It all started with the ButtLite

I realized I have not written a blog post in a long time and since I just returned from a trip and in talking with friends they encouraged me to do a write up of the trip. I apologize in advance, this is going to be a long one... I had a hard time picking photos as I took hundreds but hopefully this will be a small snapshot of my recent adventures. And now to the trip.

It all started with the ButtLite... What is that and why is that you may ask. So, for those of you who are not motorcyclists, or are riders but not aware of rallies and such - the ButtLite is a six day rally put on by Team Strange. It runs the opposite year of the Iron Butt Rally and is often considered the "warm up" for many who are participating in the IBR. And for those who don't know about the Iron Butt Rally - google it! I will set the record straight right away - I DID NOT ride the rally! Sorry to disappoint if you were hoping to read a rally ride report. This is my ramblings about eight days on the road - so yes, I did my own little "butt lite riding". So, it all started with the ButtLite when I saw a post from Lisa Erbes with Team Strange and the Rally Mistress for ButtLite. She was looking for volunteers to come to the start, finish and check point of the ButtLite 8. It peeked my interest, especially since the rally was

Somewhere in PA

starting and ending in Denver, Colorado and the fact that a few of my rider friends had entered the rally so I figured it would be cool to be there and see them. I sent off an email offering to help out. And then I forgot all about it until Lisa sent me an email simply asking - did you get my other emails? Are you still wanting to help out. Well, for some reason it must have gone to my Spam as I hadn't seen anything from Lisa. I quickly replied that I was indeed still interested and would love to volunteer at the finish in Denver. Done deal said Lisa. And I sort of forgot about it all again. You must understand, all of this happened months before the actual rally. But to cut to the chase, I eventually remembered that I had offered to be in Denver on July 8 and 9 so I plotted a road trip which involved visiting with good people along the way, visiting Tour of Honor sites, National Parks/sites/memorials/recreation areas and ride some awesome roads. It all came together nicely and I was excited to be going on a road trip.

Three nights before departure I changed the oil on Tigger (oh yeah... I just realized that this is the actual first post involving Tigger - my "new to me" 2008 R1200GS that ended up in my life by the stroke of luck and a kind person but that's for another story.). That was early for me! Usually I do it the night before I leave... The night before departure I packed Tigger (thank you Marco for that awesome handy check list - makes packing so much easier!), checked the route and went to load it on to my Garmin Zumo. Surprise, surprise - Mr. Zumo told me that my trip was too long (say what?) and that way points would be added along the trip. I have never heard of such thing! Don't panic... I quickly figured out that I could create each travel day as a list and copy and paste the way points from the master list. Problem solved - or so I thought! I won't go in to detail but I found out on the second day that not all way points had transferred over. Lesson learned the hard way! I'm still new to this whole Base Camp routing, Zumo GPS thang'...

Arrived at Hoagy's

I rolled out of the garage at 6.30 am on July 2. Happy Birthday to me! Can't think of a better way to spend my birthday than going on a road trip. The best present ever! It was quite cool for being early July and I actually plugged in my Gerbing liner. Nice and toasty I started my adventure. The destination for the night was a visit with Hoagy and Amy in West Virginia. If you don't know of Hoagy... He is a hoot and an awesome person and Amy is the glue that holds it together. Check out what Hoagy does at Hoagys Heroes (jeez, now I'm really having to catch up on my blog since I didn't write anything about the Insane Ride week that Hoagy put on and I participated in!). My first quick stop was just down the road from my house - it is one of the Tour of Honor (ToH) sites for Vermont. While I have already visited it

