More celebrating ... the 110th is in full swing

Friday (August 30) Birdie and I decided to do the power train plant tour at Pilgram Road. We got there early enough that we didn't have to wait in line too long. Vickie from San Diego was with us, dropped off at our hotel so she could go with us. We found Will from the Peninsula so the four of us hung together for the day … and had a great time.

We got here by accident.  No tours here.

We arrived early but the parking lots were already filling up.

Vickie from San Diego found the Old Glory bike.



Vickie from San Diego, Will from Kenai, Birdie and me, waiting in line to go into the plant.

 The plant tour is fun, although they tell you to stay within the yellow lines. I had to step outside of it in front of one of the Harley folks. No, no!!!

You wander around like you're in a big conga line, weaving up and down the aisles. There were plaque cards giving us information, such as there are 1,000 employees at the plant. We finally saw some robots working on engines and that was fascinating … up, down, around, each time adding something and the whole piece getting bigger and bigger. I really liked watching that part of the process.   I only wish we'd been allowed to take photos, but we weren't, or that we could have had the information from the plaquecards since I couldn't remember most of what I'd read.

We wound around some more, and then saw folks working the assembly line. Here a part put on, there someone torquing it down. It was iinteresting to stand and watch. We found out that they change places on the line every two hours. To give them a break from one task and the way they did it to another, I suppose.

Something that really struck me was how many women were working the line. I thought that was great, and it was also interesting that there are two unions in the plant, and many of the employees were wearing their union shirts.

The line snaked around the outside of the plant, under the trees so folks could get a little relief from the sun.  There were water stations set up here and there, too.  That was a nice gesture.

Outside of the plant demo rides were available, but I wasn't interested. Jim and Robin did a few, but we just wandered around and then headed to Milwaukee HD.

This little dog had been on the news the night before.  What a cutie.  Six years old.

This mural is on the wall inside Milwaukee Harley-Davidson.

This was a rather interesting bathtub, or wagon.

What a madhouse that was, and there was a mudpit I guess for mud wrestling. We didn't see any of that although I sure would have liked to.

Nah.  Mud isn't my area of expertise.

It was way too hot, and there was a crush of bikers inside the building. We ran into Jim and Sherie, and Kenny and Jennifer, but couldn't hang around due to the heat. I didn't even want to look at merchandise inside since I was dripping so badly it was like I'd just stepped out of the shower. There was sweat running places I didn't know I had. Ugh!!!

The sky got dark, and it was looking like a big storm front coming it. It was time to head to the hotel, hopefully getting there before the storm. We heard there was hail coming.

We pretty much beat the storm, getting only a little bit of rain, enough to cool us off and get us just a little damp. A-okay.

We wandered downstairs to the restaurant again with Jim and Robin and had a bite to eat. We got there at 4, the cooks are supposed to show up then, but we had to wait. Hmmmm. I was really hungry, but eventually they arrived and we got fed.

I was going to work on this, but a movie came on, Twister, and I had to watch it. Plus I was still worn out. Night.