I only attended two of the rally’s four days, which is what I’ve done every year. The rally technically starts on Thursday night with a cities-wide scavenger hunt. I’m not from this area, so my ability to find obscure landmarks is not going to be even remotely competitive. So my rally always starts on Friday with the history ride. This year John took us to two great locations: the Sibley and Farbough homes and historical Fort Snelling where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers meet. We went to these locations last year as well, but this year we got guided tours at both locations. Very cool. I know that historical sites aren’t everybody’s cup of tea. But our group of 25-30 scooters had a great time reliving the early days of Minnesota.

Like last year, I helped block this ride as a warm up for the big Saturday ride. It was good practice — took me a few intersections to get my rhythm back. Soon enough though, it all came back to me. Decked out in orange, flag waving off my mirror, zipping by the caravan of scooters — it’s a rush. After our tours, hundreds of scooters gathered at Scooterville for the four separate Friday night rides: vintage, modern shifter, twist-and-go, and virgin groups. I arrived at Scooterville a while before the action. I wanted to see everybody trickle in. I wasn’t disappointed. Soon the place was overrun with scooters of every stripe. Fabulous. My favorite was Kent arriving on his 1957 Triumph Tessy — and he didn’t just have a great vintage scooter, he had an outfit to go with it. Each group left with a handful of blockers and made their way to the 331 Club. My favorite part of that ride was crossing paths the other groups here and there as we made our way to 331. Blocking was a challenge, with just a couple of us per group, but thankfully everybody made it without incident. There was food, there were shenanigans, everybody seemed to have a great time. The Mrs and I took off relatively early to tend to our pups, but I figure the party went on well into the night.

August 15, 2009 — As far as I’m concerned, Saturday is the rally. It’s breakfast at Square Peg. It’s the big ride. It’s the Gymkhana. This year did not disappoint. Seeing a parking lot full of scooters is always highly entertaining. Joe, our fearless ride leader, asked me to give the rider briefing. We reviewed hand signals and basic formation, but I think the smartest thing we did was ask everybody to lay off using their horns so that we blockers could use ours to alert the pack to our movements. That made a big difference in our ability to move through the group and keep everybody together. I was greatly relieved to see that our crew of blockers had grown considerably from our check rides. We had a nice little squadron of blockers and with flags flapping and orange vests donned it felt like we were the RAF ready to defend London. The ride went off without a hitch and with very few breakdowns — most notably our illustrious event coordinator, Kent, who was supposed to be our caboose. Thankfully, he was up and running within a few minutes and finished the second half of the ride bringing up the rear.

Just like last year, Blue Cat Motors hosted lunch, the Gymkhana, and the rest of the day’s shenanigans. Lunch was greek pittas and the gymkhana got running right away. I have to give huge credit to Pooter for organizing a great course. Last year, the gymkhana didn’t get rolling very quickly and the obstacles were pretty intimidating. Only a few people participated and one of the obstacles was actually broken before the event got going at all. This year, Pooter took it upon himself to not only get the event going right away, but he built a course that was challenging and that anybody could ride. Folks lined up in droves and several people rode the course more than once. Scooterville’s Steve Anderson gave side car rides to kids during the action. Great fun. The obstacle course was followed by the tractor pull, and then the slow race. Great stuff. I got lots of photos and lots of video. I’m really impressed with the ease and quality of video I could take with the iPhone. Sadly, the paintball jousting got cut off this year when the skies opened up with rain. Folks scattered, myself included, but it’d been a great day regardless.

High points
Oddly enough, the history tour was my favorite part. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the whole event and all the scooter parts, but seeing what was essentially the birthplace of Minnesota and the great collection of artifacts and objects that went with that was just great. I also especially enjoyed meeting new area scooterists and even some readers!

Low points
My only regret in blocking the big ride was that I didn’t get to really do the ride with the group. I was so focused on staying safe and blocking intersections that I didn’t really get to experience the spectacle of so many bikes snaking their way across the countryside. It’s a small price to pay, but maybe next year I’ll only block half the ride.

Five people showed up.

Last year we had at least a dozen or so people on some of the check rides. This is kind of disconcerting. I’m sure people will jump in day of and help out, but it makes a big difference to know where the heck you’re going. I suppose that’ll be part of the adventure this time ’round.

