This is the beginning of the second stage of the journey. Today we had a wonderful ride and a very nice surprise. We stopped at the Piqua, OH H-D dealer. They were the only dealer with a lid for our saddlebag, remember? Well Art asked the service man if they had the hardware to attach to the saddlebag so we could close and lock the lid. He did not but he searched all other stores and found a dealer in Mendon, OH who had the hardware. It was a 40 mile ride to the northwest. That happened to be in the direction we were going so we hopped on the bike and rode over there. Jim's H-D had the part and the owner, Jim Godwin is a lifetime H-D dealer. Since there were no technicians working today, he was more than happy to take on the task himself. He loved our story and that we were traveling the four corners so he did the work for free! While he was working, his wife Mary, took all the shoppers to their private museum in a barn next to the dealership and house. Inside the temperature, humidity, and light controlled barn was a lifetime private collection of everything Harley! There were Harley bicycles, a Harley generator, golf carts, True Glides, old side car bikes, military bikes as well as some of the old bikes from companies that H-D purchased back in the 1950's and 1960's. A Honda Goldwing, some Triumph's, and BSA's were included in the collection. Memorabilia were displayed in glass show cases around the perimeter of the museum. There was literally everything from A to Z and then some. We have seen the H-D Rolling Museum and even it did not have this stuff! If you travel through Ohio, make sure you take the side trip through the genetically engineered crop fields to Jim's H-D in Mendon, OH. It will be a worth wild trip.
We rode through light rain from there to Sturgis, MI but their H-D shop had closed. So we took a photo of Art next to the local HOG Chapter trailer.
