Chillin

With rain predicted for this afternoon moving day tomorrow, we decided to do some last minute shopping this morning.  To access the local super Walmart, we once again passed Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, 

but this time drove alongside and ended up with a view of the back from the Walmart parking lot.

Prescription refilled and shopping done, on the way home we spied this big dog and guessed that it wouldn't take it many scoops to make a nice sized swimming pool.

As we passed along the side of Miller Park we noticed activity in the parking lot, which accounted for the backup on northbound I894.  We were glad the rain made us get going early.  Otherwise we would have been stuck in that mess.

Tomorrow, Wisconsin Dells.

Louise and Duane

Old World Wisconsin

Beautiful weather (hot, but no rain!) enticed us to hop the bike for a 30 minute ride through beautiful countryside just southwest of Milwaukee.

We spent a sticky but pleasurable day rambling around Old World Milwaukee, a living history complex of a village, homesteads, and farms settled by  Irish, Yankee (English speaking protestant), Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Pomeranian, Polish, and Hessian (German) immigrants from 1880 to 1910.

We spent a lot of time talking to costumed interpreters who were busy with various activities such as blacksmithing (our first lady blacksmith),

cooking,

spinning wool into yarn

and making beer.  

You start with hops (climbing the poles) and barley in the field.

I was surprised to find hops look like lacy light green leaves.

The hops and barley go through different stages

then water and other things are added, heated, and cooled before being fermented to the final product.  Quite the process.

When we weren't learning from interpreters, we were poking around the various buildings.  As the townspeople and farmers grew more prosperous, the buildings became larger, more ornate and more numerous.

The complex is family friendly.  There are many houses where people can walk through and handle objects, including several toys and games.  There were several babies too.

People can take trams around each area and from one area to another, with well informed drivers giving out tidbits of history about the area and people.  We opted to walk around each area and from the village to the Scandinavian homesteads so that we could visit each building.  We rode the tram to the farming area then walked back to the bike.  In total, we walked less than 1 1/2 miles.

Back home and tired, 

Louise and Duane

Razzledazzle!

Our tour of the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee ended with some famous bikes, a lot of  chrome, a few toys, and some crazy entertainers.

One of Elvis's bikes.  He bought several and gave them to his friends.  He had his picture taken with this one before he became famous. 

Replica of Captain America, Wyatt's (Peter Fonda) bike in Easy Rider.

One of three bikes Arnold Schwarzenegger rode in Terminator 2:  Judgement Day.

Take a guy recovering from surgery, add boredom and access to unlimited sequins and rhinestones and voila!

Double frame King Kong

Serious chrome with 57 Chevy Impala tail fins

In one little corner is this toy bike to complete with sound effects to amuse bored youngsters.

 
Monkeys are always funny

I played with bike toys like these.

Next door to the Museum is this smaller building featuring changing exhibits.

The current Daredevils exhibit convinced us that people are always the same but different

'coptor bike

The famous Cage of Death

Rain today, maybe touring tomorrow.

Louise and Duane

Special Tour

Duane and I could have made our way around the H-D Museum yesterday and learned all about the company, but we were glad that we opted for the guided tour.

Our guide pointed out interesting facts such as during armed conflicts military contracts kept the company in business,


and that adding colors to bikes didn't boost post-conflict sales

as much as appealing to different kinds of riders with vehicles like scooters 

and off road bikes.

Our guide gave us a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the museum work rooms.where we viewed some promotional bikes, including that bike with sidecar on the opposite side for Australian and other riders who drive on the left.

We learned that H-D experimented with some two-front-wheeled bikes back in the early 1980's, but didn't like the concept,

and that this is the last bike with sidecar made because the trikes (two wheels in back) were more stable.

He told the story of this bike.  It was originally kept in a storage unit in Japan, but the whole unit was swept out to sea by a tsunami.  It floated across the ocean to the UK where it turned up in pieces on a beach.  H-D was able to piece it back together and find a serial number.  They contacted the owner, and offered him a brand-new bike.  He declined, saying that it would be a sad reminder of his friends or/and their bikes that were lost in the earthquakes and resulting tsunami.  He requested that it be put into a museum as a memorial to them.

Tomorrow we hope the weather lets us play tourist again.

Louise and Duane

Down The Road

Our short bike trip from our State Fair campground north on I894 past Miller Park

then east on I94 to downtown Milwaukee 

past the real Po' Town

and across the Milwaukee River took us to 

the reason we are visiting this area.  As veteran museum attendees and Harley riders, this is the place to be in Milwaukee WI.  

The museum does an excellent job of telling the Harley-Davidson story from its humble beginnings with childhood friends Bill Harley and Arther Davidson along with Arther's brothers Walter and William tinkering  in "the shed", to the internationally successful company of today.

This is either the first bike the friends made or has parts from the first bike.

With their first motorcycle on the market, the company struggled to grow in the marketplace.

During armed conflicts, military contracts helped keep them afloat. 

During peacetime, including during the Depression, the company tried to appeal to all market sectors  with the introduction of colors and styles that would appeal to a variety of people, including scooters for young moderns, "muscle" bikes for serious riders, and racing bikes.

Originally races were run on board tracks.  The bikes had no brakes, but used the curve on the tracks to slow down and stop. 

This is a cross country racing bike, taken along bare tracks through trees, water, mud and whatever else was along the route.

The only thing I know about engines I learned on American Pickers:   pan head, flat head, and knucklehead.  Now I think I might be able to pick them out.

Engine on our  Eagle

We perused the museum for three hours  via guided tour and self-guided tour, including the current offering in the special exhibits building next door, then headed back to our parking spot in Carney Town, where our neighbors were all at work at Summerfest for the day.

Next, pix from our "behind the scenes" tour.

Louise and Duane