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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| 10/1/2009 8:40:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| With the restored Karl Oskar house in the background, the Swedish visitors proudly pose with their rented motorcycles on a glorious fall day in Lindstrom. The idea of taking a motorcycle tour in the U.S. is becoming quite popular with Swedes, and the east central part of Minnesota is one of the most-requested areas to visit. The tour organizer also mentioned the John Deere plant in Moline is also a must-see.
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“Destination — Lindstrom”
Motorcycle tours gaining popularity with Swede bikers
BY DENISE MARTIN
The historic Karl Oskar farmhouse in Ki-Chi-Saga County Park has surely seen many a visitor with the name of Anderson, Carlson and Johnson. Now, you can add to that list Davidson-- as in Harley Davidson.
A group of motorcycling Swedes rolled onto the pastoral grounds of the restored farmstead, blue and yellow flags a-flutter on pristine machines. The nine riders were enjoying a unique motorcycle tour, that the organizer said is quickly growing in popularity. Saxon Tours, of Sweden, lays out intineraries for motorcycle tours along several routes featuring destinations of Scandinavian interest in the midwest.
Lindstrom's historic Karl Oskar Farm is at the top of the list for Swedish bikers who are visiting the greater Twin Cities area. Dubbed Nya Duvemala the site is near the century-old Glader Cemetery, and is the house novelist Wilhelm Moberg claimed as his inspirational setting while in the Chisago Lakes region doing research.
The group picked up their rented Harley Davidson motorcycles from a dealer in New Richmond, Wisc.
They shook off the cobwebs from their overseas flight, riding 200 miles the day before coming to Lindstrom. They visited Mora (Kanabec County) and points north. While at Nya Duvemala they had a little coffee and got a guided tour. Chisago City resident Jerry Krona, active in the local group that supports this historic site, helped arrange for people to be on-hand during the weekday visit when the farm is not usually open.
Tour guide .........said motorcycle riding is very popular in Sweden. When in America the riders all choose Harleys, he said. "It just wouldn't do to ride Kawasakis," he laughed.
All the bikers were decked out in Harley regalia. If you didn't catch the Swedish language being spoken among them, you'd swear they were just taking a sick day from jobs in the metro to see the fall colors.
This tour would also ride through Wisconsin into Michigan, and enjoy the river valley routes in southern Minnesota.
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