Friday, June 22, 2002
When I bought my red Sportster some time ago, I joined the Harley Owners
Group (HOG). HOG is sponsored by Harley Davidson and they organise trips
and rallies. In 2002, the Benelux rally was help in Luxembourg, a very
nice destination for a bike trip. In the meantime, I had traded the
Sportster for a FLT 1340 Tour Glide.
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Friday morning, at ten o'clock, I left home on my Harley Davidson Tour
Glide to go to the HOG Benelux rally in Fuussenkaul in Luxembourg.
On Thursday, the day before I left, I had bought a tent at the Aldi
discount shop for €42.99 and I had all my luggage in my panniers and topbox.
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With my tank full, I got on the freeway to Antwerp in Belgium and from
the ringroad around Antwerp, I got on the E313 past Hasselt and Liege.
In Liege I wanted to get on the E25 to Bastogne but because of some
roadworks, I ended up in the citycenter of Liege. It took me a while to
find my way back to the E25 but eventually I found it.
My radio antenna was moving like crazy behind me and then suddenly,
somewhere between Antwerp and Liege, I must have lost it. Well, I could
not hear the radio anyway while riding so I don't mind.
At half past eleven I stopped at a restaurant near Sprimont for a cappuccino
and a strawberry cake.
AC restaurant near Sprimont
There where a lot of roadworks and the maximum speed was only 70 km/h so
at exit 49, I left the slow freeway and took the N651 past Bra and then
I followed the river Lienne past Liernaux. On the N89 I went to Salmchateau
and the N86/N7 to Clervaux in Luxembourg.
In Luxembourg, on the road to Clervaux
Past Clervaus I got on the N12 to Wiltz, Esch sur Sure and Heiderscheid.
Just before, on a roundabout, I saw the sign Fuussenkaul, where the HOG
rally was organised, and a few minutes later I saw a giant Harley logo and
a lot of Harley's.
Now I knew where the rally was, I first went to a gasstation to fill my
tank with the very cheap gas (Luxembourg has much lower fuel prices then
the Netherlands).
At the registration, I got a T-shirt, a pin and the program of the rally,
including the route of the castle tour that would be held the next day.
The registration area
Before I could pitch my tent at the camp site, I had my picture taken by
the official rally photographer. He took a picture of all bikers who
attended the rally and their bikes.
The photographer at work......
.... and the picture he took (he forgot to get my leftfoot on
the picture)
After the official photoshoot, I could find a place to pitch the tent that
I had bought on Thursday. It is a cheap tent but it is big enough and easy
to put together.
When the tent is ready and my sleepingbag and other things are in the tent,
it is time to get a soda and to explore the rally site.
My tent and the Tour Glide
My
Tour Glide with shovelhead engine is one of the few older Harleys. Most
bikes on the rally were new or only a few years old Road Kings, Fat Boys and
Softail models. The riders however, where on average a lot older then I was.
Fortunately there where also some interesting bikes, like a very nice white
sidecar rig and a chopper based on an FX model (I think it was a Wide Glide).
Nice white sidecar rig
FX based chopper
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