2021 Tour of Honor adventures - Part 1

One of my riding goals every year is to be a Tour of Honor rider and finisher. I've been riding this annual event since 2012, and for the first time, I was not a finisher in 2020. A lot of medical and pandemic-related issues conspired against me,  I counted it a victory that I rode to one site in 2020, despite major back surgery in May.

I was also honored to be the ToH sponsor for California's 2021 memorials. I was able to ride and/or drive to all the locations, and document them for this season. I hope everyone has as much fun riding them, as I did finding them.

Nevada!

In January, I relocated permanently to Las Vegas - a big change we've been working towards for a few years.  So naturally, an attempt at a trophy for Nevada was the plan for 2021.

The plan

When the locations published on March 31 at 9PM,  I started a plan.  A quick ride south to Goodsprings, then back north to Mesquite, and beyond.  However, it was Cooooold! Most of Nevada was at or near freezing, without considering wind-chill factors.

Looking at the weather charts, I decided to head out at 4:30 AM.

 NV5 - Goodsprings - 5:02 AM 

The first location was NV5 - Goodsprings. The notes mentioned a little gravel. While the distance was small, it was a lot of golfball-sized rocks, ruts and a grade off the road to the cemetery.  I also placed my 196 Chip at each memorial along the way. (Note - at the time of the ride, this was marked erroneously as 24 hours access - it is now Dawn to Dusk)

Nonetheless, a cool location to visit.  Wrestling the Goldwing back on to the road made me glad it was cold. Is there a "hover-mode" option I can install?

Next stop -

NV7 Mesquite 6:41 AM

The morning sky was beginning to glow as I headed north to Mesquite. Unlike Goodsprings, this memorial was in a gas station, and made for a really cool photo

NV2 Beatty 9:17 AM

This location is a memorial to Fallen LEOs.  I've traveled through Beatty many times, and it was cool to get off the main drag and see this at the police station in Beatty.

From here it was a long ride up US 95. Along the way I spotted wild mustangs and burros. (there were even Mustang and Bunny Ranches! 😂😂😂). Things were warming up for a beautiful riding day.

NV3 Carson City 2:21 PM

This was a tricky location for me. I made two mistakes. The first mistake was not printing out the photo page.  The second was relying entirely on the app. When I arrived at the location, the app showed me an entirely different photo - so I just did my best. More on that later.

NV4 - Fernley 3:36 PM

The USS Corvina Submariners Memorial is an impressive location and story

Now on east to Lovelock

NV6 Lovelock 4L19 PM

Lovelock is a place I've also stopped a dozen times - there's a good Chevron station with easy access, This little memorial is tucked off to the side near the highway.  It was a little tricky - since city workers were working in the street.

One left to go - heading farther east to Battle Mountain

NV1 Battle Mountain 5:53 PM

This was the most dramatic of the memorials I saw in Nevada A beautiful sculpture and message.

Done!

This was a my first attempt to trophy, and I was excited.  I'd just put together a solid run, and uploaded all the photos with the app. Now it was time to ride back home and wait.

Heading back south on 306 was a beautiful view of snow on the mountain tops- with the setting sun illuminating them.

 I spotted a large herd of antelope, som cool gold mines and a trip over a very cold pass on the way home.

The Score

As the scoring came through - the scoreboard showed me in 1st place!  So excited. Not so fast - the team reviewed my photos and there was a problem.  My Carson City photo was incomplete. The Korean structure was not in my photos ( it was just out of frame to the left.)  As I mentioned before I made a mistake and didn't print the photos out, and when my connection didn't show the photo - I assumed and failed.  Still good enough to finish - but not good enough for a trophy.  No one's fault but mine.

All in all, a beautiful ride - 1321 miles, all in Nevada in about 20 hours. Especially after almost no riding for a year.  Next time no rookie mistakes.

Looking forward to doing Utah next!

Iron Butt Rally 2019

July 28, 7:56 AM EDT

My text home read:

" Finished 😃 Not enough Points.😞 I don't care. I had fun. Time to shower and wear real clothes."

The 2019 Iron Butt Rally was a masterpiece of riding, roads, people, and adventures. It exceeded my expectations in every way. And it was over.

Never Say Never Again

After my 2015 Iron Butt Rally attempt,  I believed my IBR days were finished. It was hard on me, mentally and physically. My night vision suffered, knees were just plain worn out, and i was fairly heavy too.

But things can be fixed.  Eye surgery replaced both lenses, restoring vision to 20/20 and good night vision. A new titanium knee made riding and walking great again. The final straw was reading the daily reports of the 2017 rally.  When the 2019 rally announcement listed the same amazing rally master, I decided to go for it and apply.  That was the additional motivation needed to lose weight.  Lisa's happy email in April continued the motivation, and 14 months later I was down 60 lbs.

