I think that all rides of this type are remembered for the challenges that you have to overcome - and there were many challengers on this trip. In fact, it tested me to about my limits - but that is good as that was what I was looking for in this type of ride. This was an Iron Butt ride but it was sponsored by the Motorcycle Touring Forum (MTF) who organizes "group" rides based on the IBA rules. The group aspect is minimal - a pre-ride meal together to get to know each other, then there is a window in which witness are available at both the start and finish of the ride - so there is a good chance that you are together at those times. The ride itself you are pretty much on your own although I did meet other riders on occasion during the trip. Most of us started out together and we went down to the beach and filled our plastic containers with water and sand from the Atlantic (and took pictures of each other). Ten did the Jacksonville to San Diego run and only two of us turned around and came back. Everybody that started the ride finished it. At both ends a number of us finished at about the same time and the things that we talked about were the various common challenges that we all faced. They were:
DAY ONE; 1) In the Florida panhandle (around Pensacola) we went through a very severe storm for about 100 miles. In SE Asia they would call it a monsoon but here we just call it a frog strangler. There was a tornado watch, flash flood warning, intense lighting and hail. It was FUN. 2) For some reason, in Baton Rouge, LA we all ran into a stop and go traffic jam that lasted for miles - and it was a Sunday afternoon. What was that about? All I know is that it was FUN. 3) I made it through both Houston and San Antonio with out problems but then the temp dropped and and a very strong wind out of the North picked up. In fact, there was a severe wind advisory for gust over 50 mph. It was now past mid-night, I was tired, cold and having to travel down the road at a 60 degree angle (it seemed) just to stay on the road. That was a miserable couple of hours. I pulled into the Motel 6 In Junction, TX at 2:30 am and couldn't believe that I had made it to the half way point. The top of my body had stayed dry in the monsoon but the bottom part was all wet (including water in my boots) so I cranked the heat up and spread everything out to dry. I felt like I was sleeping in a Chinese laundry. But it was all FUN. By then my iPhone had died (I had been using it for music, GPS and Spotwalla tracking but I think that the monsoon had gotten to it - even though it was in a LifeProof case. So I couldn't use it for an alarm so I told the desk clerk to give me a call at 5 am. Well that never happened but it got so hot in the room that i woke up at 5:45. My desk clerk friend from New Delhi didn't have a real good handle on English but I think that he got the idea that I was not a real happy camper for the late start.
DAY TWO; I was on to San Diego and my clothes were dry. But it was cold - down to 25 degrees. Was I ever thankful for my heated jacket and heated grips. A few hours into the ride and Rich and Barbara on their Gold Wing and David on his Connie came up behind me. I fell in behind them and then the 3 of us rode hell bent for leather to the West (80 mph speed limit - and of course, we were a tad above that). I peeled off in Van Horn, TX as i needed fuel. I ran into them once more at the T/A in Wilcox, AZ but didn't travel with them. We did arrived in San Diego within about 20 minutes of each other. Day two was a much better day with incredible scenery and decent weather. But then I ran into two major problems 4) I was headed toward Gila Bend, AZ on I-8 and the sun was this huge fire ball right in my eyes and down on the horizon. I had every sun protection device know to man and nothing helped. I even stopped and put electricians tape on my visor and that didn't even help. The only way i could see anything ahead was to hold one hand out and use it as a sun-shade. But it was FUN. 5) The scariest part of the whole trip (and we all talked about it at the end in San Diego) was west of El Centro, CA. There is a huge wind farm at the base of the canyon road going up over the mountains and down into San Diego. That wind farm is there for a reason! In TX I could handle the 50 mph steady side wind, but here the wind was gusting over 50mph but coming from every direction as I climbed the twisty canyon road up to the summit. It kept trying to tear my helmet off and my grip off the handle bars. It would literally shove my bike 2-3 feet from side to side. I could hardly control it. I tried laying down on the gas tank to have less of a target for the wind but it didn't seem to help.That was NO FUN! From what the other riders were saying, their Gold Wings were also being tossed around. At least it was late at night and there was no traffic. In that climb I had gone from Sea Level to over 4,000 feet and it was bitterly cold. I asked the young border guard at the immigration inspection station how long until I was out of the cold and he said another half hour. How thankful I was to drop down into San Diego and warmer air and the end of the first half. Just as I was pulling into the gas station to get my ending gas receipt, along came Marty on his R1200GS who was the other one going back to Jacksonville. He was just coming back from the beach with his water and sand sample. He offered to lead me the 4 blocks to the beach where I could get mine and then we went together to the Motel 6 in San Diego. It was 12:30 am and a number of other riders were there as well as our witnesses. One of the witnesses gave me his phone as my family had been going crazy since they hadn't heard from me - so I called them to tell them that I was OK and that it was only my phone that had died (and not me)!
