As I write this blog it is about minus five outside and bloody cold but no snow today. Planning this trip takes my mind off the winter (which I hate) and lets me think about riding my Harley motorcycle across the plains of South Dakota.
There are two main reasons for this trip. The first started when I was a little boy and a neighbor, who had an enormous 650 Matchless, let me ride up his driveway on the back of his bike. I can still feel the thrill of that throbbing engine some fifty years later. As a young lad I also dreamt of riding across America. The Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, James Dean dream of wind in the hair and a journey of discovery. As I got older the dream changed from a Harley to a Corvette or Mustang for comfort and safety but now it is back to a Harley.
In 2009 a friend up the street showed me his two Harleys that he owned and ask if I wanted a ride. I had not ridden a bike in thirty years mainly because the last time I rode I ended up looking at the differential of a truck from the ground. Nothing hurt but I decided that Sydney traffic was not the smartest place to ride and bought an MGB.
After a few rides on my friend bike was enough to rekindle the addiction I went out and purchased a Harley Road King. Very much old style of grey and white, tons of chrome without the fairing, radio or CD player of the more popular Harleys. Dee Gribble cringed at the purchase as she had seen so many victims of motor cycle crashes in James' rehabilitation center in Sydney. I often think of Dee's expression when I am our riding. It makes me even more cautious.
Since the purchase I have added the personalization every Harley owner does to his prized possession. The chrome just grows and grows. I try to get out and ride most of the spring, summer and autumn with an average mileage of 4,500 miles per year for the last three years.
Once a year a group of like minded old people (forty to sixty years old) head off for a two week trip. Last year was Denver to Sturgis, Chicago and home to Syracuse. The year before we toured around New York State and Pennsylvania.
The Puffin Across America trip started when my son Ross decided he wanted ride across the USA. Ross wanted to ship his bike to Los Angeles and ride across America on Route 66 to Syracuse via Chicago. My friends in the bike group who call themselves the "Wild Hogs" for obvious reasons, decided they might like to go to Sturgis again so the route was moved further north. (Route 66 is mostly gone and is a bit of a tourist trap.)
Sturgis rally runs this year from August 6th to the 12th. It is the largest bike rally in the world with over 500,000 bikes attending from all over America and the world. It is truly amazing. It tends to be a little scruffy and down-market but a hell of a lot of fun. The average age of the attendees is around forty. There are the bars and plenty of entertainment. There are also hundreds of shops selling motorcycle gear. The sad thing is that the young ladies serving beverages around town are very poor and cannot afford much cloth in their uniforms. Not great but still a distraction. As I write I am thinking that I have to book the accommodation for Sturgis. Already 95% of the rooms within a hundred miles will be booked.
No comments:
Post a Comment