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Nells was nice enough to play Rudolph for us and light our path in the dark, with his BMW on his way back home. The none raining lasted exactly 1 hour into our ride, at 5:20 it started raining in buckets. Bad morning to be running the leather solo, I was so happy Lee needed gas.

Lessons learned so far:

1. If it might rain throw the rain gear on before hand.
2. Ball point pens don’t write on gas receipts well in the rain.
3. Don’t get gas if you can make the next stop, even if your partner can’t.
4. Keep feet of hi way bars in the rain, those water proof zippers can only hold so much water.

So we continued on to Sioux Falls, SD our first corner stop. We had lost Vern already, as we where pulling out he caught up to us. He told us Nature was calling, damn coffee. As we got back on I-90 the entrance ramp was extremely slippery. Yet another time I was very happy I grew up ridding dirt bikes. I still prefer fish-tailing with my YZ 250 instead of the Intruder.

Lessons learned so far:

5. Entrance and Exit ramps become VERY slippery when wet, especially by big truck stops.

Not much happened on the ride to Jackson other then the rain stopping when we hit the MN border. At Jackson is where the credit card delema came. Due to me using it all over MN and SD the last week they thought it might be stolen, and shut it off. Well I was dealing with this the rest of the group took off, finally I can cruise down the freeway this 65 is driving me nuts.

Lessons learned so far:

6. Carry more then 1 credit card on events such as this.

After leaving Jackson it was my first attempt at playing catch up. Shouldn’t be to bad there 5 minutes ahead of me and cruising 65, should only take an hour to catch them. Well all my Red Bull from so far on this trip decided it wasn’t going to make the Albert Lea stop, the rest area was inevitable. Well there I called the wife for a weather report, she said to keep the rain gear on and ride safe. Albert Lea came and no other scooter’s.
I hit the first gas station, figured Lee would be running low by now. The attendant said I was the first bike she had seen today.

Around Rochester as I’m coming up over a hill I catch a glimpse of 3 bikes a couple miles up ahead. I twist it a little harder and catch up, sure enough it’s the rest of the Britt Butt Bunch. We all wave and give thumbs up but the bad part is, I didn’t catch up in time for the St. Charles gas stop. To make it worse Lee was the one who needed to hit that stop and didn’t. Luckily Nells is somewhat familiar with the area and we found gas at this old garage, it might of been Maybeery I didn’t catch the sign on the way in. He He He!! I do know this though the old guy didn’t want to writeup a receipt with his address and stuff on it, hopefully it will fly with the IBA. Shortly after this stop we where in La Crosse, WI, that was about the time Nell’s waved goodbye and headed for home.

Lessons learned so far:

7. Make sure EVERYONE knows the stops, especially the guy with the smallest tank.

Once reaching Tomah, WI it was time to make one of the corner stops on the route. This was also close to the 1/2 way point 450 miles, it’s 11:30 am and doing great for time. We where doing so good Lee even got off his bike for 15 minutes and ate something. While pumping gas he was having some problems with his credit card, as he was about to give up on the credit card the VERY helpful attendant came out to remind him "You have to pay for that". He obviously has more patience then me because by about the 4th time she said "You have to pay for that I was about ready to slap her. Very politely he responded "Yes ma’am I have full intentions of paying for my gas", he handled her whiny voice better then I would of. Then as we left to get back on I-94 we pulled in the wrong turn lane and Mr. Charm talked a nice young lady into letting us cut in front of her.

Lessons learned so far:

8. You attract more bees with honey then vinegar, or something like that :-)

Somewhere around Eau Claire, WI we run across 2 other people on motorcycles, Harleys I do believe. One of them had those great big handlebars shaped like a horseshoe, Lee took a liking to them right away. He locks his throttle and starts acting like he is riding the guy with the wide handlebars bike. Hands outstretched making big turns and then some sort of flying routine . It was quite humorus from my point of view,

About 2:11 we roll into Barron, WI our third corner stop. Started raining again but we where starting west and on our way back from this wet ride. Nothing to exciting happened until we hit the MN border. After climbing the hill heading west on HWY 95 we ran into something we hadn’t seen much of on this trip, the sun trying to peak it’s way through the clouds. We are only 600 miles into this trip and we are going to finally see the sun, the day is looking up.

