Sport-Touring.Net - Iron Butt '07

Day 3: The Attrition Begins

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2007 Iron Butt Rally, Day 3
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Chip Hyde has been Goosed. His effort to make Goose Bay on his Gold Wing has ended in failure. He has crashed in the vicinity of Churchill Falls, which is less than 200 miles from Goose Bay. The bike went down in deep gravel and Chip was tossed off. He has apparently come out of it with just one broken bone in his hand. There are a lot more broken parts on the Wing. Chip thinks it is totaled.

Tonight, Chip is safe in a bed and breakfast establishment. He will make plans tomorrow for getting back home.

It would be great to have pictures of the bike to show at the riders meeting the next time there is a Goose Bay bonus on the Iron Butt Rally. It might also be helpful to change the name of the bonus from "MANLY" to "YGTBSM."

Today is the day of the first call-in bonus to ever be used on the Iron Butt Rally and it's working out quite well. We are collecting a lot of detailed information about where the riders are, where they have been, where they are headed, and what interesting things are happening to them along the way.

Most of the calls came from riders who were either at, on their way to, or returning from Perce Rock on the Gaspe Peninsula. There was quite a crowd when the tide receded early in the afternoon, making it possible to get the required photo of the ocean floor before making the hike to the rock itself.

Many of the riders headed for Perce Rock by way of Campbellton, New Brunswick, where there was a 3,014 point bonus available for a photo of a statue of a Giant Salmon. Leaving Perce Rock, some were headed for the 8,014 point bonus at the Green Gables National Historic Site on Prince Edward Island; others were headed for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where there is a 10,123 point bonus for a picture of the Pickle Barrel House in Grand Marais, Michigan.

For riders that headed for Key West, a must-do bonus on the way down or back was a photo of a 30 foot high statue of a mother dolphin and her calf at the Dolphin Research Center located in Grassy Key. It was an easy 1,222 points to soothe the pain associated with the 8,999 point bonus for a picture of the Southernmost Point in the Continental USA monument in Key West. Big bonuses available on the Florida mainland included 4,303 points for a picture of the "Coral Castle" in Homestead, 2,888 points for a picture of the giant sinkhole northeast of Gainesville, and 2,310 points for a picture of "Eli's Orange World" in Kissimmee.

A summary of the information called in is presented below, listed in order of rider number:

1 - George Barnes called from Kissimmee after returning from Key West. He's headed for Tybee Island, Georgia. Based on the list of bonus stops he rattled off, he may be scoring more points than many riders that headed for Perce Rock.

2 - Chris Sakala was in Quebec and headed for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

3 - Jeff Earls called from Maine, headed for Campbellton.

4 - Eric Jewell called from Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick. That's another bonus that can only be scored during the low tide window. He was headed for Prince Edward Island. He has gotten off schedule because it took a while to get his R1150RT jump started this morning. He depleted his battery while sleeping on the ground next to the bike with his electric gear running.

5 - Marty Leir called in after scoring the Perce Rock bonus while he was on the road to Prince Edward Island.

6 - Jim Owen called from Maine while on his way to Perce Rock. He may be arriving later than others because of the bonus locations on his outbound route plan.

7 - Brett Donahue made Key West early in the morning after scoring Tybee Island, which Lisa referred to as a sucker bonus (because traffic can be brutal getting in and out of the coastal town). Brett said it was "a piece of cake." He was on his way to the bonus in Kissimmee when he called.

8 - Alan Barbic has linked up with Tom Melchild at the Biltmore Estates in North Carolina. Alan said they are heading to the "Georgia Guidestones" bonus in the Elberton, Georgia area next.

9 - Dick Fish called in from the side of a wheat field in New Brunswick after scoring Perce Rock. He's headed for a rest bonus.

10 - Peter Leap called from Prince Edward Island after scoring Perce Rock. He was on his way to Halifax.

11 - Tom Loftus has dropped out of the rally, stating a need to deal with some business-related paperwork.

12 - Andy Mills called in from Perce Rock. He said he was headed for Campbellton.

13 - Jim Frens called while on the water en route to Prince Edward Island. He said he would be heading for Perce Rock after photographing the Green Gables house.

14 - Tom Melchild reported in from the Biltmore Estates and is headed for the Georgia Guidestones with Alan Barbic.

