Pimping My Ride

I have just finished the biggest part of my Buddy's customization. I hadn't posted anything about it because....... uh, I don't know. I was wanting it to be secret, but I'm really not sure why. I guess I just wanted to be able to make a production out of the unveiling.

So, here's how it happened: I badly injured my Buddy a couple of months ago. I was changing variator weights (something which I've done a number of times in the past) and somehow managed to put the variator plate on a little crooked, or catawampus as we say back home. I tightened all the nuts and took off for a test drive. The plate seems to have straightened out. Probably when I hit a bump just right. This caused the formerly tight nut and variator plate, to be just a tiny bit loose, resulting in some wobbling, vibration and gawdawful noises coming from of the aforementioned variator plate.

I got the scooter shut down as soon as I could get off the road. Long story short, the variator plate welded itself (through the wonder of friction) to the crankshaft. I was unable to remove it, now were the fine folks at Scoot Over. So, through every fault of my own, I needed a new crankshaft and variator.

The crankshaft is not an expensive part, in itself, however (Ever notice how that word "however" frequently means that your bank account is about to be assaulted?) it takes a LOT of labor to get to it. The engine case must be split open, hence you spend one amount on the crankshaft and much more than that on labor.

Ron, the mechanic at Scoot Over, and I have discussed modifying my motor for more power and since the entire motor was about to have major vehicular surgery, we decided to do the modification and save me the cost of labor to open the engine case at another time.

Ron did a little research and presented me with several options:

1. Upgrade to the 161cc motor. This is common for the 125cc scooters, but since I have a 150cc Buddy, it doesn't really give much increase for the money spent.
2. Upgrade to the 171cc kit. This option is less common and for a bit more money for the kit, gives me a 21cc boost.
3. Upgrade to the NCY 62mm cylinder kit. I had seen references made to this kit, but have never heard of anyone ever having installed it on their scooter. Hmmm, what might be a one-of-a-kind motor? I had to have it.

So began my journey. I had Ron order the kit. Additionally, I added the 61mm Big Valve Head and the new crank shaft.

After completing the Saddle Sore 1000, Iron Butt ride, we decided to start calling my Scooter "Iron Buddy." So, while Ron was rebuilding my scooter's power plant, I started thinking of how to make my scoot look Iron - esque. I have never liked the blue color of the St Tropez and early on had gotten some quotes to repaint it. A simple, one color paint job was about $400, but a two-tone metallic, mildly customized paint job was quoted to me at $3000! I can't afford custom paint work.

Shelby, at Scoot Over, referred me to Signs Now to look at a vinyl wrap. After looking a lot of images, my wife and I picked out a rusty, rivetted, steel plate graphic image. I had kind of a "Mad Max" meets "steam punk" in mind. After getting a sample printed out, I went to Scoot Over and held it up against the part of the Buddy that couldn't be wrapped. It didn't match at all, but Ron suggested that it would look good with the "Sunset Orange" Buddy body panels. It did.

"In for a penny, in for a pound" as the old saying goes, so I had Scoot Over order the new panels. Now the Buddy would have a "new" motor, new look panels on the front and rear and brand new panels in the middle.

There were some bumps in the road. The 183cc kit wouldn't just "bolt on." The cylinder had to be bored out to accommodate the new piston. That took a while. Sign Now had a printer go down and the other one run out of ink as well as a couple of high profile, high dollar jobs that put Iron Buddy on the back burner for a few days.

Finally, after a bit more than a month, all the parts were in place. Scoot Over was kind enough to let me keep Buddy in their garage and provided with the tools and expertise required to put Iron Buddy back together. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, this was going back together again!

It took about 10 hours, but I did it. Naturally, the first thing I did was to ride over the the GGR scooter club garage to show him off. Then I got the cameras and took some stills and some video. I didn't just want to post a couple of still pics on Modern Buddy and Facebook, so I made a little movie. It's only the second movie I've ever made, but I think it gets the point a cross:

Am I done? Of course not. The wheels are still blue. I think I will just paint them for now, but I am going to look for custom wheels. Ron and I are also looking at a new carburetor.

Ride on,

Howard

Camera Mount Mayhem

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been working a lot the Riding SoAZ series on the Sky Island Riders site. One of the things I had wanted to do, in order to make it different for most travel blog entries, was to put short videos of some of the roads the I talk about.

For this, I purchased a cheap video camera from Big Lots. I didn't want to risk a expensive camera falling off the bike in the middle of a bumpy road. Found this inexpensive Polaroid. It was actually the second one I tried. The quality on the first was so appalling that I returned it and got this one.

