This story isn’t about WiFi, blogging, or The Future Of The Internet — much more on that important set of topics to come. At times, it is fun to write about music, motorcycles, hiking, and other things. This story is a journal about a 666 mile two-day motorcycle trip — not quite as long as the trip this time last year and with much better weather. The journey began at 6:15 am on Sunday with a 160 ride to Nuangola, Pennsylvania to meet up with 38 other riders and a dozen or so passengers to then ride on to York, Pennsylvania to take a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory.
After a gas stop and lunch at McDonalds, we rode to the Inner Harbor at Baltimore, Maryland to hang out for a few hours on a bright and sunny afternoon. We then rode to York, Pennsylvania for the night, including the traditional karaoke at San Carlos The Hop, and then to a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory in the morning. Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations in York, Pa., is the company’s largest manufacturing facility. It covers more than 230 acres and has more than 1.5 million square feet under roof with more than 3,000 employees. Working hand in hand with many robots, the manufacturing team was very busy punching, pressing, forming, machining, welding, polishing, chrome plating and painting millions of tons of steel, transforming it into shiny new bikes. There were many interesting processes including the painting of a fender which follows a five-mile-long path that takes nearly half a day. Every new bike is tested on a roller bed and inspected before being packed and shipped to dealers all over the world.
After a gas stop and lunch at McDonalds, we rode to the Inner Harbor at Baltimore, Maryland to hang out for a few hours on a bright and sunny afternoon. We then rode to York, Pennsylvania for the night, including the traditional karaoke at San Carlos The Hop, and then to a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory in the morning. Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations in York, Pa., is the company’s largest manufacturing facility. It covers more than 230 acres and has more than 1.5 million square feet under roof with more than 3,000 employees. Working hand in hand with many robots, the manufacturing team was very busy punching, pressing, forming, machining, welding, polishing, chrome plating and painting millions of tons of steel, transforming it into shiny new bikes. There were many interesting processes including the painting of a fender which follows a five-mile-long path that takes nearly half a day. Every new bike is tested on a roller bed and inspected before being packed and shipped to dealers all over the world.
After the tour, our rolling thunder headed through the beautiful Pennsylvania Dutch countryside of Lancaster County. Along the way we saw horse-drawn buggies, a Mennonite School, children dressed in traditional clothing, and countless antique shops. The destination was the Shady Maple Smorgasboard. This is the largest place to eat I have ever seen. The Food Bar has 200 feet of delicious real Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. They claim that some of Lancaster County’s finest cooks prepare foods in the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Way. It was truly fresh and as delicious as they say. The Dessert Bar has at least 25 mouth watering choices plus a make-your-own Sundae Bar. It is also hard to resist the enormous gift shop. You can walk through the many aisles of arts, crafts, and foods and work off one calorie of the few thousand you just ate. If you get hungry again, there is a fast food counter in the gift shop!
On the way home, bikers peeled off at various points to head to wherever they live. I left the group about twenty miles south of Reading, PA and followed the needle on the Garmin StreetPilot GPS which took on a lot of back roads I had never been on before. Eventually, I got to Interstate 78 and passed through Allentown, Bethlehem, across the Delaware River through New Jersey, by Newark Airport, up the turnpike, over the George Washington Bridge, up the Major Deegan, across the Cross County, up the Hutchinson Parkway to Interstate 684 and on up to Connecticut. It was a mostly pleasant 265 miles.
There are quite a few pictures in the photo gallery.
- Photo gallery pictures from the Harley-Davidson factory tour trip
- Story from the ride – 2003
- Photo gallery pictures from the Harley-Davidson factory tour trip – 2003
