Iron Butt Ride 2009
By Tom Neal
Bigfoot Trails Basecamp | Independent Adventure Media
Iron Butt Crew
Riders & Bikes:
Prison Dan – Black Yamaha Roadstar
Full Throttle Nomad (me) – “Lime Fucking Green” Kawasaki Custom 900
Ketchup Dave (R.I.P.) – Heritage Softail
Veggie (Mom) – Dyna Lowrider
Guardian (Dad) – Dyna Wideglide
Day 1
The ride started in Olympia at the Shell gas station on the corner of Union and Plum. We all gassed up, said our goodbyes to our families, and started up I-5 about 5 p.m.
The goal was to reach Gold Bar by 8 p.m.
Traffic in Olympia was thick, but moving at the speed limit. By the time we reached Fort Lewis, we were in stop-and-go traffic. The group of five bikes made its way to Hwy 512, then onto Hwy 167 with no issues. There was a little slowdown toward the end of Hwy 167 as we neared I-405, but I-405 was pretty clear, as was Hwy 522 into Monroe, where we caught Hwy 2.
Monroe is a nice little town, and Hwy 2 took us to Gold Bar. The moon was a day away from being a real full moon, but it looked full to me. It was a beautiful orange glow behind the mountains.
We arrived at the Stevens Pass Motel a little after 8:30 p.m. and stayed in a pretty decent room. It’s not a five-star hotel, but I would definitely stay there again.
Day 2
Gold Bar was about 54 degrees and clear. The ride up Stevens Pass was spectacular, and the temperatures didn’t drop too much lower.
We followed Hwy 2 into Leavenworth, which is a beautiful little Bavarian town. We gassed up and grabbed some warm drinks in Wenatchee, then continued on.
Our next stop was Coulee City, where we met up with my wife, Jahanel, and my kids. They had left Shelton that morning after Jahanel’s dad got off work, made a stop in Soap Lake, and then headed into Coulee City. Jahanel followed along with us for part of the trip.
We made our way down Hwy 2 through Washington, into Idaho, and on to Libby, Montana, for the night.
Libby is another one of those great little towns, and the people we encountered were awesome. We did a quick repair on Mom’s Harley, and she was ready to go. Her rear turn-signal bar/license-plate holder had loosened from the fender. Many turns on the nuts later, it was tightened up and ready for action.
Day 3
The ride from Libby to Shelby, Montana, was not long in distance, but it was a fairly long day in terms of time.
We went through Glacier National Park, stopping along the way for a gift shop, a nice little hike, construction, Logan’s Pass, and a picnic.
The ride was spectacular, with winding roads and beautiful scenery, and I was on my motorcycle!
While in Glacier, we traveled the “Road to the Sun,” which was the part under construction, but it was worth the extra time and “trouble.” We joked around about getting caught in the best traffic jam.
We didn’t see too much of Shelby, Montana — just the hotel and truck stop for dinner. I did spot a U-Haul trailer with an advertisement for the city we would be starting our Iron Butt Run in: Mitchell, South Dakota.
We said our goodbyes to Jahanel and the kids. They went south into Yellowstone, then on for home.
Day 4
The ride started great with some more of the beautiful Western Montana views, but then we dropped into the plains.
I am not a huge fan of flat areas or the plains, so I was pretty bored until the last 13 miles or so of Hwy 2, which was all torn up. We traveled on gravel and pothole-covered roads that were in pretty rough shape.
Montana was making that stretch four lanes, which will be great when they get done, but until then, it’s not too much fun.
The day ended in Williston, North Dakota. Nothing too exciting happened here. We stopped at Wal-Mart for a few supplies.
Day 5
This morning we woke up to some killer-looking lightning storms. Rolling thunder and awesome-looking bolts from the sky.
I miss the Midwest thunderstorms!
Until it’s time to ride in them.
Dad has a tall sissy bar on his bike, which makes for a great lightning rod, so he was a little unsure about riding in the storm. The good news was that we started out at the front of the storm and didn’t get too wet before we rode out of it.
We stopped for gas and breakfast in Minot, North Dakota, where we realized Dan had a screw loose.
Actually, it was his bike.
He had a lot of screws loose holding his windshield on, and one had fallen out. We tightened them all up, had breakfast, and moved on to Rugby, North Dakota.
Rugby was a stop for gas, but it was also a stop for Mom. She had been to the “Center of the US” and wanted to stop in Rugby, which is the “Center of North America.”
There was a cool monument there to show that you are in the center of North America.
The day ended in the nowhere town of Fosston, Minnesota.
If you ever get to the area, you have to stop in at the A&W restaurant. They make their draft root beer daily in the basement, and it was the best A&W root beer I had ever tasted.
There was a kid working that night, maybe 17 years old, who came outside to the picnic area where we were seated and started cleaning up our mess for us. Awesome kid, great personality.
