Thursday, August 21
“Missoula to Billings pardner. But to get there, we gotta cross the continental divide. Better saddle up early.”
Sounds like a line from an old western movie, but that was our day on Thursday.
As a guy who grew up in Wisconsin, I’m always amazed at the wide open landscape, the mountains and passes, and the views that one gets while traveling through the west. I could have filled up a couple of SD cards full of pictures if we hadn’t been cruising along at a brisk pace behind J. T. Hasley, our Route Manager.
This was my first day riding with the other H-D employees on the trip. Our departure this morning was a continuation of the ride yesterday, at least as far as the weather was concerned: heavy rain and high winds. (Though, I watched the weather reports and our brethren in the southeastern part of the country are in a pretty similar situation. I hear they’ve coined a term for wearing rainsuits. It’s now called “dancing with Fay.”)
But as the group headed out, I dropped in behind JT, Ron and Maureen Hutchinson and John Olin. The swirling clouds overhead added to the drama of the departure and the landscape.
The hotel manager mentioned to me before we left that there was some talk on the news about possible snow at elevations over 6000 feet, a comment I didn’t think too much about, except to think that might make the scenery even more beautiful.
I thought more about the comment when I saw that our route took us uphill as we pulled out of Missoula. When we crossed the continental divide at 6393 feet, I was glad that the sun was making occasional appearances through the clouds and the roads were starting to dry.
There are several Harley riders who are sticking close to us, friends that were made as the group was leaving Seattle. I’ve met them all, but the ones I spent a little more time with on Thursday are Noel and Yvette. Both are riding Softails, her Fat Boy has 80,000 miles on it.
They run basketball camps that focus on ball handling and dribbling skills. Noel tells me that his group of kids has performed at halftime of several Denver Nuggets games, but he was particularly proud of having performed at a Lakers game.
After the 105th, Noel and Yvette head for the east coast and then head home to Colorado. They will have spent almost a month on the road by the time they get home. I’m jealous.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The 105th Adventure--Part Three
Wednesday 8-20-08
If I were writing the movie script about my ride today, it would have been very different.
It would have started the same. The sun peeking through openings in a cloudy sky. Dry pavement as far as the eye can see. It would have included some adventure, maybe a challenge to add some drama, and a few other things that would draw someone in.
But the movie wouldn’t have had the rain start at the same time I closed my Tour Pak and strapped on my helmet. It wouldn’t have included 300+ miles of rain and spray from trucks and cars, and it wouldn’t have included me missing a “blue sky” view of some really beautiful mountain passes.
Oh yeah, and it wouldn’t have included water flowing across the road through 65 mph curves and it wouldn’t have included the temperature being at 46 degrees as I went across the top of Lookout Pass on the border of Idaho and Montana.
Or would it have?
I did want adventure. And I did want a challenge. And today was full of drama.
Alright, I’m fine now. And I’ve convinced myself that this was just another day of being lucky enough to be part of the 105th Anniversary Ride.
Besides, those folks coming from the Southwest and Texas can whine about the heat, but they don’t have what the folks on Route #1 had today. That was adventure!
When I left Kennewick today, I was on a solo mission. First stop, a quick visit with the dealer in Spokane. Then a short hop to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for something I was really looking forward to.
My oldest daughter, Kimberly, lives in Phoenix and works for an organization called Maggie’s Place. They run three shelters in the Phoenix area for women who are pregnant and don’t have a safe place to live. Kimberly has been with Maggie’s Place for three years and we are so proud and happy about the work she is doing.
Maggie’s Place is about to open a new home in Coeur d’Alene, funded by a generous donor and many groups within that city. So as I traveled through, I stopped to visit Gail Pearson, Breanne and Ramona, the young women who are working hard to get the first moms in the house by October. It’s a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood with supportive neighbors. It’s a great place to build a community and bring well-loved children into the world. Here’s their web site if you are interested: http://www.maggiesplace.org/
After my visit at Maggie’s Place, it was on to Missoula.