15 - John Langan called from Maine while headed for Perce Rock. He wasn't having a good time early this morning. At about 3:30 a.m., while riding in the rain, he started hearing a horrible noise that sounded like a wheel bearing might have failed. After pulling over to the side of the road, he discovered that the center stand was dragging on the road; the springs that normally hold it up had fallen off. While trying to lash the center stand up with tie down straps, he knocked the bike off of the side stand. A Gold Wing lying on its side in the rain at 3:30 a.m. is not a good way to start Day 3 of the Iron Butt Rally. Fortunately for John, Brian Roberts soon arrived on the scene. Brian's considerable experience with lifting bikes that have been dropped was put to good use.

16 - Doug Chapman called while on his way to Perce Rock. He mentioned that he is wearing microwaved underwear today.

17 - Chris Cimino called from Marietta, Georgia, where he was waiting for dawn so that he could score a "daylight only" bonus. Chris says the combined heat of Mother Nature and the new Concours 14 have been difficult to deal with. Later in the day, Chris called for a second time saying that he was hoping to be able to earn an additional 2,000 points.

18 - Bob St. George called while riding a ferry to Prince Edward Island. Bob is one of several riders who said they think they should be able to claim a rain bonus when they get to the checkpoint.

19 - Bill Thweatt called in from Perce Rock and said he is headed for Niagara Falls.

20 - Jim and Donna Phillips called from New Brunswick while on their way to Perce Rock.

21 - Tom and Rosie Sperry called in from Campbellton after netting the Giant Salmon. They were on their way to Niagara Falls.

22 - Bob and Silvie Torter are also on their way to Niagara Falls after success with Perce Rock and the Giant Salmon.

23 - Terry and Lynda Lahman called in from Georgia while on their way to Key West.

24 - Reiner and Lisa Kappenberger called from Perce Rock just before heading for New Hampshire.

25 - Karol Patzer called in from Clanton, Alabama, on her way to Mobile.

26 - Tony DeLorenzo, who we assume is traveling with his mother Karol Patzer, called in from Mobile. He said he was headed for Biloxi, Mississippi.

27 and 28 - The Brunsvold father and son team called from Campbellton after scoring the Giant Salmon. Li'l Arlen and Big Arlen said they are headed for Mentone, Indiana for there next bonus. They apparently aren't planning to stop to pick up any of the 8 billion points that are available along the way.

29 and 30 - Mrs. and Mr. Lisa Stevens called from Louisiana after bagging the Superdome bonus. I could hear Lisa in the background telling Tobie what to say while he was making his call. Tobie claimed that his next bonus will be Elvis Presley's gravesite while Lisa claims to be headed for Sciples Mill, Mississippi. Hopefully, Tobie will just follow Lisa; if he really intends to go somewhere else, we may never see him again.

31 - Paul Allison called from Carlton, Quebec, on his way to Perce Rock.

32 - Gerhard Memmen-Krueger was headed for a rest bonus after making Perce Rock.

33 - Chris McGaffin called from Florida headed for Homestead. Chris said, "This Kawasaki is pumping an awful lot of hot air." He has named the bike "The Crotch Cooker." His final words were, "I reckon my sperm count is going to be zero by the time I get back."

34 - Richard Keegan called from Grand Falls, New Brunswick, on his way to Campbellton.

35 - Bill Watt, who is riding with Paul Allison, also called from Quebec while headed for Perce Rock. Bill had a close call last night when he side-swiped a moose but didn't go down. Both Bill and the moose have continued on their way.

36 - Don Wescott called from New Brunswick after bagging both Perce Rock and the Giant Salmon. He may try to grab a few bonuses on his way back, but it sounds like he is basically headed for the barn.

37 - Steve Broadhead called in from Indiana. He is headed to the Gulf Coast next.

38 - Mike Hutsal called in from Campbellton after making Perce Rock. He is headed for Michigan.

39 - Stephan Bolduc called at the end of his sleep bonus in New Brunswick to say that he was headed for Perce Rock.

40 - Bob Joers called in from Gainesville, FL, on his way to the sinkhole bonus. Later he called Lisa to report that he was stranded near Miami with an irreparable flat tire on his Gold Wing. He said he was planning to get some sleep tonight and be at the nearest Honda dealer first thing tomorrow morning.

