Iron Butt Rally 2009 - Blast Off

Sunday 08-23-09 I got off of work early and headed off to see the start of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally. I pulled out of the driveway in Eastover, SC at 4:00 p.m. and headed out for Spartanburg, SC.

This is the first time I have taken a trip using my newly added XM radio and Garmin Street Pilot GPS. The XM radio was a great addition. The time flew by with the addition of music and sports. The Garmin was a different story. Betty, the voice from the GPS, was talking my head off. I wanted to take Shop Rd. in Columbia to I-77 to get to I-26 towards Spartanburg. Betty wanted me to go thru town in 5 o’clock traffic. I went my way and she talked my head off. Once I got on I-26 she started seeing things my way and shut up. That was until we got near the hotel in Spartanburg and she wanted me to take some side streets and I knew a more direct route. I went my way and turn Betty off.

Just outside off Prosperity there was a very large wreck on the interstate that caused traffic to come to a complete stop on I-26 for fifteen minutes or so. Luckily no one was hurt.

When I arrived at the rally I was instantly struck with bike envy. Bikes were everywhere. In the parking garage there was at least a hundred LD bikes. In the parking lot there was even more. They were everywhere and they were nice. Once I took a quick trip around the lot I located Donald’s yellow GL1000 and park right next to it. Donald was nice enough to offer me a bed so I could spend extra time at the Rally. If you are reading this, thanks Donald!

After taking my overnight bag up to the room, I headed to the lounge and found a group of friends from the Motorcycle Tours Forum. I had a great chicken sandwich and a better visit with friends that I meet early in the year at the Iron Butt Associations yearly meeting in Jacksonville, FL last March.

At 11:00 p.m. the day caught up with me so I went off to bed. Very early in the morning Donald’s Screaming Meany went off and we were up.

I got to have a quick breakfast with several of the Rally riders but mum was the word. All I could find out was that the theme of the 2009 Rally was “Crime Scenes”, not that that told me much. I can’t wait to read the Rally Reports and learn more.

At 9:30 a.m. I headed off to the staging area and watched a bunch of nervous riders milling around their bikes. As I walked around I noticed that one of the Goldwings had a dead battery and was in the need of a jump. Needless to say the rider was very upset and left the bike running until blast off. Over all there were 101 bikes lined up waiting for the 10 o’clock blast off.

At exactly 10 a.m. the bikes started pulling off. Bikes went screaming out of the parking lot (in a safe and orderly manner) when they got the sign from the rally master. Five minutes later 99 bikes were gone. There were two poor riders left in the parking lot on bikes with no signs of life. After 10 long minutes the bikes were fired up and away they went. I wish them all God Speed and a safe ride.

Thirty minutes later I was packed up and headed back to the big city of Eastover. 40 miles down the road I noticed the sky turning grey and could feel the moisture in the air. Luckily I was able to stay ahead of the rain and got home safely.

Total miles ridden = 248

A short but fun ride!

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