Now the problem was how to attack the camera to this scooter:

In order to get the sensation of riding on the road, I wanted to attach to the front of the scooter. Stella has the front rack and it should be easy, right? Wrong!

First obstacle: How to attach the camera to the rack. I could simply tape the camera on, but that gets sticky residue all over everything. Plus, every time I needed to review what I had just filmed, it would be a pain in the butt to take the camera off, review, then re-tape it. I needed something else.

I decided that I needed to create some kind of cradle in which to put the camera. Then I could attached the cradle to the bike and remove the camera whenever I needed. So, I did what anyone else would do: I grabbed an empty cereal box (Apple Cinnamon Cheerios for the record.)

I cut out the front and folded it to the size of the camera then taped it together with packing tape. I wasn't thinking about it at the time, so I don't have pics of the phase of the build. I then cut out a hole for the lens and another hole, on the opposite side, for the controls. I didn't bother with a window in the box for the camera's screen, since I would be riding as I filmed and it wouldn't be safe to be trying to watch the screen.

I made my first attempt to attach my new "cradle" to Stella's rack. I ran in to two problems. First, the bars on the rack are horizontal. I had cut holes on either side of the cradle and inserted zip ties, but in that configuration, I could only attack to something vertical.

Second, I realized that if I did attach to the rack, anything done tight enough to hold the camera securely, would crush the cardboard as soon as I pulled out the camera. So, I kept thinking. I gathered more supplies:

Zip ties, duct tape (You didn't think I'd try any project without duct tape, did you?) bandage scissors, screwdriver and that corrugated plastic stuff. We had some left over from one of my wife's quilting projects.

I decided that I needed a rigid "cradle" to protect the first cradle from be crushed. Additionally, I needed a way to secure this new cradle to a horizontal bar. (Horizontal Bar - Is that a place people who are ALREADY drunk to go and party?) At any rate, I folded a couple of corrugated plastic strips around the bottom of the cardboard box and secured it with duct tape. ( Insert appropriate work grunt here.) Now it looks like this:

The pic on the left shows the back of the box and camera with the controls visible. The middle pic shows a profile view and the last pic is of the front of the whole setup. Now to attach to assembly to the rack. Where are those zip ties?

The pic above who two zip ties facing opposite directions. I wasn't sure how to place them until I got it on the bike. It mounted on pretty well, until I realized that, in my creative excitement, I had forgotten to think of a way to secure the top of the cradle as well as the bottom. Some more corrugated plastic, zip ties and duct tape later and voila':

I cut two short strips of plastic and taped them on either side of the back of the box, then fed the zip ties down through the corrugs (or whatever they call those tunnels in the cardboard.) Likewise I cut slits in the bottom pieces of plastic and fed another pair of zip ties through there. This allowed me to attach easily to the horizontal bars.

The final hurdle was aiming the camera. Lateral placement was a given. The camera is looking the same direction as the scooter. Vertical aiming was a slight problem. If you look at the two pics above, you can see the springs. The part of the rack I have attached to, is spring loaded and you pull it down and the spring helps you secure things you may be carrying. It neutral position is slightly more than 90 degrees. Wait! Let me get some more zip ties:

They we go! I used 3 zip ties to pull the rack forward a bit. I made several test runs down my street to check the aim and carefully adjusted the ties until the camera's view was what I wanted. The camera fits in the box pretty snugly (so it won't bounce out) so I put a hole in the bottom of the cradle and use the small screwdriver to push it up and out between shots.

How does it work? Here is one of my first attempts:

Ride on,

Howard

Busy, Busy

I am certain that the title for this entry "Busy, Busy" has been by many bloggers for a lame excuse on why they have written nothing in quite a while. I am no different. I do have an an excuse, so, please, allow me to tell you what it is. After all, if an excuse told in the woods, and there was no one there to here it, was there really an excuse at all?

As you may know, I also write the blog for our local Tucson scooter club, the Sky Island Riders. Much of the stuff on the website is club specific: photos, video and our forum/bulletin board, for example.

In my mind's eye however, I have also wanted the blog, and it's associated data, to become a resource for people who live in, or travel to, Southern Arizona. Not just for scooterists, either. Motorcyclists, bicyclists or even people who just want to enjoy our state. That is one reason I started the "Ride Maps" tab. It lists maps of various rides around Tucson, but also include routes to Phoenix which don't require the interstate.

Three months or so ago, I thought of another idea. I thought of writing a series of posts about riding/driving in Southern AZ, which I have entitled "Riding SoAZ." I first defined Southern AZ, then subdivided that region into smaller areas to write about. I had decided to make each post about 1000 words long and add photos and hot links to the various points of interest that have websites. Most of the photos are my own. (Which means the quality isn't that great.)

