After finding out that I was drawn out of the lottery for the Big Show, The Iron Butt Rally itself, and that I was going to me riding a bike I had not spent any time on.

Besides the fact I had not done, until this even a multi day ride of Iron Butt Association proportions.  I found out about the Motor Cycle Tourer’s Forum Poker Run from Hell, which was a 5 day 5000 mile ride around each of the great lakes plus a “transition ride” would net me an IBA certificate for a SS5K, and a great opportunity to do a multi day on my new Sportster®.

As usual for me I was not prepared well in advance and did not button up the bike until 10:00 the night before I had to ride over to Dundee MI for the start.  Things I did to the bike can be seen on My 05 IBR bike page.  But a quick synopsis of things I did to it the week before I left.  I finished mounting the panniers, made and mounted the fuel cell. Installed the Rick Mayer Cycle seat, made and installed a bar for the GPS which integrated the mounts for the KC HID Hilites I mounted along with the ballasts for them. Wired the J&M CB audio system, hard wired the GPS, XM radio, and Radar detector. Oh yea and changed the final drive pulley and belt. 

So at 9:30pm on Saturday the 14th I go to the shop to pick up my bike and make sure I have all of my riding gear out of the Barney Glide, and I realize that I had not mounted any highway pegs on it.  So at 10:45 I finally have those installed along with a oil changed packed on the bike, since it only had 185 miles on it I should probably change the oil at some time this week.  So I set the alarm for 3:30 so I can get a few hours sleep then head over to the starting point of this ride.  It does help if after you set the alarm that you actually turn it on.  So I woke up at 5:30 kissed the wife and ran out the door which put me on the road at 6:30 and into Dundee somewhere around 10.

Arriving at the hotel Don Braziel and Alan Leduc were there to start me off with the forms for Monday.  After checking in and getting some food I found a disposal site across the street for the oil and rounded up a container for the oil and managed to gouge the crap out of my primary cover trying to get the filer loose without the proper tool.  After that struggle and getting the oil changed, I cleaned up and hit the sack. 

Day one, the lower lakes

Got up around 6:30 went next door and had some breakfast, looked over my route, realized that I had left my passport at home, (which would be helpful for multiple border crossings over the next few days).  Back to the hotel toss my stuff into the bags and head for Detroit.  Official Start time approximately 7:45 Monday morning, which means I need to finish the next 5 days of 1000 mile + loops by 7:45 Saturday morning.

Riding by myself on Monday I had about a 20 minute wait at the border with no issues getting into Canada but all day I would worry about getting back into the USA.  With tighter border security I was a little nervous about getting back in, especially without any proof of residency.  I rode Canadian 401 from Detroit / Windsor across Ontario through London, Toronto, Belleville, and Kingston, and then crossed back over into the U.S. at the top of Interstate 81.  On the Canadian side I really expected to have some great scenery but on the section of 401 between Detroit and Toronto it was pretty flat farm land.  The scenery was better along the north side of Lake Ontario but the really cool looking stuff was at the 1000 islands area where I crossed back over into the U.S. 

Riding over the bridge there I saw hundreds of houses on these little islands and boats running around, beautiful trees, it looked like a mountainous U.S. version of Venice. Followed 81 south past my friend and fellow dealers shop in Adams Center New York then Down to Syracuse and then back west on I-90 toll way.  The ride back across NY was uneventful which is good, of course there is not a lot of scenery from the toll way but up state NY is pretty.  I followed I-90 through the corner of PA and across northern Ohio through Cleveland and over to Toledo and back to Dundee MI.  And while I was doing that I also discovered a slight drip of oil under the primary cover.  Upon returning to Dundee I discovered a slight drip of oil under the primary cover.  Damn Harley’s <grin>!

End of Day one Miles ridden 1035

Day two transition ride

Because the lower lakes were combined into one 1000 mile ride the MTF added a “transition” ride which took us from the first starting hotel to the Best Western in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan which is a very good central location for the rest of the rides.  So to go from Dundee MI to Sault Ste. Marie MI we first went south to Lexington, KY then west to Louisville, KY then north to Indianapolis, up I-69 to Fort Wayne IN up to Lansing MI then up 127 where it connects to I-75 in northern MI and on to Sault Ste. Marie. 

