It was a cold-wet Wednesday morning in August when Wally and I agreed that we would take the trip that weekend. The weather, this summer, was lousy by anybody's account and the upcoming weekend was going to be DRY! DRY! Hard to believe, but …DRY! I had been planning this ride for two years but could not convince anyone else to go with me. Even now, four guys agreed to go, and all four backed out before it was time to go. I had all but given up hope on doing it this year until Wally (Mike Wallace) called me and asked if I was still going and had room for one more bike. Hell Yes…We RIDE!!

The ride was the Iron Butt Association's 'GREAT LAKES 100'. The task here is to ride a loop around all five great lakes in less then 100 hours. I had earned the IBA's Saddlesore 1000 patch (RIDE MC's 'Day Trip' patch) two years before with Dr. Pilot and Dr. GW and I kinda had an idea of what it takes to do this ride. Wally, however, did not have this patch so we had to be sure to work one into our plans. Our objective was to earn two RIDE MC patches (Great Lakes Circle Tour & Day Trip) and three IBA patches (SS1000, GL100, and BB1500). To accomplish this task, we needed ride 1000 miles within the first 24 hours, then another 500 miles in the next 12 hours and finish the circle around ALL five Great Lakes in less then 100 hours! GAME ON!

Friday August 6th, 2004 @ 5:00AM: I got time/gas receipt for my IBA official start. Then I met up with Wally 16 miles later. Together we pulled out at 5:30AM heading west from Detroit towards Chicago. Wally on the Honda VTX 1800 and me on the Yamaha Venture were off on our big world adventure.

Until that day, Wally had never pushed the VTX to its fuel limit. So to be safe, he strapped a full one-gallon gas can on the luggage rack before he left home. Well, just about 150 miles later, Wally found out what his fuel capacity is - about 149 miles! OK, now we know. With an empty gas can, we pulled into the closest gas station for a fuel and PP stop. Since I've joined this club, I have learned from the great Dr. Pilot that you should never miss an opportunity to do a potty break, and I mentioned this to Wally. Wally's reply was "Dude, I'm a camel, I never have to go!". OK Fine! To my surprise, its true, he never goes.

Well, we rode on through Chicago traffic and north into Wisconsin, stopping only for gas about every 130 miles - and so I can go potty…remember, Wally never goes. Anyway, about mile 450 I started to get a little hungry. At mile 500, I was really hungry. At mile 550, I started noticing how delicious the road kill looked. At mile 600, I started to hallucinate from starvation. MAN, what is up with Wally? He never goes to the bathroom...he never stops for breaks…he never eats…THIS GUY IS A MACHINE!!!!!!! Finally, I had to pull it over for food. I asked him how he could go so long without eating, and he said "he couldn't". He had a bag of jerky in his tank bag and was eating the whole trip. That would have been nice information for me to have at about mile 400 or so. Don't you think?

The rest of the day was fine. We continued to ride north into Minnesota through Duluth and east along the north shore of Lake Superior. At about 9:00 PM, we reached the Canada border. I was worried about what they would say about Wally's gas can, but there was no mention. A few minutes later, it started to get dark. Big signs everywhere warned of moose danger. We took it very seriously and slowed down. After a Burger King stop in Thunder Bay, we rode slow and got behind a semi-truck to run interference from the moose. With the Northern Lights flashing to our left, we continued riding east for about another 1½ hour. We finally stopped at our motel after 1106 miles and 20+ hours on the bike. 1st patch (IBA's SS1000 & RIDE MC's DAY TRIP patch) - DONE!

On Saturday, we got started a little later then we planned, but we were already ahead of schedule. In order to get the 2nd IBA patch, we needed to ride 400 miles in the next nine hours. The highway leaving the motel was a steep hill climb for about a half of a mile. Excited to be back on the road, I jumped on the throttle and started the climb. Oh Hell, I knew I should have replaced that clutch before I left. I could feel the slippage was bad in the cold engine and thought my trip would be over real soon. However, after about 45 minutes, the bike got hot and the clutch came back on line…WHEW.

The ride along the north shore of Lake Superior was beautiful. The cold-brisk air was without any breeze and the smaller lakes were reflecting ponds of the beautiful-sunny hills and landscape behind them. Even at 90 M.P.H., it was gorgeous.

Having learned my lesson the day before, I demanded that we stop for lunch in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. I think Wally's jerky stash was getting low anyway, so he agreed. Other then a bee flying into my jacket and stinging me a few times at 80 MPH., the rest of the ride that day was uneventful and nice. At the 1500 miles / 36hour point, we determined that we were ahead of schedule and we could stop early that night and get a beer or two, or three, or four or… A few hours past Sudbury, ON, we found a motel next to a bar - how convenient.

On Sunday, we got another late start (hangovers). We still had 46 hours to finish our task and just under 1000 miles left. If all goes well, we could be home in 20 hours…IF ALL GOES WELL. The route took us along the Ottawa River for a while and a little rain and a random deer crossing slowed us down from time-to-time. From there, the trip south to the US border was very slow through back roads and small towns. So far it is not looking good to get home that night.

At the New York / Canada border (1000 Island Bridge), we ended up in a 1 ½ hour delay thanks to Tom Ridge's 'orange' alert. After we cleared the border and started south, we came upon a traffic accident that closed the freeway. Not good. We slowly made our way off the freeway in Watertown, NY, and got fuel and dinner with 600 miles to go.

Once we got back on the freeway and were moving over 80MPH again, Wally noticed a 'small' problem. It seems that the last bump that he hit caused his gas can to eject itself from his bike. Napalm about 20 miles from the US border - Maybe Tom Ridge was right to elevate the National threat status. Since we didn't feel any blast and there is nothing we could do about it now - and going to jail would likely slow us down - we chose to keep riding - but much faster …just in case.

We continued south to Syracuse and then turned west towards the Falls. No time to stop. We continued west through PA and into Ohio. At a gas stop in Cleveland at 12:30 AM, I started to feel tired. Only 200 miles to go and we still have 28 ½ hours to finish it…why push it? We headed to the OH Turnpike and stopped at a rest area around 1:15 AM. I'm Done. Wally, however, is tanked on caffeine and wants to finish it…THIS GUY IS A MACHINE! We agreed to split up there and he rode off. I grabbed my sleeping bag and found a patch of grass. In an instant, it was 8:30 and the sun was high in the sky. My cell phone had a message from a very tired sounding Wally informing me that he made it home OK. Good.

I jumped on the Venture and followed the cost line of Lake Erie west in Ohio and then north in to Michigan. After riding 2686 miles in 78 hours and 46 minutes, I pulled the Venture into the garage, climbed the stairs of my house to my bedroom and slept for 14 hours.

GREAT TRIP!
Dr. LC
Detroit Chapter of RIDE MC