My ride started with me taking off August 18th for Spartanburg, SC. I had the FJR all packed up the night before and my wife and son waved as I took off, they were flying to the finish to see me in. When arriving on the 20th, I met up with FJRod from the FJR Riders forum. Rod helped me replace my Roadsmart tires with fresh Pilot Road II's that I shipped to him a week earlier. After changing the tires, I invited Rod and his wife to come to the hotel for dinner. Rod’s wife could not make it but Rod showed up and we had a nice dinner talking about people on the forum and the riders in the 09 rally. After dinner Rod and I went to the lounge, where we met up with several riders kicking back having drinks and talking about the rally. It was a great time hooking up with everyone in what was the last relaxing environment before we started.
The next day was an off day we all sat around checking on our bikes talking with friends and relaxing. At a riders meeting, we received all info need for the next day. I went to tech inspect and breezed through with no problems after that I did my odometer check again without an issue. I ran the odometer check with Davo a rider from Australia that I’m sad to say died the last day of the ride. He had an accident hitting a deer that he never recovered from. I didn’t really know Davo outside of a few conversations at Spartanburg and e-mails on the IBA forum but he seemed to be a real friendly guy.
After tech inspect and odometer check, we had to do camera check, video interview and packet pick up. Later we had two seminars to attend then we were free. I went to dinner with friends riding 2-up. We talked about how the stress levels seemed to be rising and people were starting to put their game faces on.
The next morning we attended another riders meeting were we received our flash drives with our leg 1 bonus waypoints. They basically wanted everyone to test and see if you could read the waypoints. Later that evening we had our opening banquet and received our bonus packets and flag. They told us that to track as a finisher we would need 9000 point for the first leg. After the banquet, rookies were allowed to stay and get additional help/questions answered. I stayed for 30 minutes listening then headed for my room at 20:30. First thing I did was put my clips on my flag and pack it away. I then started playing with the waypoints trying to work on getting a decent route for my first leg. I was focusing on making sure I would get at least 9000 points. I wrote off the big bonuses right off the bat, going for a more conservative route. My goal on leg 1 was to not blow my chances of finishing, I knew the points would go up and there would be time to push harder later. I ended up working until 01:30 designing my route before heading to bed.
Leg 1
August 24-Day 1 I jumped out of bed at 06:00 for a quick shower then downstairs for breakfast. I then packed up the bike, we had to have our bikes in the line up by 08:00 for the 10:00 start out front. At 09:30 one last riders meeting were Warchild was telling everyone how we were exiting the parking lot and if anyone dropped their bike they might as well go home. Once we hit 10:00 Warchild directed the two rotary RE5 to lead the pack out of the parking lot for the first bonus location which everyone was expected to go to the BMW factory in Spartanburg. It only took a couple of minutes to get to the factory so we had to wait until 10:30 for this bonus to open. Several riders forgot about the bonus not opening till 10:30 and they snapped pictures and ran. I ended up getting 5 more bonuses the first day, I hit McCray’s tavern (I had to stop and rewire my GPS at this bonus, my wire for my GPS shorted out but lucky I had brought a spare so 20 minutes later and I was back on the road.), O’Kelly Memorial Library (a police officer was called to the library, a librarian was getting nervous with all the people running up taking pictures of the front of the library), 16th Street Baptist Church (a guy was hanging around so he held my flag for me), Floyd/Chattanooga County Line and Jackson County Courthouse. I ran into Bob Collins at the courthouse location and we rode together for a couple hours and ended up about 40 miles from our next bonus before grabbing a hotel room. I told Bob I was going to ride as close as I could get to my next bonus and he happened to be heading to the same one so he tagged along. Nancy walk in to the hotel lobby as I was walking out, I asked how she was doing? Nancy never said a word, you could tell she was pissed so I didn't press. I found out later a woman had just hit her turning a corner, luckily she was not injured. As I was unpacking the bike I saw a familiar Goldwing, Dennis must have checked in right before me. As I was hitting the bed I was thinking my route must not have been too bad, I saw a lot of other riders.