So after grabbing some breakfast and getting my days info from the rally masters I checked out and got ready to ride. When I was just about ready to leave the hotel there happened to be another rider leaving at the same time.  Jack, and I apologize for not remembering his last name, he is riding a BMW GS1150 which is one of those adventure touring bikes.  He has a 2004 H-D® Ultra and this GS which are both 2004 models and they each have over 30,000 on each.  He is in the process of doing an IBA certified 100,000 miles in a year.  Oh yeah and he is 70+ years old.  VERY IMPRESSIVE!  I hope I can ride as good as him when I am over 70.  Upon our first fuel stop I noticed that the drip of oil coming from the primary was happening consistently.  So out with the tool kit to tighten the primary cover screws, they all seemed tight so I hoped that was the issue and put everything away.  We rode a pretty good pace all day.  The ride down to Lexington, we stopped when Jack needed fuel which was just short of the mandatory stop in Georgetown KY.  Each time when we stopped after that I noticed a small drip of oil. Darn that was not the problem. Oh well nothing I can do about it now. 

On the mandatory stop we ran into another rider riding a K75. We rode together kind of over to Louisville then turned north toward Memphis, IN which was our second mandatory stop on this ride.  We decided to get off the bikes for a few minuets there before heading north. Had some munchies and used the facilities.  After we got north on Lansing and around the junction of I-75 and US 27 or 127 which ever they are calling it now, Jack and I stopped to eat some dinner,  Bobs Big boy and a sit down dinner with a salad, YUM!  And the bonus was it didn’t take but about 20 min from the time we got off the bikes till the time we got back on.  On to Sault Ste. Marie, the sun setting and minimal traffic gave us the opportunity to use the kick butt KC Daylighter lighting on the Sportster®.  We could see everything plenty in advance and were able to continue to make good time even after dark.  After floundering in my bags trying to get a system down for clothes to take in and bring out in the morning, the least amount to carry and such. I think that I might have a system down.  I then checked into the hotel cleaned up and got some sleep.

On my GPS I totaled the times and average speeds and only shut off the GPS when I was in the hotel at night.  For the most part I slept about 5-6 hours each night so those hours are not in the totals.  And each days ride times and speeds include the previous day/s.


End of Day two.  Miles ridden 1016
              Avg. driving speed 70.1
             Overall Avg. speed 60.9   
             Total time 29:16
             Stopped time 4:26

     
Day Three Lake Michigan

On day three I was up later than I wanted to be and I was really getting worried about my oil leak. Plus it was EXTREEMLY foggy on this morning.  I headed south out of Sault Ste. Marie and Turned west on MI 28 over to McMillian.  Then south to US2 which took me all the way over to Delta, MN and then south on MI-35 to Menominee.  Not too far out of Sault I realized that my map only showed one mandatory fuel stop and it was really close to the finish for the day.  So I stopped early to call the Rally masters and verify.  No answer so I kept moving and worrying about my oil leak and the fact that I was going to have over 6500 miles on my transmission fluid for the initial break in. 

When I got to the Menominee area I stopped for fuel and had to lose a layer as the fog had lifted and the sun was shining.  While stopped I called a fellow dealer in Thiensville WI and set up a pit stop to change the primary gasket and sportrans fluid.  The Houpt’s were great and had a lift waiting.  Wheeled in and having the tech look at it discovered that it was not the primary gasket but the starter gasket on the back side of the primary.  No time to fix that and after checking the fluid lever we discovered that I was only loosing a very slight amount of oil so let her buck. Changed the Sportrans oil and ride on, of course this put me even a little later than I wanted  to be, which put me in early rush hour in Chicago.  Oh well nothing I can do about it but ride on.

