**Also posted in the Rockford forum on the boards:
Hi there folks,
Bear with me since I'm awful with names and know nothing about bikes. Ha, this should be a mighty entertaining post!
I'm JU's girlfriend (if you couldn't tell from my user name) and I had a great time in Rockford. (I was the one at the park during the day who was taking pictures of all the "pretty" bikes, LOL, and the one at the banquet in the way too dressy black dress and I also won a raffle prize!)
I saw and took pictures of a ton of cool bikes during the day at the park. I loved all the cool displays (mannequins, uniforms, magazines, etc. etc.)
Bill, Hal, Rick - thank you guys so much. You really took care of me and Jeff and we appreciate it. Words can't express it. You all did an excellent job - from the looks of it, an event like this is not an easy thing to put together, and you pulled it off. Kudos, big time.
Bob Haro - I met him and he was so nice and friendly. I was such a dork and said, "You were in Joe Kid!" because that's pretty much my main frame of reference. His presentation was really interesting (and this is coming from someone who knows nothing about bikes, so if I'm sayin' it was interesting, that's saying something). The slides, the stories, the humor. He did a great job. Loved all the behind the scenes stuff with the filming of "E.T." and all of the cartoon drawings he did, too.
The awards - can I brag that my boyfriend's original JU-6 that he rode in the 70s won First Place in the 1970's category? Ok, so Tim Cook had a *little* to do with it, not to mention Dennis Dain with the VERY cool number plate. I was thrilled that it won, since I was told it would be a tough competition this year (and yes, to reiterate, Tim Cook put the bike together to display, it's only on loan, it still belongs to Jeff. Ya gearheads need to chill! Jeff has NOT sold his original JU-6! LOL)
Truly, I wanted to vote for the Jeff Utterback brown and blue bike frame (GJS? JU-6? I'm clueless) that Alex Vesa (?) had on display. That thing was cool!
The raffle - I want to give Jeff Utterback some credit for donating a reallllly cool vintage Bob Haro-designed shirt to the raffle. Bill was coveting it - I was worried it wouldn't get auctioned off. I hope and pray that shirt doesn't end up on eBay cuz it probably took Jeff a lot to part with it!
The Minnesota Contingent - yeah, you guys scare me, too.
To the guy who was driving home to Jersey, 15 hours (I think he was the same one who won the Redline frame in the raffle) - I really, really hope you and your party made it home in one piece. That's a looong drive.
To the kid who won the bike at the auction - LOVED your enthusiasm!
To J.T. (Jeff...Tollefson? Tolliver? Shoot, I'm bad with names)...the guy from Wisconsin or Minnesota...I loved the bikes and displays you had and I took a ton of pics of those. Congrats on getting 2 awards! Nice to meet you.
Those Hutch bikes were cool lookin'...I wanted to get a shot of all 3, but the wind kinda went nuts and shut a lot of stuff down...luckily the weather held until the very end.
For anyone wondering what I'll be doing with the BMX swag I won at the auction - I have a very good friend who's really into BMX stuff...he posts on this board, actually, and he couldn't go to Rockford. He's definitely NOT the type to put cherished things on eBay, especially gifts, so he's getting the stuff I won. He's a good egg, and he'll appreciate it.
Lastly, to my wonderful boyfriend Jeff...thank you so much for letting me tag along. I had a great time! And imagine that, we didn't miss ANY flights.
[ June 18, 2007, 01:50 AM: Message edited by: Utterback's Ball & Chain ]