Rolling Thunder – 2

This story isn’t about WiFi, blogging, or The Future Of The Internet — much more on that important set of topics to come. At times, it is fun to write about music, motorcycles, hiking, and other things. This story is a journal about a 666 mile two-day motorcycle trip — not quite as long as the trip this time last year and with much better weather. The journey began at 6:15 am on Sunday with a 160 ride to Nuangola, Pennsylvania to meet up with 38 other riders and a dozen or so passengers to then ride on to York, Pennsylvania to take a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory.

After a gas stop and lunch at McDonalds, we rode to the Inner Harbor at Baltimore, Maryland to hang out for a few hours on a bright and sunny afternoon. We then rode to York, Pennsylvania for the night, including the traditional karaoke at San Carlos The Hop, and then to a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory in the morning. Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations in York, Pa., is the company’s largest manufacturing facility. It covers more than 230 acres and has more than 1.5 million square feet under roof with more than 3,000 employees. Working hand in hand with many robots, the manufacturing team was very busy punching, pressing, forming, machining, welding, polishing, chrome plating and painting millions of tons of steel, transforming it into shiny new bikes. There were many interesting processes including the painting of a fender which follows a five-mile-long path that takes nearly half a day. Every new bike is tested on a roller bed and inspected before being packed and shipped to dealers all over the world. (read more)