Part VII is posted now and part VIII is almost complete. If you haven't already checked it out, you can find Part I here:

Riding SoAZ

I didn't quite finish writing about riding in Tucson, but felt like people who were reading to learn about outlying places might get bored, so I moved to the rural areas and I will return and finish Tucson later, probably after I finish the rural areas.

So, that is my excuse for not writing here lately. Is it a good one? I've written well over 10k words for Sky Island Riders, not to mention the time on the scooter to go out and get photos.

In other news, the editor of "Iron Butt" magazine had contacted me shortly after I completed the Saddle Sore 1000 and asked if he could publish my story. I thought long and hard about it (about 1 second) and said "Yes!" I have never been in a magazine before, so this sounded quite exciting.

Well, the day before yesterday, my copy finally arrived. He actually used my blog entry from this blog. I don't know what it says about my writing or his editing, but the magazine article is virtually unchanged from my original entry. So, without further adieu, here's the cover:

Naturally, I quickly flipped to the table of contents to find my piece.
There it is! Page 46! No picture here, but I flipped to page 46:
I am kind of flattered that it is called "Extreme Rides."

I really enjoyed the entire magazine. I have always enjoyed long hours in the saddle of my scooter. I don't put in the miles that the motorcyclists do, but I have put in some major hours.

Future Fun

I am really stoked. I have started working on next year's scooter rally. As you may recall, our club hosted a scooter rally, this past May. It was the Tucson May Day Rally. I was a little disappointed at first, but I eventually realized that my expectations had been a bit too high. After a couple of weeks, I realized that it was a pretty darn good first effort. Not wanting to be a “flash in the pan,” we had an after action meeting and talked about what went well, what could have been better, etc, etc, in anticipation of another rally.I had wanted to do the rally as a fund raiser for a local charity, but started too late and couldn’t get it together.

I decided that I would started earlier this year and have actually been thinking about the 2011 rally quite a bit. I have already decided to change the name, but not the date. May Day doesn’t really mean anything anymore to most Americans and so, coming up with some kind of consistent theme for a “May Day Rally” is difficult. Since we are located in the southwest, some kind of western theme seems appropriate. This makes the choosing of venues, destinations, patch/logo designs, games etc, a lot easier. I’m fairly certain that is the direction we will be going.




Regarding charities, I had mentioned my search to the club and asked if anyone new of a local charity that might be interested in working with a rat-tag bunch of scooterists on a rally and raise a bit of money as well. Up steps Paul Tumarkin who mentions that he knows someone at Beads of Courage (hereafter referred to as BoC.), who just might be interested. BoC works with seriously ill children. As a nurse and father of five children myself, this organization appealed to me.

Long story, short, Paul contacted Jean Baruch, from BoC, who expressed interest in the concept and we had a meeting together, today, between the three of us. I think the other two are as excited about this project as am I. Jean and BoC have a network of contacts in southern Arizona that, I feel, complements mine. Our goals and values seem to be compatible. We all have big plans and high expectations from our respective organizaions.

Jean is new to the idea of scooters and scooter rallies, so I told her how the May rally went and why we did things the way we did. She was very receptive and seemed to agree with my ideas of having a family-friendly, community centered event. She asked appropriate questions and when it came time to speak of the 2011 rally, she and Paul, already had some great ideas!

I want to be able to raise money for a charity, but at the same time, I want to be able to host an exciting, quality rally for scooterists. Using BoC’s status as a charitable organization, I think we will be able really get a lot more business to donate goods, services and $$ to make this rally ROCK!

Another exciting idea that came out of this meeting are some ways to integrate artists, scooters and kids into this rally. This way, we will be able to reach people who would never have any interest in something that was aimed at just scooters.

I am very excited about this rally and about meeting and working with new people.

Borrowed Rides, Test Rides and Reviews

As I've mentioned in at least one previous post, scooter people are great folks. In the context of this post, I'm referring to the generous, sharing (and foolhardy) spirit that results in those scooter people who allow others to ride their scoots. I've run into a lot of those in the short time I've been riding. I've also done a couple of formal test rides/reviews lately that I wanted to mention.

Perhaps 6 months after I started scooting, I was at my local scooter shop and my second home, Scoot Over, when a guy riding a Big Ruckus pulled in. I had never seen one up close and was asking a few questions about the bike. The guy tossed my the keys and says "take it for a ride." I hesitated, because no one had ever done anything like that before, but he says "Really, it's okay. Have fun with it." Then he turned around and walked into the shop.

