| Author | Message | ||
     M2me |
I had a great ride down there from Minneapolis on Thursday. Perfect riding weather! Had a great lunch at Sauk they even had Wisconsin highway maps on the tables. Perfect timing since I had spilled orange juice all over my map earlier in the day. I left Sauk and was heading for the factory along highway 12. What a nightmare! Construction, one lane, detour, heavy traffic all the way. Finally made it around Madison and I noticed that it was ten minutes to three. Can't make the factory tour I thought. Oh well, I'll just stop at Snug Harbor and get my tent set up. I got my tent setup and as I was leaving for the factory I dropped my bike in the grass! Snug Harbor is on a hill and my bike was laying downhill on it's left side. I had to pick it up uphill! It was a lot of work but I managed to do it. No major damage was done. My left front turn signal lens was broken but it still worked. Later, Mike "coolice" taped it up with some electrical tape. Thanks, Mike! I got on the road towards the factory taking county road A, then ES. ES turned out to be a great road! Turns, elevation changes, etc. I arrived in the East Troy town square and was not sure which way to go. So I stopped and pulled out a map of East Troy that BRAG had sent me earlier. As I was doing this a woman came out of one the businesses. She asks me where I am going and I tell her the Buell factory. She directs me and than informs me that she is with the East Troy Chamber of Commerce and they will be having dessert for the Buell riders later in the town square. I then noticed that she is wearing a BRAG shirt! I got to the factory and had more great food. Then we all rode back to the town square for a group picture and dessert. The dessert turned out to be cream puffs, not Kringle as I had anticipated. The cream puffs were very good though. I then rode back to Snug Harbor and sat on a picnic table, drinking beer and watching the moon rise before crawling into my sleeping bag for a good nights rest. Friday morning we rode to Lake Lawn for breakfast. More great food! I finally got my riders package. Shirt, pocket watch, maps, etc. Then we rode highway 50 to Uke's. I watched Battletrax, bought a t-shirt, ate more great food and got really sunburnt! Then it was back to Lake Lawn for dinner and a bonfire. Saturday morning I rode in luxury in Mike's RV up to Road America. I rode in the so called "parade lap" on the track that was fun for the first lap or two before a small number of idiots (no Buell riders that I saw) started getting crazy. There were actually crashes! On a parade lap?!? Anyway, it was a great experience. Then there was, you guessed it, more food at the BRAG hospitality area. We all watched the Formula Xtreme race from the bleacher area by turn 8 and Ciccotto did an awesome wheelie for us on the warm up lap! I think he finished 7th in the race. Not too bad. I was planning on riding home Saturday evening but Mike got his satellite dish going and we noticed that there was going to be heavy storms going through the Minneapolis area. What to do? I thought about camping at the track but I learned that it would cost me $75! Mike suggested asking Dave if I could stay at Dave's place in Appleton for the night. Well, I asked Dave and he said sure, bring your sleeping bag. So I ended up at Dave's place in Appleton Saturday night. Thanks again, Dave for everything! Sunday morning I headed home taking highway 21 west out of Oshkosh toward I94. 21 is pretty straight and flat but it was nice going through the small towns that still have mom and pop stores and not all Walmart and Home Depot. I got home about 2:45 Sunday afternoon. 840 miles on the bike, great weather, great food, friendly and helpful people. Pretty good way to spend four days in June! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
very nice M2me, thanks for the report. damn, ONE of these years i'm gonna get back there for one of these deals...  | ||
| Outrider |
John...Thanks for the color commentary and I especially want to thank you for clearing up the "who ate asphalt" issue during the parade lap. Am really glad it wasn't any Buellers. Jerry...Your on and don't forget to bring Denise. | ||
| M2me |
I just wanted to add that I think the whole Bringing it Home event was very well done. I have owned my M2 for three years now and this was my first BRAG event. I was impressed and the $75 fee was well worth it and I missed the first day. Look at just the Road America deal. If I had bought a ticket, parade lap wrist strap, food and beverages that alone would have been $75. As someone else pointed out, I hardly spent anything on either food or beverages for the four days I was there. That was probably worth $75. I have to apologize to both Mike "Coolice" and Daves. I should have offered some gas money to Mike for taking me up to Road America and I should have offered Dave money for pizza and letting me stay at his place on Saturday. As it turned out, both of these guys had a big effect on my last evening and ride home. I ended up riding home rested and in great weather!  | ||
| Bomber |
Me -- let some of us locals know the next time you're coming this way . . . . .lots of much better roads (that also avoid the construction) the routes laid out for the event were pretty reasonable considering that: 1. the routers had no clue of the skill of the riders 2. they were laying out routes for larger groups of bikes 3. the routes were designed to getcha from poinbt A to point B in a reasonable amount of time, without getting lost . . . . . what fun is NOT getting lost, I ask ya? anyways, thanks fo rthe report -- you've had an experience with Buellers that is pretty consistant with those I've had and heard of . . . . like the man sez, I came for the bike, and stayed for the people | ||
| Daves |
M2me, Don't worry about it. You were my guest, guests don't pay. Ride to the edge! Dave | ||
| Coolice |
Same as Daves said, I was glad to help out and enjoyed the event. GREAT JOB BRAG!!! ( Peggy and Mary too). Lookin to next year! | ||
| Grndskpr |
Coolice drop me an email, you email is bouncing Roger |
