2019 IBA JAX Pizza Party Adventure - Day 3 March 15, 2019

Another beautiful day full of beautiful people :-) Oh, and beautiful bikes!  We didn't have any particular plans for the day.  We intended to be social and kick tires and partake in a meal or two.  So today's report will be all about that!

We ran into Lisa and Steven Rufo as they were checking into their room.  Honeymooners they are and the glow shows!

The lobby was teeming with Iron Butt riders.  Some looked very excited to be here!

Some seemed more concerned about their hair or lack thereof ;-)

Some were just holding up the wall or holding down a chair.

And others (Like Howard E.) was just happy to be here, sitting on the porch watching the world of beautiful people and beautiful bikes pass by.

Bikes continued to arrive at the venue.

More newlyweds. Thomas and Joanna S.  This is Tom's typical expression.

And this expression for when Joanna smacks him and tells him to look pretty for the camera!

Oh yeah, everyone wanted to get in on the photo shoot!

Yep, everyone.

Jeez, Thomas had to photobomb Barb S.'s red carpet photo.

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And then there is my honey, Eric.  Can't get enough pics of him no matter what.  Here with Dale B.

Besides the lobby peeps were hanging outside.  So much to see, so many peeps to chat with, so many stories to tell.  It was all good.  No, it was great.

Eric with Mike R.  Always love to see Mike R. at an event.

Chris R. being laid back.  Actually there are like at least 5 guys named Chris.  And two of them are Chris R.  This is Chris R. #1.

More newlyweds!  Jim and Janet Owen.  I love that I know at least six couples who are together because of the Iron Butt Association and events like this.  How awesome is that?  And, Jim was the Iron Butt Rally Winner in 2009 and 2017.  They only rider to win the Rally twice (so far).  For those who don't know, the Iron Butt Rally is a 11 day, 11,000 miles (or more) rally held every other year.  It's the top of the mountain for IBA Rally riders, the Big Dance!

More peeps hanging out front of the hotel.

There was no formal dinner this evening so everyone kind of scattered.  Eric and I, along with 9 other folks went to Trent's Seafood for dinner.  We were lucky to have Barb S. give us a ride.  Not too far from the hotel, we were there in about 10 minutes.  Located down a side road with little to no ambiance, lol.  Here is the bar we parked in front of.

And here is our approach to Trent's.  Side note, I counted at least 10 cats, yes kitty cats, lolling about the road, parking lot and porches surrounding Trent's.  Guess they get to clean up any leftovers!

The Naval Air Station is located quite close and we had quite a show of low flying aircraft as they made their landing approach.  That was kind of cool!

A group photo of the Trent's Dinner Brigade!  Motley Crew indeed :-)

Just a few interior shots to give you a feel for the ambiance of the place.  Very low key.

Lots of menu choices.  Actually they had things available that were not on the menu and were sold out of some things listed on the menu.  For some, it was "Guess Your Dinner" :-)

A couple of exterior shots.

A lumber yard and maybe a church across the street.  Maybe the church was a private home.  Dunno, there was no signage.

Ah, food arrived.  And, it arrived on serving trays, platters and baskets. And, there was a LOT of it.  And, it was GOOD!  And, it was MESSY, lol.  Thus the rolls of paper towels on the tables.

Oh, my.  We had a feast.  Oysters, clams, shrimp, lobster, scallops, fish, mac & cheese, onion rings, green beans, salads, hush puppies, fries, baked potatoes, greens, grits, and more.  Can you believe it?  Some peeps actually topped it all off with dessert, key lime pie, salted caramel cheesecake, and more.  Gack!  I was too stuffed for dessert.

As were finishing up dinner the lights went out!  Yes, the lights went out!  This is apparently a recurring event and fortunately they had emergency back-up lighting over the exits.  So, dessert was had in a romantic low light and our dinner checks had to be prepared by hand because of course the computers were down.  Hahahaha, good fun.

After dinner, back at the host hotel, Eric and I decided to walk around the hotel and maybe work off some of that awesome dinner.  We didn't make it 50 feet before we ran into peeps and started chatting.  Well our target bedtime of 10 pm became midnight.  So much fun, so many stories, so many wonderful peeps.

