After doing some reading up on the SS1000, I figured I'd need to allow at least 18 hours for the ride, and since the BBO group was meeting around 7 p.m. for supper, I decided to leave town around 10 p.m. on Thursday night.
My brother lives about 5 miles from where I work, so I went directly to his house on Thursday, and flaked out on the couch. The kids were gone and the house was clean and quiet, thanks to my sis in law, Monique. Grant had the boys with him, and they swung by to pick up Monique for supper, and I was alone in the house. I know I drifted off sometime around 4:45, and woke up at 6:30ish. From that point until 10:30, I did no more than a light snooze for maybe another cumulative hour, and laid there at 10:30 when my cell phone alarm went off, wondering if I was actually going to do this thing.
I'd wanted to get on the road by 10, but the later it got and I wasn't actually sleeping, I set the alarm out a little bit. And then around 10, a very active thunderstorm rolled through, and I wasn't about to leave in something like that. Finally, around 10:45, I decided to get up and see how I felt after getting the last stuff packed up. I wondered if my brother and family would be back before I left (they were having a laaaate supper), but they came in about 5 after 11, when I was almost finished with the last packing.
The boys started peppering me with questions about my gear, my route, my plan, and wished me well as I walked out the front door to my bike at 11:20. The rain had subsided to a moderate drip, but I was all geared up for it, so I got on the bike and headed to my first fuel stop, the receipt of which would be my official start time. When the receipt printed, it was 23:30 on the nose, and I headed out. I had a Starbucks DoubleShot before I left, and had a container of water, along with some 'Energy' trail mix (fruit and dried nuts). I'd had a huge lunch (Chipotle burrito) and no supper, deciding to keep it light for the trip.
Once out on the road, I felt pretty good, so when I had to pass within two miles of my house, I wasn't tempted at all to bail. The drizzle kept up until I got closer to the NC line, but once past that, I was done with the rain for that trip. There was a good bit of traffic out there through the wee small hours, and not all of it belonging to big trucks. My first stop for fuel was just north of Knoxville on I-75, about 180 miles and 3 hours into the trip. Bathroom break, drink of water, snack break and I was back on the road within 20 minutes of stopping. Even with the rain being gone, I left my rain gear on as a wind block layer going through the mountains, and was glad to have the ability to use my heated hand grips.
The next stretch of road was the one where I got the sleepies on this trip. Just before Lexington, I was getting worn out, largely due to having to ride through miles and miles of dense fog. Radar has to be on high alert for this, and it took its toll. I was about to pull off for a stretch break when I saw a sign that Lexington was only about 39 miles away, so I punched my leg a few times, took some deep breaths and pushed on to Lexington. I stopped for fuel on the north side of town again, another 180 miles into my trip, and three more hours gone. This time, I drank and ate a little more and didn't push the stop so much. It still wasn't much more than 20 minutes, but when I got back on the road around 5:45, I felt much better. Cincinnati was only about 90 miles away, and from there I took a left toward Indianapolis.
This is when the beautiful thing happened...sunrise. The fields were all covered in low lying fog as the sun came up, bu
t once it rose and burned all of that off, my body started to feel awake all over. I remember being part-way to Indy and thinking, "Huh, I sure don't feel like I've been riding the bike for the past 7 hours..." Yee haw!Now, when I got to Indianapolis, I did a little bit of creative navigation. I hadn't brought a map on this trip, although I'd looked at my route online before leaving. I couldn't remember the number of the interstate I needed to get to Michigan, but figured it was 65, since the loop around Indy is 465, and I knew it shot off of there. I also remembered from googlemaps that they did not route me on 465, but took me into downtown and then out a northeasterly direction to get onto the interstate to Michigan.
Having that thought in my head, and seeing signs that advertised a lot of construction and slow down on the NE quandrant of 465, I opted to go into downtown and just pick up 65 from there instead of looping. Within an exit or two, I decided that probably wasn't the best plan, and was about to swing back around on the loop, when I saw signs for 65. Ah well, I thought I couldn't have lost too much time, so I kept going toward 65. Now, mind you, it's Friday morning at 8 a.m. when I'm negotiating rush hour traffic in Indianapolis, after having been on the bike for over 8 hours and going on around 3 hours of sleep.
The problem shortly came up that I-65 was not the interstate I needed, because it was heading northwest to Chicago instead of northeast to Michigan. I decided to stop at the next exit where I saw a gas station to look at a map, but it was a few miles up the road before I saw one to get off. Fueled the bike, parked it by the store, went in for a bathroom break, and then came out to look at a map. Except they didn't sell maps. I asked the lady behind the counter if they sold them, and she said no. She then asked where I was trying to go, and I told her I needed the interstate going to Michigan. That would be I-69, and all I had to do was go up one more exit and I'd hit the loop (465 again). Follow that east and it would take me to 69. At least I hadn't gone way past access to 69, but looking at the map after I'm back, that little detour added, oh, about 30 miles to the day.
