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| Update | | |
| All of the rally photos from leg 1 and leg 2 are now posted - Just follow the links below. Also posted is the rally route map for the whole rally. If you didn't get a chance to follow along real time during the rally, just click on the "View all Status" link to go back and check out the updates that were posted over the course of the rally. It might be a while before I get around to writing up the full ride report. Thanks for stopping by. |
Andy - 09/12/2007-3:14 PM  Comments (2)
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| Back in Roseau | | |
| I made it back to Roseau on Sunday night and have since been getting caught up with everything I missed while I was gone. I should have some more pictures posted by tomorrow from the second leg and the finish. I'm not sure when I will find time, but I will try to get a full ride report up before I forget all the details. |
Andy - 09/05/2007-1:52 PM Comments (0)
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| The Finish | | |
I rolled in to the finish in St. Louis yesterday morning at 7 AM with a little Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." blasting on the stereo. There were many smiles and cheers as Lead Technical Inspector, Dale Wilson requested that I "turn it up". I get off the bike everyone is asking questions about the ride and the bike, but I only had one thought on my mind - get inside the building to check in and stop the clock. After a brief return to the bike I headed for my hotel room for a shower and the start of the lengthy scoring process. After double and triple checking all of my Polariods, gas receipts and paperwork I was off to the scoring table around 10:15. It was almost noon when I got done with scoring the 41 bonuses I grabbed on this final leg.
The Finisher's Banquet started at 6pm and everyone was eager to know the final standings. Starting at the bottom of the list, Rally Master Lisa Landry would throw in sharp commentary about each of the riders' ride or in some cases painful reminder of mistakes that were made. All said and done I ended up with 283,621 points and 10,552 miles for a 15th place overall. With the cut-off for a Gold Medal Finish at 240,000 points, this gives the first Iron Butt Victory a Gold Medal.
Today I'm off to Waterville, Iowa to visit my friends Grady and Jill Dunham on my way back home to Roseau, Minnesota. Thanks to everyone for all the support and help over the last month preparing for and running this ride. I should have some more photos and maps posted on here over the next few days.
- Andy |
Andy - 09/01/2007-10:59 AM Comments (6)
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| Back in St. Louis, MO | | |
| Just talked to Andy, he made it safely back to St Louis in time for checkin for the completion of the Iron Butt Rally. He should be able to provide more details later of how he did. More to come... |
MillsC - 08/31/2007-10:42 AM Comments (7)
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| Day 9-10 | | |
Since I last spoke to Andy he has been to Livermore, CA - to see the longest continuious running lightbulb, I think he said it has been running for a 100 years. He went to Mt Hamilton, CA - Lick Observatory, then to San Juan Bautista, CA. He went to Yosemite National Park and then to Bishop, CA to spend the night.
day 10
He went to Ancient bristlecone pine forest national park. He got a picture of what is suppose to be the oldest living thing on the planet, which is the Patriarch Tree
that is up a 10 mile dirt road. This was ontop of a mountain that has an elavation of about 11000 Ft. "The road sucked, 10 miles of the worst gravel road that you have ever riden on"
He next went to Death Valley, it was 110 degrees at 10AM and didn't do the other Death valley stops because it would have been too hot.
Next he went to Las Vegas. He mentioned that it was 116 degrees. Yikes thats hot!!
After Vegas he headed to the Grand Canyon, North Rim visitor center and Cape Royale.
After the Grand Canyon he spent the night in Richfield Utah
When I spoke to him he was in Grand Junction, CO
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MillsC - 08/30/2007-11:33 AM Comments (3)
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| Day 8-9 | | |
Andy called today and was in San Francisco, CA. Since being in Craig, CO, he made his way through Nevada, Salt Lake City, and now California.
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MillsC - 08/28/2007-1:35 PM Comments (2)
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| Day 7 | | |
I spoke to Andy today and he made it to his South Dakota destinations and headed to Nebraska after that. He made to to Gering, Nebraska where he met up with another rider and they chatted for a moment to see how things were going and Andy found out he drove through a town that he overlooked a bonus, so since it was not to far out of the way, headed back to pick up the points. His next stop was Casper, Wyoming and said he was going to stop in Craig, Colorado for some sleep.
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MillsC - 08/27/2007-10:08 AM Comments (2)
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| Day 6 | | |
Andy checked in today, he made it to St Louis, MO and today has started the second part of the Iron Butt Rally. When I spoke to him he was in Iowa. He emailed some pictures from the 1st part of the rally, which I have posted here.
Click here for pictures.
More to come... |
MillsC - 08/25/2007-9:56 PM Comments (3)
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| Day 5 | | |
Andy called from Bloomingfield IL and is on his way to St Louis. He made stops in Milwaukee, WI and made it through the crazy traffic in Chicago,IL caused by the bad weather.
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MillsC - 08/24/2007-4:31 PM Comments (2)
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| Day 4 | | |
On Day 4 Andy made it to Grand Marais, MI and is now on his way back to St Louis, MO. More to come when I talk to Andy.
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MillsC - 08/24/2007-11:01 AM Comments (2)
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| Day 3 | | |
Since I last spoke to Andy he made it to Buxton, ME and stopped at Reynolds Motorsports which was one of the bonuses and was required to stay for an hour. They were great there; they had bags of food for everyone. Apples, candy, nutrigrain bars, water etc...
