2Wheeltips

Well, motorcycle friends, I had the shock of my life when I received my copy of the Americade Times in the mail a couple of days ago.  I was thumbing through the magazine, reminiscing about all the great events they had, the well organized tours, the wonderful people I had met...  I was looking at the photos and I almost felt like I was looking at my own photo album of Americade.  As I found out, it was for a good reason!  At least four of the photos they used in the magazine were mine!  Damn, I thought!  I must have won the photo contest.....Nah...I thought again....I am just imagining things...so many other people were up at Americade....so many cameras clicking away...so many people entered the same contest I did.  Better yet, I had never been notified by Americade that I had won, so I just enjoyed the magazine and put my strange thoughts aside.  But wait, I said to myself!  Check the photo credits in the front of the magazine....(of course, this is me, talking to me....)...if your photo or photos are in here, they will give you credit, right???  RIGHT!  And there was my name with the photo credits!  I was ecstatic.  And, in addition to the use of your photos, there was a monetary prize involved...so, I thought (again, me talking to me...)...now I KNOW they used at least one of my photos, I mean my name was listed in the photo credits, but no notification and no check in the mail.  Well, maybe it got lost?  I mean the US Postal Service isn't perfect....it's pretty damned good but it's not perfect.  So, I just put the magazine aside and figured I would send an e-mail to Americade and tell them thanks for picking my photos but I never got any letter (or check....lol) in the mail telling me I had won.  And then, yesterday, I brought in the mail.  And in the mail was a letter (and, yes!, a check) from Americade!  The letter told me I won!  The check floored me!  It was for far more than I had expected to receive (see, I kind of figured that ONE photo was mine....the others, although they sort of looked like mine...well...I figured other bikers had taken similar shots and mine were like the others so I was just imagining things).  So, back I went, to the magazine and, this time, my computer, and found that FOUR of the photos they used were mine!  I was (and I still am) thrilled!!!  So, for those of you who are curious (or just like to hit hyperlinks), here is the link to the online version of the Americade Times magazine.  http://www.tourexpo.com/data/content/view/1612/272/
My photos are in the 2009 magazine and they are:
Page 8, the photo of the ski jump at Lake Placid
Page 9, the photo of the red covered bridge with bikes going through it
Page 17, the photo of sunrise on Lake George
Page 20, the photo of a man working on a bike (with license plate "DEANS")

For those of you who have ever attended an Americade rally, I think I need say no more.  You know what Americade rallies are like....

For those of you who have never attended (or never even heard of) Americade rallies, take a look and read the magazine.  If you are interested in going to Americade (the first week of June 2010 in Lake George Village, NY), and you have questions, you can always pose your questions here.  If there are questions that we cannot answer, I know people who work for Americade and I will get an answer for you!

Americade is a fantastic, huge, incredibly well organized touring rally, and bikers get a chance to mingle with tens of thousands of other bikers of all walks of life, from all parts of the country (and, even from other countries), all who share at least one common interest:  their love of motorcycling.  And, maybe next year, YOUR photos will be in the Americade Times magazine!