At the WV ToH site

and claimed it for my tour, I wanted a photo of it with the honorary flag for rider 406 - Lt. Col. Duane Carlton, Army-Ret. of Bozeman, Montana, who sadly passed away a few weeks ago while returning home from a Tour of Honor ride and hit an elk. R.I.P Duane and know that it is my honor to represent and carry your flag for the rest of my ToH ride this year. After that stop I motored on. Along my ride to Hoagy's I stopped in at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It is a well done memorial about Flight 93 that went down during the 9/11 attacks in 2001. It was a stop on my National Parks Tour (NPT) that I'm working on (another Iron Butt Association ride). I then continued the round about way to West Virginia as I was stopping at the eastern most Welcome Center, where one of the ToH sites for WV is. I found a nice woman to take my photo for this one. The ToH had done a very thoughtful thing by asking people to ride to different ToH sites on July 2 and take photos with the honorary flag #406 and send them to ToH. They would then donate $1 for each photo submitted. I wish I could have visited more ToH sites that day. I arrived at Hoagy and Amy's shortly after 7 pm to be greeted by Hoagy, who is always smiling, and handed me a nice birthday cocktail. Shortly thereafter John Wilson, another great guy arrived and then all of us had drinks and a nice meal "Aussie Chicken" made by Hoagy. It made my day and was a great ending of my birthday and the first day of my road trip.

The Flag in Lexington

The following morning I woke up to fresh coffee and a tasty breakfast sandwich - all prepared by Hoagy. He sure knows how to spoil you! Thank you so much Hoagy and Amy for hosting me! With a happy belly it was time to roll out. Destination Kentucky. I rode along the Ohio River and had a pleasant ride with hardly any traffic. Stopped in Marietta, Ohio for another ToH site and continued on to Kentucky. I was spending the night with my friend Lynne, whom I first met in 2013 at the IBA's Big As Texas party in Dallas. Picked up a Flags Across America (additional ride you can do with ToH - visit flag murals painted at VFW locations - Veterans of Foreign Wars around the country) in Lexington, KY. A very nice service man (I think he was army) came out and

Lincoln lived here

asked if he could help by taking my picture. He was familiar with ToH. I thanked him for his service. Last stop before Lynne's was the Mammoth Cave National Park outside of Bowling Green, KY, but of course I had to detour and check out Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home, school and other places. Why on Earth would I want to take the most direct route somewhere? Some nice roads to and from Knob Creek and Hodgenville. The Mammoth Cave NP was busy! I will have to come back at some other time and check it out. I LOVE CAVES! Made it to Lynne's before the rain. A quick shower and then chow time. Jason and his squeeze Debbie as well as Greg and Pat came for dinner and we all had a great time. Always good to see rider friends! And thank you Lynne for the birthday cake - I can't remember what it is called but it was yummy! Old family recipe. After dinner Lynne took me out to see fireworks as it was the evening before July 4th. Before I curled up in bed I had to add some way points to the GPS (this became a standard process each night!).

I was up early the next day - Happy 4th of July! Lynne rode with me to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel.

At Jefferson Memorial

We got there in the nick of time. It got really busy fast. After breakfast we rode to two of the ToH sites in KY. Lynne is the state sponsor! We also stopped in at the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site where Lynne got a cool photo of me on Tigger. Thank you for a great time Lynne! We parted ways and I continued on my way towards Arkansas where I was going to visit my little sister Dawna. She is not my sister by blood but my sister through Valley Big Brothers/Big Sister. We were matched in 1999 when I

lived in Arizona and she is family! She is now married to Ryan, a great

At Fort Donelson

guy. Along the ride I stopped at Fort Donelson in Dover, Tennessee as part of the NPT and I also picked up another ToH stop. Throughout the entire day I dodged the rain. The sky looked ominous all day but I lucked out. It was quite warm and as the day went by and I got closer to Dawna's it got more humid. I had just arrived and unpacked when the sky opened up. The funny thing is it was sunny and raining at the same time! Dawna told me it is pretty much how it is around there - raining while the sun is out. I got to meet their pet rabbit - Cecil. He is one smart rabbit and very cute. Dawna, Ryan and I went out for dinner-

Cecil

sushi. YUM! Beats eating granola bars and beef jerky for sure! Then it was time to celebrate 4th of July with some fireworks. We met up with Dawna's sister Deva, her family and some friends in a field and had our very own fireworks display.

