A Harley rumbling with horsepower. The open road. And a great meal waiting on the other end. That's what a group of Palatine, Illinois, bike enthusiasts looks forward to each month.

By Laura Bianchi

On a beautiful sunday morning, a rider clad in a black leather jacket, sturdy boots, blue jeans and calfskin gloves maneuvers a gutsy red 2001 Harley Road Glide into the Harley-Davidson dealership in Palatine, Illinois. Pulling off the helmet, 57-year-old Marilou "Lu" Streicher greets her fellow Harley "gang" members as they prepare for their monthly morning drive.

Members of this Harley Owners Group (HOG) are soccer moms and dads, blue-collar workers and professionals, plus a retiree or two, who all met through HOG chapter meetings. They share a love of traveling the back roads with some serious horsepower at their command. As they make their way to a hearty meal, they also enjoy the camaraderie. "It's like being part of a family," says Mike Evankoe of Hoffman Estates, a plant engineer for a local can company and leader of today's ride. "You feel like you're a part of something."

Sunday morning rides like this one are common with HOG groups. The groups are affiliated with most of the 249 Midwest Harley dealerships. On this Sunday the group's destination is the Cotton Exchange in Waterford, Wisconsin, a restaurant in a restored, turn-of-the-20th-century barn about 70 miles north of Palatine. It's a popular refueling stop for hungry motorcycle and car clubs. The Sunday prime rib brunch buffet is irresistible.

Most of the bikers' favorite restaurants are in beautiful locations, some are just quirky, but all are roughly within a two-hour ride of Palatine. One of the group's all-time favorites is the lodge at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, with its windows overlooking Lake Michigan and an awesome menu. Equally scenic is Maxson Riverside Restaurant on the Rock River in Oregon, Illinois, with spectacular views of boat traffic and the Chief Black Hawk monument, and a fine dining buffet that includes their famous glazed orange rolls. Closer to home, Bobby's Barrel Inn in Volo is a sentimental favorite. What it lacks in scenery or decor it makes up for in warmth and good food.

Just before departing, Vince O'Leary, who owns a heating and air-conditioning business in Cary, verifies that everyone in the group has a map, then he lays out the rules of the road. Everyone rides on the highway two seconds apart, obeys all traffic laws and signals any problems. Business concluded, he rallies the club with an enthusiastic, "Let's fire 'em up!'" The rumble turns to a roar as the group accelerates up Illinois-12.

Instead of the fast-and-direct route on four-lane highways, the bikers angle onto two-lane back roads that wind past the Country Bumpkin Nursery, the Singing Hills Forest Preserve, Volo Bog and Fox Lake. They pass farms with grazing cows, Shetland ponies and acres of cornfields. They rumble politely, if a bit loudly, through towns with pretty churches.

For Lisa Palmer of Palatine, a voice network engineer and a motorcyclist for 11 years, the joy of biking is having "the wind in my hair, to be outside. You are with nature, unencumbered by the stress of life." And there's the food. "People think we get our bellies from drinking beer," Mike says with a laugh as he gets on his bike, "but it's from eating at all these great restaurants."

To get sidetracked along the way is just part of the fun, especially today, when a detour routes the bikers along a narrow, scenic country road that twists close by the lush Fox River. "This is where you see America, where you see the sod farms, the horse farms, the buffalo herds," Mike says. "We see eagles, hawks, deer and raccoons. We can smell grass cuttings, a bakery or livestock on a farm."

Sixty-one-year-old member Sandy Vernon was beguiled by the lure of the open road and the feeling of freedom. "Your adventure starts at the end of the driveway," she says.

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