Riding

A quite acceptable shot of Gov. Mitch Daniels, but I look like crap. Gotta lose the cap and 40 pounds and put on a smile.
About 80 of us rode with Gov. Mitch Daniels this morning as he led the way from the west side of the Indiana State House up to Kokomo.
I arrived at the staging area as Mitch was conducting a press conference with a gaggle of mostly clueless reporters and photographers.
The point of the event was to promote motorcycle safety and motorcycle awaress among the driving public. As far as the press was concerned, it was all about the novelty of the governor of Indiana riding a big bad Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
As far as those mopes are concerned, the only thing they "know" about motorcycling is Harley hogs, black leather, loud pipes and a bad boy image.
The eary story on The Indianapolis Star website omitted the obligatory hyphen in Harley-Davidson. The reporter's lede paragraphy was pretty much lifted verbatim from the press release for the event.
Whatever.
I rode in right behind a guy on a BMW cruiser and met a couple of other BMW riders from South Bend/Mishawaka when we stopped for lunch at the Kokomo Elk's Club.
I left home later than was prudent and made a four-minute pit stop for gas at the T/A travel center at the Ind. 334 interchange on I-65 on my hurried way to downtown Indy. I decided not to spend the time on getting cash from an ATM in the hopes that lunch would either be free or someplace that took plastic, since I only had two $1 bills in my wallet.

So when I sat down with Hal Hayden and his riding buddy whose name now escapes me, I found myself financially embarrassed by the waitress's reply that they don't take credit cards at the Elk's Club.
No problem, said Hal, volunteering to pick up my $6.50 lunch of porkchop, scalloped potatoes and green beans.
I promised to repay the debt in beer at the BMW MOA Rally beer garden next month in Vermont.
The ride up to Kokomo was uneventful. Most of the guys were on Harleys and without helmets and a few rode like they were unacquainted with the simple rules of staggered-formation group riding. No matter. Nobody crashed and the State Police did a splendid job of escorting us through intersections on their Harleys.
Lou Gerig, a longtime public relations guy who I first met when he was working for the former Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis), and later went on to work for Presidential Press Secretary Jim Brady in the Reagan White House, was there with his Nikon D100 and got the above photo of me chatting with Mitch.
After lunch, Mitch led the parade up to South Bend and I rode home.