 As I was getting to Chi town and pulling up to the first toll plaza I reached into my pocket to pull out some change and proceeded to throw my bag of receipts out into Chicago rush hour traffic.  For those not acquainted with documented long distance riding, good receipts are the way to verify the rides, so losing a bag of receipts is a really bad thing.  Luckily there was no one behind me and I was able to stop on the median, run out into traffic to grab my receipts.  Whew that was a relief.  Even though I was stuck in rush hour traffic it kept moving pretty well.  I only had about 20 minuets of stop and go traffic.  Across the skyway again and into Indiana, I was getting hungry but it seemed like every place I stopped or was going to stop had lines and I was not going to wait to eat junk food.  I grabbed some food at a gas station and kept moving.

 Riding alone it was a little easier to make time as I never had to stop for fuel before either my bladder was full or I needed to eat, restroom and or whatever.  Over 400 miles of range with the fuel cell sure is nice.  I-94 east all the way to Battle Creek then north to Lansing on I-69, east on I-69 to Flint then north on I-75.  Late in the day I got a message back that the map was correct with only one Mandatory stop.  Exit 279 On I-75 was the only one.  I stopped there and had to take a break as this was a longer day than I had planned, plus I was riding into a heavily wooded area the rest of the way to Sault.  And it was getting damp again, not raining yet but definitely had in recent time.  Followed the rain all the way in and heard when I got up the next morning that one rider had to get someone to haul his bike across as the rain was coming down so hard he couldn’t see and the metal bridge was very slippery when wet.

End of Day Three:  Miles ridden   1044
                Driving avg.   69
                Overall avg.    59.5
                Riding time.    44:55
                Stopped time   7:08

Day Four Lake Huron.

Waiting too long to do this part of report is creating some memory issues, lack of is the issue.  Leaving the Hotel once again and headed for Canada this time.  Crossing the border at Sault Ste. Marie was about the same with my passport as it was without.  Other than I was later than normal and I ended up having to wait in line for almost a half an hour.  After that I headed east out of Sault on the Trans Canadian hwy 17.  Along the north side of Lake Huron was fairly sparse with some nice scenery, plenty of road construction but only minor delays.  Then over to Sudbury and North Bay for the mandatory stop at that corner of the route.  I  put in 22.59 Liters of fuel called home, got some munchies, stretched a little before getting back on the bike to head south toward Toronto on Canadian Hwy 11 which took me south to Canadian Hwy 400.  This area reminded me of home.  Lots of woods and ag land.  South through Sundridge, Huntsville, and Orilla before I started getting into the northern Suburbs of Toronto. 

Coming Into Toronto and trying to keep up with traffic and pay attention to the signs and my GPS map I managed to turn onto the wrong exit ramp which happened to be a toll way on top of it.  I did manage to get to the first exit, turn around and get back on course without having to pay a toll but still wasting valuable time, as I was already going to be in rush hour traffic in Toronto.  And as I got into the heart of Toronto I noticed that I was going West on the same route that we were going east on the first day.  Which made me really happy since the traffic going the other way was the worst I had seen in quite some time.  On my side it wasn’t much better but at least I was still moving.  Listening to the Truckers in traffic is always entertaining.  Who can drive better than the rest, who is gonna beat the crap out of who trash talking.  That kept me preoccupied while stuck it slow and go traffic.  After getting out of that jam, somewhere still close to Toronto I stopped for the mandatory stop.  Got off the freeway into what looked like a residential area with one gas station.

I fueled up and asked how to get back to the freeway.  Back tracking 6 blocks through multiple lights and I was back underway.  Traffic had freed up pretty good and I found a rabbit, mom in a soccer van that must drive that stretch every day.  With her running screen I made up some lost time from the traffic earlier.  I was starving at this point and fading fast so I pulled off the freeway and went into McDonalds and got a burger and a coke, used the facilities, washed up.  While sitting in the McDonalds with my Stich on, I got quite a few looks from the locals.  After that I stretched a little and headed west again.