DAY THREE; I had the Front dest give me a wake up call at 3:30 and this time it worked. I didn't bother undressing - just laid down on top of the blanket - they should have charged me less as they didn't even have to make the bed in the morning. I got my witness forms signed to leave and then another driver arrived. He was all pumped so we talk for a few minutes as I was getting the bike ready to leave. I went back to the gas station to get my starting receipt and then in was East bound and hammer down. I was dreading the wind in the canyon but there was NO wind at all (when just a few hours earlier it had been horrible). From El Centro, CA to Yuma, AZ there was another strong steady side wind, but by now I was fairly well used to it. It was just getting daylight and the wind was blowing A LOT of sand across the road (that is the area of the Imperial Sand Dunes). It looked just like snow blowing across the road. It didn't bother me too much but it was weird. So far on the trip I had not stopped anywhere to eat (I had brought finger food with me that I could eat while ridding). But I decided to stop at my favorite hole in the wall Mexican eatery in Tucson from my trucking days. Even though it had been seven years since my last trucking run through here, I found it without trouble and loaded up on tacos. I would eat on them during the rest of the trip. It was getting dark as I left El Paso and I still had 350 miles to go to Junction, TX. I was concerned about West Texas deer but never saw any. That was a looooong 350 miles and I pulled into the Motel 6 at 4 am. This time my friend from New Delhi made sure I was up at 7am! Again I just slept on the bed fully dressed and it didn't take me long in the morning to get going.
DAY FOUR: I was very worried about going through San Antonio and Houston in the day time but made it through both cities without too much hassle. Houston treated me with a little surprise. I was in the HOV lane when at a certain point it ends and I had to merge into the regular lanes. As I was checking my rear view mirror I saw what looked to be Marty on his 1200 beemer. I did a double look and that was all it took for me to run against one of those flexible plastic poles that they use to divide lanes and it knocked my left hand mirror off - and it turned out not to be Marty after all. Bummer. The whole rest of the trip the weather was good, there was no rain, wind and no traffic jams. But for some reason I got very chilled going across 1-10 in Florida that night and so had my heated jacket cranked way up. 6) My last challenge was a personal one. As most of you know, I am just recovering from major retina surgery (epiretinal peel) and it will take another 4-5 months for my eye to fully stabilize. That night, going across Northern Florida, my two eyes would not focus together. Maybe my brain was too tired. In any case, I had to either close my bad eye or just ignore the double image. It was a bit of a challenge but there is very little traffic on I-10 late at night across Florida so I never felt it was beyond what I could handle. I had already spent the months of Dec and Jan looking out of just one eye so I was used to it. But then, as I was entering Jacksonville at first dawn the fog rolled in and the traffic picked up. It was a major strain to try to figure out the spaghetti interchange that is I-10 and I-95 under those conditions - but I made it. It was then on to Jacksonville Beach and I got my final fuel receipt at 6:07 am. I went over to a McDonalds and worked on my paper work (and kept nodding off). At 8:30 I went back to the gas station and there was Marty (who had just pulled up) and Ray our witness. It took another hour to finish the paper work, then down to the beach to get my picture with my sample of water and sand. Marty, who lives in the Tampa area decided to get a motel (he too had ridden all night). But I had somewhat gotten my second wind back, so decided to ride the two hours on down to Orlando and home. In the end, I had ridden 5,228 miles from when I left home to when I returned - and I had 33 fuel receipts. I was very proud of our NT700V - it performed with out a hitch and pretty well kept up with the big dogs the whole trip. I was not stiff or sore - and accept for losing my mirror and my iPhone dying I had no mechanical issues on the trip. I was probably the only one that made the trip without a GPS - most of the bikes had two. I'm not sure, but perhaps I might have been the first one to do a 100CC on the NT700V - in any case it is a good to go machine. It just occurred to me, that since I only spent 3 hours every night in a motel, that it might have been cheaper to go to one of those motels where they rent the rooms by the hour! If any body on this forum knows if that would have saved me money, let me know!