We stopped for gas just west of Cambridge, MN around 3:30. The Triumph wasn’t liking all this wet weather, it had been running rough for a while. Lee Asked if we would be driving by Brett Donahue’s shop, I said yes right by it, can’t miss it. He was going to stop and see if he could get some plugs. I told him once we hit St. Cloud, MN you go to Donaue HD and I’m stopping home to change pants. I’ll catch up with you in Sauk Centere or Fergus Falls. Little did I know once we hit St. Cloud and went our separate
ways this would be the last I see of them until Watertown, SD.

I arrived at my house around 4:20 it was nice to get out of my wet jeans. The Joe Rockets did good for the most part but in that heavy rain in SD, they leaked through the zipper. After changing clothes grabbed something to munch on quick, slam another red bull. Left a quick note on the GLMC board to let everyone know Lunatic had made 700 miles on the Triumph and still going strong. Next thing I know it’s 4:50 I have been screwing around for 30 minutes I’m WAY behind!! Catching them in Sauk Centere, MN isn’t going to happen and Fergus Falls, MN isn’t looking good either. I hit I-94 west and throw it in cruise mood, I know there stopping twice that is 20 minutes at least. I figure I can stop once and make Fargo, ND from St. Cloud. There only going 65 so by cruising 70 and avoiding a stop I should be able to
catch up by Fargo, ND.

I roll into Alexandria, MN a little after 6 PM, been riding the last hour with out the rain gear to let my leather dry off a bit, but it’s looking cloudy up towards ND. I put the rain gear back on get gassed up and hit the road. Then comes the inevitable, summer time in MN, road construction.

I-94 is down to 1 lane in both directions, argh I’m back down to 55. Pretty hard to play catch up at that speed. We where doing really good though almost
800 miles into it before hitting any major construction. After running through the construction zone I was able to get back up to cruising speed.

After all that I figured for sure no point at looking for them in Fergus Falls there long gone by now, I’ll just shoot for seeing them in Fargo. As I roll into ND it starts sprinkling again, is MN the only state I can ride in today without getting wet??? I stop for gas at the first gas station on I-29, last corner marked. We are now on the home stretch, hip hip hooray. I wasn’t in a real big hurry at this gas stop, figured hang out for a bit see if there around. No luck, I’ll continue onward they must still be ahead of me. I’m never going to hear the end of it "the little bike with the smaller tank beat you back. Rider experience like I have been telling you all along". With this wringing in my ears I headed out of town about 7:45.

As I got out of town I realized the speed limits are much nicer in ND then MN, cool I can make some tracks and hopefully not be to far behind. I have never totally ran my Intruder out of gas, and I have used the reserve tank once, so the exact range I’m not totally sure of. Guessing between 135-150 miles depending on conditions. I do some quick math and figure I’m about 140 miles from Watertown, SD at this point. I don’t know the Dakotas to well should I push it and gain another 10 minutes or possibly walk the last 2 miles?? As I near Siston, SD our last scheduled gas stop. I decide after 16.5 hours on the bike today I’m not in the mood for a hike to end the day, so I pull in and gas up. Pull up to the pumps and it doesn’t take credit cards and it’s a pre pay after dark and I’m at the closest pump to the door. I thought I was in SD not Minneapolis. I walk in the cashier said he would turn the pump on for me no need to pre pay, so I went back out and gassed up. When I went back in to pay, didn’t need another Tomah incident, I asked the attendant if he had seen any other bikers go through recently.He had only been there for a hour but had seen no one. I know they aren’t that far
ahead of me, I start thinking did I actually get ahead of them??? I wander back out to the bike I wanted to slam another red bull for the home stretch but there was to much "trouble wandering around outside, I just wanted to get to Watertown.

After hitting the road just before 9 PM I deiced to try out my heat vest for the first time. WOW was I impressed those things rock. It made that last hour fly by. I pull into the shell Station where we are to meet and nobody is there. I get my gas receipt and take down my mileage officially ending my SS1000 at 9:40 PM with 1034 miles. After doing this I try calling Verns cell phone, no answer and no voicemail. Then I try Lees home number Donna answers and hasn’t heard from them yet. I’m in shock I actually beat them back, the Intruder prevails!! Upon finding this out I run back to my motel quick to ditch some stuff and have a celebratory Beverage for completing my first SS1000. I head back to the gas station a little after 10pm and there is Lee and Vern gassing up. Lee tells me to gas up to stop the clock, I replied I did half hour ago". We all congratulated each other then it was off to Lee’s house for a ending witness. As we pull out of the gas station the Triumph decides it has went far enough today and wants a break, right there along side HWY 212, with less then 4 miles to go to have a nice long nap. Seeing as how the photo opps where few and far between I had to get the camera out for this. Lee and myself kicked on that thing for over 15 minutes