California Dreamin’

Italian member Pantaleone Staropoli has racked up an impressive 50,000km since 2022. Here, he looks back on where it all began and shares one of his latest adventures

It all started one day in 2011 when I was visiting a friend of mine in Montreal, Canada. We were enjoying a beer at a bar when, all of a sudden, I heard a deafening roar. The closer the roaring noise came, the faster my heart started beating. I turned around and it was a Breakout^®. By chance, it parked just a few metres away from us. I had never seen a Harley-Davidson^® in real life before – it was love at first sight. I swore to myself there and then that I would do everything I could to get one of my own one day.

For various reasons, 13 years passed before I was able to fulfil my promise to myself, but I managed it in the end! And so, in May 2022, I bought my first Harley-Davidson: a brand new Low Rider^® S 117. I started eating up the kilometres and taking part in various H.O.G.^® rides and events up and down Italy, both alone and with my pillion passenger and life partner, Nadia Sara Giumbo. The more kilometres I got under my belt, the prouder I was that I’d become a part of this world.

I immediately took part in European Bike Week^® in 2022 and, after about six months and around 10,900km, I decided to switch to a touring bike in anticipation of the 120^TH anniversary celebrations in Budapest. As a result, in May 2023, I bought a Road Glide^® ST, once again brand new. We left for Budapest from Calabria, and when we got back the odometer showed about 4,200km.

Tackling this trip roused something inexplicable in me. That same night, I started dreaming of the great journey ahead of me, the dream of so many bikers… the Mother Road! So, I talked it over with my partner and started getting everything ready to do it: just me, her and the bike. By August, everything was ready: 2024 would be the year of the American dream.

We set off last May and finally landed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after three plane changes – what an adrenalin rush to be in the city that’s home to the American legend. We immediately raced off to visit the Harley^® district and then, straight after, the Harley-Davidson Museum^™. I felt an indescribable emotion, an unbelievable sense of community and of belonging to a family. We spent a whole day there before starting our trip.

The next morning, we were ready. When we got to the EagleRider agency in Milwaukee, there was a shiny new Street Glide^® 117 waiting. I stroked it, hugged it and said, “This is our moment. Make us dream!”

We left Milwaukee and made our way to Chicago, Illinois, to begin our journey on Historic Route 66. I looked at the road sign in Chicago that marks the beginning of the road and I could barely take it in: I was really there, it was no longer just a dream. We started the journey towards Santa Monica, California. We took a lot of detours but always came back to Route 66: Monument Valley, Four Corners, Petrified Forest National Park, Meteor Crater, the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park and Las Vegas.

But the greatest thrill and sense of freedom I felt was while crossing the Mojave Desert, just after Amboy in California. We travelled for kilometre after kilometre through the desert without seeing or hearing anyone else. Just me, my partner riding pillion and the wonderful sound of the Harley I was riding. It was there that I took a photo of me thanking my bike and another of me hugging the road.

In the end, we touched on 12 different states and covered a total of around 5,950km. Every stop, every attraction, every view, every local person we met were part of a succession of indescribable emotions that I will carry in my heart for the rest of my life. And even though I have already made plans for a journey in 2025 that’s longer still, I know for a fact that it will never be able to live up to this last experience.

The beautiful sights we saw on the Mother Road and the joy and sense of freedom we felt were all entirely thanks to Harley-Davidson. It allowed me to dream and gave me that spirit of adventure and sense of freedom that no other motorbike can.

You can follow Pantaleone’s adventures via @harlion117 on Instagram.