tdragger
Living Legend
The Hill Country Salvo provided me with the opportunity to realize a 25 year goal to complete an SS1000 for the Iron Butt Association. The reservations were made and the plans put into place.
After researching routes and tips from various sites, I settled on a route that would have me start in Wytheville, Virginia (intersection of I-81 and I-77) and blast down 81 then 40 through Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis on the way to Little Rock where I'd pick up I-30 into Texas on my way to my parent's place outside of Bonham, Tx. I had to add a corner to the route through Greenville, Tx in order to get the required 1000 miles.
Ok, packed and ready I head out from Fredericksburg on Tuesday evening to the hotel in Wytheville. Since a cold front had just passed, I was glad that I grabbed my heavy gloves on the way out because it was getting a bit chilly. After getting checked in and cleaned up, I prepped everything for a 3am launch the next morning. Next day's clothes on the counter, cooler ready to load ice, bags packed and flashlight out.
This were a good plan starts to unravel. First, I wake up at 5:00 am on the dot. Ah crap, I overslept. **** cheap hotel alarm clocks. So I pop up out of bed and grab my clothes. What the...? Why are they wet? hmmm...some DA had left the previous nights ice bag in the cooler which melted and leaked out right next to my clothes. Fortunately just my socks needed to be changed out. Ok, repacked and ready to load the bike.
I get out to the Rocket and notice the frost on the seat. Man, I'm glad that I grabbed those heavy gloves now. It's 32 degrees. Load the packs and strap everything down. Put the liner in my jacket and gear up. I back away from the building a bit so as to not wake everyone up. Turn on the switch and wait for the sweep...
OH SH.. as a terrible thought crosses my mind. What does a Rocket do when the temps drop below 35 degrees? NOT START!!!
"Oh, please, please, let this thing start." I go through my cold start routine praying that I don't have to make use of the substantial hill in front of me to bump start the Roc.
wahh...wahhh...wahhh...pop...wahhh...poppop...wah. ..bbbbrrrooommmm....JOY!
I blast off at 5:40 am and everything is pretty uneventful from there. Other than a few construction areas in TN, the road was smooth and fast. Arkansas obviously is suffering from a budget shortfall because the roads were not quite as in good of shape.
Entering Arkansas
Made it into Texarkana just before nightfall and clicked this:
It quickly got dark so the rest of the ride was done with a close eye on the GPS. I made it to my corner stop in Greenville where the route left the interstate and hit Texas rural roads. Wolfe City to Bailey and then on to my final fuel stop ticket in Bonham. GPS showed 1007 miles at this point. After getting my timestamped receipt, I headed out to my folks with the final GPS reading of 1023.7 miles. Average moving speed was 70 mph on the dot. Elapsed time was 18 hours and 17 minutes.
The next day I took a few pics of the aftermath:
I'm really glad that I did this. So much so that I completed a Bun Burner 1500 five days later. Leakey, Texas through Houston, Baton Rouge, north to Jackson, MS then east and northeast through Meridian, MS, Birmingham, AL up to Knoxville, Tn to the finish in Buena Vista, VA. The ride of 1530.8 GPS miles was completed in 35 hours 30 minutes (30 minutes to spare).
Since I was so close to home I went ahead and drove the last stretch. Return Trip total was 1667 miles in a little over 38 hours.
After researching routes and tips from various sites, I settled on a route that would have me start in Wytheville, Virginia (intersection of I-81 and I-77) and blast down 81 then 40 through Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis on the way to Little Rock where I'd pick up I-30 into Texas on my way to my parent's place outside of Bonham, Tx. I had to add a corner to the route through Greenville, Tx in order to get the required 1000 miles.
Ok, packed and ready I head out from Fredericksburg on Tuesday evening to the hotel in Wytheville. Since a cold front had just passed, I was glad that I grabbed my heavy gloves on the way out because it was getting a bit chilly. After getting checked in and cleaned up, I prepped everything for a 3am launch the next morning. Next day's clothes on the counter, cooler ready to load ice, bags packed and flashlight out.
This were a good plan starts to unravel. First, I wake up at 5:00 am on the dot. Ah crap, I overslept. **** cheap hotel alarm clocks. So I pop up out of bed and grab my clothes. What the...? Why are they wet? hmmm...some DA had left the previous nights ice bag in the cooler which melted and leaked out right next to my clothes. Fortunately just my socks needed to be changed out. Ok, repacked and ready to load the bike.
I get out to the Rocket and notice the frost on the seat. Man, I'm glad that I grabbed those heavy gloves now. It's 32 degrees. Load the packs and strap everything down. Put the liner in my jacket and gear up. I back away from the building a bit so as to not wake everyone up. Turn on the switch and wait for the sweep...
OH SH.. as a terrible thought crosses my mind. What does a Rocket do when the temps drop below 35 degrees? NOT START!!!
"Oh, please, please, let this thing start." I go through my cold start routine praying that I don't have to make use of the substantial hill in front of me to bump start the Roc.
wahh...wahhh...wahhh...pop...wahhh...poppop...wah. ..bbbbrrrooommmm....JOY!
I blast off at 5:40 am and everything is pretty uneventful from there. Other than a few construction areas in TN, the road was smooth and fast. Arkansas obviously is suffering from a budget shortfall because the roads were not quite as in good of shape.
Entering Arkansas
Made it into Texarkana just before nightfall and clicked this:
It quickly got dark so the rest of the ride was done with a close eye on the GPS. I made it to my corner stop in Greenville where the route left the interstate and hit Texas rural roads. Wolfe City to Bailey and then on to my final fuel stop ticket in Bonham. GPS showed 1007 miles at this point. After getting my timestamped receipt, I headed out to my folks with the final GPS reading of 1023.7 miles. Average moving speed was 70 mph on the dot. Elapsed time was 18 hours and 17 minutes.
The next day I took a few pics of the aftermath:
I'm really glad that I did this. So much so that I completed a Bun Burner 1500 five days later. Leakey, Texas through Houston, Baton Rouge, north to Jackson, MS then east and northeast through Meridian, MS, Birmingham, AL up to Knoxville, Tn to the finish in Buena Vista, VA. The ride of 1530.8 GPS miles was completed in 35 hours 30 minutes (30 minutes to spare).
Since I was so close to home I went ahead and drove the last stretch. Return Trip total was 1667 miles in a little over 38 hours.
