I pulled into the Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee just after lunch, and found that my replacement ATM card had arrived but the Visa hadn't – after a quick call to the Bank I found that they'd rushed the ATM but forgot to rush the Visa – it went regular mail. Now I'm not sure why but it seems ALL credit cards get mailed from Oklahoma – which all things considered is not that far from Wisconsin, so I had hopes that it would arrive before I left.
The Iron Horse is a very nice place. As you pull in the first thing you see is the Valet Parking people, which if your in a cage, what us biker types call cars :), you'll probably need. If on the other hand your on a bike, you can park right there in front and it's pretty secure although not weather proof. They even have a bike wash station (must be for the Harley riders because I felt no great inclination to wash my bike). I particularly like the Lobby (which is more like a huge living room) and the Library (complete with books, magazines & news papers).
The rooms are wonderful, the bed was fantastic and they have a very EVIL mini-bar in room which I avoided like a plague ridden rat. One of the advantages to the Iron Horse is that it's with in walking distance to the Harley Davidson Museum, although being on a bike, make the walking part sort of moot.
The first day I went to the museum I had the only Beemer, but there were a number of Japanese bikes, although vastly out numbered by Harley's (no big surprise there). If you have an interest in motorcycling, the HD museum is well worth the trip. It's hard to believe that they've been building motorbikes for over a 100 years – Way to Go Harley-Davidson!
I spent part of the second day at the museum mostly to chat with other riders and learn more about the HD bikes. There's an interesting romance associated with the HD. I don't think it's the best bike for any purpose other than the Harley experience. I ran into a old biker in South Dakota, who had spent over 30 years on Harley's and was currently on a Honda Goldwing complete with trailer, small, thin probably late 50's early 60's – covered in tats, nipple rings, wearing nothing but jeans and a leather vest, he seemed so out of place on that high tech marvel of a Japanese touring bike. He explained that after his third back surgery, riding related but not specific to the bikes he was on, he found that he could ride all day on the Goldwing and felt great at the end of the day, and he just couldn't do that on a Harley anymore. On the other hand I met another senior rider from San Diego at the Museum who'd ridden in on his bike with no complaints at all.
