Port Dover Bike Day

I'm off to the Harley shop to pick up my windshield and get any other necessities for our trip to Port Dover, Ontario Canada from Clearwater, Florida.

Every Friday the 13th between 20,000 and 40,000 motorcyclists show up at Port Dover to celebrate Bike Day. Friday the 13th could land in Feb or Dec or whenever but fortunately this year it is June 13th which happens to be my birthday. So we're travelling all the way to Canada to celebrate my birthday in a resort town where I spent my summers and where I was first introduced to the magic and power of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

I was very fortunate to grow up with a friend, Don McIver whose older brother Ken was the drag strip champion and the mechanic at Poole's Harley-Davidson of Hamilton, Ontario. In the summer we would ride up to the cottage at Port Dover on their Harleys and when we got there they would let us ride the bikes whereever we wanted to go. So at a very young age, I was riding a 1947 with a suicide shift off to pick up my girlfriend.

When I turned sixteen I told my parents that I needed a Harley so I could keep up with the guys going to the cottage. I bought a used 1958 Sportster H model and started the big adventure of riding and customizing Harleys.

I'll warn you, I have a lot of stories that may be hard to believe but I swear they are all true except where I get creative for the sake of telling a good story.