Ride It In
Ride It In is the banner for the Harley-Davidson web page and promotional materials inviting motorcyclists from around the world to come to Milwaukee for the Motor Company's 105th anniversary celebration. I think I mentioned before that I was planning to go. It happens the weekend before Labor Day.
Originally I planned to put the bike in the back of my Ford Ranger pickup, drive to St. Louis and meet my good friend Kevin. Together, we would ride our Harleys into Wisconsin, taking a scenic ride along the Mississippi River and the Old River Road. He wants to go through Hannibal, Missouri and Galena, Illinois. I'd like to stop in Hartford, Wisconsin. I also have noticed there is Dallas City, Iowa along the way (sort of) and that might be good for a picture.
But the price of gas has really gotten out of hand, I have made some longer rides recently and conversations with other bikers has started me thinking that perhaps I will ditch the idea of hauling the bike up there and hassling with securing safe parking for the week I will be on the road, getting the darn thing back into the truck bed on Saturday night or Sunday morning and all the other stuff I would have to deal with. Instead, I will climb on my Sportster in DFW on Monday morning, go to work, come back by the house on the way out of town (as early as I can convince my boss she won't need me anymore that day) and beat feet for St. Louis and the scheduled rendezvous with Kevin around midday Wednesday. It's just over 600 miles and my experiences with that distance means about ten hours.
From there it could be another 600 miles into the Washing County Fair Park just outside of Milwaukee on Thursday morning. Lynard Skynard is performing at the park on Wednesday night and unless we can arrive prior to 4 PM, we won't be allowed in that day. Estimates are that 20,000 people will be showing up for that concert. Yikes.
I've done some road tripping before but either those were with the entire family unit, hotels and roomy vans or I was really young and why wouldn't I hitchhike back to Connecticut from Fort Lauderdale? "It seemed like a good idea at the time" fits here. And it did work out just fine. :-)
So I'm getting excited and nervous and will hopefully be posting more information about what will likely be the trip of a lifetime.
Originally I planned to put the bike in the back of my Ford Ranger pickup, drive to St. Louis and meet my good friend Kevin. Together, we would ride our Harleys into Wisconsin, taking a scenic ride along the Mississippi River and the Old River Road. He wants to go through Hannibal, Missouri and Galena, Illinois. I'd like to stop in Hartford, Wisconsin. I also have noticed there is Dallas City, Iowa along the way (sort of) and that might be good for a picture.
But the price of gas has really gotten out of hand, I have made some longer rides recently and conversations with other bikers has started me thinking that perhaps I will ditch the idea of hauling the bike up there and hassling with securing safe parking for the week I will be on the road, getting the darn thing back into the truck bed on Saturday night or Sunday morning and all the other stuff I would have to deal with. Instead, I will climb on my Sportster in DFW on Monday morning, go to work, come back by the house on the way out of town (as early as I can convince my boss she won't need me anymore that day) and beat feet for St. Louis and the scheduled rendezvous with Kevin around midday Wednesday. It's just over 600 miles and my experiences with that distance means about ten hours.
From there it could be another 600 miles into the Washing County Fair Park just outside of Milwaukee on Thursday morning. Lynard Skynard is performing at the park on Wednesday night and unless we can arrive prior to 4 PM, we won't be allowed in that day. Estimates are that 20,000 people will be showing up for that concert. Yikes.
I've done some road tripping before but either those were with the entire family unit, hotels and roomy vans or I was really young and why wouldn't I hitchhike back to Connecticut from Fort Lauderdale? "It seemed like a good idea at the time" fits here. And it did work out just fine. :-)
So I'm getting excited and nervous and will hopefully be posting more information about what will likely be the trip of a lifetime.
posted by Kurt at 7:26 PM
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