After a good sleep I was ready to hit the road again and had a long day ahead of me. Destination for the night - Amarillo, Texas and some 700+ miles of riding. Just a little day ride you know for us iron butters. I could not leave without being served a lovely breakfast by Dawna. She is quite the hostess! I am so proud of her and thankful that she is in my life. Love you so much and thank you for hosting me! I left with a smile and rode to Little Rock, AR where I picked up another Flags Across America. Then it was onward to Hot Springs, AR for another NPT stamp. I always enjoy driving up Tower Mountain. Nice little loop that climbs up

with quick switch backs, a great view from the top and a pleasant park right there in downtown Hot Springs. Back in the saddle and continued on in to

Chickasaw NRA

Oklahoma where I found the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur. Who would have know that there is an oasis like this! You learn so much when you do the NPT. The area once belonged to the Chickasaw Indians and there are healing mineral waters and fresh water springs and of course the Little Niagara. Great place to visit and a nice break from the sun and hot temperatures. You even get to do a water crossing to get to the Nature Center! I was so tempted to take off all my gear and get in the water but I was afraid if I did that I would not put the gear back on which means I would not continue my ride. Picked up a ToH site as well in Oklahoma before rolling in to Texas. I love the county roads in Texas - 75 mph speed limit and barely any traffic. I was treated to an amazing sunset. It looked like the sun was on fire! Arrived at the hotel in Amarillo shortly after 10 pm. Long and hot day and I was ready for some air conditioning and a cold shower. Super comfy bed was a bonus and I slept like a baby!

Sunset in Texas

In the morning I discovered that my rear mud guard was loose. Two screws were missing and it was held on by one screw only. I managed to get a small zip tie in place for one of the missing screws. Since I was heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico, I figured I would swing in to the local BMW dealer and see if they by any luck had the missing screws. Rolled out on the road and hit the Interstate. It was

The Pink Caddie

soooo hot! I had my cooling vest and LD rider sleeves on. Thank goodness for that! I stopped in at Russell's Travel Center in Springer, NM. They have a great car museum and of course, air conditioning! It is a nice display of vintage cars and other memorabilia. I let Tigger hang out in the shade while I got to cool off inside. After that nice break it was to the interstate. I can't say that this particular part of New Mexico is pretty or interesting. The temperature was hovering in the high 90s and the sun was baking me. This must be how it feels to be inside a convection oven! I gulped water all the way to Albuquerque and my first stop was the VFW and another Flags of America. It was mid afternoon and the place was already packed! I guess they were all thirsty... After that stop I went to Sandia BMW in search of the missing screws. I was in luck with two of the small ones but not the larger one. The parts guy was super nice and really searched all over. He also didn't charge me for the smaller screws. Sandia is a very nice dealership and HUGE! I made a call to the BMW dealers in Denver, Colorado and the Foothills BMW had the longer screw in stock so I asked them to hold until Friday. I got back on Tigger and we went to the Petroglyph  National Monument. The thermometer showed 105 degrees! No walking around in that kind of heat!!! Instead I rolled towards my

destination for the evening - I was spending the night with Dot, Jake, Belle and the cat (can't remember his name). Dot is another long distance rider that I have met through social media and this was my first time meeting her in person. She had made room for Tigger under the covered parking and I was happy to be done with riding for the day. Jake was so sweet and offered up his room for me to use and stay in. What a gentleman! After a nice shower and some cold water all of us headed out for dinner. We ate at Sadie's which is located at one of the casinos. Super yummy food - New Mexico style and that Margarita didn't taste too bad either! Back at the condo we played Clue. Let me tell you - this family is serious about their board games. I happened to win by default because all three of them decided to guess who had done the crime. Beginners luck! Dot had suggested a different route for me to take the next day and we sat down and looked at it. She routed me through Santa Fe and Taos and then west towards the Aztec Ruins National Monument which I was going visit. I had a great evening with a very nice family. Thank you for hosting me and it was really nice to meet you all, finally!

Are you tired of reading yet? I warned  you - this is a long post, and yes, it is the condensed version!

