Redneck Revival

 The Redneck Revival at Conesville, Iowa has been a fairly consistent stop over maybe the last ten years.  The event occurs twice a year around Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Brad and I have bonded with some folks there while enjoying the races and bands.  Over the years the group of friends have dwindled with understandable competing interests.  One notable friend, Fig, had a stroke a couple years before and can no longer attend the rallies.  The last time I saw Fig at Conesville he had raced a Ford Mustang down the drag strip.  Oh, that reminds me. One year Fig showed up at the rally after he converted his cargo trailer into a travel trailer.  He had built a bed that folds up along the wall inside the cargo trailer. So there was space for his motorcycle and car inside the trailer.  Plus he could sleep in the trailer when the car is removed.  What I remember is after the rally was over, several of us got texts from Dawn.  Dawn had slept late that morning, inside the trailer.  Fig woke early to shuttle things to his house in a nearby town.  He locked Dawn inside the cargo trailer where she was sleeping!  The camp ground was emptying out.  Dawn had texted everyone to find Fig and have him unlock the door.  I read the group texts hours later with a slight chuckle.  It might have been a funny story for everyone except Dawn!  I think Dawn made Fig put windows in the trailer later that year!  

It was Memorial Day 2025.  About seven members of the group of friends showed up at the last minute this year.  Brad and I are thankful for the opportunity to catch up with the friends that were present.  

This year we spent more time around the camp fire.  Dean and Dodie who we haven’t seen in a few years showed up with a truck load of firewood.  Dean has a firewood business near Des Moines.  Dean kept the campfire fed and we enjoyed its warmth.  The temperatures was really cold at night!  Daryl, Connie and Dawn joined us around the camp fires each night with all sorts of conversation topics!

One morning, I was enjoying my morning coffee with Dawn and Connie around the camp fire.  Daryl needed to replenish the water in his RV.  Dean and Brad were helping him.  They had filled a large bladder of water up at another location in the campground.  The water bladder was in the back of a utility ATV.  The guys were trying to figure out how to get the water from the bladder to the RV inlet tube without a pump.  We all began to watch the guys try and use physics to defy gravity.  Dean was using a cipher hose with no progress.  I realize that gravity will help.  The guys had everything they needed to solve the challenge.  The water bladder was in the back of an ATV Ranger with a dump bed.  Daryl has a dump type trailer hooked up to his RV.  The trailer allows Daryl to ride his trike, car or ATV up on the trailer bed without ramps.  So I suggest that the Ranger be back up onto the trailer.  Both the Ranger and the trailer should raise to dump until the height was above the inlet valve of the RV.  The picture can explain it better. It worked!  Now the ladies had water to wash the camp fire smoke out of their hair!  

RV life can be challenging when dry camping.  Water has to be conserved and toilets used at a minimum in order to remain in place for several day stretches.  The campground at Conesville is dry camping.  Porta-johns are readily available throughout the campground.  There is a shower house across the race track with a few showers. It is often crowded.  Water rationing was a topic of discussion one day around the camp fire.  Brad had told Dawn and Connie they could use the shower in Brad’s RV.  Dawn, being the guest in Daryl’s RV, took Brad up on the offer to use the shower in his Rock Star Bus.  I told Dawn that she had to take a Navy shower.  Dawn has no military background and I think I saw a glimpse of horror across her face when Brad insisted she HAD to take a Navy shower.  Surely a Navy shower must involve some sorts of debauchery.  After all, both Brad and I were telling Dawn that she must take one.  Brad finally explained the procedures of a Navy shower and assured Dawn that she’d be inside the RV alone.  She realized we were not pulling her leg or trying to get her into a compromising situation.  End result, Dawn took a Navy shower free of debauchery. 

Gator Bites

We stayed one extra night at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch after the rally was over.  This allowed us to avoid all the RV and motorcycle traffic as people exited the Tennessee Motorcycles & Music Revival (TMMR). We rode north from Tennessee through Kentucky.  I found a Corps of Engineers Campground in southern Illinois.  It is on the Carlyle Reservoir.  

Brad and I developed a plan to make our way to Utah by camping at least two nights in one spot. This provided a recovery night from driving.  Then the next morning was a motorcycle ride to explore the surrounding area.  The second morning was labeled a  “move morning” where we packed up the motorcycles and RV and plotted our next stop as we traveled westward.  This “move morning” and “ride morning” formula worked really well for us.

Just before we arrived at Carlyle Reservoir, Brad spotted the Swamp Town sign advertising Gator Bites and Crawfish.  We were in Illinois.  I didn’t know where the gator bites were going to be sourced from.  The next morning was a “ride morning.”  We went for our motorcycle ride around the large Carlyle Reservoir and stopped at Swamp Town for lunch.

Swamp Town Cajun Kitchen & Cocktails was featured on the show Bar Rescue.  The sign and some interior enhancements like an indoor pond with a footbridge and fog machines were a result of the show.  The pond had replica alligators and coy fish.  It was pretty neat.  The staff indicated they wished that the show remodeled the kitchen or bar service area instead of installing the fog machines and making new signs.  It was neat to hear about the Bar Rescue Show because a couple of years before Brad and I met, former owners of a bar in Austin, Texas, that was rebranded by the show.

Brad enjoyed the gator bites at the bar.  There was a silver-haired woman who had downed her second Michelob Ultra during the time it took us to place our order.  Brad was telling the bartender about our ride around the reservoir.  We had passed a number of small utility sheds.  The type that a homeowner would use to store a lawn mower and other tools inside.  These sheds along the route had signs labeling them as a “Hot Spot”.  We were not familiar with what these “Hot Spots” were.  Brad asked about the Hot Spot sheds.  The silver-haired lady piped up, expressing serious displeasure with the sheds and other establishments with hot spots.  She stated that they are gambling places that are addicting.  They take advantage of people with no money to lose.  They are positions in small neighborhoods making it easy to hook players and take their money.  This lady was animate that the laws allowing the small “hot spots” are wrong and are hurting the communities.  She was visibly upset. We changed the topic.  This woman transitioned into telling us stories about her past.  Once upon a time, she dated a man with a motorcycle.  She said he was a moron but she liked riding his motorcycle.   She told us about some of her rides.  I think she had just as many stories as Brad.  It was a fun lunch break experience!