My “experience” at Dealer Expo was a much different experience than “The Experience.”

My day at Dealer Expo was with the Vanimal (my son) and my slightly dazed friend Phil. Phil pops into several of “The Ride” blogs because of his common passion for danger on two wheels. That’s right: I said danger.

My day started out with a fantastic breakfast at Petit Chou in Broad Ripple where Van had Green Eggs and Ham and I had “Bruce’s Oatmeal.” Once we were finished with breakfast, Van and I dropped the wife off at home and soldiered on to Dealer Expo. We arrived at about 9:30 a.m. and waited for our friend Phil, who arrived at 10 a.m. While we were waiting for Phil, Van decided to highjack this moped to the right.

Once Phil arrived, we set off for Lucas Oil Stadium where Ride Royal Blue was set up. If you don’t remember, the “Man Trip” is just two weeks away, and the venue is rideroyalblue.com. While at Ride Royal Blue’s booth, we discussed our growing group of six to eight and if there were rental ATV’s and extra cabins still available. About two minutes into the conversation, Van nearly lunged off my shoulders toward the booth to the right. Van spotted the Kiddi Moto booth immediately to the right. Of course, just like everything else, Van had to get on one. Unlucky for Van, Kiddi Moto isn’t distributing to the U.S. until May. He’ll just have to wait. The common theme of the day was that Van had to ride every single vehicle at the show. Check out this list of Van’s excursions.

The low-riding vehicles are the easiest for Van to jump into. Funny thing about Van is that he only likes to sit properly in the seat and drive.

To the left, Van sweetens up to the Repsol girl. I think the fact that she was blonde (like mommy) and gave Van a small-scale Nicky Hayden motorcycle were the reasons that they got along so well.

Van had a good time on a Chinese-built ATV. They were selling this particular ATV straight off the floor for $290. I swear, the Chinese are going to take over the world.

Perhaps one of Van’s more spectacular moments. Please notice that this is the largest ATV alive. The handlebars are up to Phil’s shoulders(pictured right). Phil is not a small guy!

None of this seemed to bother Van.

Besides chasing Van around Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indianapolis Convention Center, we got see an awful lot of fun aftermarket pieces. The one item that stood out to Phil and I was the GoPro Motorsports Camera.

“Funny Story”… I thought for some reason that the exhibitors were able to sell items off the floor. Apparently I was wrong, and you had to be a dealer to purchase anything. Here is the exchange:

Phil: Do you want to get one?
Jarrod: I think so.
Jarrod to the camera rep: Can you give us a sweet deal on these cameras?
Camera rep: You’ll have to ask Marshall.
Jarrod: OK, let’s ask Marshall.
Camera Rep: Your rep, you’ll have to ask your Marshall rep. I am just here on behalf of Marshall.
Jarrod: I’m not a dealer. I’m with a venue. Can you still hook it up?
Camera Rep: Nope.

That was painful. Phil was so pumped up about the camera that he purchased one that night. Other than that, Dealer Expo was pretty typical. Girls, bikes and a lot of fun times with Van.

Jarrod