So, I went out and rode it. I was fun, but not as much fun as my Buddy. The Big Ruckus is 250cc and, as you can see above, has a lot to carry around. Subsequently, it is fairly slow accelerating from a stop, but it does have a decent top end. I love the rugged, industrial kind of look to them.

I mention the above incident only because it was the first. In the past month, similar incidents have happened and that's what resulted in this particular post. On Independence Day, Scoot Over hosted an awesome picnic. Some 25 scooters and their riders showed up. Naturally, we were all admiring one another's scoots.

One scooter I am hoping to own one day, is a vintage Lambretta. A young man at the picnic happened to have one and don't you know that he offered to let me take it out for a spin. So I did.

The one I rode in the blue and white Lammy in the middle of this pic. I love the long, low, sleek look of the Lambretta. I'm sorry, but I don't remember the year of this scoot, but it was a fun ride. One thing you have to get used to on vintage scooters, are vintage braking systems. Those drum brakes are a far cry from today's front disks.

A short while later, at the same picnic. I was offered my first ride on a moped. We have a local moped club (Las Tortugas aka The Turtles) and I had commented a few times that it must be fun to ride with them. The moped in question was a J.C. Penney "Pinto."

The moped is much different from a 150cc scooter, but still a lot of fun in their own right. I wast sure what to do with my feet. It felt weird to be moving along under power and yet, have pedals. I guess you get used to it. I am considering the possibility of adding a moped to my stable of 2-wheelers. I think riding with Las Tortugas sounds like a blast.

Last week, I was at Scoot Over when the new 220cc Blur arrived. The scooter community has been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this sporty scooter for a while. It just so happened that Ron finished prepping the bike just after I arrived. James offered me a test ride. There was no way I was turning that down. Here's the new Blur:

I am pretty old school when it comes to scooters, but I still appreciate the look of the Blur. I really like the grey and black. It reminds me of the Volkswagen Scirocco I owned years ago. As you would expect from 220cc, the Blur accelerates well. "Roll-on" acceleration is particularly good. The seat is as hard as a rock and I would be modifying or replacing it or ASAP if I had one. Riding position is forward and aggressive, like a sport bike. This takes some getting used to, but it does make for some nice cornering traits. Thanks to Scoot Over for letting me test ride it.

I stop by a nearby motorcycle shop from time to time because they carry a limited number of scooters from the Japanese companies. I was in there this week looking to see if they had a Yamaha Majesty in stock. (I've decided that I want a maxi-scoot in the stable as well.) While there, I was offered a test ride on the 2010 Can Am Spyder. The Spyder is a 3-wheeled, tadpole-style trike with a 1000cc sport bike motor. They look like this:

It was a blast to drive, uh, ride. I did a formal review of my experience on our club webite, here. I don't see myself ever having one, but if you get the chance to take one for a spin, do it.

I love being in a community where our rides are so diverse. I have nothing against homogenous groups like Goldwing, or trike, or moped clubs, but riding one another's rides is kind of moot, since everyone is on the same thing.

Ride on,

Howard

Iron Butt Ride Reflections

It's been a month since completing the Iron Butt Ride. I won't know if the ride has been confirmed and accepted for another month or two. I have been asked a lot of questions about the ride and I've had time to reflect on it. My wife say it was a foolhardy thing to do. I agree with her. So, why did I do it?

Was it to get my "15 minutes of fame?"

Didn't we all want to be famous when we were kids? Some people never outgrow that desire. But, no, I don't think that was the reason. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy having some degree of notoriety. But, the scooter community is pretty small, so, if it's fame I wanted, I would probably need to try something different.

Because it's there!

This is getting a bit closer. When I was still riding bicycles (I blew me knee out and can't ride anymore.) I was wanting to ride ever longer distances. I finished my first century ride (100 miles) and immediately noted that there were rides of 250 and even 500 miles. I had decided I wanted to work my way toward those. I wasn't wanting to set world records, but I did want to do something that most people hadn't done. I've always been a pretty average guy: average intelligence, average athletic ability, average height, build etc, etc. I did manage to marry a way above average wife, however. So, I guess I saw that Iron Butt ride and decided it would be a chance to do something that the average guy doesn't do.

That Middle Age Crisis thing.