We ran the route once again and I do like it more and more each time we do it. This is a much easier route than last year’s winding, 75 mile trek through the Grand Rounds and around Lake Minnetonka. Although I must say, for all its complexity and what seemed like 1,000 intersections to block, you just can’t top those two staples of Twin Cities riding. When I’m looking for a great route to ride, those or the first two routes on my list. But for the rally, it’s not really about the route at all. The big ride, as organizer Kent Aldrich will readily admit, is about spectacle. It’s a parade. It’s a mile-and-a-half long snake of buzzing scooters completely taking over the road for a few minutes. The average speed of the ride is going to be about 25 mph, which is what we ran the route at today. It takes a while, but that’s kind of the point. It’s going to be so much fun. Part of me wishes I could just take it easy and be part of the pack, but the thrill of zipping past the group 40 mph faster is just too good to pass up.

High points
The highlight for me was Diego and Santiago both showing up on their Genuine Blur 150s. I rode a Blur last season, and save for the awful saddle on it, it’s one of the most brilliant scooters available anywhere. I have no regrets about my switch to my Vespa GT, but seeing not one but two Blurs in our group was oddly emotional. I like to think that machines have some sort of spirit. Not a soul, per say, but some sort of fabulous energy that comes from so many components coming together by someone’s design to do a specific thing. The Blur is definitely that way — any scooter, really. Hearing that familiar exhaust note each time we left a stop — then especially a couple times when Santiago went flying past me in fast turns — it was almost like seeing an old, estranged friend or even an ex-girlfriend. It didn’t make me want to trade back, but it did make me wish I could have both — especially when later I found out that Genuine is bringing over a 220cc EFI version of the Blur.

Low points
The poor turnout. Sure, it was still a fun ride, but I’m just hoping that we have enough actual blockers come Saturday. If we have the 230+ riders we had last year, we’re going to need them.

I was excited to meet up with Joe, Pooter and the gang for another run of the Rattle My Bones route. I couldn’t make the previous check ride and apparently the route had changed significantly since that first time we all ran it. I was also hoping to arrive at the Square Peg Diner in time to have breakfast — the food is fantastic and I highly recommend their establishment. Thankfully I arrived with just enough time to devour a delicious combination of two english muffins, two fried eggs, and a foothill of hashbrowns. Great fuel for our 80 mile urban ride.

The seven of us mounted up on what was almost an all-Vespa group (we had one Genuine Buddy Blackjack with us). Since it’s a common starting point, the first 15 minutes or so of the ride route are just like last year — winding our way through the marginally abandoned semi-industrial section of eastern Hennepin Avenue. Last year we meandered our way all the way across the Twin Cities, ’round Lake Minnetonka, and back across town to St. Paul. This year’s route loops us around White Bear Lake and where last year we rode almost all of the Grand Rounds, this year the surface streets seem much more rural. That’ll be a lot easier to block in terms of traffic, but some of the intersections are going to be a bit complex.

The half way point is a grand little cafe called Ingredients. Although our stopping point has options ranging from semi-fast food Chinese to biker bar burger fair, I’ll definitely be having lunch at Ingredients come ride day. The food is fantastic. Even my simple lunch of rice, beans, and avocado was spectacularly gourmet.

Much like last ride, we had a tire incident that paused our progress. Thankfully a spare was on-hand and we were rolling along again in a few moments. Once we wrapped the ride up at Blue Cat Motors, I felt like I had a much better handle on what the ride will be like. Our final check ride is scheduled for next weekend with the rally only two weeks away! I think this year is going to be yet another great weekend of scooter madness. If you’re a scooter person and can make it to the Twin Cities, I highly recommend attending. And heck, even if you’re not a scooter rider, you’d still have a great time. I attended my first RMB two years ago sans-scooter and had a lot of fun.

High points
Riding with such a good group of riders. There really is nothing better for honing your riding skills than running a nice tight formation with other experienced two-wheelers. Seeing how that bike in front of you is entering a turn, or how much speed they’re carrying into a corner, or when they are and aren’t braking is a great way to get better at riding your own scooter.

Low points
My only complaint could be that there just weren’t very many of us. We’re going to need way more blockers than what showed up for these two check rides and it would be best if they were familiar with the route before we all have to streak up the wrong side of the street at 60 mph.

