We gassed up at another Casey's and took the opportunity to grab some breakfast and then it was straight onto 151 heading for Anamosa and the National Motorcycle Museum less than an hour away. It was an easy ride which I think we all appreciated as yesterday was a BIG day. We rolled into Anamosa pretty quickly and all the hassles that yesterday presented us were long out of our minds. What can I really say about this place. The National Motorcycle Museum was founded in 1989 by people who love motorcycling and it exists today because of their passion.
If you have a beating heart that loves motorcycles this is a bucket list stop. I didn't really know what to expect. I had already been to the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaulkee and I guess I was always going to compare Anamosa with that. But that is really not what the National Motorcycle Museum is about. Milwaulkee is about Harleys, Anamosa is about motorbikes albeit with an American flavour. It is an incredible tribute to motorbikes and all that goes with it. Go there!
What a place. Now on to Galena and then Savanna. This meant going on to Route 61 crossing the Mississippi at East Dubuque and then on to US 20. This was good riding and we were making easy comfortable time.
Galena is a beautiful historic little town that had its beginnings like many as a mining town. It had been an American Indian site for a thousand years before miners moved in in the 1800's. The town and its building are simply beautiful.
From Galena we headed down US20 onto US84 and into Savanna. The original plan was to spend the night in Savanna so I could get to party at the Iron Horse Saloon. This was something that Bo and I had planned all along and it was a real disappointment for us that the delays coming out of Sturgis meant we had to lose a night on the way to Chicago as we were due there today. That meant no night in the Iron Horse Saloon. We arrived in Savanna around 11am and the Iron Horse Saloon looked shut. We pulled up outside and started taking photos and then one of us tried the door and....yes sirree it was open. Two Coors Light please and oh by the way what do you girls want.
I am coming back to the Iron Horse to stand and drink in that bar and maybe get a little drunk. It is the sort of place that a guy could do that in and feel like I was amongst my own. We were hungry and next stop Poopy's Pub n Grub the biggest biker destination in Illinois. As luck would have it the place was just round the corner. I like Savanna.
Poopy's is one of those places that if you like bikes, food, beer, tattoos and all that goes with it you can probably buy it over the counter. A real biker destination if you are on 84 anywhere near Savanna. Our food was great and a look around the shop and tattoo parlour that are part of the main building is worth the visit on its own.
Now it was time to head for Chicago. We headed East taking US52 until we finally made it onto I 88 and started hauling ass to Chicago. This should have been simple from here but nothing ever is when you hit rush hour and that is particularly the case in Chicago. What a fucking mess. It was hot and we were gridlocked. Not ideal. We continued through the traffic cutting across the lanes heading for the River North Best Western right in downtown Chicago. By this time the Big Guy was leading with Bo and I following. We have cars and trucks all over us and without realising we were right on our exit lane. The Big Guy made the turn and Bo just managed to get in behind him. As for me at the rear not a fucking hope. I waved them goodbye as they exited and I naively thought I would double back at the next off ramp. 40 minutes later I am in the middle of nowhere completely off the grid as far as my TomTom is concerned, lost in the construction area somewhere near the airport. No matter how hard I tried I could not find a way out. Luckily I managed to find someone prepared to actually speak to a biker and he put me back on the right track. It still wasn't over however - back into the gridlocked mayhem that seems to suffocate Chicago I went. At last my TomTom finally figured out where I was and another 40 minutes later I am on West Ohio and I can see the waving arms of Bo signalling me in to the Hotel car park. We did close to 300 miles today and were in the saddle for nearly 6 hrs.
Part One of our odyssey across continental USA from San Francisco to Chicago was over. 11 days of amazing riding through country that simply left you gasping for air in its raw beauty - Yellowstone, Yosemite, Beartooth and the Grand Tetons. The Loneliest Highway after the stunning Lake Tahoe had us thinking of the Pony Express and just how damned hard those riders must have been. Sturgis was everything we had hoped for and more. The murderous Bison, the close encounter with a stag and the exploding tyres were now part of our riding folk lore that will be greatly exaggerated over the coming years. The four of us have shared something truly remarkable made all the better by being on these Harleys. We have three nights here and the Big Guy gets to finally hook up with his young brother Barry (over from New York) and the Kennedy's (just in from London) rejoin The Lostboys for the ride back to San Francisco via Route 66. It is time for a beer. Fuck it - lots of beers. Lazza your round. Let the good times roll - and they did.
COMING UP NEXT - Day 1 in Chicago and the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaulkee
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