Thursday morning I was out the door by 7.30 am and rode to my first destination - the ToH site in Santa Fe. This one is special. It is the New Mexico Law Enforcement Memorial. You had to get

New Mexico Law Enforcement Memorial - ToH

signed in and then escorted to the court yard. The lovely dispatcher (can't recall her name) walked me out there. I was her second ToH rider who had come by and she also knew about Duane Carlton and the memorial flag. I got a first hand tour of the memorial wall and the background to how it got started. It was a little emotional to hear her talk about it all. She took my picture with the memorial and I got to walk around in the hallway where all the graduate classes from the Law Enforcement Academy where listed. Then it was back on the road and towards Taos. The ride from Santa Fe to Taos is really nice and for a part of it you follow the Rio Grande. There were lots of people rafting and kayaking. Taos is a neat town and I drove around for a little while before heading to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge where I met a really nice couple from Pennsylvania. He used to ride and knew a lot about the Iron Butt Association as he has friends who are members. I told him about the ToH

The Rio Grande

and the NPT. We walked out on the bridge together. You can feel the bridge move when the traffic goes across. I'm not afraid of heights but it sure is a long way down to the river! I continued on along the route that Dot had suggested. It did not disappoint. I got to ride big sweepers, long stretches where you can let the throttle loose and climb up and down hills. The cooler temperature at the higher elevations was wonderful! I stopped in Chama and picked up lunch at a nice little family restaurant - home made tacos and salsa. I figured I would find a nice spot along the road to stop and relax. Hah! No such thing. The road from Chama to Farmington takes you back in to the desert like area and there aren't any trees taller than four feet to provide any shade! So I motored on in to Actez and ended up having my lunch at the visitors center for the Actez Ruins National Monument before touring the ruins. It is a really interesting site and well worth the visit. The funny thing is that as I'm stopping at these different National Parks, sites, monuments etc. I'm always wondering if and who of the Iron Butt Rally participants last year stopped in there during the rally.

Heading towards the Rockies

Time to continue the journey and towards the Million Dollar Highway which runs from Silverton to Ouray in Colorado. It is one of only two north-south U.S. Highways in Colorado which runs west of the Continental Divide.  There are steep cliffs, narrow lanes, the lack of guard rails and many switch backs. All of it - exhilarating! As I stopped at a red light in Durango another bike pulled up next to me. A guy on a Vulcan. He was admiring Tigger and we chatted for awhile. He was impressed that I rode "such a big and powerful bike" (his words). I just smiled and said thank you. A quick stop for fuel and cold drink and off to the mountains! Let me say - it did not disappoint! I rode through the Uncompahgre Gorge, up and over the Red Mountain Pass (11,018 ft). I saw the remains of the Idarado Mine. I rode past the Haviland and Electra Lakes and along the Animas River. I rode up and across the Coal Bank Pass (10,640 ft) and the Molas Pass (10,970 ft).

On the Million Dollar Highway

And then I arrived at Lookout Point with the town of Ouray below me and a beautiful waterfall. I was so happy I cried! I saw lots of deer along the side of the road and they all seemed to care less about people. I definitely want to come back and visit this area again! I continued to the town of Ridgway and my reward - a two hour visit at the Orvis Hot Springs. Wonderful for those aching old bones! Had a great chat with a local woman and I think I

convinced her that her eight year old son's yearning for riding a motorcycle is a good thing. She said she was inspired by our conversation. Good luck young man! The sun set and I was relaxed but I had one last stretch to ride to Montrose where I was spending the night in a hotel. Luckily I only saw one deer and no close encounter so that was a relief. When I pulled in to the hotel parking lot I noticed a motorcycle with an IBA plate on it. I was pretty sure it must be someone riding the ButtLite. Turns out I was right. I met Rick from Pennsylvania the next morning. It was his sixth ButtLite appearance. Way to go Rick!