This serves a couple of purposes. First, we’ll ride the route to make sure it’s adequately simple, scenic, and lengthy. The route will get tweaked a few times and then locked in. Once the route is set, we’ll ride it at least a half dozen times to familiarize the core blocking crew with what intersections we’re going to have to “lock up” in order to get a mile long caravan of scooters through without incident. And lastly, it’s a great excuse to get together with really good riders and run a nice tight formation over a long route.

Our route today was about three and a half hours — about 80 miles according to Joe. Weather was a little sketchy, with periods of drizzle throughout and the overall cloudy gray motif. It didn’t outright rain on us until The Mrs and I were on our way back home. We shed riders here and there as the ride went on, and had one incident of a flat tire. Thankfully, a spare was generously offered up by another rider in the group.

High points
Riding a great route most of which I’ve never ridden before. It just re-emphasized how much great urban riding there is in the Twin Cities. Also, seeing Doug’s gorgeous new orange Vespa GS. That guy knows how to spend the winter. I thought it would be difficult to top his hot rod caliber red Vespa Allstate 90, but his GS definitely does. Also, one of our compatriots rode a Piaggio MP3 250. I was riding stagger just behind her and watching that bizarre front end do its thing was really, really interesting.

Low points
Getting rained on sucks. Period. It didn’t rain that hard and we didn’t even really get wet, but the wet road just kills my confidence in the road grip. It’s not that big a deal, but it’s just not fun at all.

There is really only one thing about RMB that I could complain about. When there’s an activity, such as a meal, it needs to really get going right away. There were two activities at BlueCat Motors — the “pig roast”, and the gymkhana. In both cases, neither got going with any sort of expediency. That ended up being a real detriment to both events. People didn’t know when food was happening, and it actually interrupted the start of the gymkhana. And once the gymkhana eventually got rolling again, people had pretty much lost interest if they hadn’t up and completely left. Which is too bad because it was pretty darn entertaining.

A scooter gymkhana (a word which has its roots in equestrian sports) is essentially an obstacle course you run on your scooter. This was easily my favorite part of the rally last year. The real die-hards, the real gear heads all mount up and take on the course. Best time wins and time is added for putting your foot down or skipping an obstacle. The main gymkhana course this year consisted of a distance jump, a see-saw, water bottle slalom, a set of small consecutive ramps, the “ring of fire”, and finally a water box obstacle.

What was probably most disappointing about the gymkhana this year was how really very few people participated. That, and my favorite obstacle got broken before the show really got started. Last year, the water box obstacle was the really intimidating bit of the course. It’s essentially an 18″ deep box, six foot by eight foot, and half full of water with a ramp leading up to it. There’s a safe “high road” about a foot wide along one edge where you can balance and ride your way across without going in the water. This path incurs a small time penalty. To do the obstacle correctly, you must actually drop into the water and ride a ramp inside the box back out the other side — all without falling over. Last year most riders were able to make it through the obstacle without much incident. Then there came Zack on his big Kymco. He managed to hit the entry ramp just right so that his scooter hopped seemingly straight up and landed vertically inside the obstacle wedged between the back and the ramp, his rear wheel spitting water everywhere in a giant rooster tail. His bike was fine and they got him out of there no problem. But it scared the next several riders from venturing into the wet and proper part of the obstacle. That’s when they started jumping it. It was awesome! Vintage Vespas, small pseudo off-road scooters, and anybody else with the nerve began jumping the box completely and getting a time bonus for their fortitude.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who remembered that. No sooner was the water box set up this year and full of water were people jumping over it on their Stellas. One unfortunate miss jump knocked the back wall out of the box, spilling about 50 gallons of water into the parking lot. Thankfully the rider didn’t eat it when his back wheel grabbed that box wall, but the obstacle was pretty much done. It ultimately, at least I feel, deflated the whole gymkhana. That and how the damn “ring of fire” wouldn’t stay lit. Geez.

The gymkhana does involve more than just the obstacle course. There’s also a tractor pull, where a scooter pulls a person in a wooden sled. Last year this was done in a giant parking lot. This year the whole event was held in a much smaller, more narrow area out behind BlueCat. This worried me. Last year a rider turned sharply and nearly drug the sled and it’s passenger into a concrete light pole base. People don’t realize how the rope will whip that sled out in the opposite direction if they deviate from a straight line drag path. So it was inevitable that Lora, brave soul that she is, was dragged very nearly into disaster by some woman on a pink Stella who would listen to neither instruction nor reason. Thankfully Lora was wearing full riding gear. The best part about the tractor pull is that with just wooden skis underneath, the rig left this great hot sawdust smell every time it went by.