The route was on I-90, but it is possibly the most beautiful stretch of interstate that exists. The road goes over two passes, the highest of which is Lookout Pass, at around 4500 feet (that’s where it was 46 degrees)(I love that new Zumo GPS!).
That great stretch of road delivered me right to Montana Harley-Davidson in Missoula.
That’s where I ran into my riding partners for the rest of the trip, Ron Hutchinson and his wife Maureen, John Olin, and our Route Manager J.T. Hasley. I also met some of the folks that they’ve brought with them from their start in Seattle.
In addition, I got a chance to chat with former Motor Company President Jim Paterson and his wife Jody. They have a home about 2 1/2 hours from Missoula.
The dealer party featured great sandwiches, drinks, line dancing lessons, and the highlight, a cupcake eating contest. Picture twelve men sitting at a table and eating chocolate cupcakes for FIVE minutes. John, the winner, at 23 cupcakes. (I may never eat another cupcake again.)
Wait a minute…that’s adventure, challenge, drama, something to draw viewers in….maybe my movie could have been about cupcake eating!
Tomorrow is going to be another great day!
If I were writing the movie script about my ride today, it would have been very different.
It would have started the same. The sun peeking through openings in a cloudy sky. Dry pavement as far as the eye can see. It would have included some adventure, maybe a challenge to add some drama, and a few other things that would draw someone in.
But the movie wouldn’t have had the rain start at the same time I closed my Tour Pak and strapped on my helmet. It wouldn’t have included 300+ miles of rain and spray from trucks and cars, and it wouldn’t have included me missing a “blue sky” view of some really beautiful mountain passes.
Oh yeah, and it wouldn’t have included water flowing across the road through 65 mph curves and it wouldn’t have included the temperature being at 46 degrees as I went across the top of Lookout Pass on the border of Idaho and Montana.
Or would it have?
I did want adventure. And I did want a challenge. And today was full of drama.
Alright, I’m fine now. And I’ve convinced myself that this was just another day of being lucky enough to be part of the 105th Anniversary Ride.
Besides, those folks coming from the Southwest and Texas can whine about the heat, but they don’t have what the folks on Route #1 had today. That was adventure!
When I left Kennewick today, I was on a solo mission. First stop, a quick visit with the dealer in Spokane. Then a short hop to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for something I was really looking forward to.
My oldest daughter, Kimberly, lives in Phoenix and works for an organization called Maggie’s Place. They run three shelters in the Phoenix area for women who are pregnant and don’t have a safe place to live. Kimberly has been with Maggie’s Place for three years and we are so proud and happy about the work she is doing.
Maggie’s Place is about to open a new home in Coeur d’Alene, funded by a generous donor and many groups within that city. So as I traveled through, I stopped to visit Gail Pearson, Breanne and Ramona, the young women who are working hard to get the first moms in the house by October. It’s a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood with supportive neighbors. It’s a great place to build a community and bring well-loved children into the world. Here’s their web site if you are interested: http://www.maggiesplace.org/
After my visit at Maggie’s Place, it was on to Missoula.
The route was on I-90, but it is possibly the most beautiful stretch of interstate that exists. The road goes over two passes, the highest of which is Lookout Pass, at around 4500 feet (that’s where it was 46 degrees)(I love that new Zumo GPS!).
That great stretch of road delivered me right to Montana Harley-Davidson in Missoula.
That’s where I ran into my riding partners for the rest of the trip, Ron Hutchinson and his wife Maureen, John Olin, and our Route Manager J.T. Hasley. I also met some of the folks that they’ve brought with them from their start in Seattle.
In addition, I got a chance to chat with former Motor Company President Jim Paterson and his wife Jody. They have a home about 2 1/2 hours from Missoula.
The dealer party featured great sandwiches, drinks, line dancing lessons, and the highlight, a cupcake eating contest. Picture twelve men sitting at a table and eating chocolate cupcakes for FIVE minutes. John, the winner, at 23 cupcakes. (I may never eat another cupcake again.)