I was a pretty good kid. I didn't take a lot of risks. There were things i wanted to do .....but didn't, girls I wanted to ask out ....but didn't, parts I should have auditioned for .....well, you get the idea. As a young man, I joined the Army. I wanted to be infantry or a tanker, but those skills don't translate well into the civilian world, so I passed. As an adult, I saw an excellent opportunity to start my own business, the need and the demand were there, but ...too risky. These are not things that I regret everyday, or at all, for that matter. They just are what they are. (I did take one huge risk as a young man. I fell in love with a beautiful, intelligent and witty young lady. The risky part was that we eloped when she was only 16 years old! That was over 26 years ago and she's still just as beautiful, intelligent and witty.) What does this have to do with Iron Butt Rides? Well, I knew that there was some degree of risk involved with this ride. Riding at night and on the interstate involved risk. I suppose that drew me to do it as well. Maybe I felt as if I owed myself another risk or two.

So What?
There isn't a lot of "exploring" or "discovery" that can be done by the average guy. It seems, sometimes, that everything has been done. But know what? It hasn't been done by me. I can explore my personal abilities and limits. I don't know that I've caught the Iron Butt "bug" but I will continue to ride. I will ride places to which I've never been. There won't usually be people there to congratulate or take video of me, but it won't matter. I ride because it pleases me and it probably makes me easier to get along with.

Ride on,

Howard

Epic Post for an Epic Ride

As you may remember, I had set a goal to ride a 1000 mile “Iron Butt” ride, technically, a “Saddle Sore 1000.” This is a ride described by the Iron Butt Association as 1000 miles and must be completed in less than 24 continuous hours from the official start time. It is NOT based on actual riding time. At any rate, yesterday(5/15/10), I completed the ride, which I started at 1829 on 5/14/2010. The total elapsed time was 23 hours and 40 minutes.

First, a word of thanks: Thanks to my wife who, in spite of her better judgment, allowed me to go on the ride. Next, to my children, Nathan, Harmony and Joshua, who accompanied my on every mile in the “chase vehicle” encouraging me, keeping semis off my back, and keeping friends, family and others up to date with text messages and twitters. Finally, I need to thank Mike, Shelby and Ron at Scoot Over (goscootover.com) for their support. They gave me advice, free service and discounted tires etc to allow me to attempt this ride. THANK YOU everyone! I literally could not have done it without you.

PREPARATION

I'd been mentally preparing for a year or more. Actually physical preparation has been going on for a couple of months. I had told Mike, at Scoot Over, about the ride, so they agreed to “sponsor” the ride. They gave me a tune up and did some minor adjustments after my 500 mile test run in April. They also gave me a new rear tire for their cost.

I was concerned about visibility at night, both seeing and being seen. To be seen better, I went to a bike shop and bought some highly reflective tape and “dots” and liberally applied these to the rear, front and sides of the scoot. I have a reflective vest and I also bought a “Viewpoint Flashpoint Ultra” LED bicycle taillight which I attached to my vest. I figured to have it flashing at night. Is it legal? I don't know.

To help me see at night, I attached a bicycle headlight to the right hand side of the front cowl of the scooter. I finished the 500 mile ride at night and developed a fear of hitting an animal or something at night. The light point slightly to the right in hopes of giving me an additional split-second of reaction time in the event a deer or coyote were to run in front of me. I attached it with stick-on Velcro and, of course, duct tape. The picture was taken AFTER the ride and it all held together well. Did the light make any difference? Not likely, don't waste your time if you want to see better at night. Get a “real” headlight.

Route planning – I learned, after the test ride, that stopping too frequently is a time killer. For that ride, I stopped every 50 miles. My gas gauge isn't as accurate as it used to be, so I new I could go further between stops. I also learned that the Buddy doesn't get the gas mileage that it once did, so I couldn't stretch it too far. I decided on 70 mile “legs.” This worked out pretty well. Tucson to Wilcox, AZ to Lordsburg, NM to Deming, NM to Sunset View, NM to Fort Hancock, TX to Van Horn, TX are each about 70 miles. The final leg from Van Horn to Pecos is 90+ miles with no towns in between, so I knew we would be stopping on the roadside and filling from gas cans. I brought 4 extra gallons of gas along.

Timing – I decided to leave around sundown. I wanted to finish the ride in daylight, where my natural biorhythms would help me stay awake. I am routinely awake til midnight so I knew that riding til 1:00 or even 2:00 am wouldn't all that difficult for me, consciousness wise. I still worried a lot about night riding.

DEPARTURE Tucson - Wilcox

Fellow rider, Sean Lynch, met us at Mr T's Fuel to see me off and ride the first few miles with me. Additionally, he acted as witness for my Iron Butt paperwork and he presented me with a nice Gremlin Bell. (see http://www.gremlinbells.com/ for more info if you've never heard of them.) We didn't have a zip-tie, so the bell road along inside the storage bin on the scooter. Combine that with all the prayer that my wife was providing and everything turned out great.

