Saturday June 12 Chicago

I woke up early and enjoyed the view of my room to a wonderful garden and forest.
Susan already had breakfast going and we had coffee before I took off to St. Charles with written instructions from Larry because my GPS had been discharged. TomTom provides a connection to the bike's 12 volt system that does not fit in the GPS itself!! Amazing!

The weather did not look good at all, and I suspected that not many guests would venture the ride to our barbecue.
My trip was about 40 miles and on the way I passed Elgin, where my wife went to school as an exchange student in the 60s. a nice detail to the trip.
10 miles from st. Charles I got caught in a thunder storm and had to pull into the parking of a pizza place until the worst was over. I put my rain gear on and continued, cautiously.
The barbecue took place at at Zylstra Harley Davidson on S Randall Rd in St. Charles and I was welcomed by Alycia, Dan and Tommy Zylstra, the President of the company, who is an American-born Frisian (the Northern part of Holland). I am from the South, and even in a small country like Holland we cannot understand each other's local language.

The facility is impressive, very spacious, nicely decorated and with an great selection of bikes. Tommy even had some collectors items on display, a 1916 bike and a 1947 red knucklehead Springer, exactly like one I rode in Havana some years ago. I was sorely tempted to change over to Harley Davidson again!

Some of the hardcore Rotary members showed up despite the intermittent rain and we had a good time. Most of the group will come to Guatemala again in February 2011 and I invited them to come and visit for a barbecue at the new house in Antigua.

Tommy was very helpful, providing me with lots on information on the ride west, directions to other HD dealers and suggested I visit his parents in Iowa. So this part of the trip will be dedicated to Dutch heritage and I am looking forward to learn more about the Dutch immigration here. We enjoyed a good bottle of Little Shiraz from Alexander Valley and I have a good list of wineries I should visit in Oregon and California.
I had never drunk this Little Shiraz, so I looked it up. Petite Sirah is typically what is known in Europe as the Durif grape, a cross between Syrah and Peloursin grapes. While it is related to Syrah, and many California varieties share some flavor similarities, they typically make quite different, but equally delicious, wines.

Thanks, Tommy, for all the help, I'll be back!!

The rain stopped around five and Alycia took me into St. Charles in her yellow Corvette Stingray. It is a a nice town on the river, with lots of activities going on.. We walked into a wedding party at the famous Baker hotel, one of the important families here, and some eyebrows went up ( bikers?? are they with the groom?).
A sculpture of the founder is sitting on a bench in front of the hotel. I had a Franziskaner Weissbier, while Alycia enjoyed a glass of wine (not in the party, but the bar).
When the rain stopped, I rode back to Riverwoods and found Larry catching chipmunks in a trap to keep them from burrowing under the trees around the house, they might actually fall over!
he takes the chipmunks to a place far away and releases them, thank God.

Dinner was at a Japanese sushi place, great sashimi and sushi and Sapporo beer and hotto sake, like in Japan. The sushi master was Thai, the servers Chinese, South East Asian or Korean, no Japanese, very international.

After a delicious ice cream desert, we went to bed. It had been a long day, I fell asleep before I could start reading the Devil in the White City.