10th Annual Blue Butt Rally & Saddle Sore 1,000
In February 2003, I purchased a new K1200LT. By August I only had a measly 5,000 miles on the odometer. It was time to ride. I loaded up and headed for the Peppermill Hotel/Casino in Reno, Nevada.
The Peppermill was the host hotel and starting point for the 10th annual Blue Butt Rally. The Blue Butt is a charity run put together by Nevada II each year in August. Traditionally, this rally has a 250-mile course, and a 500-mile course. Both of those routes are circular and return the riders to the Peppermill. NVII has, at times, offered a 1,000-mile circular course as well. But the 1K routes have been less well attended. Go figure.
However, this year there would be a ‚"1-K, 1-Day, 1-Way‚" Blue Butt route to Clackamas, Oregon. NVII had planned this route for any Blue Knight wishing to do a SaddleSore during the Blue Butt and attend the West Coast Conference convention. Since I was going to the convention to attend the business meetings on behalf of my chapter, I figured there was no better way to get to Clackamas than to put 1,000 miles on the odometer.
At the Friday night riders' meeting rally master Jim Edwards informed us that the charity befitting from the rally was "Make-A-Wish" Foundation. Our goal would be to purchase lottery tickets along our routes to donate to "Make-A-Wish". However, the specific route for each of the distances wouldn't be revealed until 0700 tomorrow when the rally packets would be handed out.
Saturday 0630ish we're in the Peppermill parking lot. It's the usual pre-ride scene, friends and riders all talking, loading bikes, drinking coffee, checking oil, and eating doughnuts. I met up with two of the other three 1K riders, both fellow Blue Knights. We began a discussion about riding together, or going it alone. I commented that depending on the route, I'd like to run about 18 hours or so, if possible.
Doug Foss, CA VII member and retired SF motor officer, was no stranger to saddle time. But it would be his first documented SaddleSore attempt. He mentioned that he'd like to ride with someone who had done a long distance ride before. Doug was on an 1800 Gold Wing.
Al Loudon from WAII was piloting his Electra Glide Ultra with his grade-school aged son Thomas on the back. Al has prior experience in long miles. But with his son along, they were planning to ride easy and take their time. He said they'd ride their own pace.
Well, that left Doug and I as a two bike team. Doug had already downloaded the proper Iron Butt Association paper work for a SaddleSore and had a witness verify and sign the start form. I still needed my start witness. Standing in a near-by group were a few patch wearing CA VII members. I walked up and introduced myself to Jim Hanes. Jim graciously verified my odometer and I was set to go, except for the rally packet.
About 0700 there is a crowd around the rally tables in the parking lot, with three lines. There is a very long line for the 250-mile riders; a not so long line for the 500-mile riders; and nobody in line for the 1,000 mile. I walk right up and Jim Edwards is manning the 1K rider's line. Our mission on the "1K, 1-Day, 1-Way" is to ride through 5 states: California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and buy a lottery ticket from each state. Well, actually four lottery tickets since Nevada doesn't have a state lottery. Jim says that it's up to us how much to spend on the tickets as he hands me a Make-A-Wish donation envelope. "When you get to Clackamas", Jim says, "put the lottery tickets in the envelope along with a time dated ending receipt. Then sometime the next day find a NVII member at the conference. Give them the envelope and they will have your plaque."
Out of the Peppermill Doug and I stop at an Exxon station where we both fill up and get our starting receipts for the IBA documentation. On to northbound US395 we take I80 west and head towards California to the Gold Ranch casino exit. This casino is so close to the California border that their back parking lot is actually in the Golden State. There in that back lot, sits a building that sells California lottery tickets. We're there at about 0755, and there's a line at the door. The place doesn't open until 0800. Rats. But it does give me a few minutes to review the route instructions. Once the door opens Doug buys each of us $5 worth of quick picks. The California lottery requirement is met.
While walking back to our bikes, Doug and I discuss the range of our machines. My LT with 6.2 gallons can do 240+. Doug's Wing with 5.5 has probably a 200-mile range at a "Nevada pace". I consider stopping at Lovelock, but I then decide that Winnemucca is within range. Doug's okay with that and we bolt eastbound on I80. Along the way I'm hoping that we made the right call about Doug's gas tank range. Would it have been better to take the down time in Lovelock as insurance? Now we're risking much greater time lost if he goes dry. And after all, Doug's job is easy if he runs out of gas – just wait. I'll be the one riding to Winnemucca, filling my own tank, buying a Mountain Dew 2-liter bottle, drinking some, dumping out the rest. Then turn that green plastic bottle into a portable gas can, and rolling back westbound balancing the stupid thing on my lap.
Turns out we called it right; Doug and I pull into the Chevron on the west end of Winnemucca without delay. Although, Doug does say he is on reserve and couldn't have gone much farther. Well, okay, now we know our range.
From Winnemucca we're northbound on US95 towards the southeast corner of Oregon. We top off in Jordan Valley and take a moment to dine on beef jerky and power bars pump side. I think Doug is realizing that a "sit down" break on one of these IBA rides is taken while sitting down in the saddle and twisting the throttle.
