Two groups left at different times to go to multiple dealerships.  Gene, Steve, &  John from Harley and Noel & Yvette and I left at 8:30 to zig zag up to Grand Forks using all back roads.  It was a little chilly for the first 130 mile fuel run.  The landscape was very cool looking with alternating fields of wheat, corn and some other vegetable and a lot of sun flowers.  The sun flowers were following the sun to drink in its energy. The beautiful fields of yellow reminded me of Dorothy’s journey on the yellow brick road when she lay down in the yellow flower bed and went to sleep. There were a lot of giant round bales of hay in the right of way.  We saw a few hawks perched on top of some of them just waiting for their morning meal to scurry out in the open. There were a few hawks flying too.  There were a few lakes that had other water fowl hanging around as well.  We saw no gas stations for the whole 130 miles.  Gene finally found us a station where the rest room came in very handy for a few of us.  When I said zig zag, that was exactly what it was.  North for a while and then east, repeat quite a few more times and another 133 miles we were at Grand Forks.  

The Dealership was fairly quiet with an excellent BBQ for lunch.  We met Mallory, the founders granddaughter, and she was a very good hostess.  The rat bike seemed to be even more popular with the people there.  I think that I met everyone there and there was a lot of positive energy.  One gal asked me if I could get my bike up on a large earth berm that was about 8 feet tall and circled the rear of the property.  It was made a few years ago to try to prevent flooding.  I rode to the end of it and then up to the top of it.  It was about 6 feet wide at the top.  The reason for the pictures was the scrap yard directly behind the property.  It made a perfect backdrop for a rat bike!  After that, quite a few cameras came out for a lot of pictures. Then a guy walked up it and asked me which way I was going to go to get down.  I said, “The fast way,” and headed right off the rear of the large dirt dam.  I got to the bottom and turned around and rode straight up the steep side, came up over the top and straight down toward the crowd.  It must have looked pretty cool as I got a lot of wows!  Or else they thought I was crazy.  

  It was time to hit the road again to do the last 78 miles into Fargo. We went to the motel first to check in.  Noel & Yvette and I cancelled our other place and are staying at a Kelly Inn with everyone else for about 1\2 the cost.  Shortly after that we went to the dealership.  A lot of the people were dressed up in old time western wear complete with 6 guns and ammo.  When I rode up a guy came up to me and said “Do you know what we do to rat bike riders around here?”, as he was handling his 6 shooter.  I said that I recon that I was a gonna find out.  It seems that Ron warned him about me.  That was the owner of the place for the last 47 years, if I remember correctly.  They had a super collection of flat heads, knuckle heads, pan heads and shovel heads as well as a few old 2 stroke Harleys too.  A lot of real good folks were putting out the welcome mat for us.  We stayed around there ‘till almost 7:00 and went back to the motel.  We rounded up a dozen or so chairs and took over the outdoor Gazebo for everyone to hang out at. A couple of guys went to the beverage store and then the stories started flowing.  Another Motor Company guy showed up and we all met Tim.  A gal from Canada wanted to know who Milo is so I was pointed out to her and she insisted that I follow her to the other side of the courtyard and meet the rest of her Canadian friends.  I got to tell the story again about Canada not letting the rat bike and me in to their country 5 years ago.  They were celebrating a win in a ball game with Fargo, and they ALL were having fun! 10:00 and I said goodnight to everyone and I am back in the room doing this story.  Tomorrow will take us to Duluth, Minnesota where there is a helmet law again…..