From there it was pretty much clear sailing across Ontario. I tuned into XM traffic and weather and Detroit was not sounding very good for the crossing.  This got me slightly concerned until I reviewed the plan and it was routed north of Detroit through Sarnia.  No issues getting back into the US for the last time.  Onto I-69 headed west toward Flint, got hooked up behind a youngster flying on I-69 and made good time.  At Flint I turned north on I-75 with light traffic moving along briskly and clearing out as I continued north to Bay City and beyond.  As I got further north the sun was setting and I was again very thankful for the KC daylighter setup I have on the front of the Sportster.  As far as riding goes this ride was more intimidating before I started than the actual ride itself was.  I am tired but not really fatigued.  By this point in the 5 day ride I have figured out where the troopers hang out along the I-75 stretch and I had also figured out that they really don’t care much about your speed up to at least 20 over posted.  I was running at 10-15 over and had cars whiz by me regularly in the speed trap zones with the detector going off and the cops never even flinched.  The cars were much more comfortable at those speeds than me with all the critters in the area.  Still I made good time.  Day 4 in the books.

End of Day Four:  Miles ridden   1012
                Driving avg.   68.7
                Overall avg.    59.9
                Riding time.    59:47
                Stopped time   8:49

Day Five Lake Superior.

The longest day with some slow going two lane roads with some really spectacular scenery.  I have lived in Minnesota my whole life and until the summer of 2003 I had never been past Duluth.  In 03 I spent a weekend in Grand Marais and did a little riding locally.  So this was my first ride around the greatest of the great lakes.  As I took off in the morning it was crisp and clear with no bad weather in sight.  I crossed over the border with no issues.  The ride started by going through Sault Saint Marie and North on the Trans Canadian Highway 17 some nice scenery and a quiet Friday morning on the roads through town. 

I was fearful of getting over to the Duluth area in the afternoon evening because of the traffic issues with Minnesotan’s going up north for the weekend.  Started a little later than I would have liked but figured by riding alone I will be able to make decent time.  A few miles into the ride I noticed in the mirror a dark sport touring bike.  Wanting to ride alone I wicked it up a notch trying to out pace the other rider without going too far over the posted speed.  Along this section of road there are a lot of curves and hills, so I would see him back there from time to time.  He kept coming so I figured if he wants to ride at the same pace as me I will let it happen otherwise I can use him as a rabbit.  As he got closer I figured out that he really was one of the riders on this ride which I had assumed from the get go. Scott Brown out of  His CB didn’t work very well so we didn’t get much of a chance to talk while riding but we shared similar riding style which ended up being a blessing for me as the day went on. 

We hooked up and rode a good pace to the first fuel stop if I remember correctly in was near Marathon Ontario.  We talked briefly and kept moving.  The next stop was going to be in Thunder Bay for a mandatory fuel stop.  We decide to grab a quick bite to eat here too.  Saw a few bikes just finishing fueling and headed out.  We scoot down the road a block or two for a sandwich, can’t remember now if is was a Burger King or Arby’s oh yes it was an Arby’s because they didn’t have potato cakes there, so I ended up getting fry’s instead.  After having lunch a getting back on the road we had great weather and beautiful scenery all the way to Duluth.

Definitely going to go back and take some time to enjoy the scenery around the north side of Superior.  We made it through customs with no issues and stopped to pull the V-1 out of the bottom of the bag and put it back on the bike.  It was really entertaining over the past week to see the expression on the customs officers when I told them what my destination was and how long I was going to be in Canada each day.  Along the north shore in Minnesota the trees and colors were something along with the vistas of Lake Superior.  As we got closer to Duluth I noticed that we were going to be going through there a little too close to rush hour time for my comfort level.  But not a whole lot we could do about it.  Good thing was that all of the Traffic was going north and we were headed south.  And there is a lot of new 4 lane highway along there which kept the pace brisk. 

Into Duluth through town and to the 2 mandatory stop at the Super America, made a couple of phone calls and grabbed a couple of snacks, fresh water etcetera.  Wow I am only 3 hours from my own bed now…..  oooh how tempting.  But NO I am close to finishing now and feeling pretty damn good.  We head east through Superior Wisconsin fearing all of the notes on the construction in the area but breezed right through.  Just followed the signs and headed out of town on US2 which was going to take us half way across northern Wisconsin.  The ride across WI was uneventful but as we got into the UP of Michigan at dusk I started to scan for critters.  This was the scariest part of the ride. 

