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Guest Crusty

Watch GOOFY ride to Denver Co. 10-27-2011

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Congrats Tim ! I knew you could do it.

Welcome to the 1000 Mile a Day Club.

Did you get receipts and stuff from all your gas stops to prove your time and mileage, so you can get the Saddle Sore 1000 Award from the Iron Butt Site ??

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Thanks Tim, and congrats...it was alot of fun to share this adventure with you....I'm sure you're resting up today.....Glad you made it safely...AND Met your goal...:dance2::bb::drinks:

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Great to see your progress, and even better that you're having a good time.

Add a few miles to the Saddle Sore 1000 as there are often minor discrepancies between the odometer and GPS. 1040 is usually good.

Be safe, have fun, give us the details when you return!

I'm in Albuqurque at a friend's house.

==== The IRON BUTT attempt is ON for tomorrow! =====

I'll be riding from Albuqurque down the 25 to El Paso (yes to visit the blonde girl with the accent), then back west along the 10 to the 8.

Its almost perfectly 1000 miles. I HOPE to wake up at 4, be at the gas station starting this journey by 430!

The bike will make it. The question is will I......

My biggest issue will be the # and length of my gas stops. I can cruise 80 all day but if I have to take 12+ gas stops and spend 15+ minutes at each stop that will cut into my time. My visit in El Paso will also be a wildcard. I'm gonna need all the luck you guys can send me. I appreciate the great support from SDAR. Thanks!

goofyfooter.whereamiriding.com

www.goofyfooter.whereamiriding.com

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Tim is Sleeping bigeyed.png

With all that energy drink, he wouldn't have been able to sleep until Tuesday afternoon.

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I'm awake and alive. Downloaded my pictures and will post a Ride Report soon. Not sure if a Moderator could move this thread to the RR section then I'll just post the report and pictures in this thread?

To answer some of the questions posted above:

Buzzkill bikeslut:

I'll tally up the $ spent on this trip. To fly on southwest was $205 each way plus taxes so lets assume an easy $450. In gas, surely I spent less than this, I don't think I had a fill-up cost above $12. Disregard that I stopped probably 25 times haha. I spent money on drinks to stay hydrated and snacks to eat on this trip sure. Now, YES I did buy a new tire and tube in Denver and had it installed. YES I did buy a bunch of gear for this trip. YES those costs would not have been incurred to me if I were to have flown BUT...... I honestly did not anticipate the tire burning out so quickly. I guess DS tires and hours, hours, hours on the road do not take well to the heat build up. The gear, well most of it warm clothing and safety gear is a good investment either way, if I want to ride this winter I'll have eventually needed it anyways.

As for what the experience was worth to you, haha who knows. I got a free beer from bboyle9 for bringing his bike home alive (notice I didn't offer a beer for borrowing the bike hahahahha) hes a good guy.

Maniac:

Fat chance I'm doing the Iron Butt Rally. I could very well beat his record (age wise) but bboyle9 wants his bike back and I'm not doing anything like that on my DRZ!

KTMrad:

I have all my receipts from the ride home. I took pictures of my odometer and bike at every stop. I will be submitting everything to the IBA to get the Saddle Sore 1000 Certificate

Dan Diego:

I read on the IBA site about the possible 4% odometer variation, hence why I rode the extra 65 just to cover my butt.

Ride Report Coming Soon...

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I'm awake and alive. Downloaded my pictures and will post a Ride Report soon. Not sure if a Moderator could move this thread to the RR section then I'll just post the report and pictures in this thread?

Done

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Thank you for moving the thread Randy. I'm going to break the Ride Report into:

Part 1 SD to New Mexico

Part 2 New Mexico to Denver and Back

Part 3 New Mexico to El Paso to SD

Since my ride was 99.9% street and I was pumping out miles, the RR will reflect that and focus on my psyche battling the cold and pavement. The whole trip was thrown together in less than two days. I started to question the bike and my sanity through it but I had a great time in Denver, met some new friends and surprised the bachelor (the only guy who knew I was coming up was bboyle9 and it was a surprise for everyone else)! Again, I highly appreciate the great support from the SDAR community. All the tips and help were awesome. Nothing sucks more than being miserable and alone on the road and stopping to look at a blank phone that reminds you that you're miserable and alone on the road haha. I was glad to receive text updates and to know people were following my trip and had my back. Thanks again, this RR is for you to enjoy, hopefully you like it!

haha OKAY Champ... I'll post a picture of the blonde but its gonna have to wait til Part 3!

