Gettysburg Bike Week is quickly becoming known as one of the great biker rallies to attend. And with the nightly activities that they hold, I can't see any reason why bikers wouldn't be lining up to go! This past year, the festivities took place July 8-11 in the historical battlefield area.

Gettysburg is only about a 45 minute drive away from where we are located, but we planned to stay the whole weekend to make sure that we didn't miss a minute of the fun. Pudge, Duval & I went down Saturday morning and started out by visiting Battlefield Harley-Davidson; this is one of the two main locations that events took place at.

With a gigantic parking area for riders to be able to see what others are doing, Battlefield HD was where the Rhett Rotten Wall of Death was stationed, where there were about a hundred or so vendors set up around the outside edge of the lot, and where riders who don't make it to Battlefield as often as we do had the opportunity to check the place out. They have a great reception area that offers the comforts of home with leather sofas and chairs, a pool table, and refreshment center that is always stocked with goodies.

Heading over to the Allstar Sports Complex, where the other half of Bike Week was taking place, you had the opportunity to drive through historic battlefield areas and through downtown Gettysburg to see the businesses that had opened their doors to the riders by suddenly stocking up on any type of motorcycle merchandise that they could get their hands on.

Arriving at the Sports Complex, we met up with Brian & Stacie to get a feel for what was taking place. The one big draw throughout the weekend was the filming of the Discovery Channel Biker Build-Off series, featuring a competition between Jerry Covington and Warren Vesely. Elsewhere around the field, other builders had set up shop to show off what they had in stock.

As evening fell, the crowd turned their attention to the stage to view the Wet T-Shirt Contest. As I type those words now, I am laughing at how little of the t-shirts anyone saw. The contestants that were participating were told 'officially' that they could not take their clothes off. However, most of them looked pretty intoxicated, and when a crowd of well over 5,000 men are cheering them on, the clothes came off...over and over again. Being in the back, Stacie & I didn't have that great of view (which I was okay with), but we were so proud of our men - they were right up on stage in the middle of the action filming and taking pictures of everything!

Gettysburg is still in its infant stages when compared to other rallies, but with the backing of such sponsors as Budweiser, Pepsi, Sheetz, Battlefield Harley, and Ray Wilt Motorcycle/ATV, they aren't going away soon. Be part of the fun at Gettysburg Bike Week next year, July 7-10, 2005; you can view the entire 2005 schedule already at www.gettysburgbikeweek.com.