The two final events were the slow race and the paintball joust. The slow race is an anti-race in the sense that it’s the last scooter across the finish line that wins, not the first. But the catch is that you can’t put your feet down at any point during the race. So there two riders are, twitching their bikes left and right, trying not to fall over, but also trying to make as little forward progress as possible. It’s an absolute blast to watch. Riders raced two-rider heats with the winner advancing. Two classes, one for automatic bikes, one for shifters, whittled down the field quickly. I hopped on the Blur and slow-raced Lora, only to tip and have to put my foot down within about three seconds of starting. Fail.

As for paint ball joust. No I’m not making that up. Two riders ride toward each other armed with pump-action paintball guns and the most hits win! I didn’t actually stick around for this bit, as I was exhausted after blocking the big ride and then sitting ’round in the sun and heat for three hours. So for all I know, it didn’t actually happen. I do remember it being terribly entertaining last year, however.

So that did it for me for the rally this year. There was an evening event with the big raffle (which included to scooter giveaways among other swag), and also a loosely organized Sunday ride. But I was bushed. I just wanted to go home and spend some time on my couch. But either way, I had a great time and I can’t wait for next year. I may just have to start going to other rallies in this region. Chicago? Kansas City? Hmmm…

You can view my entire collection of iPhone pics in my

Flickr collection.

Here’s the thing. All practical use aside, riding a scooter is really, really fun. The only thing more fun that riding a scooter, is riding a scooter in a group. I learned this months ago after joining the Heck’s Angels, only to have it further reinforced during what I can only describe as Pizza Lucé rides. There’s something really exciting about zipping along with a group of a dozen or so scooterists, in staggered formation, all growling and snarling in the least intimidating manner possible. The looks you get from other cars, from pedestrians, and other 2-wheel riders are just classic. Basically, it’s a big grin parade.

But here’s the other thing. The one thing that’s more fun than riding a scooter in a group, is blocking a group scooter ride. Blocking involves a small number of scooter riders going ahead of the group and literally blocking traffic so that the group can continue to travel as an uninterrupted pack. The larger the group of riders, the more essential it is to have good blocking. In essence, blockers are escort riders. For example, whenever the presidential motorcade travels anywhere, there are blockers — often on motorcycles. These blocker travel ahead of the motorcade to clear the intersection before the motorcade gets there. That way if the light changes, or traffic pics up, the motorcade doesn’t have to stop and no other cars can encroach on the motorcade and split up the cars from each other. We did the same thing for the big RMB ride.

Now when I say big ride, I have to clarify what I mean. This was a BIG ride. Most of the weekend rides I end up going on never have more than 10 scooters in them. That makes for a riding formation about the length of a city bus. Not bad. Pretty manageable in traffic and rarely do we try to block these rides. For the big Saturday rally ride, we expected at least 200 scooters. What we got was more like 230! Our formation accordion-shifted between being about half a mile long to being nearly two miles long! Even if you get to an intersection just as it turns green, there’s no way you’ll get everybody through before the light changes. And stop signs? Forget about it! It’d take all day to move 230 scooters through a 4-way stop a pair at a time. It’s imperative that the ride stay as a group so that nobody gets separated and everybody arrives at the same place. Because realistically, in this ride of 230 scooters, only about six people actually know the route. Then there was the route itself. 75 urban miles. We slotted out about four hours to do the whole thing and that’s pretty much exactly how long it took.

We had about a dozen blockers, which turned out to be perfect. Each blocker was decked out with “escort” flags on their rear-view mirrors, and a big orange safety vest. We really did look official. The way this worked was that all of the blockers would start up at the front of the pack. As the group approached an intersection, between two and five blockers would ride ahead. If the light was red, we’d wait. It’s fine for the ride to stop as a group, we just want to make sure that group doesn’t get split up. Once the light turned green, blockers would block the lanes of traffic that would have the right of way once our light turned red again. That way those cars couldn’t encroach on the group and break the formation, or worse, run over somebody. And when I say blocking, we would literally put our bodies on the line — parking our scooters at 90º to traffic and barring their way.

