Worshipping at the House of Aerostitch

Distance Travelled: 256 km
Maximum speed: 126 kph
Temperature range: 8.8 - 13.0 km
Motorcyclers who waved: 1.0
Motorcyclers who stiffed us: 0.0

We woke up to a grim morning. It is pouring rain outside and I am concerned that we will get flooded somewhere along the way but we gamely set out, hoping for the best. As it turns out, we do not get flooded and we don't need pontoons for the bikes. The fact is that we have great rain gear so we stay dry and warm, so it is not too bad.

It was wet AND fresh.

We check out of the modest but quaint Indianhead Inn in Ironwood. Notwithstanding all the copper in Yooperville, there is iron around these parts as well and we went by an extremely large iron processing and shipping facility.

Give credit where credit is due: there is a lot of interesting infrastructure.

The big treat for this day is the visit to Aerostitch in Duluth, Minnesota. For the uninitiated, Aerostitch is a motorcycle supply store and manufacturer of quality motorcycle clothing (and t-shirts). Their clothing is really high end and quite beautiful stuff, and the prices are set accordingly. It is made in-house and we are offered a tour of the manufacturing facility upstairs but we all decline. We are all geared up for rainy, cold weather riding and we have all shed only a modicum of our gear so nobody accepts, though it would have been interesting to see. There are leather one piece and two piece riding suits with armour and as well, ballistic armoured suits, both one and two piece. It actually looks quite bomb proof as the leather is really heavy; in fact, it is so heavy that I wonder how comfortable or easy it is to wear. Suits are off the rack but individually fitted for the purchaser. This is what you get in a U.S. $2,200 motorcycle suit.

Motorcycler's entrance to Aerostitch.

That is Bob and me in the "motorcycles only" parking area. Bob's big grin is because it is his first time not parking with the heathens.

This is the most excited I have seen Bob on this trip. I did have a couple of fairly big ticket items on my shopping list and I had been thinking that I would check them out at the store, get checked into the motel and do my research then go back the following morning to make the actual purchases. This idea delighted Bob because it would allow him two visits to the store on one trip. Even if it screwed up our timing for getting home the next day. As it turns out, the things they have that I want are totally out of my price range, so the point is moot. But, I did buy a t-shirt and some weather-proof glove covers. Now, these are not just any glove covers. One of the techniques of motorcycle riding is to hold the hand grips and use one or two fingers to hold the hand grip and use two or three fingers to squeeze the clutch or front brake. I have dragged around some mitt covers for some years that were for skiing but had long since last their ability to shed water. What Aerostitch offered were some glove covers with two wide fingers so that it was possible to put the index and middlel gloved finger in one of the cover's wide fingers and the ring and pinky gloved fingers in the other finger. This allows the motorcycle rider to more safely operate the clutch and brake levers, something that proven a challenge for me when using my now discarded mitt covers.

That is Nan walking to the chase vehicle to drop off our purchases, only to witness what appears to be Cathy driving away and thus, re-living a life-scarring experience from my childhood.

NAN'S purchase were strings of Christmas (i.e. "party") lights of motorcycles.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the visit to Aerostitch might be Bob's sole agenda for the trip. Bob had a close look at a lot of stuff, much of which he already owns, but was quite keen to identify it for me so that I could share in his glory by acquiring it for my own collection. However, I am not a collector of Bob's magnitude, and most of the stuff I decline, though does look like it would be fun to own.