Report on the Bus Trip to the Chicago Cycle World Show
If you didn’t make it to the February 8, 2009 Chicago Cycle World Show on the Gateway BMW bus, here’s how it was. Shop owner, Dave Hunter, took a few of his friends with him-53 others on a chartered Cavallo bus. Marklyn got the show tickets and made sure we were all there each time the bus stopped and reloaded.
Under Marklyn’s tutelage the bus left only a couple minutes late of the stated 6:15 a.m. departure; everyone was punctual, which was good. We picked up about a dozen other passengers on the East side, including Dave Hunter.
The bus was equipped with a DVD player and six screens. As the sun rose, Al Schroer handed Dave a DVD of Jean-Pierre Goy’s BMW stunt riding. After that, he put in “Long Way Down,” which played all the way to Chicago.
Around 7:30 a.m. we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds in Litchfield, IL. We made a long line inside and the manager called for help from the back to get all the orders. Some enterprising souls walked over to the Shell gas station for coffee rather than wait in the long line at McDonalds.
From open house events at the shop, everyone is familiar with Liz Huff’s baking abilities. Tom Huff was along on the trip. Mid-morning two large bags of homemade chocolate chip cookies made their way down each row. Yum, that hit the spot. Thanks, Liz and Tom!
In Chicago the bus driver turned one traffic light too early and went down the wrong side of the Stephens Center. I won’t say who steered him wrong but his initials are DH (hee, hee). We quickly encountered a dead end at the entrance to a parking lot where many cars were going for a bridal fair. No one wanted to go to the bridal fair instead of the motorcycle show (imagine that!) so the bus had to turn around, and there was precious little room to do that. Not to worry. The driver backed the bus into a small paved area and swung it to the left. We passengers thought he would have to jockey around-back up again to miss the curb and a sign post. Nope, the driver knew exactly where his front wheels were. As he cleared the curb and sign, applause broke out.
We unloaded at the entrance around noon, and were told to meet there at 5 p.m. when the show closed.
When it was time to leave the passengers were punctual again. Everyone was there, eager to sit down for a while on the bus after a long afternoon at the show. A jar of peanuts made the rounds, coming from I know not who. Dave popped “Wild Hogs” into the DVD player, which entertained us until dinner.
About 7:30 p.m., just as “Wild Hogs” ended, we exited the highway at Bloomington, IL for dinner at Cracker Barrel. I think we were in and out of there in about 45 minutes. Cracker Barrel is very good at handling large groups and serving quickly.
Dave put “Long Way Down” in the DVD player again. That’s a long DVD and the boys were barely into Africa when we arrived in Chicago, so there was plenty more to watch. Some heads were beginning to nod in sleep and others popped the top on some cold ones.
The bus dropped the Illinois people at their cars about 10:30 p.m. The rest of us arrived at the shop around 11 p.m. The driver was “efficient” with his speed, getting us back as soon as possible.
There is talk about doing this again next year. I think it was very well received and all of us had a good time. Thanks Dave and Marklyn!