=============================================================

PART UNO: SD TO NEW MEXICO

My friend (and bboyle9's best friend) was having his bachelor party in Denver and I mixed up the dates to fly. When I realized the party was over halloween weekend I thought to myself, it would be really fun to make it. Too bad this was Monday night of the weekend of the party! I talked to bboyle9 and somehow convinced him to foolishly loan me his bike and I would ride it to Denver, arguing to both him and myself that it would be cheaper... Sure I had never done a trip like this, sure it wasn't my bike, sure I'd never been to Colorado, sure many things could go wrong... an Adventure awaited!

I posted THIS Thread in the Informal Riding Section asking on advice on how to complete the proposed ride to Denver. You guys did not disappoint!!! Thank you all! I got a ton of really good advice as well as some serious warnings. Snow, cold, ice, lack of experience and distance are all formidable opponents. Some people's arguments against going were quite valid but as the idea of the ride kept brewing in my head, youth and enthusiasm overtook ration and I began obtaining the necessary gear.

Gear I bought for the trip:

Cortech mesh jacket with two liners from Cycle Gear $100

Crappy Cycle Gear inhouse brand helmet $70 (I don't like this helmet, I think it sucks but it made a good bike stand, more on that in Part 3)

Windproof REI brand fleece $80

Off brand motorcycle pants with liner from Cycle Parts West $100

Spot2 $140

Extra gloves from Cycle Gear $40

Thermal Pants $30

Glove Liners $20

North Face small 35 liter backing day/overnight pack $100

Ridiculous Pirate Gas Station Sunglasses $4

Bolts and Misc to attach the Rotopax and Tool Bag $25

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TrophyHunter graciously stepped up and offered to loan me a windscreen and airhawk cushion. I bolted the windscreen up with bboyle9's help Tuesday night as we tried to prep the bike. I didn't take the airhawk, just used my Iron Butt on the stock DR650 seat the whole way! KTMrad, whom I've gotten to know some, was probably more excited about my trip than I was and loaned me rain gear and gloves. A couple of guys like Jimbo and SteelRain gave me route advice. Strega helped me hook up with his WhereAmIRiding website to track my Spot. socalhodaka came through with the Spot on a day's notice. I'll be sending bboyle9 your way for sprockets and a chain for HIS 650 soon (notice how once the 650 needs repairs its no longer mine but HIS hahah)

I had illusions of making it to Denver in one day... that ended quickly. While I wanted to leave SD at One AM Thursday and be partying in Denver that night, I was tired from running around town getting supplies and I painfully dragged myself from bed at 4:30AM. I hit the road around 5AM, geared up, rode to the gas station and was nearly sweating. I took most of my layers off and road to Jacumba, my first gas stop. My eyes were watering, my nose was running, my ears were screaming and I was freezing my *** off. WTF I asked myself, this is San Diego????? This was the beginning of one of the many lessons I learned on this trip....

Jacumba gas station, if I started with 11,600 miles on the bike I definitely changed that quickly!

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After a fun blast down Montezuma Grade, I hit the oncoming sun head on at the horizon. When I bought my helmet the guy told me it had a flip down tinted visor... too bad that visor doesn't do much and without sunglasses I was squinting so badly I was getting sleepy.

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It was painful for me to stare directly into the rising sun and it was zapping my energy. I pulled over east of Plaster City to take a break

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I always seem to do this with the DR650... the stock kickstand is quite long and I continue to prop it up against something tall and woops (don't tell bboyle9)

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So.... there I was... 100 miles into my trip, I'm already tired, beaten and my bike is laying on the ground. Whats a guy to do except sleep his worries off? I took a nap along the side of the road (well as much of a nap as I could because BP kept waking me up to make sure I was okay and not stranded, I appreciated it but just wanted my zzzzz's). Mind you it was probably 6:30AM. I took my nap here:

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I pulled over at a Shell? station at the dunes. They sold sandwhiches inside and there were a few Highway Patrol officers eating them so I figure it must be good. One guy had a KLR at home so we got talking and the other was from Denver. He literally laughed when I said I was trying to make Denver and said my stomach was gonna suck up my balls I'd be so cold. This was almost the exact line bboyle9 and I talked about prior to me leaving which I thought was funny. I informed him of my back up plan to go see a girl in El Paso, he liked that idea, maybe it was the blonde thing that sold him? I bought some cheesy plastic $4 Pirate sunglasses, god forbid a cute girl would see me wearing These things!

