National Motorcycle Museum

Anamosa, Iowa was an idea of Marc Schilling's for a weekend motorcycle ride because of the National Motorcycle Museum. I must admit, I have never heard of Anamosa, Iowa but after this weekend will never forget where it is and what a great time we all had. Not only is Anamosa famous for their museum, but 1 1/2 miles north houses the headquarters of J & P Cycles a business that sells not only Harley-Davidson aftermarket parts, but Metric Cruiser's as well. Each year J & P Cycles holds an annual open house and it get so happens, it was this week! Wow, a museum and J & P Cycles, not to mention Michelle Smith of American Thunder on the cable network Speed Channel was scheduled to be in attendance! Last year J & P Cycles had 10,000 motorcycles make the pilgrimage to the open house, with Michelle being there, who knows maybe a 1/2 million!

The four of us met at STH 26 and I-94 on Saturday morning at 5:00 AM. I wanted to leave early so as to NOT miss Michelle! The ride to J & P Cycles was okay, it was cloudy the entire time and we ran into a few rain drops as we entered Iowa. We took I-94 to STH 151 to J & P Cycles. The total mileage was around 180. We arrived at J & P Cycles around 8:45 AM, about 15 minutes prior to the official start of the open house. We weren't the first or the last bike to arrive. Rumor has it that 14,000 motorcycles were in attendance.

Marc and I made a immediately went looking for Michelle. After about 5 minutes we saw her and the line was short, only about 5 people! I got in line at least twice. Michelle was very personable. She signed autographs for those that wanted them and many photos were taken. I heard her say to Marc, as I waited patiently to take their picture, "Wait just a minute while I arrange the twins." After this I saw Michelle rearrange those famous assets of hers. Next, I had to wait for Marc to look up at the camera, since his attention was diverted downwards.

Chuck who rides a 2006 Victory 1600cc motorcycle built by Cory Ness had his photo taken with the builder. There were other custom bike builders at the open house. Every hour there was a stunt bike show and lunch was under the big top. Lunch was provided free of charge! Later we watched as someone had their bike in the traveling Dyno Trailer. I had never seen a bike on a dyno, so this was an experience too.

Since we had arrived very early, we decided to visit the national Motorcycle Museum on Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday. After we left J & P Cycle we headed south for about 2 miles and came to the small city of Anamosa, which looked more on the part of a town during Sturgis Bike Week then in the middle of Iowa! What J & P Cycles does for the small city of Anamosa and the money that is generated during this weekend must be a blessing for those business owners.

The National Motorcycle Museum is something that is a MUST do! For only $6 we toured two floors of vintage motorcycles from Harley-Davidson, Indian, Honda, BMW, Henderson, Vincent H-R-D, Evel Knievel's Harley, Thor, Curtiss, Norton, Indian Larry's Custom Bike, Peter Fonda's Easy Rider Bike and so much more including diecast toys, vintage racing clothing, women's motorcycle clubs and scooters!

We stayed Saturday evening at Holiday Inn Express on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids. On Sunday we left around 10:15 AM and headed east on SYH 64 to Savannah, Illinois. SYH 64 was very scenic. We drove through many small towns on the way that reminded me of "Mayberry RFD with Andy Griffith and Don Knotts." We received many a wave in these towns. We decided that lunch at Gobbies in Galena was a must, as we had eaten there before. Galena is always packed full of people and bikers. This is still a town meant for women who love to shop at quaint little shops full of "one-of-a-kind" merchandise that husbands don't really care about or fully understand.

We talked about making this an annual event, except maybe an entire weekend next year. J & P Cycles Open House is an annual event and one that needs to be experienced. For more photos of our weekend go to and more photos, don't forget to enter the word "Chrome" (capital "C") when it asks for a password. Thanks to Lou, Chuck, Marc, Michelle and Cory for making this another memorable riding experience for me.