As the coffee is brewing, I am preparing to head for Louisville, Kentucky, home of the Louisville Slugger, to meet up with my son.  As I mentioned in an early post, Jonathan rode solo to Myrtle Beach, and is now on his way home.  We are trying to time it so we can hook up in Louisville, have a little lunch and then head home.

We have had a great deal of rain over the past few days, and the pavement is wet from an overnight storm, but forecasters are predicting an all clear for today. 

Well, the coffee has finished and it’s time for me to ride.  ”Keep the rubber side down!”

I have made a few mistakes in my life, and I am certain to make one or two more in my future. Yet, I attempt to live by this motto made famous by Mark Twain.  Enjoy!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. 

I make my living in the car business, and as you may have heard, things are a little unsettled right now.  Oh, it’s not that we aren’t making money, we simply are working much harder for less of it.  This week has been especially taxing as it is the last week of the month and we are pushing extremely hard to salvage it.

This morning I awakened, and  felt as if I could sleep another 8 hours, but it was time to get moving.   After my morning routine, I headed out the door and jumped on the bike, immediately a peace came over me, and I felt, be it only for a moment, all was well!

Harley Davidison sent out a press release sometime back.  Here’s a reprint of that release… 

Nearly 105 years in the making, the Harley-Davidson Museum, located near downtown Milwaukee, will open its doors to the public on Saturday, July 12. Grand Opening festivities will kick off with a Harley-Davidson-style ceremony at 10 a.m. and will continue throughout the weekend.

The 130,000-square-foot Museum will add a whole new dimension to the Harley-Davidson experience. Visitors will get a feel for the freedom, camaraderie and pride that Harley-Davidson riders experience every time they fire up their motorcycles.

Museum visitors will:

- Walk through a variety of exhibits that tell the stories of the extraordinary people, products, history and culture of Harley-Davidson. In addition to the fantastic motorcycle collection, stories are told through a variety of media - including photographs, videos, apparel, rare documents and other fascinating artifacts.

- Peek into a portion of the Archives, never before open to the public, and home base to more than 450 motorcycles, and hundreds of thousands of artifacts that the Archives team can pull from for Museum exhibits

- Read the various personalized messages created by individuals worldwide on the Living the Legend rivets, found on the Living the Legend walls and plazas

- Grab a bold American meal or snack from the on-site Restaurant and Cafe

- Stroll around the 20 acre Museum site, enjoy the riverwalk or just sit back along the waterfront taking in the Milwaukee skyline

- Check out the unique Museum-inspired items at the Retail Store

- Examine the industrial architecture and attention to detail found both inside and outside of the Museum’s three buildings

The Harley-Davidson Museum, located at the intersection of Sixth and Canal Streets in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley, will be open 364 days a year.

General admission tickets to tour the Museum are $16 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, $10 for children (ages 5-17 years), and children under 5 years of age will be admitted free with an accompanying adult. Visit www.h-dmuseum.com for additional updates on group sales and tour information. Access to the Harley-Davidson Museum grounds will be available to the public, free of charge, 24 hours a day.

Museum tickets for Grand Opening weekend and other dates will go on sale online at www.h-dmuseum.com/tickets on Tuesday, May 20. The majority of tickets for Grand Opening weekend will be sold in advance online and the balance will be available for on-site sales during Grand Opening weekend. Visitors to the Museum site during Grand Opening weekend will be able to enjoy watching a bike-build and a tattoo artist at work and listen to live music on the 20-acre park-like grounds.

Museum tickets are no longer available during the Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary Celebration August 28-31, 2008. To ensure an excellent Museum experience during the 105th Anniversary Celebration, tickets to the Museum have been distributed via a lottery system to those who purchased their 105th Anniversary Celebration ticket packages before November 30, 2007. Those who are planning to come to Milwaukee during the 105th Anniversary who don’t have a Museum ticket will be able to enjoy the Museum grounds. In addition, those who would like to visit the Museum exhibits and didn’t receive a ticket through the lottery can secure opportunities to visit the Museum before and after the Labor Day weekend.

After work I love to grill out, and while waiting for the food to cook, I park my rear on the patio.  Here’s five things I love to do while sitting on my patio… 

1.  Drink a “Killian’s“, OK, 2!

2.  Read “Rider” magazine.

3.  Smoke a “Punch” cigar.  Heck, any cigar!

4. Talk with my wife and sons.

5. Play with the mutt.

What do you like to do when you get home from work?

Thanks to all of you who asked about my son, Jonathan, and his solo ride to Myrtle Beach.  He made the trip without incident, and  has been enjoying his time on the beach.  I really appreciate all of the kind thoughts and prayers.

As Greenville prepares to roll out the welcome mat for a motorcycle rally attracting thousands of bikers, South Carolina’s chief destination for motorcyclists — Myrtle Beach — is telling the annual clientele that their welcome has worn thin. Eric Connor is Staff Writer for the Greenville News.  

This week, the coastal city famous for its wide beaches, neon lights and May bike rallies moved to raise property taxes to generate $1 million to discourage future rallies after years of complaints about objectionable activity that the rallies bring along with their boost to the local economy.”

“We’ve certainly struggled with the scope of the rallies for the past dozen years,” city of Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Krua said. “They’re simply overwhelming the community. The bike rallies have worn out their welcome.”

read more…

On Monday, a buddy, Mike, stopped by the dealership to show me his newly acquired toy.  The Toy?  A 2001 BMW R1200C.  I instantly fell in love.
BMW began producing the R1200C in 1974, it was this historic company’s first foray into the ever increasing, cruiser market.  Sadly enough, the bike never really caught on, in fact, the BMW cruiser became a lightening rod of strong opinions.  I call it the “Hillary” bike, because you either love it or loathe it!  There is no middle ground!  It seems the cruiser faithful never accept the R1200C as a true cruiser, and the BMW enthusiasts felt betrayed, so production of the motorcycle ceased in 2004, after manufacturing only 40,000 units.

My personal tastes have always swayed toward the unique and the unusual (No offense Honey!), which is the exact reason I really like the looks of this bike.  In fact, I liked it so much I offered to buy it from Mike on the spot.  He politely declined.

If you would like to learn more about the R1200C here’s a few places to  begin.

BMW R1200C  Wikipedia

Chromeheads.org

“Be careful!”, “I love you!”, “See you next Sunday!”, and with that, the phone was silent. Jonathan, my oldest son, is riding his motorcycle to Myrtle Beach, where he will meet up with his girlfriend and her parents. They will be spending a week enjoying the sun and surf. It’s a long trip for a young man to ride solo, but he has ridden this route with me and I have tried to teach him well.