The wind was blowing hard through the dunes, the KLR patrolman told me to be extra careful on the bridges, KTMrad had told me to lean into the wind and counter-steer. It got a little interesting

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Into Arizona and soo much highway patrol activity that I got mixed up and took the 95 instead of the 85 north. Strega pointed out that this mistake added 27 miles or so to my trip... woops! I rode through some Army Proving Ground area and saw THIS. I jumped off the freeway and rode over to it. After snapping some pics, two trucks pulled up and said I better get off the base and I was sitting in a test track or something. They were on the radio and drove off, seconds later a third truck showed up. I shoved my helmet on and roosted my way outta there!

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For some reason my earplugs weren't working and I was getting painful wind noise. I pulled over to take some quick "save my ears" breaks. I think about now is when I texted bboyle9 that my head felt like a drumset at a Zeppelin concert. I decided to take a second and enjoy the scenery.

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After a quick break and a little time in the dirt I was a happier camper. At this point I was thinking I was just outside Phoenix and it was a skip to Flagstaff then to a quick dash to Albuqurque... my naive hopes of a quick trip would be soon shattered by the New Mexico cold. At least I'm all thumbs up here!

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My head kept ringing and it was quite painful so I had to keep stopping to let my ears have a break. When does the ringing stop?? I thought this sign was interesting

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Dinner of Champions!

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Heading up to Flagstaff, the sun began to set and the cold started creeping in...

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Once I hit Flagstaff it was time to slap on my beefier gloves. This is where it started to get cold. I was hoping I could make it to Albuqurque. The temp began dropping below 40 and I was over 5000 feet the whole time. Moving at 80 miles an hour, the cold started to compromise my clothing. I began to face the reality that I wasn't making it to Albuqurque anymore... Hell I didn't know where I would make it. The cold crept further and further in. I pulled over, ate some crappy bean and cheese burrito (thankfully it was warm). I loaded up on more 5 hour energy and took a nap sitting on the wall outside a gas station. Here is where I used my secret weapon of the shake handwarmers and put them in my gloves. The next few hours were a literal test for me, physically my core body temp was probably dropping and mentally I had to focus hard to stay alert while riding through the darkness.

I think you can probably officially say that you're cold when you stop caring that your hands went numb or that your boot is letting air in, when you literally stop feeling that its cold, your teeth stop chattering, you stop shivering and you just want to make it. I'm not sure why I kept pushing the miles, I figured I wanted to make it to a town with at least a decent Motel. Gallup, New Mexico was only 100 miles away so I charged forward. This may have been the coldest I got on the trip... I had been on the road for 17? hours, was exhuasted, mentally breaking down and physically frozen. If I pulled over or slowed down I would instantly fog my visor over, I could hardly grab the front brake and I almost dropped the bike rolling into the gas station because my leg wouldn't unlock quick enough to put my foot down. If hell was a frozen tundra I thought I was riding through it. I don't have pictures of this part of the trip. If you know me you know I like to take pictures. Pictures take a back seat to basic survival.

I won't say that I was colder than you've ever been nor that I rode through worse weather than you. That is foolish and lame. What I will say however is something that I learned from this trip: No matter how prepared you are for the circumstance you are facing, there is a threshold both you and your gear can take.

You could ride in 50 degree weather with a T-shirt and freeze or you could stand in -10 in a proper winter suit and be warm. How far you are willing to push beyond that threshold determines how cold and miserable you will become. This is where "knowing your gear" and "knowing your bike" go out the window and you need to "know yourself." In my ask for advice thread I said the one thing I Do know for certain is myself. The past two years I've started backpacking more by myself and trying solo things to help define my thresholds and test my limits. Here is where the "ride" ceased happening for me. In my mind, the battle against my will took over.

I figured the only way I could make it was focus on little victories. I would count every ten miles then count the next ten. Every ten was a little victory. Whatever it took it got done. I was miserable and my only focus was the next ten miles. Ten miles came and went, another ten miles etc etc. Eventually I was making my way to Gallup. I probably went past my threshold here and was definitely NOT a happy thumbs up camper at this point. In hindsight I could have stopped, could have gotten warm, could have put on every piece of clothing I had but I something took over and I wanted to push on and make my goal of Gallup as soon as possible. Once in Gallup I looked at the current temp... 32 degrees. I took a hot bath and shower to raise my core temp and nearly overheated myself (I almost passed out). I went to bed motivated to make it to Denver but realizing that it could very well be 600 miles of the same hell.

More to come tomorrow: Bike wont start, snow and arriving in Denver!