Wait a minute…that’s adventure, challenge, drama, something to draw viewers in….maybe my movie could have been about cupcake eating!
Tomorrow is going to be another great day!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The 105th Adventure--Part Two
The 105th Adventure—Part Two
Tuesday--Kennewick, Washington. Today was my day to bring the 105th celebration to the Harley riders of the Tri City area. And there’s no better way to do that than to eat hot dogs with them. So I did. Maybe I over-did it.
It was actually a fun day, chatting with local Harley riders and dealership staff. I heard lots of questions about the ride and the 105th.
The most common question was “when do all the riders get here?” It seems that the 100th Anniversary Ride and two HOG Posse Rides had conditioned the locals to expect big groups moving through whenever a ride was mentioned. The whole concept of 105 “start” cities feeding 25 main rides seemed to be lost on them. All they got was me and some great hot dogs. But I did my best to make up for not having 500 people with me today.
The first customers I talked to today, in the parking lot on the way in, were three riders from Ohio. All three of them are Rider’s Edge instructors (Rider Coaches for those of you “in the know”). They had just participated in the big safety conference in Billings, Montana and were heading for the Pacific Coast.
I did talk to several people who were heading to the 105th. One rider told me that he and eight friends were leaving in two days (not tomorrow with me). I expect to see Ron and his friends somewhere along the way to Milwaukee.
I also spent some time talking to Michael Shumate, the owner of the dealership. A great guy, as were all of the people I met at the dealership today. As a matter of fact, after we wrapped up at the dealership, we grabbed some dinner and headed off to what was one of the highlights of my day, a trip to the Franklin County Fair.
But not just for cotton candy and elephant ears. (An aside: They are really big into elephant ears here. There were two or three stands selling these tasty and delicious treats that are, yes, the size of an elephant’s ear. I even talked to a lady who was taking one home to eat later.) No, not just for elephant ears, but to help out at the motorcycle display at the county fair.
I met more Harley riders at the fair. One who had already analyzed everything possible about the new touring bike frame, and I’d put some money down that he will be purchasing a new bike shortly.
I can’t remember the last time I went to a county fair. What a great way to wrap up a trip to Kennewick, and to begin my travels back home.
Tomorrow morning, I leave the elephant ears and hot dogs behind and travel to Missoula, Montana. There, I’ll meet up with Ron Hutchinson and the “main ride” that left today from Seattle, and John Olin who start tomorrow morning from Wenatchee, Washington.
This is going to be great!
Tuesday--Kennewick, Washington. Today was my day to bring the 105th celebration to the Harley riders of the Tri City area. And there’s no better way to do that than to eat hot dogs with them. So I did. Maybe I over-did it.
It was actually a fun day, chatting with local Harley riders and dealership staff. I heard lots of questions about the ride and the 105th.
The most common question was “when do all the riders get here?” It seems that the 100th Anniversary Ride and two HOG Posse Rides had conditioned the locals to expect big groups moving through whenever a ride was mentioned. The whole concept of 105 “start” cities feeding 25 main rides seemed to be lost on them. All they got was me and some great hot dogs. But I did my best to make up for not having 500 people with me today.
The first customers I talked to today, in the parking lot on the way in, were three riders from Ohio. All three of them are Rider’s Edge instructors (Rider Coaches for those of you “in the know”). They had just participated in the big safety conference in Billings, Montana and were heading for the Pacific Coast.
I did talk to several people who were heading to the 105th. One rider told me that he and eight friends were leaving in two days (not tomorrow with me). I expect to see Ron and his friends somewhere along the way to Milwaukee.
I also spent some time talking to Michael Shumate, the owner of the dealership. A great guy, as were all of the people I met at the dealership today. As a matter of fact, after we wrapped up at the dealership, we grabbed some dinner and headed off to what was one of the highlights of my day, a trip to the Franklin County Fair.