Tomorrow the riders who are doing a certificate ride, Saddle Sore 1000 or Bun Burner 1500 will be completing their ride and I'll be doing some of the scoring for those riders.  I'm looking forward to that.   Oh, I hear there will be free beer for a while followed by awards and a banquet. So, check back tomorrow to see how everything goes.

Thanks for following along and cheers my friends!

Cletha

2019 JAX IBA Pizza Party Adventure - Day 2 March 13, 2019

Day 2 of the Adventure began after a rather rough night.  Although our room was lovely and we had a great Mexican dinner, there was an altercation in the parking lot in front of our room.   Remember I mentioned these guys?  The construction workers at the motel?  Well apparently someone had a falling out about midnight and I was awakened by vulgar cussing and screaming by a number of dudes.  It got quite violent but I didn't dare peek out the window.  I considered calling the police but just waited.  Finally it stopped.  Eric slept through the entire thing.  Just as I finally got back to sleep it started up again.  WTF?  About 15 minutes later it stopped.  Good, now I can go to sleep.  Just dropped off again only to have it start yet again.  REALLY?  So, I didn't get to sleep until close to 3 am.  YUCK.

The next morning we found out that the police did indeed show up and took a couple of them off to spend the rest of the night in jail.  Other than that, our motel in Dothan, AL was great ;-)

We got on the road about 9 am with the temperature around 50 degrees and a bit of wind.  No problem.  We spent most of the morning on 4 lane highways which was fine.  Better than the interstate and for the most part very little traffic and lots of good scenery.  The bikes were running great and we were out riding as the sun broke through the clouds and the temperatures  began to climb to a comfortable level.  All was good!

We stopped in Valdosta, GA for lunch at a Cracker Barrel.  Not really local fare like yesterday but just fine, quick and delish.  It was here that we shed our layers and opened up the vents on our riding gear to get some nice airflow.

After Valdosta we managed to get on some nice two lane highways.  Sometimes we rode for 10-15 miles without another vehicle on the road.  Sweet!

And then, we were in Florida!  Just like that!

 The last hundred miles or so we had to jump on the Interstate for an easy approach to our host hotel.  I-75 was not fun.  The speed limit was 70 but everyone was going 80-85, even the semis!  And there was a lot of traffic and nobody seemed to pay any attention to using turn signals.  Yuck.  It was a bit intense.  I was actually relieved to get onto I-10 where traffic thinned out and the ride became pleasant again.

We rode directly to the Ramada (IBA Host Hotel), got our room, parked and unloaded the bikes, cleaned up and headed to registration and social time :-)

 Black leather, motorcycle related T-shirts, dudes hanging in the lobby talking BS.  Yes, we were at the right place ;-)

Dave McQueeny was there in the lobby to register the participants and give us our name tags.  Dave is everywhere!  He rides and rides and rides and rides.  I want to be like Dave!

 Lynda Lahman and her sidekick Terry were already there.  It was great to seem them.  They had ridden in from Southern California.

There were a few peeps hanging out at the front of the hotel.

A few bikes in the parking lot.  More will be arriving over the next few days.  The big party is on Friday night when riders come in from doing an Iron Butt certified ride.

Hey, that's my buddy Jesse Lucas!  Looking good there Mr. Jesse ;-)

Fast forward after dinner and cocktails and lots of chatting we took a stroll around the parking lot.  More bikes had arrived, the temperature was pleasant and all was good with the world.

On our stroll we encountered another buddy Gregg Lenentine who graciously offered us a sip or two or thirty of a delish single malt.  Oh thank you Gregg, I love it when my speech slurs, hahahahaha.

So, that ended a great day of riding, meeting up with friends, meeting new peeps and just in general having a terrific time!  Our ride started about 50 degrees and went up to 80 degrees.  No rain, just a little wind, dry roads and light traffic for the most part.  Yup, it was a good day :-)

Tomorrow is just a hang out day for us.  We didn't plan on doing any IBA certified rides and intend to be social and see who shows up!

Stay tuned for the next installment.  Cheers!

Cletha

2019 IBA JAX Pizza Party Adventure - Day 1 March 12, 2019

Oh boy!  Every year we've talked about going to the Jacksonville, FL Iron Butt Association Pizza Party but every year something came up, weather, family, whatever so we've never been.  2019 was going to be different.  We're going!!!  Yippee :-)

We recently relocated from St. George, UT to Tupelo, MS and Jax wasn't so far and was totally doable.  So we made plans and we departed our lovely Tupelo cottage on Tuesday, March 12 and headed southeast.  Our plan was to take as many secondary roads as possible and avoid interstate slabbing.  We were successful!

