feeling..






.....Another Classic





....The Jolly Roger











....never hurts to get some free advertising in either












....The Key Hole after dark with folks out front...you can barely see the green LED,s on Dave,s bike..








....Folks hanging out down on the corner





...One after another they came rumbling around the corner, horns blasting. Chili had bought some ear plugs from work for everyone....something I highly recommend !




















....this one had one of those electric cars on the back..









....I dig this shot with the two guys inside, hats glowing.....Cowboy Up !









.....Now I know this guy wasnt representing "jersey" ...but being a jersey boy and all....New Jersey ! ..  





...Everyone was pretty pooped after the parade so we didnt have a fire on the beach when we got back to the motel....matter of fact we all pretty much all just crashed...you know....Old Folk Riders..  


..Next morning I rose to a wet parking lot. It seems the weatherman lied..(again)...and the rain that
was sposed to come in around late morning was already here.





..So we all packed up and headed out for breakfast. We followed the bikes over in our truck.






...After a good breakfast and some lie telling Dave and his friends wandered back outside where
it had started raining again. They had a long ride ahead of them.






....Dave donned his rain suit and got ready to get wet...






...Im thinking this is the moment that Dave realized that I would nice and dry for the ride home...
..I was hating driving up in the truck Saturday....but I have to admit...I sure was happy to
crusing home all dry and all Sunday ! ..  


....Love Ya Too Dave ! ..  





....His wife Louie didnt seem to mind !






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay...I loaded a couple of short videos of the parade to YouTube so ya,ll can get the feel of it.

...Lets see if these work out okay


Mack Truck Parade

....This guy was one of my favorites, he was there last year also..


MysteryRideJuly27 29 2012 095

...I think they,re working....Hope ya Dig it !!! ..  

[Black Dog]

Another great picto/weekend/ride/story, by brother Timbr 

Nice job, as usual 

See ya soon!

Black Dog

[Skinhead]

Very Nice!  I would really like to make that one of these days, I forgot it was coming up.  I love those big machines!

[.]

Very cool. Nice pics. Thanks! 

[NC_Rob]

Great write-up, pics and vids. Thanks for sharing