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

After a good nights sleep I was ready to ride the last stretch before arriving at the ButtLite "head quarters" in Denver. First stop of the day was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Such a cool place! I had a hard time leaving. I met two very nice ladies at one of the look outs and

Down by the river in Black Canyon

 thankfully so, they told me I must ride down to the river which a lot of people miss as they only do the rim drive. You don't have to convince me twice! Off to the river I went. It was a few miles of downhill hair pin turns with no guard rails. And no traffic what so ever. It was awesome and so worth it to see part of the canyon from a different perspective. I met a guy on a KLR by the river. He was cooling off and enjoying the water. He was mostly riding off road and that was very dusty. Of course there is no off road way down to the river so he was glad to be on some blacktop for a little while.I continued on towards Gunnison and passed by the Blue Mesa Reservoir which is a 20 mile long lake in the high desert. In Gunnison I picked up another ToH site. And then it was time to climb some mountain passes again. The amazing thing about the Rocky Mountains is that there is such a variation of scenery as you travel along and all those high mountain ranges all over. The peaks are just amazing. It was here, on the road leading up to Monarch Pass, that I had my "close to God moment". I'm not religious but I am spiritual and as I came around one of the sweepers I felt the presence of something far greater than myself. It was just me, Tigger, the amazing nature around us and this feeling that I had just been blessed in a way I can not describe. It made me so happy that I actually cried. Tears streaming down my face while I'm riding along with the the biggest feeling of happiness and peace. It is a feeling that will stay with me for a very long time.

Riding up Monarch Pass

We crossed Monarch Pass (11,312 ft) and the Continental Divide. The traffic heading up to the mountains and probably to the Blue Mesa Reservoir had increased. It was Friday afternoon after all. As I rode along the mountain range in Jefferson and Grant there were lightning and thunderstorms around me but I lucked out. From here on the landscape started to change as I descended down in to the valley. When I say valley, it is still some 5,000 feet in elevation. As I approached the burbs of Denver the temperature started to climb. When I arrived at Foothills BMW the thermometer showed 95 degrees! Yuck! This dealership is also huge and they sell Triumph's as well. Everyone was very nice and they invited me to come back the next day for a BBQ in the parking lot. I told the parts guy that I was in town to help out with the ButtLite and he actually knew what I was talking about. I got the missing screw for the rear mudguard and thanked him for the invite to the BBQ. Back on Tigger and towards the Marriott Tech Center aka. ButtLite Headquarters. It took a little longer than expected to get there but I finally made it. Checked in to my room, which I was sharing with the one and only Ms. Cletha. Check out her blog by the way Cletha's Adventures . She is awesome and an excellent blogger! Always fun to read. Both Cletha and I were there to help out with scoring the riders as they arrived to the finish and final check point of ButtLite 8. She had arrived ahead of me. Shortly after I had showered and was just relaxing Cleatha came to the room. We had a nice chat and shared some cocktails. I was starving and she had already eaten so I decided to go have dinner before the scoring training was starting. There was an Indian restaurant close to the hotel and I had a lovely Vindaloo, heat index level 4 which was hot enough! Very yummy food. As I got back to the hotel there were a few rally riders who had already arrived and all they wanted was to sleep. Somehow I can't blame them....

My handsome boy in the Rockies

At 8 pm it was time for the training and there were quite a few volunteers there. First some words by the rally mistress, Lisa, and then David Smith proceeded to walk us through the scoring sheet which was a really well done excel spreadsheet that had all formulas needed already in there. All riders would arrive to scoring with a thumb drive, their log sheet and any needed receipts. Sounded fairly straight forward. Lisa finished it all by asking the scorers to be ready to go at 4 am since the scoring opened then. Big yawn! But hey, that's why I there. To help out. We got ButtLite 8 shirts and name tags - very official. I chatted with some folks for a little while before heading up to the room. It wasn't long before my head hit the pillow and I was sound asleep.

I'm official! 

