Rollin' Reader's Ride

June 2001

Volume 2, Number 2

Roads to Nowhere

B2 off a Waltzin'

Butt Wait...There's More

Ratchet & Safety

Biker Betty gets home

SS2K 10 Year Old

Grandpa's Photos

Shoei's RF900

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Funnies      Shorts

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Saddle Sore 2000... a 10 Year Old's Journey

by Dan Stephans

Ron Millard, my grandson, is an extraordinary young man.  Of course every grandparent thinks highly of his or her grandchildren, but Ron is truly remarkable.  Ron was staying at my house when he was off school for Easter break.  Every night, after watching the weather channel, he would give me an update of the weather across the nation.  Snow, freezing rain, rain, high winds, super-cells in Oklahoma and Texas, hurricane conditions along the gulf coast, as Ron said, "Pretty exciting!"  He knew I was planning to ride to southern Mississippi to eat crawfish and he wanted to ride with me.  He said he would like to see the Alamo. 

I reminded him the Alamo was in San Antonio, Texas.  He affirmed he knew that.  I told him if we went to the Crawfish Boil in McComb, Mississippi, via San Antonio, we would miss turkey-hunting season.  Ron has turkey hunted with me for the last five years and that activity is one of his most treasured.  He said, "When we go turkey hunting, we do not get a turkey, but when we go riding, we really do some riding!"  He is right about that.

I delayed our departure, hoping an extra hour in the morning would help things to warm up.  We left the house at 5:30 AM Thursday, 29 degrees, and headed for the Capitol.  At 6:30 AM a Capitol Police Officer signed our witness forms and we rode out East Washington Avenue to obtain a gas receipt to verify date and time. 6:37 AM, the time on the gas receipt, was our official start time and we were on the road to Mississippi.

Our first gas stop was at Woodville, Wisconsin and lasted 17 minutes.  No snow, no freezing rain, no rain period. At 10:00 AM we stopped at the Minnesota State Line for a photo opportunity.  After a four-minute stop for the photo, we turned south at St. Paul and headed for the Iowa border. High noon found us stopped at the Iowa border for another photo. Grandpa had a little trouble with the camera and the stop took six minutes. Second gas stop, in Iowa, took eight minutes.

On we rolled to the Missouri State Line for another photo at 3:30 PM.  "Wow, look at all the turkeys," Ron exclaimed as we rode past what appeared to be a hundred or more extremely large birds in a field.  "That is the most turkeys we have ever seen."  We gassed in Lathrop, Missouri, and, because of rush-hour traffic conditions in Kansas City, blew past the Kansas State Line without a photo.

A ride down the Kansas Turnpike brought us to our next gas stop in Wellington, Kansas.  At 0'dark: 30 hours we stopped to photograph Ron at the Oklahoma State Line.  The crosswinds were in excess of 40 miles an hour, gusting to 60 miles per hour.  My tires were worn at a 45-degree angle!  The first day ended in Guthrie, Oklahoma at 10:12 PM, 15 hours: 45 minutes, 1,025 miles after leaving Madison, Wisconsin.  We obtained a gas receipt to verify date and time, found a policeman to be our witness, and settled into some good food and a motel room for a good night's sleep.  

Before the sun rose we had our witnesses, a gas receipt, and were rolling at 6:35 AM.  I hate it when I oversleep!  There was no sign at the state line, but we stopped at the first Texas rest stop, 2 miles inside of Texas, for a "State Line" photo at 9:00 AM. As we rode through Ft. Worth, we watched a medivac helicopter land on a hospital right next to the interstate and we slowed to watch the show. A fuel stop in Ft. Worth at 10:20 AM provided us with the next 4 hours of pleasure to the Alamo.

When we arrived in San Antonio, we stopped a police officer and asked him to sign our witness forms and to give us directions to the Alamo. Ron toured the Alamo while I packed the winter clothes.  It had not warmed up until we were south of Austin.  We gassed in a San Antonio war zone and after getting lost at least 6 times left town about 4:00 PM. Texas is a big state! Fuel was taken again in Flatonia, Texas.

Due to unsafe conditions, the Louisiana State Line was crossed without stopping for a photo. At 8:30 PM we stopped for gas in Sulphur, Louisiana, where the gas and oil storage tanks and pipelines are decorated with lights so they look like buildings in the night.  At 10 years old, Ron, a hardened veteran of Iron Butt, 1000+ mile days, knew when to call it a day.  He is required to stay awake and alert and to know when he has hit his limit.

At 10:30 PM, Ron said we needed to stop. Fortunately, the Iron Butt hotel was right at hand, as always. We pulled into a rest stop and Ron pulled up a comfy picnic table while I stretched out on the motorcycle.  At 2:00 AM, when Ron woke me, he was pleased to see a Louisiana photo opportunity right in front of the bike!  We took the shot and rolled on toward McComb.

At 0'dark: 30 hours we stopped at the Mississippi State Line for a photo. Ron was a little concerned about the alligators in the ditch we had to cross to get a good photo.  

We pulled into McComb at 3:35 AM, obtained a gas receipt to verify date and time, found a local police officer to witness our arrival, and went looking for the Crawfish Boil.  On day two we logged 1,076 miles in 21 hours.

The Crawfish Boil, put on by long distance rider Shane Smith and his wonderful wife Karen is an event to behold. This year the special event had some interesting added features.  Dave Despain of SpeedVision fame was there and he interviewed Ron and Wisconsin State Senator Dave Zien, who had ridden down with former DOA Secretary Mark Bugher and DFD's Gil Funk. Watch for airtime around the end of May.

Ed. Note - We love receiving stories like this from our readers. And as an added bonus, Dan sent along a bunch of photos. Check out all the ride pictures on this month's picture page.