Wendell
DAY ONE; 1) In the Florida panhandle (around Pensacola) we went through a very severe storm for about 100 miles. In SE Asia they would call it a monsoon but here we just call it a frog strangler. There was a tornado watch, flash flood warning, intense lighting and hail. It was FUN. 2) For some reason, in Baton Rouge, LA we all ran into a stop and go traffic jam that lasted for miles - and it was a Sunday afternoon. What was that about? All I know is that it was FUN. 3) I made it through both Houston and San Antonio with out problems but then the temp dropped and and a very strong wind out of the North picked up. In fact, there was a severe wind advisory for gust over 50 mph. It was now past mid-night, I was tired, cold and having to travel down the road at a 60 degree angle (it seemed) just to stay on the road. That was a miserable couple of hours. I pulled into the Motel 6 In Junction, TX at 2:30 am and couldn't believe that I had made it to the half way point. The top of my body had stayed dry in the monsoon but the bottom part was all wet (including water in my boots) so I cranked the heat up and spread everything out to dry. I felt like I was sleeping in a Chinese laundry. But it was all FUN. By then my iPhone had died (I had been using it for music, GPS and Spotwalla tracking but I think that the monsoon had gotten to it - even though it was in a LifeProof case. So I couldn't use it for an alarm so I told the desk clerk to give me a call at 5 am. Well that never happened but it got so hot in the room that i woke up at 5:45. My desk clerk friend from New Delhi didn't have a real good handle on English but I think that he got the idea that I was not a real happy camper for the late start.
DAY TWO; I was on to San Diego and my clothes were dry. But it was cold - down to 25 degrees. Was I ever thankful for my heated jacket and heated grips. A few hours into the ride and Rich and Barbara on their Gold Wing and David on his Connie came up behind me. I fell in behind them and then the 3 of us rode hell bent for leather to the West (80 mph speed limit - and of course, we were a tad above that). I peeled off in Van Horn, TX as i needed fuel. I ran into them once more at the T/A in Wilcox, AZ but didn't travel with them. We did arrived in San Diego within about 20 minutes of each other. Day two was a much better day with incredible scenery and decent weather. But then I ran into two major problems 4) I was headed toward Gila Bend, AZ on I-8 and the sun was this huge fire ball right in my eyes and down on the horizon. I had every sun protection device know to man and nothing helped. I even stopped and put electricians tape on my visor and that didn't even help. The only way i could see anything ahead was to hold one hand out and use it as a sun-shade. But it was FUN. 5) The scariest part of the whole trip (and we all talked about it at the end in San Diego) was west of El Centro, CA. There is a huge wind farm at the base of the canyon road going up over the mountains and down into San Diego. That wind farm is there for a reason! In TX I could handle the 50 mph steady side wind, but here the wind was gusting over 50mph but coming from every direction as I climbed the twisty canyon road up to the summit. It kept trying to tear my helmet off and my grip off the handle bars. It would literally shove my bike 2-3 feet from side to side. I could hardly control it. I tried laying down on the gas tank to have less of a target for the wind but it didn't seem to help.That was NO FUN! From what the other riders were saying, their Gold Wings were also being tossed around. At least it was late at night and there was no traffic. In that climb I had gone from Sea Level to over 4,000 feet and it was bitterly cold. I asked the young border guard at the immigration inspection station how long until I was out of the cold and he said another half hour. How thankful I was to drop down into San Diego and warmer air and the end of the first half. Just as I was pulling into the gas station to get my ending gas receipt, along came Marty on his R1200GS who was the other one going back to Jacksonville. He was just coming back from the beach with his water and sand sample. He offered to lead me the 4 blocks to the beach where I could get mine and then we went together to the Motel 6 in San Diego. It was 12:30 am and a number of other riders were there as well as our witnesses. One of the witnesses gave me his phone as my family had been going crazy since they hadn't heard from me - so I called them to tell them that I was OK and that it was only my phone that had died (and not me)!