3.30 am comes awfully early you know and when I woke up a few minutes before the alarm I had a hard time
remembering why on earth I was getting up in the wee hours of the morning. Oh yeah - today was the finish of the rally. Get dressed and go downstairs. I had a text message from my friend Lisa who was riding the rally with her dad Marty. A deer had hit Marty! Thankfully he was OK. A little bruised and battered but the bike was pretty much toast! As I always say - bikes can be replaced but people can not. I'm so glad Marty was OK. Lisa was going to continue on to Denver while Marty waited for a tow truck. It is always scary when a rider has an incident. When I got downstairs there was already a flurry of activity and thankfully there was coffee ready. Never underestimate the power of a cup of coffee! I was ready to score. There were quite a few riders waiting and ready to get the scoring done. Some had just arrived, others had been at the hotel a while. I chatted with a rider who was staying at another hotel and he was hoping his room would be ready. I wished him luck. I set up my laptop, opened up the scoring program and was ready for my first rider to arrive. It was a nice man named George. We chatted about his ride and then we got down to business. The process was to ask if the rider was ready to be scored, did he/she have everything they needed before we started. The rider had to provide the log with bonus locations, any receipts and the thumb drive which held their scoring sheet and their photos. My job was to compare the bonus log to the photos and check any needed receipts. It was a lot fun to see where each rider had been, what bonuses they visited and hear their stories. One guy had his water pump break and after his rest bonus he found an auto part store and the necessary parts needed and proceeded to repair it in the parking lot. He ended up with quite a bit of points despite his mishap. It always helps when you can

repair things on the road. I got to score Wolfe Bonham, a really nice guy from Canada. I'm going to spoil the suspense (hah, who am I kidding, the results have been posted already!) - he ended up taking 7th place which is so cool. His goal was to make top 10 because that gives you a spot in the 2017 Iron Butt Rally. You go Wolfe! I also scored a very nice gentleman from Kansas and we had a great chat. I think I ended up scoring about 10-12 riders. It sort of blends together after a while. Shortly  after 8.30 am I was all done with scoring. I visited with some of my friends, both rally participants and volunteers and it is always nice to catch up. I also got to meet Lyle the Bear!

After a little rest and fixing the rear mudguard, Lisa's daughter Molly and I went to visit the Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs. Thankfully Lisa had a rental car ready so we got to drive down with air conditioning. Did I mention it was hot??? We had a nice lunch at the visitors center and then headed over to the park. It is spectacular! And so amazing that these red sandstone formations have been created right there with nothing else like it anywhere around it. And the contrast with the tall mountain peaks in the back ground is breathtaking. We had a really nice time before heading back to the hotel and the finisher banquet.

The Garden of the Gods

I helped check people in for the dinner and saw more of my friends. Most everyone had been able to get some sleep and was ready to enjoy the evening. At 7 pm the doors opened for the dinner and everyone filed in. There was a sea of tables and people. The food was very good. Once most everyone was done with dinner, the rally mistress, Lisa, got up on the podium and talked about the rally, the riders and the volunteers. Her faithful team - David, Bart and Pedrow said a few words as well and then it was time for the results. Out of 89 riders who started the rally,78 finished! It was the largest number of riders participating in a ButtLite. As Lisa was reading off the riders in order and mentioning their scores and miles I was sitting there taking it all in. Amazed by all these riders who had spent the last six days traversing across areas in search of bonus locations, living on whatever their rally food of choice may be, probably not sleeping enough at times, riding through rain and hot weather, maybe a thunderstorm, down some unexpected dirt road, sitting in road construction and so much more - all for the love of the sport and for riding. I don't know how you all did it but you have my respect! It finally got down to the top 10 riders. I recognized a few names and my rider friend

The top 10 finishers of ButtLite 8

  Kirsten took second place - the only female in the top 10!!! She is one heck of a rider and a role model. After all plaques and trophies were given out it was time to socialize a little. I visited with some of my friends, listened to their tales of the ride and shared laughs. It was a great night and I'm so glad I got to be a small part of this great event! Thank you Lisa and Team Strange for putting on a great rally! I really enjoyed volunteering.

