After eighteen months of planning, dreaming, buying things and overcoming fear, I successfully traveled to the 2024 Indian Bike Week in New Richmond,, Wisconsin and performed for three days as a guitarist.

It was 3500 miles round trip. I did it with my new best friend in a ‘22 Toyota Tundra that performed excellently. The weather cooperated. After buying a new tire and getting my first service at the dealer, I was prepped.

The annual event for Indian motorcycle enthusiasts is put together but a private entity and not sponsored or supported by Polaris, the makers of the motorcycle.  The event features scheduled rides around Minnesota and Wisconsin, live music and food vendors at a campground able to accommodate a thousand people.  Four hundred and fifty registered this year and I performed for about a 100 of them.

In the beginning of this plan, I had intended to trailer my Challenger (motorcycle) and participate in the rides but glad that I didn’t.

The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

I was already stressing about leaving my wife of 33 years who is now bed bound to go.  I needed this trip.  I had to go.  I was depressed.  I was tired.  I was angry. I was frustrated.

Renting a You-Haul was too risky to haul my bike.  The trailer company did not give me a vote of confidence. Since I had a choice, I chose not to. The stress that was accumulating was unwanted.

The ride was seamless. I got 21 miles a gallon in a big truck.

Wisconsin is a beautiful and clean state. 

Everything I bought in the past two years was in preparation of this trip. I used everything. The only thing I broke was a power source for my guitar pedals that I plugged into the wrong adapter. Doing so, fried the circuits.  It was not a good start. Upon arrival to the campground, the founder called and asked if I could perform now.  I was expecting to start the next day and play for the next two nights.

Fortunately, my pedals were also battery powered. I disconnected the pedals and used fresh 9volt batteries on the next two days.  I will be looking at a combo pedal in the future if the Wah pedal is good enough. I don’t need much but a volume, tuner, something for the Texas blues sound, and a Wah pedal.

I got through the first day and played three hours without taking a break.  The adrenaline was still working. I screwed up a few of my favorite songs by forgetting the lyrics and singing too high. I played a Maze featuring Frankie Beverly song that I play when I think of my wife and it brought me to tears. She would have liked that. Don’t think anyone saw that though. At the end of the first day, 8PM, I was glad that I had bought the tent, the fan, and the extension cords.

Hoping my wingman had taking some good pictures I vowed to do better the next day.

The motel was old but as clean as you could get. We found a brand-new hotel in town later that if I return will be the spot. The price was right though. We stayed for five nights for $50 a night. We found a good place to eat next door for breakfast and base of operation a mile down the strip at a bar with a roof top that was open to us.  The locals didn’t pay us much attention at all. We were clearly not from there though. The people were generally plus sized and tattooed more often than not. My fitness conscious wing man wondered if anyone there was under 200 lbs.

I slept well for the first time in a few years.

The second day I suited up in character and played slow blues all day. The weather was perfect at 5pm and the sun wasn’t hot. Most of the riders were out so only the campers, old timers and vendors enjoyed me.  I had a blast. I was made for this and was loving life again. It was still light enough to see so we walked around the campground and talked to people. The organizer was stressed out and asked if I was going to set up.  Puzzled I informed him that I had just finished playing nonstop for 3 hrs.  He had forgotten I saw him before he left to pick up the Renegade star, Lorenzo Lamas and he told me to “start anytime I wanted.” Then he asked if I could play later Wednesday and start at 6 pm. I agreed.

The next night was a little different. Some of the vendors had left. They might have been out of food. The veterans ride and another group ride to most of the bikers a long way out of town and they hadn’t got back yet. I spent the day, in mindfulness and mental preparation for playing in the dark. It had stormed the night before and someone took down my tent which had fallen.  The tent wasn’t needed on the third day/night so under advisement I added some more pop tunes to my set. Using YouTube I pulled up a few funk tunes that got a couple dancing. Celebrating their 42nd anniversary I felt honored to bring it. The tip jar was being regularly visited and that was enough feedback for me at the moment.

I pulled the plug around 8:59 and checked myself for mosquito bites.  They were fierce but didn’t bite even though they bumped me quite a few times. A welcoming committee came by to apologize for people not surrounding the stage and giving me feedback but I was cool with it. I understood that I was for background music as people talked. At our age, that is what I would have wanted.

Critiquing my outfit and marketability, I decided that red and black are going to be my new colors. I was thinking cardinal and chili pepper colors. The color of the guitar was good too but I want to see what a red guitar would look like on stage.  The hat was working and will continue to be my trademark.  The scarf too, but I just saw some large beads that I liked that I might try.

I don’t really need another guitar but…

My amp could have been louder, so I might see if I the ones I have can be used in tandem for the next outdoor gig.

I came back on Thursday and found that a band was now setting up on stage. The lead of the band was a nice guy that lived 4 miles down the road. He gave me a few words of wisdom and a few tips that I will heed. I had garnered some good will and a few people told me that they preferred me to them. It was all good. Even if they were lying it was a good thing to hear.

Since I was not playing, I took photos with the celebrities there and prayed with the pastor of Lakota Chapel from South Dakota. I made new friends there and would love to worship with the Nations.

We packed up Friday and headed home. We stopped in Ohio for the night and caught a rain storm on Saturday when we hit Maryland.  I got home safe and found my wife ok. I had some worries but trusted that God was behind this trip so tried to leave that worries behind me. By the time I got to Chicago, reality returned and anxiety reminded me of what I had to look forward to. I had lost a few dollars for the trip but it was worth the expenses to feed my soul.

I am not sure I want to drive that far again. I doubt if my new best friend would do it but I loved playing there. He is a busy guy and I was blessed so much for his company and counsel.

Indian Bike Week 2024 is in the history books and will be forever in my heart.  Rock on!