MOA & RA Rallies - 9. Wellsboro, PA – the RA Rally 2018

9. Wellsboro, PA – the RA Rally 2018

So now we have to ride from Iowa to Pennsylvania and again we have to bypass Chicago. After our visit to the Field of Dreams we wanted to make miles, so we sat on the Interstate, just sat on our bikes, twisted the throttle and let the hours tick by. We made good miles that day and got to Ohio. Slept in a motel somewhere along the Interstate and moved on the next day.

Our goal was to get to Wellsboro by Wednesday for the opening of the RA rally on Thursday Morning. 

The same heat that we had in Iowa followed us all the way to Pennsylvania (PA). The ride was hot. No, we did not volunteer for the RA rally, we were just visiting. Still, the RA rally is also run with volunteer power but the RA folks are way, way more relaxed than the higher strung group at the MOA. Here at an RA rally you kind of have to fend for yourself. There are no signs as to what is what, where to go, nor do they have a bike wash station but hey, if you want to wash your bike, sure… there is an outlet on the wall, help yourself. And of course there is our friend Marty who makes his living travelling to rallies in the U.S.A. and Canada to clean bikes.

Marty - Hard at Work Cleaning a Bike

You want an oil change?  Of course, no problem, someone might even come along and help you. But you need to drop off the old oil at a gas station somewhere; there is no real setup for that. Just lie on the grass, do your oil change but NO, NO do not dump the oil, which is strictly forbidden. Deposit it properly.

Seminar By Jack

There are a few ‘seminars’ but all is very loosely organized. There is a central location where you check in, where messages are posted on a wall, where volunteers give you a registration armband, where meals can be purchased etc. but it’s not strictly organized. There are no fenced off, marked off sections for tents. Plop your tent where you like. Well, within reason, of course. 

People at the RA are a lot more relaxed and self-sufficient compared to the MOA. I knew it immediately when we visited this ‘fairground’. It was an old Fairground, still used, mind you, but it was old; from the 1940’s or so. No trees for shade to speak of and here we have to sleep in a tent. There were some folks who made arrangements to sleep in a nearby college dorm, but I missed that deal.

Field Camping

But it’s ok, we had our tent. The only question was where to set it up. Yes, we came kind of ‘early’ and had some choices but the best places were taken already. In the prevailing heat, people use the animal stalls as shade, as shelter. Yes, they slept on top of old manure. It no longer smelled, it was so dried out, but still I could not make myself drop our tent on top of S*%t. I found however, a space large enough for our

Great Job Setting Up the Tent

tent at the entrance to one of the barns. The stalls left and right would have been too small for our tent, but the center aisle of this barn was where we erected our tent. There was no way I could use pegs since the flooring was concrete, but with some left over building material as anchors, with the sides tied to the support beams of the stalls, I managed to ‘build’ a house for Carol and me for the few days we were at the RA rally. Home sweet home, like some people said. We were out of the elements, we

More Barn Campers

were mostly in shade, and we had even some working electrical outlets to charge our iPads. Life was good! We found, to me, the perfect spot.

Sure it would have been nicer under a large leafy tree with soft grass under the tent, but we managed. The manure did not stink, so all was OK.

For the next 3 days, we again mostly schmoozed. Yes, the RA had a few vendors but nothing outstandingly new like at the MOA.

Relaxing

It is not really fair to compare the MOA to the RA or vise versa. The RA does not have a huge membership count. The RA concentrates more on the tough rider, the off-road people, the self-sufficient men or women. 

The seminars given at the RA are mostly riders who talk about their experiences. There are hardly ‘salesmen’ giving a seminar like at the MOA.

A Few Vendors

Here at the RA rally, it is about comrades you know. Or you make new connections. For us, Carol and I, it was a support trip for the RA. We like the people who are members. The rough and independent kind, the folks who want, above anything, be free and ride their motorcycles.

The RA is a BMW group, a split off from the MOA. When the MOA became too big, too corporate, the RA was

formed to stay simple and just have fun riding. The RA rally is more of a Tribal Meeting than anything I know. Here is where you can try out your bike in the dirt, get your bike really good and dirty. Learn some tips on camping efficiently. 

Hans and Carol

Another Hans and Carol

While at the MOA many people who visited used motels nearby, here at the RA it is mostly tent city. The attendance at the RA rally was near 2000; less than half of the attendance at the MOA.

Dining Hall/Seminar Room/ AC Schmooze Place

We spent 3 days in Wellsboro; we never even left the fairground. We ate on the grounds, ate what was cooked in the fairground kitchen, and had the free coffee that was offered and above all chatted with anybody who came near us, while we were sitting in the A/C dining hall.

Sure we walked around some, but we mostly moved from one spot to another getting to know folks. John C. (I had not seen him for ages) said hello. Muriel had her little tent set up near us; our ‘new’ neighbors needed a new bike battery and could not find one. We talked about J.J. who had a big mishap coming off a

GS Jane, Editor

Friend Shag

ferry. He had a slow get off because the rail on the ship’s ramp caught his front tire. I met Jane again, who was the Editor for the magazine the RA puts out. Dutch and Kate had their tent next to the dining hall; we could not miss seeing them a lot. We chatted with Shag, who could not make the MOA but made this RA. We kind of looked out for Jean and Ross, but they never showed. We listened to Jack Riepe and his advice. Ha!   We idled away hours, but nobody cared, we for sure did not care. No, we never even started up our bikes for 3 days. 

Entertainment

We enjoyed our time at the more relaxing RA Rally, away from the world, surrounded by folks like us, motorcycle dudes.