41 - Vicki Johnston called after scoring Perce Rock. She is headed for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

42 - Don Kulwicki called in from Homestead, Florida, after returning from the Keys. He was headed for Biloxi, Mississippi.

43 - Mike Langford called from Maine on his way to Perce Rock after sleeping in a Laundromat last night.

44 - Greg Marbach called in from Perce Rock before heading for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Greg left a message regarding the difficulty he had the previous night while trying to get a bonus photo of the Giant Salmon in Campbellton. Greg said, "I tried to get it at night; the Polaroid pictures were showing my bike, but not the fish." That's probably why Mike and Lisa decided to make the bonus "Available daylight hours." It's lucky for Greg that the photos didn't turn out and he had to come back the following morning. He had other problems at the Giant Salmon also. After failing to get a photo, his bike wouldn't start. He had been simultaneously running heated gear and auxiliary lights with a stock FJR1300 alternator and had drained his battery to the point that it wouldn't turn the engine over. It took him about an hour to finally get it bump started.

45 - Rick Martin called from Perce Rock. He said he was headed for Campbellton.

46 - Ken Morton called from Perce Rock and reported that he was next headed for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

47 - Jim Mulcahy called from a rest area on Interstate 77 after scoring the New River Gorge Bridge bonus in West Virginia. He was headed for Kingsport, Tennessee.

48 - Peter Murray called while on his way to Tavern on the Green in New York City.

49 - Bob Mueller got word from his wife that he jumped the gun on the call-in bonus yesterday. He called during the proper window to report that he was headed for Perce Rock.

50 - Rick Neeley called from Key West where he bagged the 8,999 point bonus last night. He had just finished his rest bonus and was headed for Grassy Key.

51 - Rob Nye recognized his mistake of calling in a day early yesterday and placed another call to say that he was in Campbellton and headed for Niagara Falls.

52 - Glenn Pancoast called after bagging the Reynolds Motorsports bonus while he was on his way to Prince Edward Island and Perce Rock.

53 - Dick Peek called on his way to the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, West Virginia. He reported that his fuel cell isn't working and his Star-Traxx has failed. Dick said, "All of my technology is crapping out on me."

54 - Paul Peloquin called from Campbellton, New Brunswick, on his way to Perce Rock.

55 - Dennis Powell called while on his way to Nashville.

56 - Joel Rappoport called in from Perce Rock where he was waiting for the tide to go out. From there he is headed for Niagara Falls.

57 - Brian Roberts called from Grand Falls, New Brunswick, on his way to Perce Rock.

58 - Alex Schmitt is on his way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after scoring Perce Rock.

59 - Mike Senty called from Maine on his way to Perce Rock.

60 - Jack Shoalmire is apparently traveling with Jim Mulcahy. He called from the same phone number and from the same rest area on Interstate 77 after scoring the New River Gorge Bridge bonus in West Virginia. He was also headed for Kingsport, Tennessee.

61 - Tom Skemp called from the Varsity Drive-In in Atlanta, Georgia. He was on his way to the Talladega Speedway. Tom reported that he has lost his ID flag but said, "People have been real good about taking pictures of me."

62 - Jim Simonet called in from Mobile, Alabama. He had just returned from the French Quarter of New Orleans and was on his way to the Barber Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Alabama.

63 - Carl Stark was headed for Carnegie Hall in New York City along with Michael Boge. His hydration system is no longer functional after dragging his drinking tube along the roadway surface for many miles.

64 - John Tomasovitch was at Perce Rock and headed for Prince Edward Island.

65 - Rebecca Vaughn called in from Grassy Key, FL, on her way back from Key West. She is having a problem with her fuel cell and is stopping more frequently for gas than she would like.

66 - Bill Wade called in from Maine on his way back from Perce Rock.

67 - Matt Watkins called after scoring Perce Rock. He was headed to the Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine with Doug Chapman.

68 - Jim Winterer called from Perce Rock. He reported missing the Harley-Davidson bonus by 1 minute because of the time he had to spend retrieving his ID flag from Buell Motorcycle Company bonus where he left it.

69 - Kendall Anderson called from West Palm Beach, Florida, while on his way to Key West.