2016 - Before - 295 lbs

2019   After - 230 lbs

The reward, and necessary purchase was the new Aerostich 2-piece Roadcrafter!

The bike is 100% ready. My gear is 100% ready, and I'm 95% packed. And this year, I'm mentally ready and excited to be heading out. In 2015 I'd just recovered from a crash, set up a new bike, changed jobs and was changing back to my old company when I returned. So there was a lot on my mind. This time, my head is clear.

The first step - get to Greenville. 2675 miles away. I left at 4AM, and spent the night in Tucumcari, NM. I continued on to Greenville, arriving at 2:30 AM Saturday.

Saturday, June 15.
The IBR rally staff of volunteers was organized and prepared better than any rally I've ever been in and inspection, paperwork, and Odometer check were completed in record time. I think that every rider available Saturday was done by 11AM!  

Starting Odometer Check

This was great, as it gave more time to reconnect with old friends, and set up my rally planning station in the hotel room.

Big screen rally planning using the hotel room TV

We had a nice "Last Chance" dinner by the hotel pool.

Sunday, June 16
An easy, relaxing morning to recharge before the intensity ramped up. Then the rider's meeting. Basic rules, a small scare that we might need to seal our laptops, and then a waypoints email test.  All GPS waypoints would be emailed.

Dinner - the main event revealed - "The Road Less Traveled"

Jeff Earls designed the rally with the goal of taking us on the best roads, the fewest interstates, and fun destinations. There were challenging combination bonuses, and no clear "winning route". We would start at 10AM, and see what we could achieve before arriving in Kenewick, WA  83 hours later. At the end of dinner, we opened our packets, waypoints were emailed, and we retreated to our rooms for hours of planning.

My route planned to collect bonuses around the southeast, then head across the midwest and up to Kennewick in time for the checkpoint.  

Monday, June 17
The start
We were required to be at our bikes at 8:30 fro final odometer reading and check in. Then I went back in to finish packing and get suited up. As the time counted down, we were at our bikes, and precisely 10:00 AM EDT GPS time, Warchild launched us on our way.  It's so amazing to ride out past a cheering crowd.

The bonus listings were written in an old-style format. The GPS coordinates often located the start of a set of riding instructions to the bonus, which might be many miles away. In some cases, the actual coordinates were listed, and in those cases, I modified the bonus to improve the plan.

The first bonus I attempted was WHWTR, where the instructions said to take a stroll to a spot to photograph the upper falls. When I arrived, the short stroll was 1/2 mile to the falls!  I decided to pass, as back issues make longer walks very difficult.  This was one of many bonuses that had me thinking this was the Iron Boot Rally. This was a trickily written bonus as well, and some riders took photos of the lower falls mentioned in the instructions, but not asked for. Reading comprehension is so important!

Next was FONT, a group photo at the Fontana Dam. It was a twisty, fun road winding deep into the mountains.  Lot's of bikes on the road too. The road was great, but long, and I noted that my fuel was low, and stopped to get fuel in the local gas station.  $3.40/gallon!  Highest of the rally, outside of California.  Upon leaving the station, I rode over some uneven pavement and dropped the wing on it's right side.  Two riders helped me get it back up, with no damage. My first ever bike drop! (not to be the last.)  Then is was on to the dam, and a group photo.

On the way out, I realized that I was riding on the famed Tail of the Dragon.  A twisting road through North Carolina.

My next bonus was FORTMTN  a lookout, high on a hill overlooking Atlanta.  During the ride in, a black bear stopped in the road about 50 yards in front of me. Before I could snap a picture, he headed back into the woods.

The lookout included another hike, but I wasn't going to pass up the points.  It was hot, with steep stone stairs and trails to the top.

A friendly family took the picture for me. Then it twas a hike down the hill to the bike.  I ran into two riders who were close behind me. They looked like me - hot, sweaty and gassed.

Light was fading and I needed to move on westward.  I made it to Mt. Vernon, IL for the night.  The next day I headed across the midwest with three different bonuses planned.  All three had short dirt or unimproved road access. I was betting against the weather.

Tuesday, June 18th:
Never bet against the weather.  The first bonus was MUSHR - a mushroom rock formation. The road looked smooth and solid, but the first 100 feet proved it was a swampy mess of oatmeal like consistency.  I carefully retreated to the pavement.

DUNES and CHMNY ( Chimney Rock) had the same issues, so three large bonuses were scrubbed as I headed through rain storms to Limon, CO for the night.

