In the morning, at a quarter to eight, Appy thought that he was the first but after refueling he finds out Toon and Ger are already there.
Bullit arrives behind Olivier and later Robert and Jan also arrive.
Jan has the widest handlebar: about five feet and this in the retracted position! Knuckle has made significant investments for this year; along with new gloves he also bought a rain suit.
The intention to drive a long time strands just after Antwerp because the thread of Appy‘s front exhaust came out completely
Because there is no exhaust gasket, so Toon rotates some copper wire around the pipe.
This solution held for the whole trip and there is now a patent application on its way…
When we got off the Belgian highway we see that everything is closed, even the petrol stations.
Then there are no roadsigns and after we saw the village Dave three times, seen a kicked stone two times and various Shovels need a refueling, we decided to go back to the highway to Bouillon. Appy therefore resolves to never to attempt to take the backroads in Belgium again.
First we try a petrol station with cardservice but we do not have the right cards. Fortunately, Oliver was so smart to take extra petrol with him and we made use of it gracefully.
He also knows the way to Verdun on his hand and we made him "Road Captain" straight away.
In Bouillon we eat a snack while having a nice view of the castle and the Semois river and the decision is made to have some coffee at Challerange.
The hilly landscape of the French Ardennes is overwhelming, but we need to stop twice: first Knuckle’s cracked license plate holder is removed, (no problem just throw away and use some tie raps to mount the plate at your sissybar) second: his caliper bracket tears sparks behind his bike.
Olivier is almost "home" before he notices that he is alone and returns.
In the photo you see how he takes a turn while he is really besides his Shovel ....
As usual, everything is solved on the spot (You know: a shovelhead never brakes down, it is just maintained along the way) and we arrive in Challerange where the coffee is hot and the beer has no alcohol.
Bullit has this "change" with blonde beauty (which slightly smells out off her mouth). The love was mutual and we named her Coco (WAF!)
The rest of the trip goes well and before we know we're already in Mécrin.
First, the base camp was put up and Robert and Jan became the unanimous pronounced winners of the annual "what a good Shovelhead rider you are" cup on the spot.
Through their effort and ingenuity all the weekend we’re dry and out of the wind. Olivier is taught that boots over the trousers is really not done.
Then we welcome the guys from Los Locos who took three bins of Jupiler for us. Three cheers for the men with the long front forks!
Some "old boys, french bread talk" and we went looking for Cas.
In the village we become instantly recognize as "Les Hollandes" and after having some drinks, we go back to Camp Holland to the grill and camp fire.
Jan puts some fine herbs on the meat and the flames and the fun could begin.
There was so much laughter that Appy had to stand up because of the pain and Olivier fell off the crate. It is unclear why, but from that moment on it became the "Big wet cunt tour " and therefore had to be shouted out every time and time again
And what about the hairs of the beard of Toon? At least they are now in Oliviers wallet…
The following day, on Toon’s alcoholburner and Bullit’s petrolburner the coffee was made, the breakfast consisted of in a plastic bag cooked burgers and brown bread. (Where the hell did that come from?)
Knuckle washes his face but it became more black.
Bullit, Toon and Slick (Olivier) go shopping in Bar le Duc (all closed on Saturday, everything is open on Sunday morning.)
They take a dead caught fox back.
Walking along the stands (this year, no fork for Ger) we decided to take a SOB tattoo on our arms at the local tattoo artist, but we make an appointment for Slick’s whole back ...
We meet Bruno, Coco and her new boyfriend and we were greeted very kindly.
Patrice and friends are also back in action and we get an invitation for a rally near Koksijde in September (?) (please contact us again, Patrice)
Again, the beer stand looks almost exclusively for us (I think that French desire no beer).
And the more we drank, the more look a likes we saw: one resembled Arie the Mink and one resembled Sjoerd, this was the president of the Banditos.
We take a piss behind a wall, but Ger pisses at the square against a fence behind which a dog felt like a sausage.
Jan sells some herbs to a man of 81.
Olievlek buys a foul jacket, which later seemed not so wrong.
By evening we went back to camp, to barbeque but Bullit just picks up his peanuts which he believes make conversation a little easier and returns to the town square.
After Oliver had eaten backwards, he decided to get Bullit by Shovel and believe it or not, it worked.
Just in time because Bullit wanted to borrow some wood, but the owner did not agree.
Fortunately the man had no beard .......
Totally drunk and happy, Bullit tried to kickstart his engine but failed while he didn’t have a kick starter and ended up in the barbed wire fence.
Luckely Knuckle had his first aid kit with him but first he had to convince Bullit that the cut had to be closed by fire. It does not hurt, try it with your thumb ....... just feel it!
Bullit started his engine and goes full throttle towards the campfire, tips over, lights his petrol burner and all the grass around it, cooked some dinner which looked suspiciously like maggots.
Ger picked up some of those “maggots” and smeared them on some bark, bon appetit!
Toon picked up the fox again and it was envisaged that it went either in Bullit’s sleepingbag or on the barbeque.
For both options, it smelled too much, and when someone told Toon about larvae which affect the brains he got very big eyes.
Patrice with friends took off and it was until the next morning that we found that they had left us liquor and wine: thanx gents, next time it’s our turn.
When going to bed, we wished each other a good night's sleep extendedly. Good night! (40X)
In the morning we demolished the camp and the debris was burned in the campfire.
Jan was so pleased with his new helmet that he threw the old one into the fire, Pity, because there were candidates for it.
We were surprised when it turned out that the hamburger holder bag also became a sleepingbag holder for Robert: "Why? I had only one such bag with me, ya recogn? "
To empty the bottle of burning gel, Robert sprayed the liquid onto the fire, large flames, beautiful of course, but Toon almost lost his beard.
At nine ‘o clock we left in an ever thickening fog.
Toon wanted to wipe his glasses but was immediately blinded by black stripes, his gloves were on stakes beside the fire in which Jan his helmet was smoking!
After half an hour in the fog we get the idea to detours, but when we get on the highway near Luxembourg, it wasn’t that bad.
Looking in our mirrors we get the idea that Jan must have regretted burning his helmet, his new helmet is hanging on the back of his head and the band is at the chin!
It is cold on the bike and we often pause.
In one of the stops we sit at a table next seven customs officers with a dog that looks at us and it seems that he just lifted his eyebrows.
In the final stop Toon smokes inside thinking noone sees, but he is on camera at all the screens of the petrol station. Wave Toon, wave…
The last kilometers we get very wet in the rain and at Antwerp there is a terrible traffic jam.
Around half past five in the evening everyone is home safely.