Anamosa, Iowa., Sept 10-Leaving Milwaukee after such a great evening was a little melancholy for most of us. We hadn’t gotten to see as much of the Harley-Davidson museum as we’d wanted, or visited with our friends there for as long as we’d hoped. Still, riders were up and at it early, working out last minute adjustments and tinkering on machinery across the lawn of the museum property before departing from the hotel. Doug Wothke, our antagonistic Indian rider, took a few minutes to pose for some entertaining if not disparaging photos before he rode off into the day and managed to score a perfect day. Others were not so lucky. By the end of the day however, many had worked the kinks out of their engines and were back on the road.

Buck Carson, our young Texas rider, spent a long and broken day during Stage 3 and was back on the road for a short time on this day, scoring a mere 186-miles by day’s end. His buddy from across the pond, Mile Wild, also had a bad day and scored even less.

Chris Knoop from Australia continued to ride but with just 52-miles for the day’s total, he was looking at the possibility of pulling the sidecar off simply for weight relief. He chose to leave it on and try again, a decision he faced each morning.

The gracious folks at Kutter H-D in Monroe provided lunch and riders were happy for the hospitality. The group enjoys the opportunity to chat with vintage fans and the turn out tended to encourage riders. The guys took the opportunity to twist wrenches, too.

By the time everyone pulled into Anamosa, we were all quite anxious to visit the National Motorcycle Museum and enjoy the day’s telling of road stories. Our very own riding savant, Joe Sparrow, gave me a guided tour of the interesting and well laid out museum and it was great to get the back ground story on the extensive displays. It was nice to see a wall dedicated to biker artist, David Mann, who passed away in 2004. Considering our visit fell the day before his birthday, September 11, it was a pretty cool opportunity to honor the iconic artist.

Dinner was hosted at the museum as well and the riders genuinely appreciated the atmosphere and generosity of John Parham and his staff. The local hotel where we stayed was motorcycle themed. The AmericInn was nicely appointed and comfortable, and should be a destination for anyone riding through the area after checking out the very cool National Motorcycle Museum. They also let you work on your motorcycle in the parking lot. Just ask our guys.