Remember Mr Wild and Ms Wonderful from 2023’s “Wild and Wonderful” event in Canaan Valley, West Virginia? This year, Jill and Drew are taking on new personas for “The Wicked Good Maine Event.”
Meet Wicked Drew and Goodie Jill!
by Tamela Rich
Goodie Jill
If our national rally this Labor Day weekend in Fryeburg, Maine, were a movie called Camp Maine Event, we’d have our protagonist in Jill Veverka, the chief camp counselor who wants to make everything go right. She’d have moved into the position from camp nurse when nobody else would take the job. She would wear a paint smock, and the keys around her neck would be held by a lanyard she made when a junior counselor at Camp Maine Event in the 1980s. Her sunny, goody-two-shoes nature earned her the nickname “Goodie Jill” (GJ), an image she happily assumes.
Wicked Drew
Our antagonist would be played by the guy who may or may not still have an outstanding bench warrant for reckless driving. He acquired it in the 1980s when he was fired from Camp Maine Event for setting a dozen white rats loose in the girl’s showers. “Wicked Drew’’ (WD) Alexander doesn’t see any harm in toughening up the rallygoers by letting them shoot apples off each other’s heads with outlawed lawn jarts. Since the BMW RA campers will be motorcyclists, he’s trying to convince GJ to approve a burnout pit. He’s already hired his buddy Scissorhands to give $5 mullet cuts to all takers, and to see which old codger will place highest in the wet T-shirt contest—“No Gurlz Allowed!”
On that note, GJ suspects WD has a line running on the T-shirt contest and wouldn’t put it past him to skew the odds by importing ringers who don’t even have motorcycle endorsements. To that end, she’s advised the folks running registration to be on the lookout for big-busted, pot-bellied men with no signs of road grime on their jeans.
Visions, memories, food, rides, wagers, and pranks
I decided to interview our rally co-chairs to see where I could suss out a shared vision for Labor Day weekend (August 29-September 1) in Fryeburg.
Q: What can rallygoers expect at the BMWRA 2024 National Rally?
GJ: A wicked good time at the Maine event!
WD: (twirling his mustache mischievously) Yeah. That.
Q: What’s your favorite memory of New England?
GJ: I was a traveling nurse here in 2019. If COVID hadn’t struck, I might have settled in New England permanently!
WD: It was the summer of 1980 at summer camp in Bennington, New Hampshire. All the campers went home, and my fellow counselors and I went out in the field one night after a mushroom appetizer and saw the aurora borealis. I’m not sure if they were real or imagined, but they blew our minds. If you want to know my favorite motorcycle trip, it was on the Kancamagus Highway—I plan on riding it several times this year. And about that bench warrant, I’m sure the the statute of limitations has run out. That said, maybe I’ll be riding dirty…
Q: Which food says New England to you?
GJ: Aged cheddar (2-5 years) from Sugar Hill, New Hampshire… fresh haddock… maple syrup candy from Sugarbush Farm… and a Little Sip of Sunshine available at Woodstock Beverage (whose owner rides a BMW and has highly recommended Fryeburg for a national rally since 2019).
WD: There’s so many it’s hard to choose one. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for sure, a fresh lobster roll, pancakes with Vermont maple syrup, clam chowder… but nothing says New England like a Pepperidge Farm cookie!
Q: What about those self-guided motorcycle tours?
GJ: Since I’m on a GS, I’ll narrow it down to dirt roads. Top of the list is Tripoli Road (Forest Road 30) from Waterville Valley NH back to State Route 91—it’s dirt for 11+ miles. When I ride it, I’ll be looking for good ceramic clay for our crafts tent and watching for WD since, back in the day, it was rumored to be a happening place. Maybe his outstanding warrant is from his activities while camping along Tripoli Road.
WD: Stinson Road from Rumney, NH around Stinson Lake. Make sure to stop at the waterfalls on your left and watch for the road name change to Ellsworth Hill Road as you head back to the highway and Campton, NH. Oh, and riding Mount Washington Road to collect my bumper sticker.
Q: OK, you two. What wagers do you have going on between you? I’ve heard rumors of a mano-a-mano sack race.
WD: How could anyone ask this of a man with 72 pins, two 16” rods, eight screws, and two ceramic and titanium hips? I won’t do the sack race, but I will do a thumb wrestle or other feats of strength and agility. I can tie a cherry stem with my mouth closed, can you, miss Goodie Jill?
GJ: (ignoring the jibe) If WD wins, I’ll extend WD a half-day pass to visit the Dave Percival Museum in Andover, Maine. The man has all the BMW models from R28 to K-bikes, sidecars, etc. Everyone should put that on their itinerary! WD: If Jill wins, I’ll ride to the Ben & Jerry’s factory and bring her a pint of her choice.
Q: Wicked Drew, now that GJ has left the interview, what pranks do you have planned for her?
WD: None! (wink, wink!) Who could prank sweet Jill? However, in times past, I have been known to zip-tie the zippers of tents at rallies…
Author’s note: I heard a lot of talk about pranks to be played in the campground. One can never know whether WD will be walking around with a bag of Pepperidge Farm crackers or a sack of water balloons. Folks should be careful when rounding blind corners. Perhaps someone will find the keys to their bike in a Jell-O mold. You’ve been warned.
