Easy day today, nothing planned, so after a long breakfast where we met another two new guys doing the tour we got a taxi to the local HD dealership and bike rental place here in Chicago.

It was quite an impressive show room with lots of bikes and clothing etc. to look at. Steve was looking closely at the chrome accessories that he could get for his Road King but resisted temptation and we both came out without spending anything!

Tonight we have a meeting at 7pm to discuss the tour starting tomorrow and a ride briefing as to what the traffic laws and recommended procedures are for riding over here.

As I sit on the bed typing this, I find it hard to believe that our first day here has been one so full of doing things. We set off this morning after breakfast of crispy card that the Americans call bacon, (tastes ok though) plus the usual toast & eggs etc.

A drive in the van that Alastair had hired took us to the Harley Davidson museum where all of us had a great time checking out HD's past and present plus a few iconic ones like those used in the film 'Easy Rider', and the Evel Knievil ones. This was followed by a visit to the museum shop where wallets were lightened of their load after a few trinkets purchased.

A trip into Chicago town to find the start and end of Route 66 ended up with a visit to the Sears Tower (now owned by the British Group Wallis and renamed the Wallis Tower) where we experienced walking out of the 103rd floor onto a glass platfrom overthe city! cool, scary and fun!
Unfortunatly, we didnt keep an eye on the time and collected a ticket for a parking violation!

The trip back to the hotel was a bit of a rollercoaster ride, and Steve ended up a bit travel sick and declined to join the group for dinner!

A big thank you to Alastair & Fiona for taking the time to show us these great sites today which was not part of the planned tour.

Check out the photos for an insight into the days events.

Our first beer of the trip with Alastair (tour manager), but not the last!

Arrived in Chicago

View from hotel room...

We arrived safely and ahead of schedule at Chicago Ohio aiport where Alastair and Fionna picked us up.

Now sitting in our room at the Double Tree hotel using the free Wi-Fi access to update this blog.

The journey has started...

Well so far all is going well, got the 8:25 train and now sitting in terminal 5 at Heathrow.
Thankfully Steve woke me up so that I didn't travel all the way back to Kings Cross!

Just about to board so will update when we land in Chicargo!

Less than 24 hours to go.

Have got most of my work done and even started on the packing!