August 25-Day 2 I’m off like a shot out of the hotel before anyone else and arrive at the Meriwether Lewis National Monument for my picture as I’m leaving Bob and Dennis show up. I cruised into Kentucky grabbing a bonus at the Brushy Mountain Prison, that’s where I first noticed I had the wrong flag (I couldn't figure out why my lettering was backwards but the numbers were correct). My stomach sank thinking that I would be disqualified. After thinking and checking my pictures, I realized that the flag must have been given to me at the banquet by mistake. I called the rally mistress "Lisa", she told me rider 99 had already called and explained to whole thing. She told me to continue collecting bonuses and they would sort it out at the checkpoint. I have to omit she had the perfect time to yank my chain, which I did deserve but she let me off the hook easily. So after a big sigh of relief, off I went to grab the Harlin County Courthouse, Hatfield and McCoy’s historical marker, the strikebreaker historical marker bonus 6 miles away in West Virginia (That section of the ride is not a speed run, the rodes are really twisty. ), Moose Family Center Lodge and Child Enrichment Center (I ran into Dennis again, the guy always has a smile on his face). It was getting pretty late so I waved goodbye to Dennis and off I went, I decided to ride a little longer then grab a hotel close to my next bonus setting up day 3.
August 26-Day 3 I’m on the last day of our leg 1 and feeling pretty good, as I'm walking out of the hotel I saw a couple of other riders bikes. I wanted to get a good start and grab a couple of bonuses before getting to the time bonus at the Sturgis House which was close to the Pennsylvania border this bonus didn’t open until 09:00. I was still having GPS issues but was able to get the first two bonuses Total Waste Logistic Las LLC and the Historical Marker where Pretty Boy Floyd was killed before getting to the Sturgis house. I left the Waste Logistic bonus about the same time as another rider and we happened to both be heading to the Pretty Boy Floyd bonus. I arrived there about the same time as you guessed it Dennis. We were laughing pretty hard while taking our pictures. I again waved and off I went knowing I would see him at Sturgis house. This was a cool stop because there was about 30 riders here (big bonus points) before we started for the checkpoint in St. Charles, IL. I went in purchased my key chain and took my picture of Bob Dillinger’s death mask hanging above the washer in the basement. I talked to Dean who was doing the video for a couple of seconds then I was out of there heading for my last three bonuses before St. Charles. As I was flying down the turnpike across the top of Indiana, I honked as I passed by parents lake cottage. I knew they were up there but just didn't have the time to stop. I bagged the Municipal Airport in La Porte, Drifter’s Restaurant and Lounge and Dillinger’s Museum all in the rain. It started raining as I reached the La Porte and didn’t stop until after I arrived in St. Charles. I arrived in St. Charles about 16:00 three hours before the penalty points were going to start. I was feeling pretty good that I had collected over the 9000 points needed to be on track for finisher status. So when I sat down at the scorers table and presented my pictures and receipts that I collect. I was disappointed that I missed a time stamp on one of my gas receipts costing 50 points. After signing everything, my total for leg 1 was 9349 points 349 points above the finisher level. I decided to double-check everything next time, even though I check my gas receipts as I document them on my log, I somehow missed the time on that receipt. Lesson learned costing 50 points for leg 1. I wasn't even close to the top riders which was ok, my goal was to get the first leg under my belt. I kept telling myself focus on finishing not chasing them.
I then went and doubled checked the bike and the wiring job, I did early to make sure it would hold up for leg 2. It was now about 21:00 so off to bed, we were not going to get our leg 2 bonus packets until 04:00.
Below is the bonus listing for leg1 with a map of my route. The Red locations are the bonus for Leg1.
Leg Bonus Description Points
1 Checkpoint #1, St. Charles, IL
Call-In Bonus 8-25-09 - Leg 1 250
Gas - Leg 1 1000
1 16th St Baptist Church 457
1 Jackson County Courthouse 195
1 O'Kelly Memorial Library 209
1 McCray's Tavern 208
1 Floyd/Chattanooga county line 646
1 Dillinger Museum 144
1 Drifters Restaurant & Lounge 137
1 Municipal airport 141
1 Historical marker 2066 606
1 Harlan County Courthouse 517
1 Sturgis House 1031
1 Total Waste Logistics Las LLC 149
1 Historical marker Calcutta 589
1 BMW Visitor's Center 666
1 Meriwether Lewis National Monument 1014
1 Brushy Mountain Prison 124
1 Moose Family Center Lodge 159
1 Historical marker Matawan 845
1 Child Enrichment Center 162
1 Penalty - Missing odo reading on a fuel log 0 50
1 Arrival Points - Leg 1 100
Totals for leg 1: 9349
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