Dernieres constructions

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Harley-Davidson 105th anniversary - it's over.

All the bikes are now going home. A lot of bikers gathered in Milwaukee this past days and they had fun. The parties lasted late in the night yesterday. Some events were scheduled for today Sunday but most of the bikes are getting out of the area.
Riders came from around the globe, from anywhere in the USA and Canada but also from Europe, Australia and even China.
The 105th is now over. Next one in 2013...
But the next one for us could be sooner: Sturgis? Daytona?

Biker tan

Seen in Milwaukee... Nice tan, man!

Springsteen at HD birthday party

And the Boss was there! An incredible show. Almost 4 hours of rock. And the shows ended on a cover of 'born to be wild'... "It had to be done" he said. Yes indeed.
Harley Davidson 105th celebration is now over...

Waiting for Springsteen

The gates opened at 5pm and we are now seating under the sun waiting for today's headliner to start. Bruce Springsteen is finishing his world tour at the Harley-Davidson celebration in Milwaukee.
It reminds us of Bonnaroo last year when we were waiting for The Police.
The stage has HD logos all over it and mega screens playing their commercials.
So far, it's been a great event. Tonight should be the Grand Finale...

HOG Stage

Downtown Milwaukee

Last day of the celebration of Harley-Davidson. Anywhere we go, there's motorcycles everywhere. This morning, we visited Hal's HD, one of the local dealer who has huge tents and all kind of events going on. Now we are downtown, under a blazing sun going at the official HD ground.

HD Roadhouse

Not much luck with ZZTop. Too crowed, we could not even access the place. So after a pause to eat a butterburger (not sure what it is apart a greasy burger), we headed down to the Harley Davidson Roadhouse where the Black Crowes are playing.
Great ambiance tonight.  Over 100,000 bikers enjoying the evening.

War is grooving

The Harley fest is on fire on the music of War and their 70's funk.

Music time

Music now... Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played earlier, War is now on stage jamming the crowd. Big Head Todd is playing soon, not sure we'll catch them and ZZ Top tonight.

Fred, next time you can come with us...

Harley-Davidson had a line of scooters! Just have to find one now and you can join us on the next trip to HD (trailing it would be an accepted option).

It's a chopper, baby

All kind of bikes at the HD Museum, from the first ones in 1903 to now, including some known motorcycles...

Time to visit the Museum

We got our day and time assigned 8 months ago and it's now 3pm, our time to get in. The museum just opened to the public a few days ago. As usual, rock is blasting in the background.

Having fun on a sunny afternoon

And I tell you we are having a good weather.

HD and women

HD is catering to women now. Anyone interested in the "hair and helmet" workshop?

Summerfest grounds

A lot of bikes here. The ambiance is a lot better than yesterday.

First day of HD 105th celebration

After a nice warm and sunny morning enjoying Milwaukee, we are now heading to Summerfest ground to check out the events there and we will visit the new Harley-Davidson museum this afternoon.

A disappointing Club HOG

Club HOG 25 was very disappointing. We were surprised by how poorly it was organized.
Nice place though. Parking was ok.
But when we got in, there wasn't much to do. Good music lineup (I Love rock & roll by Joan Jett... a classic). But 2 concerts at the same time and then nothing. And the stunts were interesting (and unbelievable). But how long can you see those guys burn out tires... So the crowd is turning to the beer and food. But it was so badly organized that you had to wait hours in line to get a bite of junk food. Disappointing event.
So we finished the evening at the Windhorse Saloon. That cannot disappoint you...

A lot of bikers

Indeed a lot of bikers. Anywhere you go, we can see Harleys. Some nice bikes.
Coming from everywhere. We saw the Alsace HOG chapter members.
Les Francais sont la...

Encore plus de cascadeurs

Vous en voulez encore?

Stunts going on

Here's the team of Daytona HD performing some stunts on Buell models and Sporters too. Pretty cool!

On the way to Club HOG

We are arriving at Club HOG.

Art and Bikers

Who says bikers don't like art? Meet Finch and Flash.
Great exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Now on our way to the Harley Discovery World.

Meet Miss Miller

I already mentioned Miller but you have to meet the Miller girls!

The party is on

Bands are setting up. The music is on. Miller is providing the beer (surprising! The brewery is down the street) and we are now enjoying the party.
3 days of music and biker stuff.