We were riding with Scott on point on the center line with me trailing just enough on the white line so I wouldn’t blind him in his mirrors.  It is dusk following and catching a small group of cars, 3 or 4 of them.  Up a long grade with new black asphalt, just the time I really struggle with vision.  This section had a slow truck lane, Scott stayed hugging the center line and I move over to the right lane.  As we approached the crest of the hill I noticed what looked like a funky shadow,  I tried my hardest to figure out what it was but just couldn’t get it in focus until it was too late. 

Just as I figured out what it was I key the mike to tell Scott “MOOSE!” And we were past it.  He went under the nose and I went under the tail.  If either one of us would have stuck our hand out toward each other we would have hit it.  Good thing he didn’t scare the crap out of it because I would have caught the crap myself.  It was THAT close.  As Scott went under his nose I saw the moose slip trying to run…..then I was past. 

Man I thought to my self that was just a little one and his back was as high as our helmets.  That would not have been pretty.  Needless to say after that and this was just at the start of dusk time we knocked the speed down a couple of notches and decided to get something to eat and wait for the sun to go all the way down so we could really use the lights we have.  We stopped at a little pub and grub and when we walked in we got the look from the locals.  Two guys in what looks like snow mobile suits riding motorcycles on a cold night with a few hundred miles to go after 5 days of riding and we were probably still white as a ghost from our moose encounter.  The bar flies told us that that was a transplanted moose and sightings along that stretch were somewhat regular. 

A little hot dinner and off and running again, now it is after dark and the KC Daylighters are doing there job, and Scott’s PIAA 910’s are working well.  We didn’t encounter any more critters that I recount, and as I said earlier I was glad to be riding with someone that night.  Having someone to run with takes some stress and eye fatigue away from me and I can pay better attention to the road and ditches.  Good thing we didn’t run into any local LEO’s as we went through some small towns at a pretty brisk pace.  We got in sometime after midnight and turned in our paperwork. I slept well and too long as I missed some of the BS sessions on Saturday morning.  Later the Lunch banquet was nice to relax with some of the riders and of course my Sportster was one topic of conversation.  What a great ride and a perfect shake down run for the Sporty for next years running in THE Iron Butt Rally. 

End of Day Five:    Miles ridden   1055 for the day
                Driving avg.   67.9 for the 5 days
                Overall avg.    58.5 for the five days
                Riding time.    76:09 for the five days   
                Stopped time   12:16 for the five days   
                Total GPS time  88:26 I did not leave the GPS on overnight.

Day 6 the ride home

After the banquet everyone left and here I was with a room for Saturday night also, and too close to check out time to be ready to go.   I asked for a late check out and they were very accommodating letting me shower and pack up past normal late check out time.  I thought I could ride there and surprise my cousin that was getting married.  I came to realize that they were on a boat on the St.Croix river so that wasn’t going to work.  Oh well.  The ride home was somewhat eventful, in the town of Hurley, yes IN town in the middle of the day, I just about hit a fawn.  Before that I was running down the highway with what looked to be a college student going home or to school she was in a hurry and I thought I would just tag along for a while.

We got caught up in some traffic and I took the opportunity to pass her and kept right on boogying.  Only to find Mr. Michigan State trooper in a Jeep behind another car that tagged me at to much over, I can’t and don’t want to remember but it was like 17 over or something.  He only tagged me for 10 over but still it sucked.  $100.00 bond or sacrifice my actual drivers license card,  funny how the bond ended up being the fine and I never saw another piece of paper or anything from the State of Michigan….HMMM?  Anyway I got home at like 11:00 that night and my wife rolled in just a short time after me, I hadn’t even unpacked the bike yet. 

So in a week I put on 6300 miles approximately overall, and I had a great time and really learned a lot about multi-day rides.  Hope to be able to put my new knowledge to good use in the 2005 IBR.

Be Blessed and Happy riding…

Brett Donahue