Conesville Redneck Revival 24

Brad and I met in Conesville at the Redneck Revival. We’ve been meeting at this rally for a number of years.  The appeal is to visit with friends who we met at this rally several years ago.  The rally itself is located in the middle of cornfields.  There is a quarter-mile drag racing track.  The track is open for anyone and any machine as long as the driver attends the driver’s safety meeting and wears a helmet.  A driver can race other drivers or just race the clock.  I’ve seen motorcycles of all types race down the track. The serious race enthusiasts zoom their nitros cars, trucks, and motorcycles down the track.  I’ve seen a motorized picnic table race down the track.  Pretty awesome entertainment.  Don’t forget earplugs!  The track gets extremely loud during burnouts and races.  The track is open to everyone to race any wheeled machine.  On Saturday morning there is a competition which is exciting to watch. 

Besides the two-lane drag track, the venue offers a number of events open to everyone.  Some highlights are the dash for cash.  This is where participants run through a mud bog course naked.  The winner gets a bucket of cash at the end.  There is a mud bog too.  After the dash for cash, there is usually a parade around the campground.  Rally goers ride their motorcycles, golf carts, or other all-terrain vehicles while wearing costumes or nothing at all.  If I recall correctly, the parade might occur multiple times during the weekend.  In the evenings, there are usually two bands scheduled to play at the main stage.  Directly in front of the main stage is a concrete dance area.  Viewers often park their golf carts and motorcycles in the grass on the edge of the concrete area.  This allows people to sit on their bikes to watch the bands.  Adjacent to the outdoor stage is a large covered area with another stage, bar, dancing area, and picnic tables.  On that stage, there is a DJ, comedian, or other shows.  There is a zip line extending from the stage along one side of the covered area.  Yep, a zip line.  There is an 8-foot soft penis to land on at the end of the zip line.  One year, there were a few mattresses under the zip line for folks that fall off before reaching the end of the line.  Apparently, one year, someone fell off and broke a leg and thus the mattresses were added. 

Events officially start on Thursday nights with a themed party.  The latest I recall was a 50’s-style band with slicked-back hair and 50’s attire. This band had a large double bass which sounded awesome.  Most people in attendance on Thursday night get costumed up in themed attire; couples are in character-matching costumes, short skirts, lingerie, and things your eyes won’t believe.  Adult party and no cameras allowed.  Thursday night is known as the “perv review”.  The perv review consists of various beauty and best-of-class-type contests.  Not for the faint of heart!  Brad and I get a kick out of watching people watch people. Watching humans consume alcohol at these themed events is a fun experience. 

On Saturday, there is a king and queen contest on an elevated stripper stage. The king and queen contests are separate.  Participants volunteer from the crowd.  Once the MC introduces who is on stage, the DJ will play a song.  The contestants will dance provocatively until the song ends.  Then the MC will use a noise meter to eliminate contestants. The loudest cheers from the crowd determine which contestant remains on stage to dance to the next song until the winner is declared.  The winner gets a bucket of money that contains donations from the crowd.  I think last year it was around $800 for the queen and maybe $400 for the king.  There is something to see for everyone!  

 The highlight for me in 2024 at Conesville was the tornado warning.  I can never remember the difference between a tornado watch and a warning.  A watch is when conditions are favorable for a tornado, so people should be prepared.  A tornado warning is when a tornado is imminent, and people should take action, like take shelter now.  I was in my hammock when the sky suddenly darkened.  The wind began to whip my rain tarp away from the trees, and rain started pouring down.  There was some thunder and lightning too.  My cell phone broadcasted an alert declaring a tornado warning and residents should seek shelter.  I felt the trees swaying and pulling my hammock with them.  I felt that my hammock was about to be converted into a hang glider against my will.  I have déjà vu from two years earlier when I was in my hammock at this exact same campsite, and a tornado warning happened.  Here I am again dealing with the same unexpected weather!  The intensity of the storm lasted several minutes.  It passed just as abruptly as it came.  I posted a short video on Instagram showing my hammock blowing in the wind.  Brad’s son, Andrew, saw my video and immediately called Brad.  Brad was inside his rock star bus.  Andrew said the man is going to die in the storm or get struck by lightning, let him inside the RV!  

Note that the pictures are my photos from earlier years at the rally and not all from 2024.  My short videos from those two tornados are posted at the links below.

Party Bus Route 66 Campground

The Route 66 Biker Rally Campground in Depew, Oklahoma, is our basecamp.  Brad and I arrived a few days early and explored the surrounding area.  We found the Pipeline Crossroads of the World.  We dined in the 50’s-style Boomerang Diner.  We found another bike rally venue nearby.  We spent some time chatting with a gun shop owner in Bristow. You can read those experiences in past posts on this blog.  

Now we are at the Rt 66 Biker Rally Campground as other event goers are arriving. The rock star bus is backed up to a large Butler-style building with roll-up garage doors along both sides of the building. Each RV spot has its own door to access the building.  I used the darkness of the building to adjust my headlamp one day.  As people arrive, they are parking their motorcycles inside the building for shade.  Folks begin to set up picnic tables and use the cooler climate of the building to serve meals.  Brad and I are invited to lunch with a large group set up on the opposite side of the building.  We share some stories and get to know more about our neighbors. There were many folks talking about their experiences at Little Sturgis.  Little Sturgis is a bike rally that takes place in July in western Kentucky.  Our new neighbors usually attend each July and have a lot of good stories about their experiences there.  We might have to add Little Sturgis Rally to our destination list.

The owner of the campground stores classic vehicles inside the garage the RVs are parked near.  There are some cool cars and trucks here.  While admiring the old vehicles, we discover a WWF-style wrestling rink set up in a room at the end of the building.  We learn there will be a wrestling match.  Every chair in the room was full the day of the match. Women were cheering on the muscle-bound male wrestlers as they ripped off their shirts when introduced for the match.  The energy was high in the makeshift area.  I can’t decide which was more entertaining, watching the wrestling match or watching the fan-crazed attendees. Definitely a cool experience.

Brad cooked, don’t tell Krista!  Brad decides to get his grill out and cook for our neighbors. Here is a picture because no one believes me that Brad cooked!

We met some new rally friends who set up camp a few sites down from us.  Randy & Shannon and Sean & Heather.  Randy and Sean make their living in the oil industry.  Sean makes money with his wells.  Randy makes money keeping well pumps working.  They each had a neat story on how they got started in the business.  The six of us shared hours of stories while hanging out around camp. We discovered the “Party Bus” together.  The Party Bus is an old Chevy school bus painted pink and green.  It has the words Party Bus painted on it among other things like free camping, lingerie show, screw cancer, etc. The seats inside the party bus were mostly intact like a traditional school bus.  There were two sections where the seats were replaced with bench seats along the sides leaving the floor open.  The open floor had dancer poles secured from the floor to the roof.  A few passengers lived their dream becoming exotic dance stars as the bus navigated a loop within the campground.  It was like a booze bus that picked partiers up around the camp sites and dropped them off at the main stage area.  One night after the bands were finished, Brad and I rode the bus continuously along the route maybe three times.  It was very entertaining to watch people get on and stumble off the booze bus.  

Overall the Rt 66 Biker Rally and Campground was a pretty cool experience.  There were groups that have been attending for many years.  The property has a pond with a slide where folks would swim, bands were good, the lingerie show was nice, most of all meeting people and hearing their stories were the highlight.  The owner carried a wallaby around in a shopping bag while smoking medical marijuana!  She was a hoot to listen to!