Some of the next stops were Brunswick and Bath, ME.
Andy spent the night in Woodstock, New Brunswick. He got up this morning and got the bonus in Heartland.
His next stop was Perce Rock. He dialed in his GPS to head to Perce Rock or so he thought and started on his way. After awhile he realized he had a major routing problem, and figured he must have fat fingered the GPS coordinates, he went to far north instead of down and around. He ended up going on 45 miles of gravel roads because of this miscalculation. He said this wasn't much worse than some of the other paved roads that he had to go on to get there. There was a lot of construction also, so you can imagine how much fun his 3rd day of sitting on a bike must have been.
Andy got to Perce Rock 1 hour into low tide and got his picture before the tide came back in. If you have read any of the commentary on the ironbuttrally.com website about this bonus, there is only a 2 hour window that anyone can get this bonus. You have to wait until low tide so you can walk across the ocean floor to make it to this rock, set your flag down and take a picture to prove you were there. So you can image that if you screw up and get delayed too much, there goes another 12 hours to wait for the next opportunity. Driving all that way and not getting this bonus could be a big blunder since waiting until the next window of opportunity isn't really an option, because you need to be on your way back to St Louis by Friday. :)
His next stop was Campbellton, New Brunswick for a bonus.
Andy called me in Edmundston, New Brunswick. While talking to him I made sure everything was going ok and how the food was along the way. He said the McDonalds in Erie was good. Everything else has been trail mix and the goodie’s he got in Buxton, ME!!!! He said he grabs a handful of trail mix from his big bag he bought, throws that down the hatch and washes that down with some water. Mmmmm, there's dinner!!!
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MillsC - 08/22/2007-11:46 PM Comments (3)
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| Day 2 | | |
Today Andy called and said it stopped raining today @ 9:30 AM. Hopefully now that its stopped raining he will have a chance to dry out. He stopped last night twice at rest areas to catch some sleep and when he made it to Horseheads, NY, he got a hotel and slept. He has picked up 2 bonuses in New York and is on his way to the next destination.
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MillsC - 08/21/2007-5:32 PM Comments (6)
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| Day 1 | | |
Rain, rain rain..Andy said its raining frogs and lizards. Its been raining all day and everything is wet, gloves, jacket and pants. He has made it to Cleveland for a bonus and is heading onward after he puts on his heated jacket. He picked up a bonus at the arches, and a couple in Ohio. More to come tomorrow.
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MillsC - 08/20/2007-9:56 PM Comments (2)
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| Tic tock, tic tock...... | | |
| Only hours away now. Rider numbers and bonus packs were given out tonight at the opening banquet. I'll be riding with the number 12. The bonus pack is 38 pages long, so there are a lot of options. I have made my choices - I will not be sharing them with anyone. By Friday we will know if they were wise... or not. It's midnight in St. Louis - time for some shut eye. |
Andy - 08/20/2007-12:52 AM Comments (4)
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| Registration Day | | |
I got up early this morning and headed in to the Victory Dealer here in St. Louis for a little PR and to pick up a key blank to make a spare key for the bike. As I was riding from the dealership to the Double Tree Inn (Rally HQ) I find myself being followed very closely by one of St. Louis's finest. He lights of the the cherries - WHAT?!! I wasn't doing anything wrong! He pulls me over, walks up with big smile and appologizes for pulling me over - he wanted to look at the bike. I certainly hope that doesn't happen too many more times over the next two weeks. Anyway, he loved the bike and we stood there and BS'd for a while before I was back on my way.
Rolling in the Rally Headquarters I become the center of attention right away. Everyone wants to look at the bike, sit on the bike, and talk about the bike. Eventually I had to break away and get the registration proccess started. Tech inspection, Odometer accuracy check, drivers license, insurance, vehicle registration, fuel cell, legal waivers, video interviews, and more all need to be taken care of. It turns into a long day of hurry up, and wait in line. Tonight there will be a BBQ and time to socialize. |
Andy - 08/18/2007-4:56 PM Comments (2)
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| Hannibal, MO | | |
| The bike now has new sneakers, fresh oil and a shorter windscreen. Thanks to Kyle, Ward, and Don for all the help today. I stopped in Hannibal, MO for the night. I'm only about 100 miles from Rally Headquarters - a solid 800 mile day plus a successfull pit stop. I'll be up early and rolling into HQ mid-morning. I will do my best to snap some photos of the people and bikes and get them posted before the start of the rally. |
Andy - 08/17/2007-11:24 PM Comments (1)
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| On the Way to St. Louis | | |
| The Iron Butt Rally Officially starts on Monday 8/20, but Andy headed out early this morning (8/17) so he could stop on the way to get the bike checked out and have the oil and tires changed. While he was doing that he had to make some alterations to the windshield to make it shorter, so he could see over it ;). He doesn't plan on riding the whole way to St. Louis tonight, he wants to arrive in the morning. Saturday and Sunday is checkin and registration for the rally and Andy should be able to provide some updates then and get some pictures that can be posted on the website. |
MillsC - 08/17/2007-3:37 PM Comments (2)
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| Iron Butt Rally is coming soon! | | |
| The Iron Butt Rally is held in the United States every two years and is 11 days, 11,000 mile plus marathon. IronButtMills.com will be keeping a detailed account of one of the riders progress. Stay tuned! |
MillsC - 08/12/2007-3:00 PM Comments (4)
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