This past weekend I was in Dayton with Wonder Boy for the annual Roll in the Hay scooter rally, hosted by the Gem City Rollers. It was my second year for the event so I was prepared in terms of what to expect for the weekend-long event.

  • Day One: Karaoke, drinking and socializing
  • Day Two: Breakfast, ride, scooter contests, dinner, drinking and dancing
  • Day Three: Coffee and doughnuts and head home

Our sleeping accommodations were a tent but Wonder Boy hooked me up with an air mattress so I wouldn’t throw out my back again. We had a solar shower that we would get to use and make positive use of the heat (last year was really cold). There was a cooler packed with beer so we could drink something of our own selection when the kegs ran dry. We were set.

What we were not prepared for was a night of fireworks. Literally. On Friday night people managed to kill three and a half of the five kegs that had been iced up for the weekend (normally we go through one or so) and they got a little rowdy. Wonder Boy and I are set in our ways so we went to bed thinking the weekend would run like rally past and that Saturday would be the big night.

Oh no.

Fireworks started going off around 11 pm and continued until about 3 am. Somewhere around 3 am, someone drove their scooter up to our tent so the light was shining through the mesh “window” and yelled “Get a Room.” We were in a tent. Isn’t that sort of like a room???

Saturday could have been renamed Napping Day for me since I took several to make up for Friday night. But the ride through Dayton made everything worth it. The Gem City Rollers planned a great route for us with a mix of country roads and city riding. It did rain some but that didn’t slow us down. (It did cause one person to fall, but she was okay and her scooter only had some scratches.) Lunch was at the PNC 2nd Street Market, which is wonderful. A few irritated looks from cops, I think the ride was a resounding success.

After the ride, there were the necessary games of Scooter Soccer, the weiner game (no idea what it’s called), obstacle courses, etc.

Saturday evening, Wonder Boy and I had a new tactic. We would hang out with the fireworks boys. That way we would know what was going on instead of being irritated. A mistake. We saw one guy, literally, shoot a firecracker out of his butt. Out. Of. His. Butt. We saw others shoot massive fireworks off in the middle of trees. It was ridiculous.

So we went to bed.

All that said, which could easily be perceived as complaining, we’ll definitely be back next year. For sure. (With ear plugs next time.)

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.