Surprisingly we left the house about the time we wanted and made our way out of Tupelo.  The first 50 miles or so were done on 4 lane highways and then we got onto the two lane country roads.   FUN! We haven't had much of an opportunity to ride lately with family issues, moving, moving, and moving again.  Then trying to get our cottage sorted out with some remodel construction and just stuff.  So we were both excited to get out on a real trip.

Well, since we haven't been riding a lot, my bootie needed several rests (besides I have a horrible seat on the bike that WILL BE corrected!).  Our first real stop was in Greensboro, AL where we gassed up the bikes and stopped for lunch at a local BBQ joint.  Yeah, Nick's Crispy Chicken! 

 Pretty much a dive but good food and lots of choices!

 Some of the local boys having lunch and a BS session.  Later one of the older dudes came out to our bikes to chat.  I think we made his day!

 Yeah, this is what I had.  And, no, I couldn't eat it all.  I managed about half the burger and maybe five fries.  I was surprised that Eric didn't go all native and order a huge bbq, chicken or shrimp lunch but he behaved and ate a BLT and only a few of my fries.

After lunch we headed out again on more small county two lane roads that took us through beautiful farmland and ranches.  We also saw a lot of extremely poor, rural Alabama.  Eye opening.  Another thing we saw a lot of was LITTER.  I mean a ton of litter, everywhere!!  What's up with that?  Geez, I grew up in the Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute campaigns and it was drilled in that you just don't litter.  I didn't take any photos but it was truly appalling and makes me very sad.  We need to re-educate people to Keep American Beautiful again.

So, back to the ride!  We started riding down smaller and smaller roads, which was fine with me until ... we ran out of pavement!  Ha!  Really?  Yes, really.  Eric had to remind me that I'm on an adventure bike with dual purpose tires.  No problem.  Well, just stay away from the wet, slickerly spots and you'll be fine.  Hahahahaha.

*note street tires on Eric's bike...

Fortunately it wasn't very long of a dirt ride.  It was just a surprise to us because the maps and routing software didn't say anything about no pavement!  Just part of the adventure.

Oh, forgot to mention the weather.  We started out in 50 degree weather with a few spits of rain here and there.  The weather only got better as we progressed through the day and moved further south.  After lunch, we had to remove clothing and open vents.  Lovely!  Our high for the day was about 78 degrees.

We had targeted Dothan, AL for our stop for the night and we arrived just about 5:30 pm.  Perfect, now time for cocktails and dinner.  There is a nice Mexican restaurant next door that gets good reviews so I suspect that will be dinner tonight.

We were pleasantly surprised at our home for the night, Red Roof Inn in Dothan, AL.  Recently renovated and very nice and best of all, inexpensive!!  Score.  Well, but for the construction workers above us, beside us and across the drive from us.  

Nice room and great looking bed!

Tomorrow we'll arrive at the Ramada Inn in Jacksonville, FL, the IBA host hotel and we are looking forward to seeing peeps we know, meeting new peeps and participating in some activities as well as telling stories and kicking tires in the parking lot.

JAX, here we come, ready or not!  Stay tuned for the next installment ;-)

Cheers,

Cletha Vaillancourt (yes, I finally changed my name)

Time for Two Wheeled Therapy

I was hoping to post blogs about our awesome trip to Baja, Mexico.  Alas, best laid plans and all of that, the trip never happened.  Our fearless leader was tagged for jury duty and the other parties bowed out.  So, that left Eric and me.  Well, we really wanted to go with some other folks and decided we weren't going by ourselves.  Oh well.....I was disappointed (understatement).

The week of our planned adventure came and went and the weather turned sour here.  I really needed to get out and ride.  Honestly, I'm a bit tired of our local area because I've been there and done that so many times.  However, Eric works so doing more than a day ride requires requesting time off.

Finally, it looked like we might get a nice break in the raining, cold weather and we planned a short day trip from home.  The day before Eric went out to the garage to hook up my new BMS heated (yes, heated!!!) seat so I could check it out on our ride.  Rut roh, the bike wouldn't start.  It was so dead, the light wouldn't even come on. Piss.