70 - Doug Bailey called in from Maine after returning from Campbellton. Doug said he hasn't had any encounters with deer or moose, but claims to have hit 2 large-mouth bass on Interstate 70 during his soggy ride to Canada.

71 - Michael Boge from Sandpoint, Idaho (population: 5) called from just outside of New York City. He and Carl Stark are riding there together. Michaels says "We are a couple of kids from the west on our way to see the big city."

72 - Mark Collins reported that he and his 1972 Road Glide have already made Key West. Mark was in Fort Myers, Florida, getting ready for a rest bonus. He reported, "The heat has been just brutal down here, but I'm staying hydrated and the bike is running well."

73 - Art Garvin called in from Georgia headed for Tallulah Gorge State Park.

74 - Maura Gatensby called from Quebec after scoring Perce Rock. She was headed for a rest bonus.

75 - Mike Getzendanner called while on his way to Tybee Island, Georgia.

76 - Steve Branner called from a land line in New Brunswick on his way to Perce Rock. His cell phone is waterlogged and no longer working. Commenting on his ride so far, Steve said, "If we had boats, we would have done better."

77 - Curt Gran was headed for Orlando, Florida, after returning from the Florida Keys. He reported having some sort of problem with his windscreen.

78 - Norm Grills called in from Perce Rock and said he is headed for Niagara Falls.

79 - Kevin Healey called from Hardeeville, South Carolina. He was hoping to head for Gainesville, Florida, but the starter has stopped working on his Triumph. Earlier he was able to push start it, but even that wouldn't work this morning.

80 - Dave Hinks called in from Bath, Maine. He said that he has lost the brakes on his FJR and hoping to get them repaired at the nearest dealer. He said his next stop would depend on how long it takes to get the brakes fixed. Later in the day, Dave called again to let me know that his bike has been fixed and he's back on the road, headed for Niagara Falls.

81 - Chip Hyde, as noted above, is a DNF after his crash on the way to Goose Bay.

82 - Don Jones called in from Mentone, Indiana. He was in the process of adjusting his plan because he said, "16 hours after the ride started, I was already 10 hours behind."

83 - Hans Karlsson is headed straight back to St. Louis after success at Perce Rock.

84 - Vance Keeney reported that he had scored Perce Rock and was headed for Michigan.

85 - Homer Krout called from Grand Falls, New Brunswick, on his way to Perce Rock.

86 - Jim Bain called from Atlanta where he is waiting for Atlanta BMW to repair his front brake line. He said he would be heading for Marietta, GA as soon as the bike is fixed. Later in the day, I heard from Atlanta BMW owner Bob Wooldridge, who told me that his shop was able to get Jim back on the road in 2 hours. The source of the failure was determined to have been debris that had fallen off of another brand of motorcycle that Jim was following too closely.

87 - Alan Bennett called in after scoring the Opryland bonus while he was headed for Mobile, Alabama.

88 - David Bordeaux called from Ann Arbor, Michigan headed for bonuses in Ohio.

89 - Mike Evans called from Perce Rock and said he is headed for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

90 - David Derrick called from Perce Rock just before leaving for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

91 - Fred Droegemueller was on his way back from Key West, headed for Homestead, Florida.

92 - Richard Buber called from Maine on his way to Perce Rock.

93 - Gregg Burger called in from Perce Rock. He said he was headed for Campbellton.

94 - Joe DeRyke called from Fort Pierce, Florida, on his way to Gainesville.

95 - Don Catterton called from Homestead, Florida, to say he was heading for Tybee Island. He experienced a slight delay this morning in order to remove about a thousand baby spiders that had hatched in his helmet over night.

96 - Bob Collin scored Perce Rock and then called in from Maine on his way to the Maritime Museum in Bath.

97 - Rick Miller called from Augusta, Georgia, headed to Harlem, Georgia.

Today many riders were elated to have made Perce Rock, giving them the lift needed to continue on. Tomorrow might be a little tougher as many of the riders in this year's rally have never maintained an 800-1,000 mile per day pace for four days in a row.

Tom Austin
August 22, 2007
Copyright (c) 2007 Iron Butt Rally, Inc., Chicago, IL

Topic: Iron Butt '07 (Read 11807 times)