Harley-Davidson's
100th
Birthday Party

Continued....

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PLEASE CLICK ON THE SMALL PICTURES TO MAKE THEM LARGE.

Sunday, August 31st, 2003

THE BIG PARTY!

We woke up wide eyed and bushy tailed and got ready for the big day.

This is the day we had been waiting for... There was going to be a big named band and like everyone else, I was kind of hoping for something like the Rolling Stones or some good party band.

We had to park our bikes 2-1/2 miles from the gate and walk.  They wouldn't even run the shuttle buses.

As we were standing in line, we saw people in the buildings up the hill watching us.
Here is a guy on his balcony in his underwear.
(I told you guys I would put this on the internet, hahahah)
There were several other people out there, also.

The gates were to open at 12 noon and so we got there early and stood in line so that we could get a good place to watch the band.
We was told that there would be 150,000 people let in and the first 5,000 would be let into the area next to the stage.

After we got near the gates, we had to walk an additional mile or so to get to the stage.

Guess what?   WE DID IT!!   We were about 12 feet from the fence around the stage.

Here is an picture of how crowded it was..

Next is close to where we stood from the stage.  You can see the fence that is right in front of the stage.

The 2 movie screens that were situated on either side of the stage showed an aerial view of the crowd.

If you look carefully, you can see that they could have fit more than 5,000 people up in the inner circle.
I am glad we got there early as it was quite roomy there.

Some local disc jockeys mc'd the part where they showed the road tour.

Here's Jim and I.

The guy on the right is the one that took our picture.
Thanks guy.

They drove a bunch of Harleys on the stage and left them there for the duration.

Dan Akroyd MC'd the rest of the show.

Here is one of the Big Wigs of Harley Davidson.  I didn't catch his name.

Some of the people that couldn't make it were shown on video wishing Harley Davidson Happy Birthday.
Included in the people that did this was President Bush.

The opening Act was again the DOOBIE BROTHERS.  I was happy to see them again.

Then they brought out Tim McGraw.  I am sorry to say but he isn't one of my favorites and from the reaction of the crowd, he wasn't what they were expecting.  It was kind of sad.

In the middle of Tim McGraw's act they brought out Kid Rock.  The crowd roared.
They loved it!
Then they brought out Tim McGraw again and you could definitely notice the difference in the mood.

By this time, we were really tired and hungry.  We hadn't had breakfast.
I stood in line for nearly an hour to get 2 bratwurst sandwiches when we first got there.
About 8:00 I went to get more food and was told that the line was a 2-1/2 hour wait.  I said the heck with it and tried to get a lemonade.
They were all out and I settled for a lemon chiller.  Jim and I split it.
I couldn't believe that for a crowd of 150,000 people that they didn't have more food vendors.  It was definitely poorly planned.  There were a lot of hungry people there.
It was almost 9:00 p.m. and we were tired and hungry so I asked Jim if he was ready to go.  (I knew he would be)
As we were leaving, we could hear the sound of organs and stuff.... It sounded familiar.  I asked who was playing and they said Elton John.
I said WHAT????  Elton John?  I love that guy but NOT at a biker party.  He just didn't fit.
I am sure that there were lots of people that was glad to see him but I do know there were a lot of upset people.
Elton is not the biker type as we all know.  He doesn't play music that puts bikers in a biker type party mode.
NOT GOOD.

Being as tired as we were, feet aching and hungry, the walk back to the bike was not a pleasant thing.
We ended up going 15 miles up the road to a truck stop to eat.
I was so tired, I couldn't finish my meal.

I have good memories of the trip except for the BIG PARTY.  It was a bust!

Sorry Harley Davidson but you screwed up.  You got your money and ran.

I have to say that there was one good thing though... they donated over $7,000,000 to MDA.
I have to commend them for that.

Tired of taking pictures, I will leave it at that.

Monday morning we headed back to Peoria for a couple of days of resting and then on to Ohio.

Time to get back to reality.

We hope everyone got home safe.

Until next time......

RIDE SAFE!

~Yours Truly~

Sharon Wick
I will email them to you.

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This page was created by Sharon Wick 2003