Sunday morning I quietly packed up to not wake Cletha and then I hit the road towards home. 2,000+ miles ahead of me and I was doing it all in one swoop. I left Denver with a smile and headed east. Shortly after I crossed in to Kansas I had to make sort of a U-turn as one of the Kansas ToH sites was at the rest area going westbound on I-70. I got a young man to take my photo. It was kind of funny as he took about 10 and some of them where not of me...  Back on the interstate, a quick U-turn and eastward. I detoured in to Oakley, KS and got a Doughboy

The Buffalo Bill Statue in Oakley

statue (that's another ride you can do with the ToH). I passed by the Buffalo Bill center and continued towards Missouri. It was hot and windy! I'm thankful for the cooling vest and LD sleeves. They helped keep me a little cool and everytime I was close to cold water I would wet the vest and the sleeves. Every gas stop I just stood inside the gas station to cool off. Sometimes for as long as 15 minutes! I stopped in Peculiar, MO for a ToH site. It took me forever to find it but I did find it! Rolled along the countryside in to Sedalia, MO where there was a Doughboy waiting. The head index was about 110. How I didn't pass out is a mystery but thankfully I didn't. After Sedalia I

Doughboy statue in Sedalia

 decided to drop a ToH site in Illinois and continue towards Ohio. I stopped in Casey, IL (this is also where I've been to Moonshine - and the 2,000 mile burger as I call it) for gas but there was no gas in the pump. Not sure if it was because the gas station was closed even though the lights where on and the pumps where on. Luckily there was a 24 hour gas station at the next exit on the interstate. Somewhere in Indiana my voice of reason told me to stop and check in at the Iron Butt Motel so I pulled in at the rest area, parked Tigger and found a nice picnic bench to lay down on for an hour. When I woke up I noticed another bike next to Tigger and there was a rider sleeping on the picnic bench next to me. He was sound asleep, I think. At least he didn't move when I got up. The bike was a BMW and looked like a long distance bike. It had a CT plate. Would be fun to find out who it was. I wasn't going to wake him up though!

Sunrise in Ohio

Refreshed and ready to roll again. Tigger and I continued the ride and since I was behind my planned schedule for completing a Bun Burner Gold (BBG - at least 1,500 miles in no more than 24 hours) I felt no need to push on hard. Instead I took my time and decided to visit the Guyahoga Valley National park in Boston, OH. Another NPT stamp. It was very busy at the visitors center for being a Monday morning. Since I'm not a big fan of the New York turnpike I decided to take interstate 86 which was a good choice. Barely any traffic to speak of and a nice road. Shortly after I passed through Binghamton I stopped for gas and this was the time when I needed a last pick me upper so iced coffee and sour patch kids was the magic combination and it actually did the trick. The rest of the ride home was a breeze and at 8:15 pm I pulled up to the gas station for my final receipt. I realized it was exactly 36 hours ago that I had left Denver. So I got a SaddleSore 2,000 out of it. My goal was to do it in 32 hours and practice for a big upcoming ride but sometimes it doesn't go as planned. Between the heat, the wind and my aching bones it just wasn't in the cards this time around.

When I pulled in to the garage and parked Tigger we had completed a 5,898 mile round trip since we left home on July 2. He sure is a trooper and carried me safely throughout the ride. Here are some fun facts: # of gas fill ups - 33. Total amount spent on gas - $307. # of National Parks/sites visited: 8. # of Tour of Honor sites visited: 11. # of Doughboys visited: 2. # of Flags Across America visited: 3. # of rider friends who hosted me: 3. # of "family" members who hosted me: 1. # of nights in hotels: 4. # of hours spent at an Iron Butt Motel: 1. # of granola bars consumed: 10. Gallons of water I drank: at least 30! # of mountain passes crossed: 8. # of lost items: 1 - a glove. # of photos I took: 346. # of words in this post: too many! The amount of smiles from enjoying the ride - countless! The reaction of people when they see the Tiger ears and tale on my helmet - priceless! The memories from this trip - forever etched on my mind. For everything else there is MasterCard. And to think... all of this because of the ButtLite!

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