My official departure time, according to the receipt, was 1829. Off to Wilcox! The temperature was about 90 degrees. At the time I was leaving, I honestly figured I could do this in about 22 hours. If I averaged 50mph, that is 20 hours of travel time. Average 7 minutes per stop, times 15 stops, and that gives me about 2 hours to spare. Silly me.

Starting odometer reading: 15,979

Sean accompanied me for about 15 miles, I waved as he left the exit. The first thing I notice is “Man are these cars and trucks moving fast.” The speed limit on Interstate-10 is 75mph. A short ways outside of Tucson, I hit the fastest speed I've ever done on the Buddy, 75mph, indicated. That is about 67 “real” mph. This was on a long, 5% grade going down into Benson, AZ.

As the darkness settles in, I thought of three things: 1. “It's getting cold out here.” 2. “I forgot to turn my brand new, super bright LED, blinking taillight on.” and 3. “My shoulders hurt.”

Wilcox – Lordsburg, NM

I was cold by the time I go to Wilcox. I ditched my summer weight gloves and put on my heavier, leather gloves with wool inserts. I also put on the wind breaker that I used all winter. One of the reasons I waited until May, was I wanted night-time temps of 60 degrees or better. It's one thing to ride to work for 30 minutes with temps in the 30's, but another to ride all night, I figured. Warmer clothes on, I added 1.2 gallons of gas to the scoot, turned on the taillight and hit the road.

Lordsburg, NM – Deming

My first thoughts of quitting occur, for two reasons: first, I was so cold that shaking chills had started. My teeth were chattering. However, every time I would seriously think about pulling over, packing it in and waiting for warmer temps, I would hit a pocket of warm air and start felling better. Once at Deming, I put the liner in my riding jacket.

The other thing that gave me pause, was that my motor started missing out at times. This had happened on the test ride as well. Ron, at Scoot Over, had looked for the cause, but couldn't reproduce it. I asked on Modern Buddy, my favorite scooter forum, and still couldn't find and fix it. I did replace my fuel vacuum petcock, thinking that might help with that AND my mileage issue, but it apparently fixed neither.

The other issue that came up during this leg was speed. From Tucson to Deming is a steady climb. Yes, there are a couple of very nice downhill areas, but overall, it's climbing. Somewhere west of Deming is the continental divide, elevation 4580 feet. My speeds were frequently in the 50-55bph (buddy units per hour) meaning real speeds of 40-50mph. This was not good since I have to AVERAGE 50mph.

Deming, NM – Sunset View, NM

I'm not actually sure of the town. I was looking for the Artcraft Road exit and was almost there when I ran out of gas... the first time. I quickly pulled over, popped the seat and poured my 1 liter emergency bottle into the tank and took off. I made it 68 miles. Hmm, it's was a little too late to rethink that 70 mile per leg scenario. We went down two exits, to Artcraft Road and gassed up. Unfortunately, the lobby area had closed for the night and my daughter and I both needed a bathroom, so went went down two more exits and stopped again. Time lost. I was still a bit cold, so I put my rain pants on.

As the picture attests, I was beginning to look like the Michelin Man.

Sunset View, NM – Fort Hancock, TX

Throughout all of my route planning, I tried to figure a way to NOT go through El Paso. It's not that I've ever really had a bad driving experience there. We used to live in 1984-85. I just wanted to by-pass larger cities. It was as we were going through El Paso at 2:00 am local time that I realized I had not tried hard enough to by-pass this place. Yes, it was Friday night, but it was 2:00 am for cryin' out loud. It wasn't nearly as bad as it would be later on that same day, but maybe that's what made me uncomfortable, “If there are this many cars at 2:00 am, what will it be like 8 hours from now?” Most of I-10 though El Paso is 5 lanes wide and moving fast. The right lanes frequently “Exit Only” and then begin again at the next on ramp. I elected to stay in the middle lane all the way through the city. This perturbed a couple of people, but nothing serious.

The gas station in Fort Hancock was closed, but thanks to the magic of debit cards, we got fuel anyway.

Ft Hancock – Van Horn, TX

All the way to Van Horn, I was trying to visualize my google-map in my head. For some reason, I was recalling that the I-10 and I-20 split was west of Van Horn. A short ways outside of El Paso, there had been a sign for the exit onto Texas Highway 20. The further I went toward Van Horn, I started wondering if it had said I-20 and I had missed it. I was getting quite concernedand was trying to adjust my route in my head.

