It was a long trip! I seen and did so much that I can only
now relax and begin to remember it all....
An estimate, 98% of the bikes making the long ride were stock
wheelbase Evo and Twin Cam class bikes (1984 & newer) ...and to a lesser extent some late Shovelheads. Most of the choppers and older bikes (flatheads, knuckleheads, panheads, and early shovelheads) were trailered in. Some older bikes did make the ride but most made it to Milwaukee it in the back of a trailer. I've road panheads & early shovelheads for for 20yrs, I can say without a doubt that a cross country ride on either of them would have
taken longer and would have been more tiring! Keeping it short, some other things that stood out... #1 The people that shipped their bikes over from other counties
to make The Ride Home. #2 The guys who rode in from Alaska & Canada, the group that
rode up from South America, the guys from Nevada that came up to ride the
Northwest Route (I
asked them why they weren't taking the Southwest Route that was
starting in their home state, their reply was the Southwest Route was too short,
they wanted to take the Northwest Route because they thought it would be a more exciting ride...can't argue with
that!). Not to forget, the guys from Milwaukee who came all the way out to
Oregon to make the ride back with us to their home state (thought that was
pretty cool too). Lastly, I remember one lady at a gas station in
Missoula Montana asking me
what the 100 Anniversary was all about, I thought about it and came up with
this... I told here it was Harley Davidson's 100th Anniversary, it's a Reunion for the bikes...and the people you see riding them...
well they're just going
along for the ride :) Smitty