Wednesday, June 19th:
I maxed out the rest bonus points to mitigate yesterday's failures and headed towards MTEVN. Mt Evans is the highest paved road in North America at 14.270 ft.  I arrrived at teh park entrance and flashed my National Park Pass.  The sign said the road was dry, temps at the top were 30 degrees, and 50 mph winds, for a wind chill of 17!

What an amazing road and view., when I could enjoy it.  Winds and frost heaves made the road tricky, and cars were knocking snow and ice onto the road, plus snow melt.

Mt Evans

In the 5 minutes I had one glove off, my fingers ended up hurting for an hour.

Then the ride down.

Some serious Oh Sh*t moments.
  From there, I stopped at the gift shop for a cool Mt Evans sticker, then onward to the northwest.

As I stopped for gas in Colorado, the wing decided to nap again.  A friendly rancher helped me get it back up and we had nice talk too.

Traveling up through Colorado towards Idaho, there were so many antelope. Herds of them not far off the road. They are much faster than deer, and even smarter. I've never seen a roadkill antelope. 

Near the border, more construction and one-way traffic. All recently graded gravel. This wouldn't be too bad, but the lead truck of the convoy was going 15 mph, despite the 30 MPH speed signs.  riding that slow on gravel on a Goldwing is exhausting.

It got very late as I entered Idaho, so I started looking for a room. No luck. No rooms within 200 miles of Boise because of a soccert tournament and vacation travel. I spied a Denny's. "our kitchen's closed, but you can have salad, dessert and coffee".  Yes please!  I had an apple crisp with ice cream, coffee, and fell asleep in a booth for two hours.  Left a nice tip.

Thursday, June 20:
Visited MORES - Mores Creek Summit in Idaho at dawn

Next stop GNITE - Granite

This was a delightful ride into the interior of central Oregon. Great roads and small mining towns to ride through. 

Then it was off to POST. Post is the geographical center of Oregon

Following POST, I needed to get up to Kennewick  before 8PM and score for leg 1.

I was at the checkpoint around 6, scored and did not lose any points. We enjoyed a nice rider buffet.  My scores were well below target, because I cut a few planned bonuses.  I would have two legs to rebound, or would I?

Friday June 21 , 4:00 AM:

New rider packs were handed out.  THERE WOULD BE NO MORE CHECKPOINTS. The return to Kennewick was an "optional" rest and no further scoring would be done until the finish. WOW.  new waypoints were emailed and it was back to the room to plan.

I decided to focus on the next segment only and take the rest at Kennewick.  I looked at going north but decided to loop down into CA.

First stop, Smith Rock in Oregon

Then it was a winding twisting road over lava fields to MCKEN

This was a beautiful bonus worth ZERO points.  I pays to pay attention during the rider meeting :(  Supposedly it wasn't possible to get there!  Still glad I went.

Then it was on the SACHW, the headwaters of the Sacramento River

This was a daylight only bonus, and it was a stretch. But the second photo serves to show light in the sky.
From there I spent the night near Redding, CA

Saturday, June 22:

I headed south to the visitor center at Lake Sonoma, near Santa Rosa CA.

And on to STEW, the Stewart Point post office on highway 1. What a twisting goat trail of a road that was!  Such a relief to arrive at the ocean.

I continued up HWY 1 to Fort Brag, where it turns in towards 101,

I had two more bonuses planned for teh interior of NorCal, but they were on twisty, super technical roads and I'd be there in the wee hours, so I scrubbed them. Another rider on those roads hit a frost heave that crashed them, so I felt like I dodged a bullet there.

I continued on up the coast and back into Oregon until dark, and spent the night in an Astoria hotel somewhere. Only Rally riders understand when we say we  don't know where we were every night.

Sunday June 23:

My next stop was a group photo at CAPED  - a view of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse in WA.

Then a quick stop at BHATCH, a beautiful, parklike fish hatchery on the Columbia river.

Finally, a long trip up the Columbia to the checkpoint for a rest bonus, and time to plan the last leg.

Monday June 24:

I needed to do something big to get the points back on track.   The Mississippi River combo bonuses were worth over 30k points when added to the individual bonuses visited, so that was my plan.

First stop, SEAMAN, the memorial to Lewis and Clark's Newfoundland Dog. named Seaman

As I moved east  towards Minnesota, I thought of the food network show, "Girl Meets Farm".  I texted my wife, "I can smell the sprinkles!"  Oh Yah!

Riding into Minnesota was beautiful, and check off another state I'd never ridden in.  I was heading to MSHW  the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Its only about 4 feet wide as it trickles out of Lake Itaska

Then I headed south along the river,  I crossed over into Wisconsin briefly, for the last of the lower 48. I've now ridden in them all :)  I stopped for the night in an old Days Inn in Red Wing Minnesota. It was fairly deserted, but when I left, another rider was in the room next door.