Finally back on my way, I headed up 69 to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Not much going on
up on that side of the state. A bit of road construction, but that's about it. When I crossed over the Michigan line, I started looking for fuel again. Pulled off in Coldwater, and once again had a map quandary. They had maps, but only localized ones that didn't cover the area I needed. I asked the girl behind the counter if she knew where
Albion was. Nope. Went back to the map display, hoping I'd somehow missed a map of Michigan. Nope. Asked a lady stocking milk if she knew how to get to Albion, and struck pay dirt. Twenty five more miles up 69 and hang a right on 94 towards Detroit. About 10 miles down the road is the sign for Albion.Once in town, it was time to find the plant I was going to. I knew the address, but hadn't looked how to get there. I knew Albion was small, and was hoping to stumble across the right street. Didn't happen, so I parked, getting ready to make a phone call, and a guy was walking around a pickup in front of me. I asked him if he knew where East North Street was, and sure enough, he did. It was a straight shot up the street I was on, which ended in a T at North Street. Turn right and you're on the eastern half of the street and about 10 blocks down was the plant where I was due to meet with a co-worker for lunch.
I'd told Bill I'd be there between 11 and 12, but with my later start from Greenville, it was 12:30 when I finally got there. This was my first long break of the day to get away from the bike, and it was nice. The facility is a fiberglass plant, and I got a quick tour of the offices before heading out to lunch. Eating only fruit and nuts for the previous 600 miles had me kind of peckish at that point. It was good to go to the local dive and get a half a turkey sub. Once back at the office, I printed out directions (yes) to get to my final location in Dayton, and got back on the road around 2:30. It was a quick shot back to the interstate and more construction on the way across to Detroit.
Before the city proper, though, I headed south on 275, stopping off in Carleton to fuel up and see one of Guardian's float glass plants. I didn't have time for a tour, nor had I been able to coordinate anything like that, so I settled for a few pictures from the outside, and then rode on. Further south and I picked up 75, going through Toledo and then finally to Dayton.
By the time I was getting into the city, I was bopping along on my bike, singing and swerving and probably causing
lots of consternation in nearby cars. I got off at the exit for the hotel and turned left to get my final gas station receipt (and official end time) before heading back to the right so I could check in. While I was waiting at the light to cross over to the hotel, I saw this line of motorcycles filing onto the interstate, and I knew it had to be the BBO group heading to supper. The original itinerary had them leaving for supper around 7, and it was about 7:15 at this point.I changed lanes to get into the interstate entrance ramp and raced off to catch them. Nearly overshot the exit I needed, but got off in time, tagging in at the end of the snaky line of bikes waiting to turn onto the main road. At the next light where the bikes were stopped again, I rolled forward into the peripheral view of the last rider, who was Mel, the cruise director/event coordinator for the weekend, and I flipped my visor up. She looked over, looked at my bike and back and me and hollered out, "Krystn??!!" I nodded and got officially included in the ride to the restaurant where the 20 or so bikes parked in a back lot.
When I got off, Mel announced my arrival, and a few folks immediately asked if I was able to get the Iron Butt ride done. I gave that an affirmative and a cheer went up. One rider came over and gave me a hug, who I later learned was a guy from the BBO website (MN_Smurf) who thinks the riding I do is cool, and who I'd asked to be my end 'witness' for the ride. His wife and kids were there as well, and at supper I sat with folks that I knew by screen name, but not much else, and it was neat to match up name and person. Finally figured out this one guy's screen name (that I pronounce something like yimmidibidu), and one guy across the table (Suomi) had read about the trip to Colorado and commented some about the sights and the lovely house I stayed at in Aspen :)
The restaurant was a BBQ place and the food was good, fast and hot. I didn't have any room for ice cream afterwards, but stood outside talking with some of my supper folks. I mentioned to Smurf that my chain was sounding pretty clackety and looked loose (although I had it adjusted a week before I left and lots of slack taken out), and asked if there would be someone who might be able to adjust it among the many wrenches attending the rally. He assured me it would be taken care of (which was a relief) and we all headed back to the hotel right around dusk.
I changed clothes and filled out the witness form for Smurf (aka Brian) to fill out. Mingled outside some, meeting a few new folks, but finally had to call it a day around 11:15. Went upstairs to shower a couple dozen hours of grime off me and got the light out right around midnight.
Thus ended day one.
Oh yeah, I forgot. 1,060 miles ridden per googlemaps (including my creative route in Indy)
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