Honestly, I think the last time I rode was the first of the year, so Beastie Bike has been sitting patiently in the garage all that time.  Fortunately, after plugging in the charger overnight the beautiful Beastie fired right up!  Yippee, we get to go for a ride!!

We decided to ride through Zion National Park (the "Park"), down to Kanab, UT and make a loop back home to Ivins. Zion NP  Although I've ridden this route more times than I can remember, I still enjoyed it immensely.  I needed to ride, I needed some two wheeled therapy!  We left the house about 11:00 am, yeah, we're not early birds unless we have to be!  It was a gorgeous day for a ride with blue skies and some white puffy clouds.  A bit cool but I didn't feel the need to put on my heated gear.  I just zipped up my jacket and put a buff around my neck.

Just before entering the Park, we stopped for lunch.

After several years in litigation with the city planners, a Subway restaurant has finally opened in Springdale so we decided that would make a fine lunch.

 The views are a spectacular tease for what is to come once we enter the Park.

Tuna for me and teryaki chicken for Eric, chips, a raspberry cheesecake cookie and a drink filled us up.  Now, time to saddle back up and ride on.

 We stopped for a quick photo at the south entrance to the Park.

 As we waited in line to show our annual pass to the Ranger, I spied several deer in the field to my right.  We saw a lot of deer on the ride.  Like a boat load.  Tons of fat forest rats. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any on the road!

Traffic in the Park was light and we had it to ourselves for a good part of the ride.  For the first time in a long time, we didn't have to stop and wait at the tunnel.  We just rode on through!  It was stunning through the Park.  There was water running in the small creek and we saw a small herd of deer on the rock wall.  Actually, it was pretty incredible!  Just how it should be experienced with the road all to ourselves.  There were plenty of tour busses but they were either going the opposite direction or parked to let tourists take in the view.  Our ride was unobstructed and simply awesome!

We stopped for another photo op at the north entrance to the Park.

 Once outside the Park, we followed UT Hiway 9 to Mt. Carmel Junction where we turned right on US 89 heading south.  We took a break at the  Thunderbird Best Western motel at the junction.  They have a small golf course there.

 But, they are probably more recognized because of the "Ho Made Pies", lol.

We continued south on Highway 89 towards Kanab.  Again, we pretty much had the highway to ourselves and the scenery was gorgeous!  The wind started to pick up a bit but the sky stayed blue.  I play a moto photo tag game on Facebook and I was fortunate enough to find a perfect subject for the current tag of a very old self propelled piece of agricultural equipment with a lovely patina.  This is what we found along side the road!

 Pretty cool, eh?  Oh, there was a rather large herd of deer just behind the old tractor!

 Since I grabbed the photo tag, I had to post a new one.  We entered Kanab, UT and it has a plethora of unusual "things" to choose from.  I decided the new photo tag was two metal horses!

 Eric was also playing a different photo tag and grabbed this carved wooden bear for his game.

If you ever have reason to go through Kanab, UT, take some time and look around.  They have a really cool museum Little Hollywood Museum among many other things to see.  Just outside of Kanab are the falling down remains of the TV show Gunsmoke set.  Unfortunately, they are tumbling down and on private property but you can ride by and take a gander. Gunsmoke  Also, beyond the Gunsmoke set are some fantastic petroglyphs down Johnson Canyon.  We didn't go there on this ride but have in the past.  Makes a fun trip!

Now, we were making another turn on our loop and headed west toward home.  We made a quick stop in Fredonia, AZ.

 The wind was picking up significantly but the blue sky held for us as we made our way toward home.  I turned on my new heated seat and whoopee it gets hot fast!  We were getting very close to home and the shadows were long in the late afternoon!

 Almost home!

 And we ended our lovely day riding Zion.  We rode about 180 miles.  Our high temperature was about 64 and the low was around 54.  I now have 13,608 (s)miles on the Beastie Bike and I love riding it more and more!

The two wheeled therapy session was successful and now I'm busy planning more rides!  And, we now have the Beastie Bike plugged into a maintenance charger so hoping no more issues.  Actually, if I just get out and ride more I won't need the charger!!!! (Note to self ;-) )

As always, thanks for following along with me!

Cheers,
Cletha


Our route today