DAY THREE; I had the Front dest give me a wake up call at 3:30 and this time it worked. I didn't bother undressing - just laid down on top of the blanket - they should have charged me less as they didn't even have to make the bed in the morning. I got my witness forms signed to leave and then another driver arrived. He was all pumped so we talk for a few minutes as I was getting the bike ready to leave. I went back to the gas station to get my starting receipt and then in was East bound and hammer down. I was dreading the wind in the canyon but there was NO wind at all (when just a few hours earlier it had been horrible). From El Centro, CA to Yuma, AZ there was another strong steady side wind, but by now I was fairly well used to it. It was just getting daylight and the wind was blowing A LOT of sand across the road (that is the area of the Imperial Sand Dunes). It looked just like snow blowing across the road. It didn't bother me too much but it was weird. So far on the trip I had not stopped anywhere to eat (I had brought finger food with me that I could eat while ridding). But I decided to stop at my favorite hole in the wall Mexican eatery in Tucson from my trucking days. Even though it had been seven years since my last trucking run through here, I found it without trouble and loaded up on tacos. I would eat on them during the rest of the trip. It was getting dark as I left El Paso and I still had 350 miles to go to Junction, TX. I was concerned about West Texas deer but never saw any. That was a looooong 350 miles and I pulled into the Motel 6 at 4 am. This time my friend from New Delhi made sure I was up at 7am! Again I just slept on the bed fully dressed and it didn't take me long in the morning to get going.
DAY FOUR: I was very worried about going through San Antonio and Houston in the day time but made it through both cities without too much hassle. Houston treated me with a little surprise. I was in the HOV lane when at a certain point it ends and I had to merge into the regular lanes. As I was checking my rear view mirror I saw what looked to be Marty on his 1200 beemer. I did a double look and that was all it took for me to run against one of those flexible plastic poles that they use to divide lanes and it knocked my left hand mirror off - and it turned out not to be Marty after all. Bummer. The whole rest of the trip the weather was good, there was no rain, wind and no traffic jams. But for some reason I got very chilled going across 1-10 in Florida that night and so had my heated jacket cranked way up. 6) My last challenge was a personal one. As most of you know, I am just recovering from major retina surgery (epiretinal peel) and it will take another 4-5 months for my eye to fully stabilize. That night, going across Northern Florida, my two eyes would not focus together. Maybe my brain was too tired. In any case, I had to either close my bad eye or just ignore the double image. It was a bit of a challenge but there is very little traffic on I-10 late at night across Florida so I never felt it was beyond what I could handle. I had already spent the months of Dec and Jan looking out of just one eye so I was used to it. But then, as I was entering Jacksonville at first dawn the fog rolled in and the traffic picked up. It was a major strain to try to figure out the spaghetti interchange that is I-10 and I-95 under those conditions - but I made it. It was then on to Jacksonville Beach and I got my final fuel receipt at 6:07 am. I went over to a McDonalds and worked on my paper work (and kept nodding off). At 8:30 I went back to the gas station and there was Marty (who had just pulled up) and Ray our witness. It took another hour to finish the paper work, then down to the beach to get my picture with my sample of water and sand. Marty, who lives in the Tampa area decided to get a motel (he too had ridden all night). But I had somewhat gotten my second wind back, so decided to ride the two hours on down to Orlando and home. In the end, I had ridden 5,228 miles from when I left home to when I returned - and I had 33 fuel receipts. I was very proud of our NT700V - it performed with out a hitch and pretty well kept up with the big dogs the whole trip. I was not stiff or sore - and accept for losing my mirror and my iPhone dying I had no mechanical issues on the trip. I was probably the only one that made the trip without a GPS - most of the bikes had two. I'm not sure, but perhaps I might have been the first one to do a 100CC on the NT700V - in any case it is a good to go machine. It just occurred to me, that since I only spent 3 hours every night in a motel, that it might have been cheaper to go to one of those motels where they rent the rooms by the hour! If any body on this forum knows if that would have saved me money, let me know!
Wendell
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