Farther north we come to Idaho and continue into Homedale. We pull into a mini-mart/service station. This time it's my treat, I buy two $5 Idaho lottery tickets, one for each of us. As we continue on I begin to think to myself, wonder if one of my tickets hits it big and I gave it away. I mean real big. Well, gosh it is "for the children", right? I would be happy right? Right? Well, I know the odds for these things. Make-A-Wish will be lucky to even get a few bucks back out of all these tickets. I truly hope that one of our tickets hits it good. A few hundred bucks, a few thousand bucks, that would be so cool for this worthy charity. But THE big one? Humm...
I84 takes us into Oregon for the second time. We get gas and a receipt in La Grande and push on to Pendleton, where we buy two $5 Oregon lottery tickets. We get the lottery tickets for the rally and the receipt for the tickets to document a highway turn for the IBA route documentation.
From Pendleton we take Oregon State Route 11 north. We cross into Washington and head to Walla Walla. Every time I pass through Walla Walla, I'm always reminded of the old Warner Brothers cartoon where Daffy Duck is a vacuum cleaner salesman from the Suck-O-Lux Vacuum Cleaner Company of Walla Walla, Washington. Hey, you got to think about something on these long rides. We top off our tanks at a Chevron station in downtown Walla Walla and obtain more receipts to document another highway turn for the IBA.
The Blue Butt route sheet instructs us to take westbound US12 from Walla Walla. At the Columbia River US12 turns north and we head towards Pasco, Washington. Just a bit south of Pasco, I see a mini-mart. We pull in to buy Washington lottery tickets. I had thought we would be close enough to Pasco that this roadside stop-and-rob would have a Pasco address. Well, after buying our $5 tickets and getting the receipts, I notice that we are in Burbank, Washington. Burbank? Never heard of Burbank, Washington. I look at my map, I look just south of Pasco...Burbank?...Burbank?...Oh, there it is. I see it – if you use a magnifying glass!
The lottery ticket says Washington, and those are the last lottery tickets we needed, so we're good for the Blue Butt Rally requirement. But I really wanted a Pasco address receipt for the IBA to show we continued up US12 to Pasco before turning around to the south and back into Oregon as per the rally sheet. But as we continue into Pasco proper I figure I'm being too picky. We'll be fine. The towns aren't that far apart, and we'll just document the other side of the Columbia as we head south.
We head along the rally route, and south of Kennewick we cross the Columbia for the second time and cross into Oregon for the third time. It's dark now as we stop for gas and a short parking lot break in Umatilla. The clerk tells us that Portland can be reached in about 3 hours or so. I think to myself that we're making great time, even though our over-all average speed is less than 60 MPH so far.
Just a bit east of Portland Doug comes along side and is pointing to his gas tank. I knew he was close, but he is officially telling me he is on reserve and needs gas. We take an exit onto the surface streets of Portland. I basically blunder our way into Portland, in the middle of the night, without regard to neither map nor direction, until I see an open station. How's that for using my highly trained, intuitive navigation skills? Yeah, right.
As we are filling up I check our mileage and check the distance left to Clackamas. Then I ask Doug if he wants the good news, or the bad news. I tell him the good news is we're making great time! But the bad news is we're short on miles. It seems the 1K route was a bit short of a full 1,000 miles. Doug checks his own GPS and we confirm that we'll be about 70 miles short. Doug says he didn't ride all this way not to complete an official IBA SaddleSore. So, I check my map. Driving south to Salem then doubling back to Clackamas will probably give us the needed miles. But by going a bit farther south to Albany for a receipt then back up to Clackamas would put us well over 1,000 miles without a doubt. We still have plenty of time left in our 24 hours. Want to guess where we go?
Trying to get back on southbound I205 to get out of Portland was another adventure. For some reason the DOT or OSP had closed a section of the Interstate apparently without properly marking a detour route. At least it wasn't marked well enough that our fuzzy 900+ mile motorcycle-ridden brains could figure out.
After an interesting ride through the eastern hills of Portland we manage to get back on I205 to I5 south. We were both getting a little blurry and fuzzy around the edges but we pressed on without wasting time. Just off I5 in Albany we found a 24-hour Chevron. The gas and receipt drill is performed. We scream back northbound.
Another gas station is hit in Clackamas and the final ending receipts are taken. Minutes later we check-in to the WCC host hotel, The Monarch, in Clackamas. Any thoughts of a sit down dinner are long gone as it is pushing 0330. We both head off to our respective rooms, planning on getting our ending mileage witnessed and IBA forms signed in the morning by fellow Blue Knights.
I unceremoniously dump my stuff on the floor of my room without unpacking. I grab a hot shower and crawl into the crisp clean sheets of the king size bed. I begin to wonder to myself why anyone in his right mind would ride 1,000 miles in a day? But I'm asleep before I could ponder an answer.
Copyright© 2003, Tom Lashbrook
