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Published: August 9th 2010
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Bill Hardt
In that garage lies buried treasures. So after I Ohio I cruised over towards Chicago as there's a picture in the Chicago Institute of Art that I'd always wanted to see & also I'd wanted to blow in to the windy city as someone told me many years ago that it's might, mighty pretty. I think that was the only part of a musical she knew at the time so I had it drummed into me.
I arrived on the outskirts of town early & I decided to get some chores out of the way, tinker with the bike & visit the laundry. See, I've told you all before it's not all fun, fun, fun. Laundry is a necessary evil when your wardrobe is limited to three t shirts, two pairs of shorts & one pair of jeans.
Whilst I was in there a man came in & asked me if it was my bike in the car park & where was I going. He introduced himself as Bill & gave me his address. He said to call round for lunch once I was done. Again I can see how this could be misconstrued but kindness & America go hand in hand so I thought
Downtown Chicago
Rush hour, Bill was right it does get a little manic. what harm & called by.
Bill turned out to be a big bike & car enthusiast who has been filling his time since retiring from teaching tinkering with classic Corvettes & bikes. He told me to park the bike in the garage & help myself to whatever was in the fridge. After talking bikes & cars & American politics for a while he then took me on a town of Naperville town in his classic convertible Corvette. By the way Naperville has been voted the best place to live in the US & I can see why. It's lush!
Bill told me riding through Chicago is no fun at all & suggested I catch the train from Naperville leaving the bike in his garage. So I ended up leaving my bike & everything on it in the garage of a fella I met in a laundrette only hours earlier & caught the train into Chicago instead. Bill gave me his number & told me to call when I wanted to be picked up. Kindness of strangers eh? Bill did say Chicago isn't a pleasant place to ride & I think if you look at the picture on the
Seurat.
One of my main reasons for calling into Chicago, sad I know. right, you'll see what he meant. (They were actually filming Transformers 3).
A couple of years ago on my way back from Africa I met an American girl called Amelia at Nairobi airport. As we were both hours early for our flight we kicked about the departure lounge spending the last of our money & generally passing the time. Now luckily for me & unluckily for Amelia she lives in Chicago.
She said I could stay & gave me a set of keys to her apartment so I could some & go as I pleased & made sure I knew where I was going & what to do around town. I mentioned it before but Americans have to be the kindest nation on earth. We'll ignore the overseas policies for now & concentrate on how nice they've been to me.
The first thing I wanted to see was a picture in the Institute of Art by Seurat, La Grande Jatte. With that ticked off the list I spent my time enjoying the free classical music concerts & generally wombling about town.
I then called Bill's number as it was time to get back in the saddle
Amelia
Thanks for the keys & the couch. half expecting the line to be cut off but he answered & said he'd meet me at the train station when I got to town. True to his word he did & he even bought me lunch prior to getting on the road. BMW riders over here are a select few as everyone has Harley's, so they've put together a book called BMW Anonymous that contains telephone numbers for other BMW bikers willing to help throughout North America. No names, just numbers. Now I'd heard of the book but never seen one. True to form Bill gave me his copy as he reckoned I'd need it more then him. The kindness theme that runs through this blog when I'm talking about Americans just keeps coming. He also gave me a summer riding jacket as he felt my biking gear was more suited to a Siberian truck driver. I had nowhere to put it but couldn't say no.
It was then time to head north west towards Alaska. Instead I headed due west towards Des Moines, Iowa.
I arrrived in Des Moines a little lost. I pulled up outside a bar trying to figure the map out when two
lads came up & said as they weren't from town they couldn't help me with the map but if I wanted they'd buy me a drink in the pub opposite whilst I figured it out. Sam & Beau were good company & even offered to let me crash at the hotel which was being paid for by their company. Both are bikers & after a while I asked if either of them could do with a summer biking jacket. They went off to a strip club after making sure I knew where I was going, courtesy of the barmaids map reading abilities. Thank you gents, yet more kindness from strangers. It seems to be the norm here & I love it.
On my return to London I promise to make more of an effort, if I see someone struggling with a map, I'll stop & help them find someone who can read one better then me, which shouldn't be hard or take too long. Sadly as I got back into the swing of London life I've been too busy, or atleast pretended to be. That will change!
From Iowa I headed across the Great Plains which have been
Chicago
knows how to keep kids en tertained when its hot. given that name for a reason & made my way up towards Sturgis, the biggest bikers meet in the world via some off road riding through Custer State park, Mount Rushmore & the biggest monument in the world, the Crazy Horse monument which they are still carving now, even though they started over 50 years ago.
I crossed the Badlands National Park & the Black Hills through 38.5 degree heat wishing I hadn't given that summer jacket to Beau. I also rode through a locust swarm only a thousand or so of which attached themselves to me (Random fact, when caught on a hot engine they burn & smell like peanut butter). I kept away from main roads & so I was out there all on my own & I loved it.
The Sturgis meet wasn't til a week later but already there were thousands of bikers in town. In total 500,000 turn up so being on a German bike with an English accent I thought I'd ride through & move on. I ended up staying 3 nights & promising never to drink Moonshine again.
Despite looking a mean as hell all the bikers I've met are
Sam & Beau.
This is their idea of helping a stranger. Alcohol then an invite to a strip club. Thank you Gents! really interested in where I'm going & where I'm from. If I'm going in a certain direction they'll ask if I want to ride with them. If not, they'll give me a few tips of places to stay & what to see & tell me to keep the 'black side down', i.e. The rubber attached to the tarmac.
For those contemplating a road trip over here signs stating 'Emergency Pull off 1 mile' aren't what you'd think & are in fact rest areas. They also have signs saying 'Semi Pull Off' which are rest areas for trucks so don't go getting your hopes up there either.
I'm doing my best to stay off the Interstates even though they're a hell of a lot quicker, riding in a continual straight line gets very tedious so I try to opt for highways which aren't as bad as they pass through small towns or the provisional country roads that can get nice & twisty.
Anyway, onwards towards Yellowstone... & then northwest towards Alaska!
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