He asked us if we wanted refills on the root beer. We said no until he informed us that the root beer was made fresh in the basement and proceeded to tell us how.
Needless to say, we all got refills on the great draft!
Day 6
This leg of the trip took us through Minnesota. We had to make a stop in Duluth at the Harley dealer to pick up a new headlight for Mom’s Low Rider.
We had originally planned to stop at the Amsoil factory for a tour, but were never able to confirm a time. Partly our fault for waiting so long to contact Amsoil. It only gave them a week to make arrangements.
Oh well. Next time I will call sooner.
We had a gas-station deli picnic lunch on Lake Superior.
What an awesome lake!!
This thing is HUGE!
The plan was to get to Iron Mountain, but we ended our day a little early in Ironwood, Michigan instead. We all decided we wanted to get off the road a little early that day. The sun was hot, and we were getting worn out.
Day 7
Well, we did not travel down through Michigan as originally planned. We took a scenic ride through Wisconsin, down into Wisconsin Dells and into Monroe, where Dad and Dave got new rear tires installed.
Mom had made some calls while we were in Ironwood to get the tires, and these guys bent over backward to get our guys in.
We made our way into Freeport, Illinois, a day early so we could take a day of rest before our rough ride.
Day 8
This was a day to jerk around, do some laundry, see some family, and take in the “sights of Freeport.”
Day 9
We made our way out of town early as usual, through Galena, Illinois, which is beautiful, then into “Corn Country,” Iowa.
I swear I did not see anything besides cornfields for 300 miles!!
This was the most boring part of the trip for me, until we gassed up in Nebraska.
After gas, we headed north to South Dakota, but when we left our gas stop, we ran into huge thunderstorms. It rained so hard that cars and trucks were pulled over onto the shoulder. The wind blew so hard that when we stopped under an overpass, we still got soaked.
Rain gear did a great job of keeping water INSIDE.
Dad donated his rain gear to the homeless somewhere before Mitchell.
We forged on through the storm and into Mitchell, South Dakota. Dan and Dave went to see the famous Corn Palace.
I decided I had seen enough corn.
Day 10 – The Trek Through Hell
This was the day we would all remember.
It was my 35th birthday.
That’s not the memorable part.
Doing over 1,000 miles in 14 hours on the bikes through South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana is memorable.
Especially when the first 500 miles were all thunderstorms and hard rain.
Again, my rain gear did a great job.
It kept me wet inside.
LOL.
We made it into Alberton, Montana, about two hours behind schedule, but still in time for our goal. We stayed at a great little bed-and-breakfast motel called Ghost Rails Inn.
Day 11
It was 38 degrees and clear at 6 a.m. when we left, but as we rode up into the mountains, temperatures dropped to somewhere around freezing.
We made our way to Post Falls, Idaho, for gas and hot drinks.
We are heading home!!
Just before we reached Moses Lake, Washington, Dave’s bike had issues.
Actually, he had a couple of issues.
The rear tire had been chewed up by a fender bolt, oil was flowing out of the breather tubes in the heads and out of the air cleaner, and the bike overheated.
He tried to “limp” the bike into Moses Lake, but it finally gave up.
We pushed it into the Shilo Inn parking lot, gassed up the remaining bikes, Dave saddled up on the back of Dan’s bike, and we continued on.
Four bikes and all five riders made it into Olympia with time to spare!
We did it.
We made 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours and 1,500 miles in less than 36 hours.
We succeeded in our “Iron Butt” goal!!
Iron Butt Final Numbers
The miles as calculated by various mapping software:
SaddleSore 1000
AmericInn, 1421 South Burr Street, Mitchell, SD
to
Ghost Rails Inn, 702 Railroad Ave, Alberton, MT
Google — 1,017 miles
MapQuest — 1,017 miles
Yahoo Maps — 1,018 miles
LFG Tom — 1,043 miles
Butt Burner 1500
AmericInn, 1421 South Burr Street, Mitchell, SD
to
Hulbert Shell, 1100 Plum Street, Olympia, WA
Google — 1,503 miles
MapQuest — 1,505 miles
Yahoo Maps — 1,507 miles
LFG Tom — 1,545 miles
About the Author
Tom Neal is the founder of Bigfoot Trails Basecamp, an independent adventure media project built around real experiences. He’s spent most of his life around vehicles, motorcycles, racing, travel, and projects that tend to take longer and cost more than originally planned.
After decades of doing all that stuff, he’s learned that the best stories usually aren’t the ones you planned. They’re the people you meet, the places you stumble across, the things that go wrong, and the moments you never expected.
That’s what he wants to capture with BTB.
He doesn’t want to write about adventure from the outside. He wants to go experience it, then tell you what happened.
Bigfoot Trails Basecamp | Independent Adventure Media
