Gary’s friend Dave joined us at the house and we left to ride to Milwaukee at around 8:30am. We felt just a few rain drops as we headed north. When we arrived there were a lot of bikes already in the parking lot. I told the traffic attendants that I was in the show and they let me ride up to the front. A gate person told me that I had to go outside again and enter at the other side of the grounds. That person would not let me in without a pre registration number which I didn’t have. I told him that JT said it’s ok and he said he don’t care who told me, I ain’t getting in without paperwork! So I rode back to the front entrance and found a good place to park my bike, I thought. The crowd was too big around my bike that the shuttle busses could not get by. Another worker asked me to pull it around in front of the barricades and the crowd would be ok. Everyone entering the grounds walked by where I was parked.
A few people came up to me and said that they saw me in DC for the Rolling Thunder parade, the last few years. Michael Lichter from Easyriders magazine took a few pictures and had me sign a release form. He said it was good to see me again, and he assumed that I was at the Redwood Run again this year as he could not make it. We talked for a while and then more photographers showed up for more shots. A guy named Rob also had me sign a release form and took a lot of shots and wrote a lot of notes from interviewing me. He told me he was from USA Today! I can only hope that it makes the biggest paper in the nation! Then it was a couple of TV crews that interviewed me. One was from France. I doubt that I will see that one, but www.ratbikemilo.com will be on TV over there, as well as a lot of other countries too.
The line to get in went all the way around the parking lot! And they were 5-6 people wide. When it got shorter we decided to go in. What a crowded place it was. We heard a lot of noise coming from the stunt riding area and saw Bubba Blackwell doing wild stuff with a few different Harley’s. He puts on quite a show. We then walked around for a while and went to the wall of ink, and I found my 2 pictures that I sent in a few months ago to enter the tattoo contest. A few people took pictures of me pointing to my pictures and showing the real thing. We went back to the stunt area and saw a couple of riders doing more wild stuff with Buels and Sportsters. They did a great job of handling the machines like they do on TV. We went to get in line for food and after a long wait of not moving, Gary and I decided to find Roy and leave to go to a restaurant and sit in the coolness of AC. Some EMT people were treating a gal for possible heat stroke as it was VERY hot in the sun by now,2:30 or so. Roy was out in the shade under a tree by my bike. We sat and talked to JT for a while and decided it was time to leave. We saw Tony and Ozz from England on the way out and said we would see them again soon I hope.
We headed up north to go to a restaurant that Gary had been to before. Traffic was bumper to bumper for over 20 miles. Hot engines and it took a long time to find the clear road ahead of us. While we were going very slow I saw another bike with an Oregon plate. I rode up to them and yelled that I’m from Roseburg, Oregon. They said that they are from Roseburg too, on Happy Valley Road. Irvine & Patty are their names. I guess we will see each other back in Roseburg to compare notes. The other guy that they were riding with said he used to live in Roseburg too and now lives in Tennessee. We finally got clear sailing to go the last 10-12 miles at normal speed. The restaurant was a welcome cool place. The food was good and we had an enjoyable stay. Then we fueled up and headed south again and hoped for the best with traffic. It was all good as we rode by Milwaukee and got on hwy 41. At one of the stop lights an 18 wheeler rapidly rolled to a stop beside us. I heard someone yell ‘Milo’, and looked up at the driver and it was Dennis (Strawberry) from Michigan City, Indiana. I met him on the National Veterans Awareness Ride in 2006, and 2007 and we saw him in the city this year as he didn’t join us this year. He said that he was going to Mississippi. We talked for a short while and then the light turned green and we yelled goodbye to each other. It was getting dark and I swapped out my sun glasses for my regular ones. We got to Gary & Nancy’s house around 8:00 or so and it felt good to relax in an air conditioned house on a soft couch. We plan to go to Uke’s Harley shop with another friend of Gary’s tomorrow morning and then go out on Lake Superior at around 3:00 with Nancy too……
