Gophers and Cheese

Friday was a lot of fun but Saturday had all the big events at the 46th Annual  Twin City Vans Good Times Truck-In.

2023 was my second time attending the Twin City Vans Good Times Truck-in and the first time as a member of TCV.  I drove my 1978 Dodge Trademan, of course, but this time I knew to bring a tent to put my stuff in when I wanted to show my van for show & shine or bright & shine.  I still slept in my van, but the tent proved useful.  The truck-in was held in Preston, MN.

Second Thursday Moto Nite at Bauhaus Brew Labs is organized by The Moto Collective .  It's a huge, eclectic bike night.  This one was special to me as it was the first bike night where I rode my grandfather's 1979 Hondamatic (CM400A). I restored & modified the bike over the winter.  When I got it, it was mostly stock, dirty & corroded, non-running, and was clearly home to multiple mice over the many years it was stored.  To be honest, the bike still needs some work as it's still not running quite right but it was good enough to make it to Bauhaus that day and that was a big win.

The First Tuesday in June 2023 was another great bike night at Forgotten Star Brewing , hosted by The Litas .

Heavy Thursday was held at The Joint in Minneapolis in May 2023.  A good mix of bikes and vans showed up.  I rode my Sportster.

As mentioned in my previous post, this one is a whole bunch of photos of just one bike that I saw at the 2023 GTSA Rod & Custom Spectacular , a custom 1973 Sportster survivor named Satana: Devil's Daughter.  This bike was absolutely amazing - the paint, the parts used, the molding, just the right amount of chrome, and even the matching helmets.  I loved it.  I kept walking back around to see it again and again.

I went to the GSTA (Gopher State Timing Association)'s Rod & Custom Show for the first time last year.  It's held inside the State Fair Coliseum in St Paul.  Weather can be hit or miss in Minnesota in early April so it's nice to have an indoor show to attend.  I'm breaking my coverage into 2 blogposts, not because I took too many pictures in total, but because I took way too many pictures of one particular bike.  I'm just going to make that its own post as I think it deserves it.

Last year's Donnie Smith Bike Show was held at the St Paul River Center, as usual.  I was there early on Saturday.  It can get pretty busy, so I like to get there before the big crowds.  This view from above is certainly the calm before the storm.

Ha!  You thought I was done with Iron Invasion 2022 didn't you?  At most events I attend, I take photos with both my camera and phone.  I tend to post things on Instagram/Facebook from my phone and the blog tends to have photos just from my camera.  I took enough photos with my phone to, from, and at Iron Invasion that I thought they deserved their own blogpost so here we go!

OK, let's wrap up Iron Invasion / Last Gasp 2022 with a bunch more photos from day two.  Yes, you've seen a lot of vehicles before in my prior posts, but these are different angles... so they're different.  Believe it or not, I take a lot more photos than I share so my giant blogposts are (somewhat) edited down.  Anyway, enjoy the stuff I haven't posted pics of before and new angles of some of the ones I have.

 The fun continues... here are more photos from Iron Invasion / Last Gasp 2022.

 The second day of Iron Invasion / Last Gasp  2022 was full of events all day long.

Lots more to share from my first day Iron Invasion / Last Gasp 2022.  It was nice having the Grom to ride around the fairgrounds and into town (since it's street legal).  It fits so easily in the back of the van that I've brought it to a few events now.

Iron Invasion / Last Gasp was held October 7-9th 2022 at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, IA.  Sadly, it was the very last year of Iron Invasion but it was my first time attending (and my first time in Davenport).  I'm glad I got to experience it before it was gone.  I loaded my Grom in the back of my '78 Dodge and headed down to Iowa.  It was 2 days full of cars, bikes, vans, bands, vendors, and a swap meet.  The 3rd day was a hangover cruise but I didn't stick around for that.  For the 2 days I was there, stuff was going on constantly and it was a blast.  It shouldn't be a surprise as this event, which is also a fundraiser , was organized by John Wells, who continues to run Vintage Torque Fest in Dubuque.  To me, there's a very similar vibe - a good thing!  I have way too many photos from this event to cram into one post so keep checking back.

The last bike night of 2022 was a really good one.  First Tuesday was once again hosted by The Litas at Forgotten Star .  Here are a bunch of photos.

The first ever Autumnmatic was held October 15, 2022 in "The Triangle of Tranquility" in Northeast Minneapolis (same location as Chariots).  A late-season vanning event was a pleasant surprise.  No bands, no vendors, no sponsors, no fuss.  Members and friends of Twin City Vans showed up and it was a good time.

It's a new year and it's once again time to try to catch up a bit on my massive photo backlog before 2024 events start up.  Check out the Event Calendar for everything coming up - tons of good stuff.  I'll try to close out 2022, starting with September 2022's First Tuesday, hosted by The Litas at Forgotten Star .