Club HOG today

Today we are taking the time to look around and see what's happening here. A lot of Harley riders for sure.
Club HOG for the 25th Anniversary of HOG is today. Tomorrow starts the 105th. We drove by the Miller park earlier and it's packed already.

We made it...

We have arrived in Milwaukee - 1427 miles from home!
From Maine through Quebec and Ontario, down to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Today was a great ride, we saw farms and corn fields galore.... A lot of bikers riding along with us.
70 mph down the highway. And entering Milwaukee  to the sound of "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC for Jacques and "Groove is the heart" by Dee Lite for Patricia... Isn't it perfect!
We are now chilling by the lake thanks to Jeff and his family hospitality. We are staying by the Oconomowok lake.
The city is buzzing with thousands of bikers coming from all around the globe. Today we met some bikers from the HOG chapter of Bern, Switzerland and some riders from Australia. So many events are happening, it is hard to make a selection! But we'll find something...
More soon
Plus a venir bientot sur Milwaukee.

On the go from Peshtigo!

Morning to Milwaukee

Time to get on the bikes and go. Milwaukee is 300 miles away. Down on Route 2 and then Rte 35 and...
Next stop is Harley town.

Michigan is our stop tonight

We left the 'high crime' town of Sudbury this morning and rode on Route 17. Along the way, we met more and more bikers. We finally made it to the border to get in the US early afternoon. Dee and Beth had no problem to cross. That wasn't the case for us... We got asked a lot of questions about where/why/when and even why we weren't Americans yet! And finally got asked to part on the side for a search. Paticia's bike got searched and she had to go inside for a more complete search. Mean French woman on a Harley motorcycle!
Anyway, we got out of it, 'feeling good'.
The rest of the day was spent on the roads of Michigan, with trees on each sides, and nothing else. Northern Michigan is 'remote' for lack of a better word. A couple of play on words seen in local joints entertained us : the Hard Wok Cafe - Chinese restaurant, birdbath and beyond - no comment!
Our directions stopped 20 miles before our final destination but we finally arrived in Manistique, MI, very well located on the shores of the lake but not too lively. And we found this 'unique' burger joint where most of the riders staying here overnight gathered for a beer...
Tomorrow, last leg to Milwaukee, yipee!

Un kilometre, ca use...

Nous avons fait environ 500 km par jour, en partant vers 9h le matin arrive vers 18h mais avec des pauses longues (surtout pour dejeuner). On s'arrete pour faire le plein tous les 230 km.. Les motos sont confortables et roulent super bien. Pas trop de courbatures mais avec le vent et le soleil, on sent la fatigue.
Demain derniere journee sur la route et on arrive dans la foule Harley...

Reaching the lakes

We are now less than an hour from the border and we are seeing more riders on the road. We just met with a large group from the Neanderthal HOG chapter from Dusselforf, Germany.
The weather is still with us. And it's still a lot of fun.

Bientot l'heure du dejeuner...

Direction Sault Ste Marie

It's 8.30 and we are getting ready for another day. We will ride on Rte 17 and will pass the US border early this afternoon. We are expecting to meet more riders today.

Encore une belle journee devant nous. Nous nous preparons pour 480 km le long des lacs et passerons la frontiere dans l'apres midi. Tout va tres bien et les motos roulent impecables. Nous commencons a rencontrer d'autres motards qui vont dans la meme direction.
En route pour Jour 4...

Sudbury's specialty

Nickel mines and moonscapes....think a gigantic Teletubbies house. Beth spotted a bear cruising down a mine's hill.....quite surreal like the invisible HD dealership that we never found....oh well on to new road adventures

Welcome to Sudbury!

deep river report

Waow it was cold this morning leaving Ottawa - 3 layers plus the leather- we needed it all!
We have now arrived in Sudbury - famous for its mines reminiscent of moonscapes and training ground for Nasa!

Almost ran out of gas...

And we were glad to see that pump at the bottom of the hill. We love the Monette's Gas Service Center, I can tell you!
There's definitively not many gas stations around this part of Ontario. But it's so nice here. Lakes...

Deep in Ontario

We are on Route 17... Colder than expected this morning. But still good. The sun is out for this afternoon.
We hope to be in Subdury by 4pm. And go for dinner at the local HD dealer.

