Day 8: Rubbing Elbows

Milwaukee, WI: Day 1 of the local festivities

As planned, we rode the bikes down to one of the local Harley stores this morning for oil changes. It's a bit sad, actually. We just got here and already preparing for the ride home....but so it goes.

After everyone's bikes were serviced -- a couple hours is all -- we headed over to Miller Park for the H.O.G. 25 festivities. The first thing we did when we got there was check out the Wall of Ink where all the photos of tattoos were displayed for judging. We found Paul's and each of us submitted our vote for entry number 158.

We then proceeded in to the stage area to find decent seats for the concerts. We watched The Billy Bob Thorton Band and Sugarland perform. Both were awesome shows. Lori was thoroughly enjoying herself and grooving to the music. A fun time was had by all.

By the time Sugarland finished I looked around and saw nothing but people everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Kid Rock was up next and people were still coming in. Thoughts of trying to get out of there after Kid Rock and then fighting all the bike traffic was just too over whelming for me (not to mention I don’t have the best night vision). Curtis, Kerrie, Troy and I decided to head outside of the stage area to get us closer to the bikes and further away from the crowd. Curtis’ cousin from New Orleans was outside the stage area and we wanted to hook up with him anyway. After several minutes of rubbing elbows, we eventually found Barry and visited for a while; we’ll hook up again tomorrow.

The number of people and bikes at Miller Park today was even more than Harley expected. Bikes were lined up along the freeway for hours rolling down into the parking lot. When we left, people were still coming in. Amazing, truly amazing!

Tomorrow we visit the new Harley museum and then catch the festivities closer to our hotel. I’m thinking my bike will stay parked for the day.