Day before getting ready
Well the trip actually started August 30 when Norm and Alice Mitchell 
from Lakeview, Arkansas arrived at our house in Jacksonville, Illinois around 5pm. They were followed very close be John Matthews 
form Venice, California. My wife Sue 
suggested we go the Brickhouse BB-Q up on the Square for dinner, and wonderful dinner was had by all. Following dinner we just got acquainted with everyone and retired for the evening at a decent hour.
This morning we went out for breakfast, took a short ride to Sport City Honda, then to PC Solutions where I had my computer getting worked on and as you can see it is working fine, then back home to do the final packing before leaving for Chicago. John Ford, a good friend, come over and took a few pictures of us leaving and I will post them when I get back.
I took a shot using my tripod of Sue seeing us off 
, then one of just the four of us leaving 
.
I would like to say that the trip to Chicago was smooth, however we had a problem. John has a 2001 Trike and as luck would have it, about 100 miles south of Chicago the alternator went out. That was at 1:45 and I stayed with him along the side of I-55 
until 3:30pm when a Highway Patrolman assured me he would take care of John. So Norm and Alice and I headed on to Chicago and found our Hotel about 5:50pm.
We had a whole gang waiting for us at the Hotel and we checked in, then headed streight to the dinning room where we were joined by Douglas English from Mansfield, PA, Stan Hoff from Livania, MI, Laura Ramello from Schaumburg, Illinois, Ed Tokarz from Fredericksburg, VA and David A Jones from Racine, Wisconsin. Of course Norm and Alice were a part of the evening along with myself 
.
It is now 9:45 and everyone has headed their own way, I just got off the phone with John. They hauled his bike into Brookfield, Illinois and hope to have him back on the road by tomorrow afternoon and we hope he can catch up with us in Springfield, Illinois tomorrow night.
Good night to all.
Rodger