Stop outside of Ottawa

Tonight we stopped in the suburbs of Ottawa. Not easy to find the
hotel. We turned and turned... And finally found it.
We had a good ride, overall a good weather.
Tomorrow we are continuing on the Trans Canada highway, towards Sudbury.

Lost and back

After a nice (and well deserved) brunch break in Montreal, we got back on the road. A little bit of traffic and we lost Dee and Beth for a few minutes going out of Montreal but they caught up with us on Rte 40. Now another hour before we get to Ottawa for our stop of the day...

C'est vrai que les routes sont meilleures dans l'Ontario. Merci B+F pour les directions.

Dejeuner a Montreal

We are making a stop in Montreal, for lunch at L'Incredule. We enjoyed a brunch in a nice outdoor patio, catching up with Benoit and Flo (merci). Next stop Ottawa...

Western Maine is our first stop

We left Portland this morning. After a quick stop in Auburn at the HD dealer, we took route 202 to Augusta and then around the Belgrade lake, to Madison. We followed the river to North Anson and Kingfield. What a nice ride it was! And a perfect weather, sunny and great temperature in the mid 80's. We talked to a couple of bikers, some also on their way to Milwaukee going through Vermont. We are now in Sugarloaf, chillin'... Tomorrow Quebec. We are planning to leave early to cross the border at Lac Megantic and meet Benoit and Florence in Montreal.

We are now on the road...

more to come from the road...

Here's the map...

Wondering which way we are going ?... voilá....

We are getting ready...

The weather is finally getting better in Maine. We spent the week end on the bikes...
First a stop at Custom Hawg in Scarborough, ME to get some highway pegs for Patricia and also talk to Nathan, the very nice owner of the shop.
Then we headed North to Augusta and through the Belgrade lakes region on Route 27. We arrived at Sugarloaf late in the afternoon, just in time to enjoy the party organized by the team of L-A HD. The Auburn, ME dealership organized a nice ride to benefit Camp Sunshine. And the day ended at Sugarloaf with music and a lot of bike talks...

The ride

End of August 2008, Harley-Davidson is celebrating its 105^th anniversary in Milwaukee, WI. Patricia and I are leaving Portland, ME on August 23. We'll ride 1,500 miles (2 400 km) in 5 days.

Saturday, 23	Sugarloaf, ME	150 m.
Sunday, 24	Ottawa, ON	350 m.
Monday, 25	Sudbury, ON	300 m.
Tuesday, 26	Gulliver, MI	300 m.
Wednesday, 27	Milwaukee,WI	400 m.
Thursday, 28	Harley	Davidson
Friday, 29
Saturday, 30
Sunday, 31

The bikes

Let me introduce you to the our motorcycles...

Patricia rides a 2008 HD Low Rider FXDL, black and orange.

Jacques rides a 2004 HD Softail Springer FXSTSI black.

Patricia bought her bike at L-A Harley-Davidson, the excellent dealership in Auburn, ME. We had a great experience there. Ewing, our sales rep took good care of us. He really listened to what Patricia was looking for, what kind of rider she was and suggested the Low Rider, perfectly adapted to her... not mentioning the color! If you ride in Maine, make sure you stop there and check out their dealership. It's a lot more friendly and so much better than other Maine dealerships.

Dee owns a HD Road King and she rides with her partner Beth.

The blog is on

time to enter some text... and time to get ready for the ride!

Patricia and I are riding from Portland, Maine to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to go to the 105th anniversary celebration of Harley-Davidson. It's happening from August 28 to August 31, 2008.
We are going to ride with our friends Dee and Beth. We'll leave Portland, ME to go west through the mountains of Maine, crossing to Canada, riding through part of Quebec, direction Ottawa, Sudbury then back to the USA to Sault-Ste Marie and Milwaukee, WI.
HD has prepared 105 routes through the USA to lead to the event. But we decided to go through Canada and enjoy the Canadian events. We will probably cross a lot of bikers on the road... and we'll have fun!
and when we get to Milwaukee, a lot of events are scheduled from visit of the HD museum to 'vendor fest' and other motorcycle stuff. And a lot of music ... Big Head Todd and The Monsters , Los Lonely Boys , ZZ Top , Black Crowes, Peter Frampton , Joan Jett and the Blackhearts , Blind Melon , Puddle of Mudd , Daughtry , Foo Fighters and… Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band !!

Now you get the picture! Let's ride....

P Print only when necessary.