20th Annual JPC Door County Run
Story by Don "BlackChrome" Soland

Homage and frequent sacrifices to the rain goddess, led Mother Nature to coyly tease but ultimately smile on our trek to Wisconsin for the 20th annual Door County run, organized by the Jersey Pine Cruisers. Friday morning started with threatening clouds with "weather dude" promises of clearing skies as "Mustang" Sally and I met Rich Pool at our designated departure point for the country ride to breakfast. A detour looking for a missing exit ramp onto route 94 north caused us to arrive 20 minutes late at the Cracker Barrel, but Roger Barnes, riding down from Wisconsin,  greeted us on his nicely packed and ready to roll 1500A. Sandy"Bambi" Berens also had stopped over on her way to work to wish us a safe ride. We couldn't persuade her to join us, so as she headed off to work, we headed in to enjoy a fine breakfast. We finished and were rumbling north by 10:30 A strong crosswind made our ride interesting and we raced north on the superslab to make some time. The beautiful countryside and shoreline roads soon greeted us as we departed the interstate for the enjoyable scenic Wisconsin country roads. We rolled into Two Rivers shortly after 1, a little ahead of schedule,  for some cold beers and tasty lunch at the  nice German restaurant we stop in every year. I headed back out to the lot to  bring in my map and heard the rumble before I saw the bike as Mylo and Aggie, riding in from Green Bay, glided down the street and slowly rolled to a stop on there sweet Classic. Now Mylo had just started working night shifts and had used a personal day to come ride with us. They even planned to come back the next day to ride again. HEY VROC'ers DON'T NEED NO STINKING SLEEP! We also sadly heard Aggie had just nearly totaled out her new bike while trying to learn the intricacies of riding. Luckily she was OK, though she did mention bruises where we couldn't see......and she wasn't volunteering to show them either. Hey, hey. Greetings all around and finished with lunch, we headed north again, not before turning around to retrieve my map. Walking back into the bar, asking if they had seen my guide to Wisconsin wonders, only brought questioning glances until the bartender patted me on the back and said, "It's in your back pocket honey."  Heading back to the lot with a chuckle, we headed north for a nice side road and back entrance to Sturgeon Bay that Mylo suggested. A little gravel stretch didn't dampen our enthusiasm for a great new route. We rolled in to the campground and Roger, Sally and I registered and set up camp. Rich, unable to beg, borrow or steal camping supplies,  headed over to check into his motel and Mylo and Aggie went riding to check out some dinner possibilities. After a short run to the local grocer for essential supplies, we gathered again as Mylo led us to a nice little local bar and grill overlooking the bay. Good food, cold beers  and conversations entertained us until we wandered back into the night, with Mylo and Aggie heading back home,  Rich back to his motel and Sally to rest in the tent. Roger and I took some cold beers up to the shelter for some  entertainment .....AKA "the Biker's Waltz".........nah we didn't dance.......... but we did enjoy people watching until the day's drive fighting the wind took its toll on us and we wandered back to grab some rest. Sally and I snuggled close to keep off the cold......well it wasn't really cold but hey any excuse works. 
The next sun filled and cloudless morning found Rich rejoin us for a  biker's breakfast of pancakes and sausage that started our morning off right. The Green Bay duo of Mylo and Aggie then met back up with us and we were off to explore the peninsula called an island. We wandered the shoreline, stopping first at a park overlooking the bay for some Jack and Coke to warn off the cool breeze. The winding roads then led us to Fish Creek where we enjoyed meandering through town, stopping at the local leather shop. Rich challenged the owner, saying he would buy anything that didn't say Harley on it and came away with a nice Kawasaki belt buckle.  After another beer break to wet our whistles we headed north again to stop at a Swedish restaurant with goats grazing on it's grass roof, called Al Johnson's. Having fun with the waitress who we suspected of secretly spitting in Sally's food.........her stomach was not right the rest of the day.......... we soon wandered further north to the end of the road at the ferry crossing to Washington Island. After a short break to see the sights and walk our legs, we turned south to head down the East side. Again finding some new country back roads thanks to Mylo's detailed map, we wound up for our afternoon break at the Blue Ox pub for some cold beverages enjoyed outside, overlooking Lake Michigan. With the day slipping away, we headed out again, to find the best roads in the county, the famous route T from last year that claimed Wolfrider's new "Valk" as it's victim. We navigated the sweet curves of T and TT as she rocked us back and forth in our saddles until we pulled back into Sturgeon Bay. We waved "so longs" to Mylo and Aggie until next time and headed over to a sweet little microbrew where we enjoyed sampling the sampler outside in the glorious sunny day. Our stomach soon told us it was approaching dinner time, so we turned our steeds back towards camp to enjoy the biker's dinner of roast pork, sweet cod, potatoes, onions, carrots, bread  and some very sweet cherry dessert. Now our stomach's groaned from being too full and we headed back to our camps. Eclectic conversations around the roaring fire until late entertained us until we bid goodnight to rest until morning's light. The bright Wisconsin starry night graced us until the wee hours of the early morning when the ominous clouds started rolling in.
We started the day early after showers and breaking camp, with hopes to get the bikes packed before it rained. Rich soon joined us with weather forecasts of rain with a chance of more rain. Snacking from what was left in the cooler, we departed by 8:30, at least ready to brave what mother nature would send our way. With only an occasional peek at the morning sun between the rolling and angry clouds, we made our way back to the town of Two Rivers to stop at a restaurant called the Lighthouse, overlooking the lake for breakfast. Sally and I talked the manager into opening the bar for some Bloody Marys and we ate while we watched the surf pounding the shore. We ventured back out to find Mother Nature's sprinkles had dampened our bikes and we mounted and headed off again. At our gas stop, we again thought of donning rain gear but decided to tempt the rain goddess and rode without to our next stop in Milwaukee to again wander the aisles of Cycle Empire. I think we appeased the rain goddess, because we all kept our "plastic" in our pockets with no C&L damage and we bid farewell to Roger in the parking lot. We decided to repeat our previous run and headed to Burlington to again stop at Fred's for cold beer and munchies. Feeling lucky, Lake Geneva was our next stop for beers again overlooking the lake. Figuring we had lady luck's number, beers and interesting literary conversations were again  the destination stop as we reached Woodstock. Heading south, we knew we had teased and tempted Mother Nature long enough and she sent her message to us in a drizzle as we hit Huntley. We finally waved farewells to Rich as he roared off, hopefully to make it home fairly dry. We in turn headed west to pull the bike into the garage only minutes before the skies opened and drenched the evening.
Just as in coming back from Boscobel and again on the previous return ride from Cycle Empire, we had paid homage to the rain goddess and she had smiled upon us on with a very fine run  with some very fine friends. Our hopes are that everyone returned safe with smiles and memories of the weekend. Until next time.....

                       ~~~~Ride Safe~~~~     
 Don (BlckChrome) Soland,  VROC#60,Chicago area,
+33,000,  96 1500D "White Lightning""Fixed" Classic,
              WindyCity VROC,   AMA,  GTOC