Once at Van Horn, I quickly went inside and asked how far it was to the I-10/20 interchange. “40 miles.” was the reply. With no small amount of trepidation I asked “East or west of here?” I sighed with great relief when he said “East.”

I was still cold, so it was at this truck stop that I got my first and only cup of coffee. Always wary of time, I mixed ice with it and some hot chocolate so it wouldn't upset my stomach. I downed the mixture then chase it with some ice water that I needed to take more Motrin. My shoulders were killing me, still. The net result of warming myself with coffee? Zip.

We gassed up the support vehicle (i.e. my 1997 Dodge minivan) here as well. This and the fact that I needed rest and something hot/warm to drink resulted in a 20 minute stop. Time!

Van Horn to Co Rd 216, somewhere South of Toyah, TX.

Dawn occurred shortly outside of Van Horn. Notice that I didn't say “the sun rose.” It was cloudy and dark. The difference was that now I could see a bit of landscape outside of my headlight beam. It wasn't much, but I did draw some comfort in it. However, it started as cloudy, as we turned onto I-20, it began to get foggy and as we approached Toyah, a fine mist developed. Additionally, speed continues to plague me. East of Van horn is Plateau. So called, because of it's location. We steadily climbed from Van Horn to Pecos.

I knew that I couldn't make it to Pecos without gas. I had told the kids that we would go til I ran out, pull of the road, gas and go. However, the speed limit in west Texas is 80mph. I decided to pull off when I got low, rather than risk running out of fuel on an overpass or other dangerous spot.

HALFWAY PECOS, TX!

The earlier mist advanced into a drizzle. The mist was a pain, because I had to keep wiping it off my helmet visor, but at least the road had been dry. The drizzle eliminated the dry road. Now, I was continuously wiping the visor, plus every time a truck blew past me at 80mph, I had to avoid or endure the spray from his tires. I'm wet and now I'm cold again, but I didn't want to stop, yet again, just to put on my rain jacket.

The “Flying J” in Pecos is apparently the place to be on a Saturday morning. Because of overuse, my debit card was locked down. (They warn you about this on the Iron Butt website.) I had to stand in line to prepay, then stand in line again to get my change and my receipt. I just noticed as I'm writing this, that the “prepaid” receipts don't have the time on them. I hope the Iron Butt people take note. I also had to find a witness. The young lady at the counter was swamped, so I asked another patron. Thank you Jeremy Ramsey.

Another person in line said, “That scooter sure is fast. I passed you guys back on I-10. Now you're here” Of course, he probably had the luxury of sitting down and eating real food. I ate another granola bar, fired up the bike and headed for home. It was now 11 hours and 30 minutes after we had left home. So much for that 22 hour idea.

I had two things going through my head regarding the time: “There was a lot of uphill on the way here, no we get to go down and we will make up time.” and “You may go a bit faster, but you're tired and sore and will likely need more time at each stop.” Time!

Pecos – Kent, TX

It was still drizzling, but I chose not to put on the rain jacket, because we only hit the drizzle the last few mile before Pecos.

Again, I decided to pull off the interstate before I ran totally out of gas. Put in enough gas to get to Van Horn and off we went. More drizzle.

Kent – Van Horn, TX

I wasn't hungry, but decided to grab something to eat anyway. I went into the Wendy's inside the truck stop and got a chicken “Go-Wrap.” I ate most of it, took 2 more Motrin and away we went.

Hooray! The sun came out. Once at Van Horn, I took the rain pants off.

Van Horn – Ft Hancock, TX

An army convoy, presumably from Ft Bliss in El Paso, pulled out of Van Horn right in front of us. In a car, you pass these guys because they are only allowed to drive 55mph. I knew I was not usually going 55, so I figured I would just join the convoy.

This section might be the most fun. We hit that downhill I referred to earlier and suddenly I was going 60mph, whee! Let's make up some time. We got to a steeper downhill section. I looked and there were no cars or trucks bearing down on us, so I got into the left lane went to make the first pass of the trip. I figured to pass the whole convoy. NOT!

I made it past about 3 vehicle when I noticed a semi coming up behind the van. Is it legal to merge in with a military convoy? I don't know, but that's what I did. The van squeezed in with me and let the truck go by. From that point on, I would draft the vehicle in front of me and keep an eye on fast moving traffic. When I got an opening, I would give it the gas, tuck as low as I could get and pass the next vehicle. I did this all the way til I got in front of the entire convoy.

I stayed in front of them, too, that is until I ran out of gas, again, exactly 1 mile from the “Ft Hancock 1 mile” sign post. Once more, I poured the liter bottle into the tank, hopped back on and rode into Ft Hancock.

