Well, a little more about the last day of the ride... :)

Ghostrider:
Some colleagues at work had given me some proper Village People biker gear (hat, glasses, moustache) with the instructions that I had to get a photo wearing the gear with "a real biker". Well, luckily on the last day the 'real biker', Ghostrider, presented himself.

We stopped at what was basically a shack on the side of the road, but it had 20 Harleys parked out front (you don't do Rt66 on anything but a Harley). When we sat down I noticed a guy with a vest covered in badges, a hat just like the village people one, and a giant handle-bar moustache... perfect! :)

I stopped him as he was on the way out, trying not to appear like a weirdo, and hoping to disarm him with the 'my friends said I had to have a photo with a real biker and you are the 'realest' biker I have seen. Luckily he was chuffed at the comment and agreed. And on the Picasa site you can see the hilarious results. :)))

His nickname Ghostrider (and he was wearing a nametag with it engraved on, in addition to his Tabasco-sauce-on-a-chain on his hip) came from the fact that his old Harley caught fire while he was riding it, and was trailing flames just like the movie :) The Harley burnt to the ground: he survived to give pleasure to thousands of people who will see my photos :))

The Harley Wave:
As I explained in an earlier blog, the Harley Wave is an oh-so-cool extension of the hand down alongside the bike with a finger pointing loosely at the ground. After passing a few hundred Harleys I was getting a bit bored of this and decided to experiment.

My first experiment was to wave with all 5 fingers extended, open-palmed, basically like a small child. :)) Riders going the other way didn't know what to think. Humans apparently have an in-built instinct to mimic, so the first person I tried this on started off with the Harley Wave but then started raising their hand up into a child-wave, but about half-way through realised that it looked stupid and just sort of did a confused wave that wasn't either one or the other with the hand left dangling in mid-air. Not a bad start. J

My second experiment was far more fruitful.JAs a Harley rider was approaching me, and you have to remember that some of these guys are gangsters with guns, I raised both arms straight up in the air with both hands doing the child-wave…and the guy coming the other way did it back!JJJJResult!We three were pissing ourselves with laughter for the next 10 minutes.

Celebrating in Chicago
Last night we stayed with a mate of mine, Jeff & his lovely wife Linda, in northern Chicago.He's a great guy who I met at an airshow a few years back and we have stayed friends ever since.He very kindly put us up in his house, and it was so nice to have the feel of a home around you rather than a motel.

He made a booking at Gene and Georgetti's steak house in downtown Chicago.And when said it was the best in town, I believe him because the steak was fantastic.And so were the 3 million beers and the special Limoncello.J

This morning involved a late start and breaky at Jeff's local ("where everyone knows his name" J).He was so funny because for every one of his friends we met he would introduce us as the guys who just finished Rt66 on Harleys, 2 Aussies and a Brit.

We then rode into Navy Pier and had a small lunch-beer and just sat in the sun and relaxed for half an hour…pure bliss.J

Next stop was the Museum of Science and Industry (because we are blokes) where they had a whole German submarine that was captured during the war (U-505, the one they also got 2 Enigma Machines off), and a 727 airliner hanging from the ceiling.Pure boys fun. :) We could've spent all day there, but we had to skedaddle to beat the rush hour traffic.

From the museum we rode about 40 miles out to some other friend's place (Tom & Natalie's), and tonight we had an awesome Mexican meal that Natalie had cooked up for us.J

Tomorrow we start on the last leg which goes to NY via Detroit, Toronto, Niagra Falls, Rochester and the Catskills ultimately to Times Square on Tuesday next week.

I'm actually looking forward to getting on the bike and doing some miles.JI'm going to miss the old girl when its over.