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I figured the only way I could make it was focus on little victories. I would count every ten miles then count the next ten. Every ten was a little victory. Whatever it took it got done. I was miserable and my only focus was the next ten miles. Ten miles came and went, another ten miles etc etc.

Good write-up! For anyone who has ran a marathon, this little section I copied from you sounds very familiar. Little victories will get you to the finish line. Looking forward to the next installment, along with pictures of the blonde.

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PART TWO: GALLUP, NM to DENVER to ALBUQUERQUE

This installment will be shorter I promise. Riding at night through New Mexico was hell for me. I realized that there are different "types" of rides. Some rides are "Know your bike" rides, others are "know your abilities ride"... so far this ride was "Know your gear." I had purchased the majority of my weather gear without having the time to test them. I learned a few tricks, I changed up my layers and set out for my ride to Denver. Colorado was a huge unknown for me. Guys had posted pictures of lots of snow covering the ground of Colorado Springs and Denver in the prior thread. I knew today would bring some of the highest elevations of the trip. I had never been to Colorado and didn't know what to expect, but the bachelor party awaited!

As I stepped outside I walked into 27 degrees of New Mexico hell. The sun was barely cresting the horizon and I walked down to the bike to see THIS... the dew on my seat had literally froze over night and I had to forcefully scrape it off. I figured my a** was going to be cold this trip...

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After de-icing my seat and grips, I went to start the bike. Ch..Ch..Ch..Ch..KEKEKEKEEEEEEEK!!!! Oh that doesn't sound too good. Dammit the bike won't start. Immediately I start thinking what did I do the day before? I rode it farther than I think its ever been ridden, did I blow something? I called SteelRain, probably waking him up and told him my story. He said he would look into it and told me to get the bike warm if I could, it probably wasn't getting oil and I was grinding the starter. I called bboyle9 who was at the drugstore in Denver buying gatorade and ibuprofen for his bachelor party hangover, he said he was running 20-50 oil... ah, this might be the culprit.

I thought of a way to warm the bike up... put it in the hotel vending room!

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After 10 or 15 minutes I got the bike to fire up! By that point the oil had warmed up enough to actually flow through the engine. Once started, I had no problems with the bike, well engine at least... With people at the gas station looking at me like I was a madman, I begrudginly took off in the cold. The bike had been shifting weird the night before and was running like crap but I was too cold to look at it. The problems worsened in the morning and I pulled over to see the chain waaay loose. It was skipping anytime I decelerated. I pulled into a small truck repair shop looking to use a jack to adjust my chain. I politely asked the owner of THIS shop if I could rent a jack or if I could pay a mechanic to help me. He was a total prick, told me to get off his property etc. I figured he wasn't the type of ask before he shot me so I said my peace and left. I guess he didn't like bikes or had an 18 wheeler up his rear but so if you ever are driving through Grants, NM and see THIS guy's shop, throw him the bird in honor of me!

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Another truck repair shop referred me to a small neighborhood shop. They were more than helpful and didn't charge me anything. They were pretty stoked on my trip and we talked for a while. I threw them some cash anyways to say thanks.

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SteelRain was sending me weather updates because Colorado was still an unknown for me. He called me at a gas station to tell me that the weather looked to be in the 40s for the whole day. I literally laughed at him because I thought he was being facetious. 40 I said! Hell that sounds amazing! As long as it stays above 40 I'd be stoked.

Between Colorado Springs and Denver I had to pull over to take a piss, I got stuck behind a train so I spelled my name out in the snow. I'll post a pic of the train only haha

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I pulled into Denver to meet the belligerent bachelor party and I made up for lost time at the bar... The next day I awoke to remember that the rear tire was shot, I was surprised how quickly I had burned through it. There was no way I was making it back to SD on that tire. I called a few places and eventually Sun Enterprises, a KTM and Honda dealer came through. They got the tire mounted right before they closed!

Fresh rubber and tube - Shinko

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The mechanic pointed out that the exhaust bracket had come apart. (No doubt from the crashes at Otay two weeks prior). I safety-wired it and hoped for the best.

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I won't post any pictures of the bachelor party. Haha we swore off cameras for the weekend, that way there would be no evidence. I know you understand. Its better this way. I rode from Denver to Albuquerque the next day and stayed at the house of one of the guys from the bachelor party. I was hungover and didn't take pictures. Tomorrow I will post the final chapter, the Iron Butt attempt and yes, pictures of the Blonde!

