On Harley Davidson, Strikes and Wind Chill

One of last night’s news stories had to do with a strike in York, PA where Harley Davidson motorcycles are assembled, and its likely effect on Milwaukee-area plants where the engines are manufactured. The Milwaukee plant that feeds engines to that factory will stay in production next week after a paid day-off on Monday, but may shut down production the week after.

“We don’t want to be in ten years where Detroit is right now” said one of the HD executives. I made a mental note. This will be interesting; Milwaukee has some very loyal employees, and unions are also strong in these parts.

This morning, driving to work, I saw something unusual coming up behind me in my rear view mirror, at least for this time of year. A moment or two later I heard a familiar but out-of-place sound. It was a Harley with a side-car. On the expressway. In the winter. Two days before temperatures are slated to drop to a ten-year low in these parts.

I looked at my dashboard.

4 degrees outside!

I looked at my speed.

70.

And he’s coming past me, let’s call it 75.

I wondered what KIND of wind-chill is he dealing with? (Had to be a guy – no woman would ever) What’s his wife going to say when she starts moving around this morning, getting the kids ready for school and sees his truck is still the garage but his Hog is gone?! (HOG is short for Harley Owners Group, in case you wondered)

Is he THAT loyal? Can loyalty soak up THAT much common sense?

When I got to work I looked up NASA’s wind-chill calculator. I just had to know; and the web is a great place to explore the world.

4 degrees.

75 mph. “Calculate”.

Wow.. -31 wind chill! (actually I thought it would be more) and then in tiny little print I saw that once the winds reach 40 mph they have little additional chilling affect.

I guess a guy can only get so loyal. Or once a person crosses over a certain stupidity threshold Mother Nature begins to have mercy. Or something.

Maybe she just looks the other way.