Once the entire group has passed through the intersection — which at times took more than two minutes — the blockers would give a nod or wave of thanks to the cars who had patiently waited and then proceed through the intersection to catch up with the group. The kicker is that in order to block the next intersection, the blockers need to get back to the front of the pack, and quickly. That’s where the real fun begins.

It’s not often that I ride my scooter at more than twice the posted speed limit. It’s even less often that I would ride it into oncoming traffic — i/e on the wrong side of the road (what is this, england?). But when you’re blocking, you get to do both. Because the ride was a mix of large and small displacement scooters, the pace was kept below 30 mph for the duration so that smaller, 50cc scooters would be able to keep up. This was also advantageous to the blockers, who needed to zoom up to the front of the mile-long formation. We really were very safe about it, but it was risky business for sure. The blockers would essentially ride the center stripes to the left of the big formation until oncoming traffic came along. Then we’d duck into the formation itself and hide out until it was clear again to move forward. This was so much fun I can barely put it into words. There we were, just BLAZING past hundreds of other scooters, often in the oncoming lane, and just feeling like fighter pilots the whole time. Though the risk really was adequately managed, doing that for nearly four hours of total riding was a thrill I don’t know if I’ll ever top. I put what felt like years of riding experience under my belt in only a few hours. After the ride, I felt not invincible, but expertly competent in riding my scooter. I knew exactly how fast I could accelerate, now sharp I could turn, how hard I could brake. I and the Blur were one — a fusion of man and machine.

Throughout the ride, blockers would relieve one another as much as possible so that no blocker would have to make the whole journey from the back of the pack to the front very often. If I’d blocked all the way to the end of the group, chances are other blockers have already locked down the next intersection and the group is already making its way through. If I make it half way back up the group, it makes a lot more sense for me to relieve those blockers so that they only have to traverse half the pack, rather than the whole thing. Luckily we had enough good blockers present that we could leap frog about three intersections at once. We were a well-oiled machine and the camaraderie grew very strong amongst the blockers. We watched each other’s backs and made ways for those behind us to make it to the front safely.

It paid off. The 75 mile ride went off without a hitch. We only had a couple of break downs, and there were no wrecks or even really any road rage. For several days afterward, as I fell asleep at night, I’d have little mini-dreams that I was back blocking the big ride again. Seriously, such a thrill. After leaving the day’s festivities, I had to really check myself and remember that now it was time to obey the traffic signals again. Stop sign. Check. Speed limit. Check. Right lane. Check…

Scooterville sits on a little U-shaped street that leaves and then re-joins Cedar Ave. There are several bars and clubs on this U and even another motorcycle shop. So whenever you’re at Scooterville, there’s always something coming around the U to get back onto Washington/Cedar/Minnehaha Ave. While we were gathering for the evening ride, some guy rolled up in a Delorean tricked out in fabulous Back To The Future fashion. I would hope that there’s even a Flux Capacitor inside. What was even more entertaining though, was how at least half a dozen people with cameras in gun holsters rushed the street to grab a photo of the guy as he waited to turn at the stop sign. I bet he gets that a lot.

Four rides left from Scooterville:

1. Vintage shifter scooters – old Vespas, Lambrettas, etc.
2. Modern shfter scooters – Stellas, Bajaj Chetaks and Legends
3. Modern twist-and-go auto scooters – Modern Vespas, Buddies, Blurs, Vinos, etc.
4. Newbie group riders – For those scooterists who are new to group riding

I rode with the newbie ride since the organizer had asked me to block for this group. I’m really glad I did because not only was this ride a nice, scenic cruise down the Mississippi River parkway, blocking for it was a great warm-up for the big ride coming up the next day. Even though Joe had explained the ins and outs of blocking several times, it wasn’t until I actually did it that it fully clicked for me.

We arrived at BlueCat without incident and I’d only managed to miss-block one intersection. I remarked to Lora, one of the other blockers, that if a mistake is a “cock-up” and that mistake were made while blocking, was that “cock blocking?” A new term was born, or at least re-coined.

