Iron Butt Again!

I spent Tuesday night at a little non-descript motel along the Missouri River in Chamberlain, SD. Sometimes it pays to listen to advice of locals. I had just stopped to fuel, as it was getting late and I had done 500 plus miles for the day. I like to fuel the night before, so I can hit the road running in the morning. Especially, since I had decided to blitz the ride home and be home in time for our 39th anniversary on Saturday. After-all, I was in Alaska last year for the 38th. I awoke Wednesday morning to clear skies, low humidity and cool temperatures. Forcasts were for building heat, humidity and showers.. Good time to "beat feet" out of here! I decided to run I-90 through SD, MN, WS and IL... through Chicago and on to I-80 and home. My GPS indicated about 1,450 miles to home.... NO Problem... my new seat is SOOOO comfortable. There is no good time to go through Chicago.. but I decided to hit it at about 10:00 PM, so fuel and food stops were figured into the game plan. Actually, I just rode my butt off and took an extra half hour for dinner on the west side of town to make it happen. At 4:30 a.m on Thursday morning I found myself on the Ohio Turnpike at a rest stop and VERY tired. This has been a safe trip so far, so I decided to keep it that way and spend a few hours at the "Iron Butt Hotel". Yes.... that is the name I give to sleeping on a picnic table in a rest stop. It only seemed appropriate to spend my last night on the road this way since that is where I had spent the first night on the road just east of Saint Louis on the way out. The process involves inflating the Thermarest sleeping pad, putting my jacket into the bag vacated by my sleeping bag and using that as a pillow. Cover with the sleeping bag, put in the ear plugs and wala.. SLEEP. Yes.. you can actually have restful sleep this way when you have traversed 900 miles of highway and Chicago traffic. I normally toss and turn during the night, but for some reason, I never move when sleeping on the top of a picnic table. UP at 8:00, take meds, splash water, attend to nature.. pack, eat and hit the road again. And those 600 + miles to home! It helps to think about that dip in the neighbor's pool when I get home, or that home cooked meal. When you do almost 1,500 miles in less that 34 hours on a motorcycle you need little incentives to keep you going. For some reason, I do not remember this being so hard when I used to do it to go watch David play waterpolo at Navy or Chris play football at Penn State or New Orleans. Maybe age is catching up with me. NAH!!!! that can't be it! I have not fugured the final mileage fo the trip yet, but it is somewhere north of 7,000 miles. Did I have fun? Yes.... I would leave tomorrow to do it all over again. I guess there is just a little "cowboy" in me that has been there since I was young and used to see my hero's sitting around a camp fire in he middle of the wild wild west, telling stories and drinking coffee.