Friday June 11 to Chicago

David and I had breakfast at the Whitlow. He took me to the goodwill store, where I replaced two T-shirts I had discarded. There were no left handed golf clubs, so I am not able to practice and keep up with my friend Aldo. But I will get them and in South Dakota and Wyoming, there is more space for the long drives!


Finally I managed to buy The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson, a thriller set in the context of the World fair of Chicago. It was recommended by Alycia and must be quite good.

The bike was ready by 1 pm and after checking out of the hotel, it was time to ride. Since the ferry only ran at 4 pm, I changed my plan and rode around lake Michigan to Chicago.

The ride went smooth, the new throttle cables and the new tire performed perfectly. Thanks to George and Matt of Metric Motorsports on Airline Rd in Muskegon, a well run, reliable shop that performs excellent work fair prices.


On the road I passed Holland, Michigan.
Holland was settled in 1847 by Dutch Calvinists, who were escaping from persecution in the the Netherlands.
Each May Holland hosts an annual Tulip Time festiva, which began in 1930 when 250,000 tulips were planted for the event.Currently six million tulips are used throughout the city.

Holland was known as the "City of Churches." There are 170 churches in Holland, many of which are with the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed church denominations.

There are famous families there, like the DeVos family who founded Amway and whose son we met in Japan when he was establishing Amway in Japan. The Prins family become known worldwide when they founded Blackwater Inc.

I had a coffee and appeltaart at a Dutch farmers market and continued to Chicago.
When I entered the city and saw the traffic conditions, I knew I had made a mistake. Friday evening rush hour had begun, bumper to bumper for two hours in the humid heat and the gasoline fumes!
I wished a hundred times I had taken the ferry and ridden down from Milwaukee.
Be warned, bikers!














At 7 local time, I reached Larry and Susan's in Riverwoods, a beautiful wooded area with great homes. After unpacking, we went to have dinner at a Korean restaurant, and had kimchi, bulgogi and other spice Korean delicacies. This was Korean Keer Night, we had Cass and OB, excellent Korean lagers that went well with the spicy food.

Tomorrow we will have a local ride at Zylstra Harley Davidson.