The 110th Harley Davidson anniversary party has come and gone, but it was one to remember. Maybe my expectations were low, maybe the flu had got to my head, but I enjoyed every minute. In fact, I can't wait until 2018 to do it all again.
My wife and I planned on leaving early Friday morning but instead found ourselves leaving at 1 pm during the hottest part of the day. We ended up having to leave so late because our daughter was sick the day before, a sickness which we both now had the pleasure of experiencing. So, hot and sick we took off. Besides every joint of my body feeling like it was painfully stuck and sweating profusely from the heat, the first part of the trip went fine. Approximately 60 miles west of Milwaukee, a cloud as black as night was moving toward us traveling Southeast. 20 minutes later, 70 mph winds, hail, horizontal rain, and flash flooding. Luckily, after several miles of hold on for dear life we found a Shopko, where we were able to wait out the storm. Unfortunately, our packed clothes, sleeping bag, and blankets didn't fair so well and sat soaking up the rain.
Eventually my wife and I made it to our campground at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Not typically used for tent camping, the park opened the Milwaukee Mile racing grounds for us "budget conscious" campers. The good side was it was a pretty cool place to camp and it was located only minutes from downtown, the lake front, and the HD museum. The bad, several inches of rocks directly under a thin layer of grass made staking a tent almost impossible and sleeping about as comfortable as riding through the hail storm.
Once we got the tent set up and the bike unloaded, it was starting to get dark. We decided to head downtown. For those of you who have not visited Milwaukee, I highly recommended it. Milwaukee is set on the shore of Lake Michigan with the Milwaukee River snaking throughout its downtown area. The shoreline has parks and green space broken only by museums and concert venues. This is where the majority of the 110 celebrations took place, filling the lake front with vendors, exhibits, and several concerts.
Unlike mostly rallies I have been to, the urban location of the 110 celebration provided a unique atmosphere. Thundering around skyscrapers and the lake front with thousands of other motorcycles made for an exciting experience. If crowds aren't your thing, but instead you prefer to relax with a beer and listen to music, no problem. There is apparently no open container law in Wisconsin and alcohol was sold along the lake front. You could quench your thirst while walking around, lying in the grass, or dipping your feet in Lake Michigan. On Saturday, I awoke at 6 am to the sound of a gas generator next to my tent. Funny thing is, half asleep, for the first few minutes I thought it was the worst sounding Harley I had ever heard. But seriously, if you are camping in a tent only area, have some courtesy and don't bring a generator. I think it is funny that the "biker" next to me could afford a pickup, enclosed trailer, motorcycle, and generator but could not afford a DC to AC converter to plug in his coffee pot.
Up early, we decided to have some coffee and breakfast on the lake front. From there we went the HD museum which by opening time was already packed and continued to fill up with each passing second. So maybe I should have thanked my neighbor for getting me up so early, not cursed him. Oh well.
The rest of the day was spent riding around town and partaking in festivities. By night time, we had one item left on our to list, UFC 164. I am a huge mixed martial arts fan. Again maybe my expectations were low, but the fights Saturday night were fantastic (except for one undercard heavyweight fight which after about one minute, I am not sure if the two fighters were cuddling or just sleeping together, but they were certainly not fighting anymore. It's called a "cardio" big boys, you should try it sometime). Several of the fighters were hometown boys which always gets the crowd going. UFC 164 was not biggest crowd with less than 10,000 people. However, we made up for our lack of numbers with boisterous enthusiasm. Even my wife who reluctantly agreed to come to the fights was screaming at the end. Saving the best for last, the fight night ended with a new minted Lightweight champion. Anthony Pettis, a Milwaukee native, and Taekwondo practitioner, winning via submission against a Jujitsu black-belt. I did not see that coming, awesome stuff!
Anyway, the rest of the trip was uneventful, excluding the drunks and burnouts at the campground at 3 am but hey, it's a bike rally.
As always, there is too much to see and do in such a short period of time. But isn't that what keeps us coming back for more?
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