Italian Moto Brunch

Some of the people from the Ducati club were heading to Elkhorn, WI this morning for the monthly Italian Moto Brunch at the Elk restaurant.

Some people were meeting up in the northern suburbs, out of the way for me. I met up with spaz666 (Joe) out in the western burbs. I lead the way on some back roads. We stopped at the Wave Café, on the door the sign said they were open but the door was locked and there was no one around. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I hope my favorite motorcycle coffee shop isn’t going out of business.



Trumpet and Duc at the Wave Cafe

Joe’s Monster was in need of valve service so he took the Trumpet to the Italian Moto Brunch



Bikes at moto brunch









After moto brunch four of us took of in the direction of Chicago for a bit of a group ride.



2 Trumpets 2 Ducs

Handy stands

My friend Rick raves about the Handy stands, so I got a set from Handy Industries in Iowa. $89 for both the front and back stands, that’s a pretty good deal.

The Pitt Bull back stand that I have for the 954RR use pins, I needed a stand with pads for the 900SS.

I got the universal stand package, it works on the 900SS and ST3.





Handy stand and the 900SS



Handy stand and the ST3

Bike Night 8/9

It was supposed to rain today so I rode the 954RR to work. But there was no sign of rain anywhere, it turned out to be a beautiful day. From there I went straight to bike night.



My 954RR at bike night



Duc - Honda - Duc



Nice pipes

Corse Superbikes, Saukville, WI

Today was the 5th Annual European Motorcycle & Scooter Concourse at Corse Superbikes (www.corsesuperbikes.com) just north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two hours by interstate from my house.

I left the house at around 7AM and met Mr. Squidward (Scott) at an oasis off the toll way at 7:30AM. There was a bit more traffic than I would have hoped for and it was pretty warm already too. The high temperature today was going to be in the low 90’s. I grabbed some gas while there and filled up my platypus with free water from the water fountain since I forgot to do that at home before I left, all that took about half an hour, the place was packed. We continued on the interstate heading north, there was some construction near Milwaukee, not too bad.

We arrived at Corse Superbikes around 9:30AM and parked our bikes in the lot. It was still early and people were just getting there. A girl came up and asked us if we wanted to enter our bikes in the contest, I just looked at her with confusion. My ST3 was filthy and it’s no show bike.



Mr. Squiward's ST4s and my ST3

Mr. Squidward had his Ducati of Illinois club shirt on and we immediately were given the grand tour of the dealership, including the shop area and dyno room. This is a very nice place.



So much red



And more red



Adventure touring here I come

Back out side we went to check out the bikes that were entered in the contest. The attendees were allowed to judge, so I decided to give it a go. Then I realized why we were asked to enter our bikes in the contest, no one entered a Ducati sport-touring bike, shucks, had I known this was a category, I would have entered my dirty ST3 just for giggles.



No scooter or Ducati Sport-touring to vote for

Well, there were so many beautiful European bikes there, I’m only going to post some pictures of the Ducs.

























They had lunch catered in, so I ended up eating, it was a good and not overpriced. At about 1:30PM I took off. This was a good time, and I'm glad I got to see the dealership too.

Port Washington, Wisconsin

At about 1:30PM I took off from Corse Superbikes in Saukville, WI. I was heading North, with no particular destination. I had a few hours to kill, but I had to be in Vernon Hills, IL at 6PM for the ST.N dinner.

First I stopped by Harrington Beach State Park. Not much of a park, just a road that dead ends at Lake Michigan.





Harrington Beach State Park

Next I rode to Port Washington, WI. It was hot so I stopped at the local McDees for a milk shake, the building looked like a lighthouse, I bet that's because there is a lighthouse in town.



Port Washington McDonalds shaped like a light house

Further down the road I saw some signs for a lighthouse, I rode around but I couldn't find it anywhere, so finally I ended up parking the bike and decided to walk around near the lake.



Port Washington, Wisconsin

From the marina I saw a breakwater and light on the water. I started walking toward it. The Port Washington lighthouse does take a bit of a walk to be able to stand under it. It’s about 2,500 feet along a breakwater of steel decking, very large stones and concrete. The red light mounted on the top of the lighthouse is classified as a harbor light. It flashes once every 6 seconds.



The light (way back there) from the marina



Walking to the lighthouse



Getting closer now



The Port Washington lighthouse



Facing the lighthouse with Port Washington behind me





This was a bit of a walk, I was hot and decided to head back to the bike. Then, I looked towards this big hill, there was a bunch of stairs going up and a blue sign, I walked over to investigate. Supposedly up there was the light station. I climbed the many steps, by now I was really hot and sweaty.



Getting ready to climb to St. Mary’s Hill



I made it, looking down from St. Mary’s Hill



Light station on St. Mary’s Hill, Port Washington

The light station was constructed in 1860 on a high bluff overlooking Lake, it hasn’t been used since the early 20th century. It was replaced by a lighthouse at the end of a pier that jutted out into Lake Michigan.



Port light station was restored in 2002 with the help of the country of Luxembourg to honor the 70,000 U.S. servicemen who helped liberate the country during World War II and because so many of its immigrants settled in Ozaukee County.



I climbed the many steps down, got on the bike and took off further north to Sheboygan. I headed toward another state park but when I got there I noticed there was a fee to enter, maybe some other time. I took a bunch of roads and started to head over to Harbor Centre. I’ve never been to Sheboygan or Port Washington but I remembered that these towns were littered with lighthouses. I got caught up in some nasty construction and decided to head to the interstate, I will have to see the lighthouse some other time I guess, I ran out of time, in a few hours I had to be in the northern Chicago suburbs.

Funny thing is when I got home I looked up the lighthouse for Sheboygan on their website, I couldn’t find any listing for it. I did find it on a another website, Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse does exist.

At 6:15PM I arrived in Vernon Hills, IL at Tsukasa of Tokyo.



There were 14 people here from ST.N, the first 10 that arrived including me sat at one big table together. I ordered white fin tuna teriyaki and fried rice, yum.



Fried rice being prepared



Tuna steak teriyaki well done

After dinner we all kind of lingered in the parking lot for a bit, then I took off for home taking the toll way, it was still warm out, traffic was moderate but not too bad, I was home by 10PM.

Review: Held Limit gloves

These are vented ladies gloves, made out of really thick leather. It’s been hot here and I have not been able to feel any air through the vents. These gloves feel like all my non-vented gloves.

The fingers seem a bit short. Held is such a good name, but I’m not really impressed with these gloves, although the leather is thicker then on any of the other gloves that I wear. Although these are not top of the lines gloves, they retail about $80.