Well, 5:30 am came real quick as my alarm clock rang. But with excitement I jumped out of bed and got ready to drive to Milwaukee. Through the 5 hour drive there, I was overly excited to see all the bikes and some of the riders who also were in the Cannonball.
I did talk to my mom on the phone who told me this wonderful story about Mike. Supposedly, on Friday before Mary, Deb and Mom left Mary couldn't find Shane (her favorite, maybe even more than her husband--sorry Starry). She ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS gives him a hug prior to start of the race. Well, somehow she couldn't find him. And blah blah blah, his bike ended up breaking or not working. Some kind of spring? He was talking to Mike the next morning (Saturday) and told him that he blames it on not getting a "Butts" hug. Well, Mike said that this might not do, but he ended up giving Shane a hug. Now, if you know Mike AT all, he is not a hugger. So for him to do this, it is VERY out of his comfort zone, and its wonderful! I am so proud of him. I think Shane probably thought it was hilarious. He actually called his wife Tammy and told her about it.
On our drive Tony and I stopped at a few Harley's for some poker chips (for my brother and his wife's niece), which it's always fun to see the different once. Once we arrived early so we could site see in Milwaukee we clearly started off at a brewery, and then check out Lake Michigan, but then--we find a get this....National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. I mean, seriously, what a find!
As for Mike, which is the REAL reason I'm writing this blog, lets be real. So, on Saturday they only had to ride about 10 miles to the ferry that they would take across Lake Michigan which he and Jerry felt would be okay for the bike, remember the bike started making a knocking noise, making them believe that it was the piston going out. So he made it to the ferry. Larry, Mike and Starry's (the reason I call Steve Starry ((Steve and Larry combined))) brother met Mike at the other side of the ferry with the truck and trailer. They loaded up the bike and headed toward Milwaukee where Jerry had his friend Willy bring a different bike for Mike. Are you ya'll keeping up with all these -y names? I'm not making this shit up, this is real life. I swear. Unless you know of course I got their names wrong- which is totally feasible.
Anyway, Tony and I ended up meeting up with Mike, Larry, Will (who is also a friend of Jerry, different than Willy who's bike also broke down) and Willy. It took us only a few minutes to figure out where to pack, they actually allowed us to park at the Harley Davidson Museum which was kind of nice to still be within the action and we swapped bikes.
I personally had a lot of fun swapping the bikes. I feel like I actually was of help besides when I couldn't get the damn nuts on at some points, I am claiming that my hands were full of grease and thats why? Lets run with that. Anyway, between the 6 of us, we switched the windshield, odometer, the seats, and the cargo bags. In theory this may seem like it shouldn't take that long, but this bike didn't line up PERFECTLY etc. It was trail and error, but we definitely managed. It did go faster than what I even expected. One of my personal favorite comments from both Larry and Jerry were; one of them said "well it's not very often you see a girl with her hands covered in grease" and the other said "well you had no problem just jumping in and helping out". My response was "well how else am I going to learn?!"
Of course we spilled oil....Remember this picture
The bike that we will switch to
Wahoo!! We did it, we got it swapped. Notice that I have no pictures of myself, because guys don't take pictures like girls. How lame. Jerks. kidding, I knew I needed to write this blog and well, I like to document stuff.
Tony and I really wanted to check out the museum and store and TYPICALLY they aren't open on Sundays to we ran over there real quick. Well we didn't have time for the museum but luckily they were open on Sunday so we would do that before we left town.
I LOVE photobombing pictures. I thought Tony was taking a video, however he was taking a picture. I jumped, but he got me right as I was landing. Still Amazing, if I do say so myself.
Anyway, we ended up grabbing food at the restaurant that is connected to the Harley Davidson shop, it was pretty yummy and they live music. One of the men even played the harmonica which was pretty freaking sweet. I grabbed this next picture that I found just kind of fun, all the guys just walking out and stopping to take in the view of some of the left over bikes. And PLEASE notice Mike's hat (far left). He's so hipster. Of note, Mike didn't check in because we were too preoccupied with getting the bikes swapped so they were worried about him! So he had to rush over and check in. Whoopsie!
It has gotten slightly chilly after dinner and the guys were going to ride the bikes to the hotel. Mike was going to grab his jacket (because he's in a short sleeve). But if you see that building in the background, the truck was parked behind that, and his bike was to the left. AND he was going like less than a mile. So somehow I told him to suck it up at the same time him pretty much told himself that he can survive that short distance. THE BEST PART THE WHOLE TRIP!!!! I was stopped at a stop sign and I let the motorcycles go in front of me, Mike included. He rode in front of me, rubbed his arm up and down (like he was cold) and then made a face like this (all with his head turned to the right to look at us) :
I have this mental picture in my head and I wish so bad that I had a dash cam because it was the funniest thing I have seen. If you know Mike, and have ever witnessed him act like this, you know exactly what I am talking about. It is probably one of the best moments and something that you will forever remember about Mike is his funny-ness.
Sunday Morning
Nothing too exciting that I am aware of happened Sunday morning. We met up with all the motorcycles that morning at their hotel to watch them off. I helped Jerry get his route chart set up, because clearly I am a professional. He was VERY impressed by my skills. Probably only because I have smaller hands and get the duct tape where it needs to be, etc. (hard to explain if you've never worked with one). I went into the hotel and went to see if Steve needed help he didn't he was doing okay, but if you remember from the Cannonball my nickname was the Sweeper. Well Steve almost forgot his jacket, I had to grab it for him!!! 😂 I also stepped in as a Butts' and gave Shane a hug. Hopefully it didn't turn out to be bad luck! Here are some videos and pictures:
This is not my picture: this picture was taken by Vicki Sanfelipo, the RN staff
The swapped bike
Starry had been trying to hard to get the bike started, kick starting it and kick starting it. And then Mike just tries once and gets it started after once. And Starry just looks defeated. And I'm in the background yelling "You prepped it for him, you prepped it for him!" pure luck!
Oil and gas....yaaaas!!
They're off!
Not sure when Larry took this picture but clearly Starry is a happy man on his motorcycle! LOOK AT THAT SMILE!
Again not sure when the next photos were taken, but thought I would share anyway!
Jerry
Jerry (again not my pic, from The Chase)
The group, in the handicap...whats the mean? Also not my pic, I think Vickis again.
Just being cool at the Harley Davidson Museum
Remember when I told you to remember the oil that we spilled? If you look really really close, you can see in-between the bent pole there is a dark spot, we left our mark..........of oil. shhhhh.
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