Today is Sunday, but there is not a lot of resting when you are in AZ for bike week! As we ran into a few people at breakfast, Jerry, Carol and Barry we got mixed answers on what the plan for the day was…big surprise! The whole group, except Jon and I were riding back to Green Valley today. Jon and I decided we would stay in Scottsdale an additional day, since there is a little more action in that part of AZ than there is in the retirement community of Green Valley. Once the group was all awake and packed we decided we were all going to head over to the Steel Horse Saloon where they host the Trifecta party.

I am not sure why it is called the Trifecta, but we heard there was a bike show, vendors, tattoo competition and more. The party didn’t start till 10:30 am and that is about when we showed up. When we got there, we were some of the first to show up.

There were only a few bikes in the “bike show” at that point but more were supposed to show up.

We wandered around from vendor to vendor to see what all was going on. There was an aftermarket shop set up that had leathers, so Jon tried on a few vests etc and finally decided on one.

We also walked by the tattoo vendor that was there, doing tattoos out of what looked like an old camper. I wouldn’t have bought food out of that thing let alone get a tattoo in it! The ladies sitting out front informed us there was a tattoo contest at 1:30pm and that there were 4 categories: Black and Grey, Color, Best Women’s and Best Men’s. Not a complicated show, and no entrants yet. We kept wandering and soon found out that the rest of our group was going to head on down the road. After we said our goodbyes Jon and I stuck around and listed to some music. After some consideration I decided to enter the tattoo contest with my back piece that is a large paisley design. I entered in both the Black & Grey category and the Women’s category.

The band was good, played a bunch of covers that everyone knew, the old biker ladies dancing were even more entertaining. As the time ticked away it started getting a lot hotter. The morning had started out cloudy but now the clouds were burning off. We decided I needed sun screen and Jon needed a tank top. Out of the multiple vendors selling shirts ect not a single one was selling men’s tanks. So, we settled for putting on some sun screen and while we were out by the bikes Jon noticed a Goodwill in the parking lot. The place was huge but they only had about 10 men’s tanks. And only one that wasn’t pretty nasty…it was a little small but better than the dark blue shirt Jon had been wearing. So we headed back to the party to wait for the tattoo contest.

The contest finally got underway, and a lot more people had signed up. As soon as I walked to the front of the stage I started to get nervous. I am not one to be flashy and I am pretty modest, but to show off the whole tat I had to take my shirt off. It is one thing to be on the beach, and trust me there were a lot of women wearing pretty scandalous stuff at this party, but I was still nervous! I was only the 4th on the list, so moment of truth I pulled my tank off and got a good round of cheers from the audience and the judges. By this point there were a lot more people at the party and watching the show. After they went through all the candidates they called myself and “Bear” back to the stage.This guy was literally as big as a bear, he had a cool scene tattooed on his chest, looked like an old west town or something.

It was very detailed and really cool. So, here I am taking my top off for a second time. The judges discussed the pieces and decided Bear was the winner. Oh well, still felt pretty cool to be in the top two! So now for the ladies round. At first there were only a few of us then a few more showed up.

As they explained the contest I knew I had a slip shot, since it was not judged by the judges (who told me they would have voted for mine) but by crowd cheering. I am sure I could have done what the lady who won did, but I have a little more class than that! After she flashed the crowd, pierced nipples and all she had her family (kids and friends) standing by the stage cheering for her. The competitive side of me wanted to say “Real Classy MOM” as she flashed everyone but I didn’t bother. With her big group of fans, she won with the loudest cheers, so I ended up taking my shirt off 3 times for nothing! The prize was not much value to me, a wood plaque I wouldn’t have had room for and 2 hrs of tattoo time in the camper! By now it was well after two and Jon and I were starving so I gracefully snuck out immediately after the competition and hit the road.

We cruised back to Scottsdale Road, which is my favorite road…it has everything imaginable so you could basically live on this road (except a HD shop). We headed South until I found a restaurant I thought looked ok for lunch and we headed to Paradise Bakery and Cafe.

If you have ever been in Panera it is very similar to this. I ordered half a veggie sandwich and a cup of soup and as I was checking out I noticed Jon had found a box of 12 cookies…to take with us. I couldn’t even finish my lunch let a lone eat cookies. We headed back to the hotel and had gotten in touch with KC and Deb from Anchorage who were also down here on vacation so we decided we would get together for dinner later. We were so full, and the restaurant couldn’t get us in until 7:30. The restaurant I picked was a place in “Old Scottsdale” that is part of the old town and is pretty cool filled with shops and stuff all in old looking buildings. Jon and I got down there early so we could walk around and check things out and found a cool restaurant with a bar upstairs in an open air roof seating area. We went up there to take in the sights and relax before we headed to dinner. Dinner was great, good company and good food. We headed back to our hotel where Jon had a dozen cookies to eat before tomorrow when we had to pack the bikes and ride back to Green Valley!