But not just for cotton candy and elephant ears. (An aside: They are really big into elephant ears here. There were two or three stands selling these tasty and delicious treats that are, yes, the size of an elephant’s ear. I even talked to a lady who was taking one home to eat later.) No, not just for elephant ears, but to help out at the motorcycle display at the county fair.
I met more Harley riders at the fair. One who had already analyzed everything possible about the new touring bike frame, and I’d put some money down that he will be purchasing a new bike shortly.
I can’t remember the last time I went to a county fair. What a great way to wrap up a trip to Kennewick, and to begin my travels back home.
Tomorrow morning, I leave the elephant ears and hot dogs behind and travel to Missoula, Montana. There, I’ll meet up with Ron Hutchinson and the “main ride” that left today from Seattle, and John Olin who start tomorrow morning from Wenatchee, Washington.
This is going to be great!
The 105th Adventure--Part One
Preamble
I’m a very lucky person. I’ve got a job that I love and, through that position, I am able to participate in once-in-a-lifetime activities, like the 105th Anniversary Ride for Harley-Davidson.
I’m one of 105 H-D employees who are fortunate to be entrusted with the responsibility of taking the excitement of the 105th Anniversary to 105 different starting cities round the United States. We get to ride our motorcycles, hang out with Harley riders and attend parties and picnics in more cities than I’ve tried to count (but I know somebody has).
I’m going to try blogging my trip from the Great Northwest (or Ride #1, as it’s known internally) to Milwaukee. I have no idea if I’ll have enough time to continue after today or if, in mid route, a cool beer at the end of the day takes precedence over creating a posting. Call it an experiment. So here we go….
Monday, August 18, 2008
When the alarm went off at 3:15 this morning, it wasn’t that hard to roll my self out of bed. That’s a sign that something big is going on, and the start of my Anniversary Ride Adventure is about as big as it’s been in a while…..well, at least five years.
Today (Monday), is my day to head out. Many of the 105 riders will ride to their starting point. Some will fly to their start city and pick up their bike, but I was selected for a pre-ride ride.
I flew into Portland, Oregon to pick up my bike (shipped out while I was at Sturgis), and then rode to my start city, Kennewick, Washington.
Paradise H-D in Tigard, Oregon did a great job getting my Electra Glide Classic ready for me. They installed a couple of accessories that I had asked for and then cleaned it up better than I ever could.
At the dealership, I loaded the bike with all my gear, then I actually caught myself procrastinating on my departure. I guess the gloomy grey, on-the-verge-of-rain sky wasn’t as inviting as I had hoped the start of my ride would be.
When they closed the overhead door in the service department while I was outside, I took that as a sign.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have a great route to Kennewick, though.
East through the Colombia River Gorge for almost 180 miles, weaving along the curves of the river all the way.
I made a stop at the Multnomah Falls scenic viewing point (previously seen on a family vacation), then headed up the gorge. Fifty miles later I was venturing through territory I had never seen before---I love that!
The scenery was awesome, transitioning from green coastal mountains to rocky hillsides then dry rolling (but big) hills.
My gas stop was at a Shell station---Official Sponsor of the 105th Anniversary. Make note of that Paul Devine and Amy Hagen!
The rain held off till I was about half way to my destination. The first sign was the big drops at the edge of the storm. And that smell that you only get when rain first hits dry pavement.
I enjoyed the smell and the mostly dry pavement, and put up with the raindrops on and off for about a hundred miles. When I headed north into Washington, I thought I was turning away from the rain, but boy was I wrong.
The dark clouds followed me north, seemingly getting closer with every one of the 21 miles I traveled.
Maybe I was lucky that I wasn’t sure how to get to my hotel in Kennewick, because with the big drops of rain turning to small ones that were starting to come down pretty hard, I turned off the highway and pulled into a coffee shop to get my bearings.
My timing couldn’t have been better. As I walked in the door of the Starbucks, the rain came down and the wind blew so hard that my bike was rocking on its sidestand. The barista got soaked when he opened the drive through window to hand somebody their double, half caf, grande something or other, and everyone in the parking lot made a mad dash to their car or the closest store. And just then, the lawn sprinklers went on.
