MS State Mtg '23

 First MS State Meeting for me this past weekend.  Totally different animal than the TX ones I'm used to.  Texas is probably bigger than most regional meetings with 400+ folks rolling in.  Not sure how many we had in Hattiesburg this past weekend, but guessing 100 or so MS members and a lot of folks from TX, FL, AL, AR and GA rolling in ....maybe 150 total?  Would be interesting to see how many swiped. Overall, short (1.5 hrs), and felt more personal with a smaller crowd (though packed/full house)

UPDATE:  248 Swipes!  Damned!!!!!!

Buckeye is the State Rep out of 44-1 whom I met a few years back.  He's doing a great job Sponsoring Chapter was 44-2 whom did a great job.  I've been getting to know these folks as well as some of the folks in my own chapter.  I continue to see them at different events around a 4 state area; Great People!  Grunt Pa is the CC and did a great job; his personality fits the event and gets it done.  He had some great help from his folks and they pulled it off. Marty-Graw, Sloshy, 2L8 and no doubt many many others. They held this at the Moose Lodge which is a great venue. They used it for their bike show last year and will again come September.

Man .. so many folks rolled in that I know. Skrape out of TX with his sidekick.  Cray-On out of AR.  Lot of other faces from the Houston area. Coolshot our National SAA was on hand, their Regional rep Bunny did a great job keeping things in check and giving info.  Hell, I've already got 2024's on my calendar.  Find myself wishing I could have made their Regional event last year; that would have been a blast! 

Weather was an interesting one.  Hot as fuck on my ride in, cooler leaving on Sunday with rain here and there.  Surprisingly I only got splashed once and it was refreshing. Been planning this one since they'd announced it and now..... behind us.  Time to refocus on TX again with an event with 23-28 on their APR ride early September and our State and Regionals coming up .  Rolling back on 2 to Hattiesburg in mid September for their Bike show.  I came away with a second place trophy last year; FIRST in on my radar for 2023!

UDL issue

 Will all our patches go by the wayside for Chapters?

RIP Bug

We met Carolyn back in '17, and it's been an awesome six years.  She was married to Godfather whom we all looked up to; we lost him back in '21.  Then this year, Carolyn got an infection and within months, things took a fatal turn. We lost her late last month.   Today, we celebrated her life with a Memorial at Sweet Water Grill.

Dutch took the reins and did an awesome job.  SwampRat jumped into the fray to help.  The Aux stepped up to make sure everything went smooth.  Even Cupcake from 23-14 brought in some incredibly awesome deserts for the day (I might have got carried away).   Overall, was a great ceremony. I truly believe her family were happy with the outcome of it all.  I know I was.

I started off the morning rolling out at 0900 with Lucy on the back of our bike (Krome) and met up with Chief and KAL.  Headed the 'long way' to Emory where about a dozen of us met up from 23-11 with 2-3 cages of family members.  From there, we headed out to SWG where we were met by another 2-3 dozen folks on bikes and others caging in to celebrate Bug's life.

Few things jump at me.... I can't help but .. dissect things so to speak. First, Dudeman and Cupcake were on hand.  Awesome.  Skrape was on hand.  Awesome.  The majority of 23-11 was on hand.  Awesome.  Folks from 23-1, 23-6 and other chapters were on hand.  Awesome.  What caught me off guard were a few others.  Also, whom didn't show.  I don't recall a single soul from 23-26; huh.

Towards the end, I realized Whiskers was in attendance.  Lucy told me his wife was as well. Kudo's brother for making it after everything that happened.  Snake and Knuckles came in from New Mexico; she'd actually had a hand in running some of it.  Awesome.  A lot of folks I didn't know were in attendance.  Bug and Godfather had quite a presence over the years.  But.......

Few folks rolled in that ...   hmmm..  made me shake my head.  We had a group of folks bail out of our  CVMA chapter a few months back and start up their own lil thing.  Several showed up with their vests, etc.  Hell, I'm surprised the whole group didn't roll in . .but... how many of them are in that group exactly?  Three?  Five?  Dozen?  I hear it's sort of a mess and struggling.  But, I question why most even showed their faces.  One of them didn't have the balls to say a word to me, and .. worse.. fucking rambled on during 1/2 the ceremony ignoring the speakers.  If I'd been standing next to him I'd have told him to STFU and .. smacked him the back of the head if necessary. Complete disrespect towards Carolyn.  Should have stayed home; but .. .wasn't his agenda?  On a positive note, the POS left without saying a word in my direction.  Note:  Someone just told me the Fux we're actually prospecting at the Event.  Guess we should have outwardly told them to stay the fuck away after what all went down a few months ago.  

Still ....  Lot of great folks in the Mix.  Carolyn is/was, an awesome lady and will be missed. 

Rest in Peace Bug