BlueCat is a cool little shop. They will work on anything with two wheels and a motor. They sell everything from classic british cafe racer motorcycles, to beautifully restored Lambretta scooters, to vintage Vespas, to custom choppers, to modern SYM scooters from Taiwan. Their shop has such a great, non-boutique, urban grit to it. The guys are really approachable and in an era where motorcycles and scooters alike have a lot of pretense, BlueCat is refreshingly approachable and non-commercial. There was a DJ spinnin’ some classic jams, a BBQ fired up making burgers and dogs for anybody who’d eat them, and coolers full of water and beer. Kate and I ducked out after 10:30 or so, but the atmosphere was nice and chill and it looked like everybody was having a great time.

We pulled away from the hotel and headed for the state capitol in St. Paul. I really have no idea how we got there. I had this surprise realization moment as we passed the St. Paul Cathedral that somehow we’d wondered into the eastern twin city. I’d never actually been to the capitol before, and though I didn’t go in, I couldn’t help but appreciate this seat of state government. The group stopped. Some went in. Others took pictures. Some stood ’round and smoked. I got into an interesting conversation about alternative energy storage technology and what struck me most is how quickly people dismiss something that’s new. I’m an avid skeptic, but especially with alternative technologies, it’s like people only see the problems and not the possibilities.

With nearly 50 scooters lined up in front of the capitol building, it wasn’t long until the fuzz showed up. But to his credit, the capitol security cop simply seemed interested. We did all sort of take his squad car’s presence as time to saddle up. He wished us a safe ride and we were on our way.

John, our tour guide, led us then to two rather interesting locations, neither of which we actually toured. The first was essentially the original Minnesota governor’s mansion, and the other was basically the corporate headquarters for the english fur trade industry around the time of the war of 1812. Our final stop was actually Fort Snelling, which was established precisely to drive out the english fur trading influence and push the english back into Canada where they presumably belonged.

It turns out that John, our illustrious tour guide, is also a volunteer at Fort Snelling. He managed to get us all free passes and a very personal tour around the fort. Fort Snelling sits strategically high above the intersection of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, making it a key northern stronghold. The current fort, which sits like a giant, diverting boulder in the modern river of highway traffic, is essentially a rebuild on top of the original grounds. Trying to capture life there in a snapshot ’round the 1820s or so, there is a full-time seasonal staff of period reenactors who do everything from laundry, to blacksmithing, to cooking. The tour capped off with a demonstration firing of one of the fort’s six pound field artillery cannons. Fantastic!

But one year ago this week was when I attended the 2007 Rattle My Bones Twin Cities Scooter Rally. I registered, paid my $25, got my wrist band, bought raffle tickets, observed the gymkhana, all without actually being a scooter owner. But whilst I lurked, I talked to a plethora of people about what they were riding and what they’d recommend to a new rider like myself. What I didn’t expect was to find such a rich subculture of scooterists and such an active community here in the Twin Cities. Three months later I was the proud owner of a curvy, silver Italian “wasp” that had been ’round longer than I’ve been alive. Fabulous.

This last weekend was Rattle My Bones II. This year, I actually own a scooter. What’s more it’s my second scooter, a Blur 150 by Genuine Scooter Company. To top it off, it’s for sale so that I might purchase the Aprilia SportCity 250 I test rode last week. But I must say, real participation beets simple bystandery any day. I had such an amazing time.

Leading up to the rally
Beyond simply showing up to the rally this year, I was lucky enough to be involved in the ride planning process. Not in the sense that I planned the rides, but more specifically I volunteered to be a ride blocker. There were a grand total of seven rides scheduled for this rally. The biggest of which being a 75 mile urban parade route through the twin cities starting north of downtown Minneapolis, winding its way west looping around Lake Minnetonka, back across the southern part of the Metro, and ending in west St. Paul near the Mississippi River. We were anticipating at least 200 scooters to participate in this main event group ride, and that meant we’d need to block intersections in order to keep the group together. Joe, our ride leader, organized several preliminary rides and blocking meetings so that those of us who were new to this manner of scofflaw riding could do so safely and effectively. More on blocking later.

Day 1 – The scavenger hunt
I must admit, I didn’t participate in the Thursday night scavenger hunt. This is for two reasons. A) I abhor scavenger hunts. But more importantly B) all of these events are starting at least a 45 minute ride away from where I live in Eden Prairie. So I’m not making the trek out to downtown just for this. People had fun though, and more power to them.