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Part 3: Iron Butt Saddle Sore 1000 Attempt

I woke up in Albuquerque on a strange couch. The smell of dog and beer lingered. I looked at my phone and knew I had 24 hours to make it San Diego. Well, I had to make it to San Diego and I HIGHLY preferred to make it in 24hours.

Gassed up, noted my time, 5:15am. It was in the upper 30s when I left but I didn't care, I took off riding through the darkness and made it ~70 miles before my first gas stop. There, the first issue of the day surfaced. As much as I tried, the gas cap would not unlock! My hands were already cold, it was 41 degrees outside and trying to manually pry a metal gas cap from a metal tank is murder on your fingers. After many failed attempts I pulled out my tire irons and forced it off. The internal mechanism decided to stop working, and at the first stop of my 1000 mile journey to boot!

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I duct tapped it closed.

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Just like when I left San Diego at the beginning of the trip, the excitement of "leaving" wears off quickly and about 2 hours into the trip I start to get really tired. I pulled over and snacked, gathered myself and watched the sun come up.

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I have a million pictures of my gas receipts and my bike at gas stations, so I had some lady snap a picture of me actually IN the pic

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I know a girl in El Paso and if Colorado had been snowed in, I promised her I would go south and visit. Albuquerque to El Paso to San Diego was 990 miles on Google Maps. It seemed fitting that I route my travels home to include a visit with her.

 

 

 

Somewhere back in New Mexico I took a break for some ice cream

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At a gas stop I saw a cute hipster girl with a bull-ring nosering on a late 80s Honda Hawk. She was riding from Virginia to Tuscon to take up a job as a tattoo artist. Her rear fender was falling off and her license plate looked like it was about to go any moment. Being the gracious young gentleman that I am, I spent a good while helping her fix her bike. She didn't like cameras but here is her bike...

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Right around the NM/AZ border my chain slap was getting out of control. Literally anytime I decelerated or even got off throttle the chain would skip on me. This required me to abuse the clutch anytime I wasn't on throttle. I pulled over for some trailside repairs. I should have checked prior to leaving but forgot amongst the time crunch... would my tire iron / axle wrench be the right size? Thankfully the 650's rear axle nut was 24mm and I was okay. I had seen guys lube their chain by having a friend hold the bike on its stand so I started piling up rocks to stick under the 650's skidplate. Nothing seemed to work so I used my crappy helmet and rotopax. I hate that helmet, wish I could return it but now it has a few deep scratches from the skidplate being on top of it!

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I started the ride with the chain at 3.75 clicks out maybe. By this point, I was totally maxed out on the snail adjusters... over 7!! When the chain decided to go it REALLY went fast.

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The cotter pin wouldn't fit back in so I safety wired the nut in place

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Lots and lots of this on the horizon

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SteelRain helped me out again and called to tell me to pick up a chain breaker and master link so I could shorten the chain or repair it. I stopped into a Tuscon Cycle Gear and picked up a breaker and $14 525 O-ring master link!! Its all they had. The sun set during Arizona and I prematurely started "smelling the barn" as SteelRain would say. Arriving in El Centro my ears were shot and I was starting to get tired.

Problem solved:

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Border Patrol guys kept following me through Ocotillo and towards Alpine, they kept me at the speed limit during this section. Once I hit the 125 a THICK layer of fog set over San Diego. So thick I had to ride desperately slow, sometimes 45mph on the freeway. I decided to pick up a few extra miles before my 4:15am cut off in case I had made a mileage calculation error. The 15 has lights during some sections. The lights only illuminated the foggy mist and made visibility maybe a 1.5 second gap? Horrible. Riding through SD county was not fun. I tried to latch onto the back of trucks and hope for the best.

Arriving back in Pacific Beach, I went to a gas station to find it closed for the night. I started to panic and blasted to the next station. Thankfully it was open and at 4:00am exact, I filled up my tank for the last time.

My journey was complete. ~1065 miles in 23hours and 45minutes!

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I want to THANK YOU SDAR for all the guidance, support, gear and assistance that I needed planning and partaking on this trip. David told me, its not an Adventure if you enjoy it. For this trip, that couldn't be more true. I went places I had never been, faced challenges I didn't expect, met new friends, surprised the bachelor and had a blast. Before I left, I told Randy the SDAR President, "this trip might cost me more money than I can imagine... if I discover I like these long distance trips, my wallet will never thank you." Well my wallet isn't happy, but my soul says Thank you Thank you!!

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Edited by Goofy Footer

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David told me, its not an Adventure if you enjoy it.

It is not an adventure if you enjoy it before you get home.

Close enough! :heh:

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