The weather on day three was spectacular. The temperatures could not have been nicer and the corn fields were beautiful.

If you know the Carolina Girl, you know she bleeds "John Deere" GREEN! I had a surprise for her that she was not aware of. A stop at John Deere in Moline, Illinois.





























































This old tractor is a 1945 model. It is 100% original, never restored with the original tires. The guy that pulled in with it retired from John Deere after 42 years. He found this in South Dakota.

 

I tried to go to the Rock Island Armory on the Island, but the museum was closed on Monday's.

We crossed the Mississippi and continued our travels North on Iowa Scenic 67 along the river. Our first stop was in La Claire where the pickers are based out of. It's a beautiful little town.
































































This was a very nice shop. We purchased a few bottles of pure Olive Oil first press and had shipped home.

 

Our travels took us North to Clinton where we crossed back over the river into Illinois and played the "Corn Maze" game. We found ourselves deep in the middle of hundreds of thousands of acres of corn. It was amazing to see and at one point it felt like we would never find out way out.

 

We finally arrived at Lake Geneva around 4pm on day #3.

This will be our home base for the next six nights. We stayed at the Mill Creek with a Gold room allowing us a balcony and view of the lake at the Riveria. We had dozens of excellent restaurants within walking distance, underground parking for the bike and yes, a Harley t-shirt store right across the street!

After getting settled in we walked down to the lake and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Lake City Social Club.







You may notice the cardboard box on the table. We tried to travel as light as possible, and shipped our street cloths, walking shoes, half helmets and other gear we would enjoy while there. It was at the lobby office when we arrived. The box was a little heavier when we shipped it back home with extra t-shirts and other stuff we purchased to remember the area and trip by.




































































Day #3 ended with a total of 237 miles for the day, and 1,062 miles for the trip so far.

 

you can always count on CR for some great pics and motorcycle content, what a nice trip

 

Day #4

Cosmic and Carolina Girl day. We never uncovered the bike. We walked around the town. There are many shops and again the restaurants are fantastic. We also enjoyed the pool and spa after three days of riding. My shoulders were killing me. The Factory 47 bars are TOO Wide. That's for another topic.

 

Lake Geneva is an interesting place. The homes on the lake are magnificent. Most have six figure annual tax bills!

This was the playground for the wealthy from Chicago. It was also the home to the first "Playboy Club".

Our kids were camping within 30 miles of us, and we were all just 40 miles south of Milwaukee. It was much more enjoyable for us, laid back, safer and not any more expensive than Milwaukee for the 120th.

I'm very glad we chose this area for our stay.

The lake is spring fed, up to 135 feet deep and approximately 5400 acres.

Late in the evening we decided to go for a short ride out to the Yerkes Observatory which is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

Homepage - Yerkes Observatory


































































While there the Tornado sirens went off.

The Carolina Girl freaked. We put it in high gear back to the condo. Then we walked down to the Social Club for a drink before the bottom fell out. It came a heck of a storm. The first bad weather we had seen during the trip.

 

We had plans already with the kids to meet up at the HD Muesum. With the threat of rain all day they came to Lake Geneva and picked us up which was awesome!

This was our first time ever to the Harley Muesum. It was everything I expected and then some.

One unexpected thing that happened was being interviewed by Spectrum News and making the television that evening. Pretty Cool!

 

More from the museum.

 

I could have spent hours just looking at the gas tanks. The closer you looked the more they drew you in.