I headed to LAKEC, where I could take a picture of a lighthouse

and then on to PIKIA for a view from the point of the river below.

Note how flooded it is. This was about to be a problem/  The Mississippi was at flood stage everywhere and rain continued to fall.

Next was a bonus named FENEL  where I took a ride on a funicular railway up the hill.  

People are great and like to participate!  The ride operator asked if I was with the scavenger hunt. She paused the car at the exact spot for a good photo :)

Then I got a little suckered by the waypoint / description for TWAIN, If I'd looked up the actual coordinates, I would've daved an hour of backtracking. Still, a fun ride.

The next stop was MISCO, the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers,  Flooding had blocked the main road in, but I pressed on and found another entrance.

Still, the point to take the photo was under water. But this counts for bonus :)

The next stop was CHAIN - Chain of Rocks Bridge, east of St Louis. I was supposed to walk .7 miles out onto the bridge for a photo. Thankfully, it was flooded out on both ends (photo of both ends required. Some riders missed out points)

 I headed south, hoping for good luck, and spent the night in Cape Girardeau, MO .  On the way in, it was raining hard, and lots of road and bridge closures happened.

Thursday, June 27th:

I left the hotel after another maxed out rest bonus. The bridge was closed, adding 30 miles to my trip to CAIRO. As I left, my GPS told me I'd arrive back at the finish at midnight.  When I got to Cairo, it said 5:30 AM Friday, if I rode all night.

More flooding

I plotted a rout to the next bonus, in Missisippi, the GPS updated to 8AM. I knew I'd never make all these bonuses and was actually concerned about getting back at all.

Time  for plan B.  I headed back towards South Carolina, and mapped any location I could find to add points.  One location in Kentucky sent me up numerous goat rails so I skipped it, and headed for VEIL, cool water fall in North Cariolina.

The requirement was to take the photo from behind the falls. Check.  It was now getting dark, and there were no more bonuses close, so back to the hotel.  I couldn't get a room at Rally finish, so I settled for one down the street.

Riding south through the winding mountain roads was fun, and somewhat surreal. It was pitch black and would open up occasionally into beautiful small mountain towns and lakes.  With about 30 minutes left to hotel arrival, the dark skies lit up with lightning on all sides. It even streaked across the sky above. I told myself there were plenty of taller objects to strike and pressed on.

Then the rain came. Hard, intense, road-swallowing rain. No lines to follow, and drivers on the highway wouldn't use the flooded right lanes.  I got to my hotel and checked in. After the elevators rebooted from lightning, it was up to dry out, check my documents and go to sleep.

Friday, June 28th:
I was up at 5, dressed, loaded and rode over to the finish. Lots of friends and others cheering each rider.  My odometer was checked, and I went in to stop the clock at 6:18

I took all my stuff to scoring, and once again, lost no points at the table.  My total was about 15k points short of finisher. The Mississippi had beaten me.  But as I said at the beginning, I had fun, so I didn't really care.

My actual route

Checked in, unpacked, showered, and hung out with everyone in the lobby and outside as the rest arrived.

At the Finisher banquet, we had a great time sharing stories and finding out the winners. I was so happy to see that Wendy Crockett, a friend I've been in many rides with, became the first woman to win the Iron Butt Rally. While I was struggling to get 65k points and 8500 miles, she racked up 150+k points and almost 14k miles as she circumnavigated the 48 plus much of Canada.

My Iron Butt Rally days as a competitor are done, but I hope to serve as a volunteer on future rallies.  I'm still planning to ride some shorter events and Tour of Honor, but 11 days plus travel is a lot of time on the road.

I can't say enough good things about this rally and how well it was run. Every aspect went smoothly, and every detail was thought of. It is the best of the best in rally design and management, with outstanding volunteers spending long hours to make our crazy game fun and drama-free.

Saturday, June 29

So here I am, still in Greenville, SC  I packed up, and after a few chats in the parking lot, it was back home.  I made it as far as Oklahoma City on Saturday, 1100 miles.  

Sunday June 30:
The long ride home. I left at 5AM. Heading west constantly across I-40. Mostly in the low 90s until Kingman AZ, where it was 102.  then in Needles, CA, it hit 106 before relenting as the sun set.   It was late, but I didn't want to spend another night on the road. The heat continued until I finally crossed Pacheco pass on CA -152 around 1AM Monday. It was now 50 degrees.

90 minute later I was in the garage at home. 30 minutes after that I was asleep, and selt until 11AM.

I apologize for my sometimes dry writing style. I It's hard to capture the amount of sights and experiences along the way. But it's an experience that I've learned will return to my memory in little flashbacks for years to come.  It will also create many situations where I recognize a location, but have no idea where it is.

Hope you enjoyed the read.