My second Saddle Sore 1000.

Here is a reprint of my second Saddle Sore 1000 from the Iron Butt.org General Discussion Forum.

Ok, so I get this really good idea to leave Thursday afternoon (3/9/06) to attempt a BBG ALL within the state of Illinois. Well the big day finally comes, I get the bike ready with a 6k mile service, carefully pack any tool I might need on the side of the road, turn off the pager. The time has come. I look out the door and rain. I check the weather channel and web and the forecast is rain until about 1 am then clears for at least 24 hours. I decided to go for it. I leave at 7 pm. Hit the road. BUT, I get stuck behind farmer Joe. (You see in order to do a full 15k miles without re-using any roads really takes some doing and some riding on a couple of two lanes. Well here I am hunkered down driving a good 5 to 10 mph under the speed limit the rain is getting harder and the temperature drops. I finally get to Peoria already a good thirty minutes behind schedule. I realize that although I have enough tools to rebuild the bike I forgot to pack extra socks. So at the second truck stop I give in. (One might think a truck stop would stock necessities like socks!) I turn for home. I arrive back in Jacksonville at about midnight having traveled only a mere 200 miles. I dry off and go to bed feeling defeated. Upon getting up the next morning I'm not only upset about not getting my ride but the sun is shinning as bright as ever. It only took me one cup of coffee before I madly hit the map program, call the wife, and I'm off on a shorter but Illinois only Saddle Sore.



As you can see I chose this time to stick to the interstates so I create a sloppy figure 8. I head out at 10 the next morning to try again.

As for the actual ride itself it was rather uneventful. But as I rode I welcomed spring in many ways. First, I noticed the smell. Smell tells you a lot about seasons that you can never get in a car. It smelled like pre-spring. You know you could smell the mud and last harvests corn stalk stubs beginning to turn to mulch. The Hawks were out having a late morning hunt. And of course, just to add a touch of difficulty, that great rite of passage—Spring Break. The roads were packed with kids heading home for Spring Break. I had to stay on my toes in that many seemed to be in a hurry. My favorite was a little white car with two young ladies in it. The passenger bent in half with her feet on the dash. (Ok now stop that! I'm a married man and a preacher!) The reason I remember them is because they had this real knack for getting stuck behind trucks while everyone else passed. However when they finally found the left lane they would hit it like Bo and Luke in a Dukes re-run. I guess they passed me at least four times in a hundred miles on I-80.

Well the ride goes well—I know what you're thinking, "too well". And you are right. I realize that I'd cut about 40 miles off of my ride by bypassing Chicago and turning south off I-80 directly on I-57 south. Quickly at my stop at East St. Louis I re-work my trip and decide to hit I-74 for a little detour back up through Peoria. Sounds good all I need is a gas stop to show my turn off 74 onto I-155. But Noooooo, every station I found on I-155 all the way down to Lincoln is closed, but not only closed the pumps are closed as well, I didn't know that was true anymore. The real kicker is that in Eureka, about 10 miles out from I-155 was a really nice new Shell station that I noticed because I wished it was closer to Peoria. Unfortunately I needed that stop to document my detour. So I get home around 2:20 am.

Hopefully, I have documented enough to complete the ride which according to my speedometer was right at 1023 miles and my MS Maps & Streets was 1006. So if my documentation is correct and someone hasn't beaten me to the punch (Yes, I checked the current ride report) I have now completed the first ever IL-1000.

But even if it doesn't meet the criteria, more importantly, I have welcomed Spring in only the way we know how!

Pappy