On Saturday, September 25th, Pudge and I got on the road and headed down to nearby York PA for the 20th Annual York Open House at the York Fairgrounds and Expo Center. Each year, this event increases in capacity and draws in thousands of bikers from all over the nation. This year, attendance was estimated at over 19,000 motorcycle fans.

On Friday evening, the traditional York Bike Night is hosted in the town of York, which includes a parade of motorcycles, entertainment from three live bands, vendors, food and fellowship, mixing the visiting bikers with the local townspeople.

At the Fairgrounds on Saturday, Pudge and I checked out the many vendors, one of which I bought a skull trailer hitch cover from for the Dodge Ram that I purchased the following Monday. We sampled some of the free Campbell’s Hearty Chili that was being handed out - chili on an empty stomach at 10:00 in the morning is not always a good thing! Apparently, there were also free Kunzler hot dogs being given away, and even with more that 20,000 dogs being handed out, we somehow missed that tent.

Around the other parts of the Fairgrounds, the Ball of Steel Stunts team was gathering a crowd to awe and amaze with their time-honored tricks. We caught parts of the Chef Biker Billy presentation while he cooked up some dishes to heat up even the most seasoned pallet.

Riders could test out a Buell by participating in the Demo Rides, and if they were lucky (which only Kathy Grossman of Dixon, Illinois was) enter to try to win a 2005 Buell Blast that was given away on Thursday. Joe Suprik of Lancaster, PA won the 2005 Harley-Davidson XLH-883 on Friday, and the 2005 Harley-Davidson FXST Softail Standard was won by Dave Runk of Pequea, PA on Saturday.

But it wasn’t all food and fun at the show. Inside the Expo Center, there were more vendors, including a little pain being inflicted by the tattooists from Drop of Ink Tattoo & Body Piercing. One employee of the shop had donned a skirt and was happily showing his masculine legs off for the gathering crowd of ladies.

And an always popular draw of the Open House is the plant tours that were given of the Harley-Davidson factory on Thursday & Friday.

The Open House was hosted by the five local Harley-Davidson dealerships in the Central Pennsylvania area: Laugerman’s Harley-Davidson of York, White’s Harley- Davidson/Buell of Lebanon, Susquehanna Valley Harley-Davidson/Buell of Harrisburg, Lancaster Harley-Davidson/Buell of Willow Street, and Appalachian Harley-Davidson of New Kingstown.

This year the Open House is being held September 22-24, 2005. You can visit www.yorkopenhouse.com for more information.

But, that wasn’t the end of our day...we were in the car again for the much longer ride to Hartford Connecticut for the Super Sunday Fall Finale Bike Show, also in this issue.