Ft Hancock – near the Horizon City Exit, El Paso

I didn't want to risk running out of gas while on 5 lane interstate in El Paso, so I pulled onto the shoulder of the road and executed a quick pitstop. A quick fill from the gas can and off we went, with some degree of nervousness, into the city.

Near the Horizon City Exit, El Paso – Anthony, TX

“I'm alive!” I shouted to the kids as I parked at the pump at the Anthony Flying J. The sprint through El Paso was the most frightened I have even been on a scooter. I was again tempted to quit the Iron Butt, except, I knew that even if I quit and somehow found a way to get off the road, I would still have to go the rest of the way through El Paso. I kept having nightmarish visions of being sideswiped by a car then being run over by my own kids. It was awful.

Quick mental calculations (as quick as you can calculate after no sleep and 700 miles of scooter riding) showed that we were cutting it close. It was 12:30 pm,Arizona time. That meant we had 6 hours to cover about 250 miles. I couldn't remember exactly how far it was to Tucson. I chose Anthony to stop because it was clser to Deming than Artwalk Road and I didn't want to run out of gas again.

Anthony, TX – Deming, NM

That next sign read “Deming – 84 miles” Drat! Wrong again. So we pulled off at a picnic area. I ran around in circles, flapping my arms, in order to loosen the muscles of my hips, thighs and shoulders, while Nathan filled the scooter from a gas can. We couldn't skip the Deming stop because the van needed gas again as well. My pain is getting very, very intense. The Buddy is a great scooter, and I love it, but it is NOT a highway cruiser.

I am seriously doubting that I'll make it in time. An alternative plan comes to mind. I could stop the ride in Vail, AZ. That will buy 20-30 minutes. I may make it yet. Because I am having to prepay for gas and because both vehicle need fuel and because I need to eat something, this stop is longer than I would like, probably 15 minutes of precious time. I toss of piece of cheese and a small bag of Fritos down my gullet and we're off.

Deming – Lordsburg, NM

This section is unremarkable except for the fact that the scooter seems to be running a bit better. Also, as we left the gas station, I realize how much pain I'm in. I pull off and get some Aleve, from Harmony.

Lordsburg, NM – Exit 352, AZ

No time to stop at Wilcox. It has now become a real possibility that we won't make it. There are three large hills between here and home, just west of Wilcox, Texas Canyon, east of Benson, then the steep climb out of Benson, the same one that I went 75bph the night before.

The last mileage sign said it was 90 miles to Tucson and we had 2 hours remaining. I don't know how much gas I have available in cans, but made the decision to skip Wilcox, simply because of the time it takes to get off the road, over to the station, pay, fuel and get back onto the road. I know there's a rest area at the top of Texas Canyon. I planned to top off there and race to the finish. More arm flapping and running in place. Pain! Time!

Exit 352 – Texas Canyon, AZ

I ran into a swarm of something west of Wilcox. I started getting pummeled and ducked behind my windscreen. As we were gassing up at the rest area, a couple walked up, asked what we doing, then asked, “We were right behind you outside of Wilcox. Did you go through the same swarm of bugs we did?” Funny.

I flapped my arms some more and told the kids that I would decide at the Vail exit, whether or not to I would try for Mr T's. Again, I note that the scooter is running stronger. Have you ever seen how a horse acts after you've been riding for a while and then the horse realizes you're heading for home?

Texas Canyon – Finish!

The same grade of hill that resulted in 45mph speeds last evening, barely slows me to 52mph now. My son tells me that I hit 68 real mph down the hill into Benson.

I have my first close call while zooming down the hill. The entire trip, big rigs had been giving me a lot of room. Some even honked and wave. While I was going down this hill, tired, sore and hanging on for dear life, a truck truck started past me, then began drifting into my lane. He quickly corrected, so I think he might have been checking his radio or texting or something.

We got to the Vail exit and my watch said 1755. That meant 34 minutes to cover what I estimated to be 12 or 13 miles. Go for it!

I began to get very nervous coming in to town. The traffic was unusually heavy and fast. You're always reading tragic stories about people being killed just a few miles from their destination. Finally, I pulled into the station. I made it with 20 minutes to spare, according to my watch. I filled my tank from the exact pump as 23 and a half hours previous and, “damn!” it didn't give me a receipt. That's okay, I needed to get a witness for the paperwork anyway. I went in and had Jon Drake, sign my form.

Finish odometer reading 17,125

According to the Iron Butt site, it will be 2-3 months before I get the official notification. It is even possible that they they will not count my ride. I sure hope they do, but one thing is certain, my kids and I will have something to talk about for a LONG time.