I waited for the heaviest part of the storm to pass, the wet barista wrote down directions to the hotel, and I was off to the Garden Inn. The rain got worse as I rode through town, so I ended up smelling like wet leather as I rode into the hotel lot.
The final note on this whole story is that as I was unpacking my bike, the sun came out. Ah, what a start!
I’m a very lucky person. I’ve got a job that I love and, through that position, I am able to participate in once-in-a-lifetime activities, like the 105th Anniversary Ride for Harley-Davidson.
I’m one of 105 H-D employees who are fortunate to be entrusted with the responsibility of taking the excitement of the 105th Anniversary to 105 different starting cities round the United States. We get to ride our motorcycles, hang out with Harley riders and attend parties and picnics in more cities than I’ve tried to count (but I know somebody has).
I’m going to try blogging my trip from the Great Northwest (or Ride #1, as it’s known internally) to Milwaukee. I have no idea if I’ll have enough time to continue after today or if, in mid route, a cool beer at the end of the day takes precedence over creating a posting. Call it an experiment. So here we go….
Monday, August 18, 2008
When the alarm went off at 3:15 this morning, it wasn’t that hard to roll my self out of bed. That’s a sign that something big is going on, and the start of my Anniversary Ride Adventure is about as big as it’s been in a while…..well, at least five years.
Today (Monday), is my day to head out. Many of the 105 riders will ride to their starting point. Some will fly to their start city and pick up their bike, but I was selected for a pre-ride ride.
I flew into Portland, Oregon to pick up my bike (shipped out while I was at Sturgis), and then rode to my start city, Kennewick, Washington.
Paradise H-D in Tigard, Oregon did a great job getting my Electra Glide Classic ready for me. They installed a couple of accessories that I had asked for and then cleaned it up better than I ever could.
At the dealership, I loaded the bike with all my gear, then I actually caught myself procrastinating on my departure. I guess the gloomy grey, on-the-verge-of-rain sky wasn’t as inviting as I had hoped the start of my ride would be.
When they closed the overhead door in the service department while I was outside, I took that as a sign.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have a great route to Kennewick, though.
East through the Colombia River Gorge for almost 180 miles, weaving along the curves of the river all the way.
I made a stop at the Multnomah Falls scenic viewing point (previously seen on a family vacation), then headed up the gorge. Fifty miles later I was venturing through territory I had never seen before---I love that!
The scenery was awesome, transitioning from green coastal mountains to rocky hillsides then dry rolling (but big) hills.
My gas stop was at a Shell station---Official Sponsor of the 105th Anniversary. Make note of that Paul Devine and Amy Hagen!
The rain held off till I was about half way to my destination. The first sign was the big drops at the edge of the storm. And that smell that you only get when rain first hits dry pavement.
I enjoyed the smell and the mostly dry pavement, and put up with the raindrops on and off for about a hundred miles. When I headed north into Washington, I thought I was turning away from the rain, but boy was I wrong.
The dark clouds followed me north, seemingly getting closer with every one of the 21 miles I traveled.
Maybe I was lucky that I wasn’t sure how to get to my hotel in Kennewick, because with the big drops of rain turning to small ones that were starting to come down pretty hard, I turned off the highway and pulled into a coffee shop to get my bearings.
My timing couldn’t have been better. As I walked in the door of the Starbucks, the rain came down and the wind blew so hard that my bike was rocking on its sidestand. The barista got soaked when he opened the drive through window to hand somebody their double, half caf, grande something or other, and everyone in the parking lot made a mad dash to their car or the closest store. And just then, the lawn sprinklers went on.
I waited for the heaviest part of the storm to pass, the wet barista wrote down directions to the hotel, and I was off to the Garden Inn. The rain got worse as I rode through town, so I ended up smelling like wet leather as I rode into the hotel lot.
The final note on this whole story is that as I was unpacking my bike, the sun came out. Ah, what a start!
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