George Barnes’ 1999

IRON BUTT RALLY

DAILY LOG

Bold Itlalics represent bonuses

Day 1, Monday, August 30th,

            Received rally flag (#48) and departed Widder’s @ 10:00 AM

            Rode to Beatty, NV, via SR 150, SR 126, I-5, SR14, SR138, I-15 & SR 190.

            Lots of smoke from fires near Victorville.

            Rode to Cedar City, UT, via US 95 & I-15.  Got gas in Cedar City, Saw Rick and     Gary at the gas station. 

            Rode to Salt Lake City via I-15.

            Rode to Kennewick, WA, via I-15 & I-84. 

            End of day 1 near Utah/Idaho border. 

Day 2, Tuesday, August 31st,

            Rode to Kennewick, WA.

            Saw Fran Crane & Shane Smith at a gas station in Idaho.

            Found Crocodile Motorsports at 8:00 AM, no one was there.  Found a Denny’s          and had breakfast.  Found a motel and checked in at 9:00 AM.  Saw Shane and          Fran at the motel.

            Slept till 2:30.  1 hour sleep in the first 24 hours.

            Checked in at Crocodile around 3:00 PM.

            Went to Carl’s Jr. For dinner.  Bought some granola bars.

            Got our bonus packs at 6:00 PM, went to room and calculated route.  Let Suzy Q       use my room.  She was still at Crocodile when I left for the room.  She showed            up just as I was finishing calculating my route.  I told her about Hyder & Ron’s         house.  She said we couldn’t make it to Ron’s and to Gorham on time.  I tried to            ignore her.

            Left Kennewick @ 7:00 PM.

            Rode to Vernal, UT, &  Dinosaur Monument.

            I passed Gary & Rick about an hour from Kennewick.  I got stopped in Boise &          Gary & Rick passed me.  About 40 miles East of Boise I saw Gary & Rick on the    side of the road.  I stopped and helped them plug Rick’s rear tire.

            Got Bonus at Idaho Falls/Evil Knievil.

            End of day 2 near Boise, ID.  Total sleep for day: 5 1/2 hour.

Day 3, Wednesday, September 1st,

            Rode to Vernal, UT via I-84, I-15, I-80 & US 40.

            Ran out of gas at 6:30 AM in Henefer, UT, 100 yards from a gas station.         Richard Bernecker showed up, also out of gas.  We waited till 7:00 for the    station to open.

            Gary & Rick caught up to me in Heber City; we rode together on US 40 and   caught up to Shane.

            All four of us got the bonus at Dinosaur Monument.  As we were walking out to       the parking lot, Shane convinced me that we couldn’t make the bonus at            Canyonlands. 

            While we were discussing the next bonuses, I told Shane to take US 40 to      Meeker, then drop down to I-70 and on to Crawford.

            We left Dinosaur together, but Rick & Gary went a different route.  Shane and I           were going to meet in Rangely for gas.  I realized on my way to Rangely that I had given Shane some bad information.  I waited for him in Rangely.  When he           pulled up I told him that it would be better to go south on SR 139, over Douglas             Pass to Grand Junction.  He said he already figured that out.

            As I was heading into Loma on SR 139 I decided to stop and re-calculate my             route to Canyonlands.  I stopped in Loma and booted the lap top.  I decided to             go for Canyonlands.

            Rode to Canyonlands on I-70, SR 28 & US 191.  Saw Don Moses at            Canyonlands.  He told the person in the entrance booth not to let me in.  We      talked a little at the overlook. 

            Rode to Crawford, CO, via US 191, I-70, US 50 & SR 92.  I stopped in at All             Sports in Grand Junction and bought a quart of oil.  I had to wait to pay and to     get my change.

            Got to the Mad Dog Ranch in Crawford just as Gary and Rick were leaving.            Gary asked what the best way east was and if I knew if a certain road was            paved.  I told him I didn’t know.

            Rode to Plano, TX, via CO 92, US 50, CO 114, US 285, US 160, I-25.

            I caught up to Gary & Rick as I turned onto US 50 west of Gunnison.  I followed           them into Gunnison and lost them in Gunnison.

End of day 3 near the CO/New Mexico border.  No sleep on day 3.

Day 4, Thursday, September 2nd,

Rode to Plano, TX, via US 287, 380, I-35, I-635 & US 75.

Stopped for 1 1/2 hours sleep in Clayton, NM.  As I pulled out of Clayton, I was passed by Peter Hogeveen.  I followed Peter into Amarillo where he pulled off.

Got the bonus at Ron’s in Plano around 12:30 PM.  As I pulled into Ron’s, Shane was pulling out.  He asked me if I had gone to Canyonlands and I said Yes.  He seemed upset.

Had lunch at Ron’s.  As I was leaving Ron’s I realized my radar detector wasn’t working.  I stopped before getting on the freeway and worked on the wiring for 20 minutes.

Got 15 minutes of sleep on an off ramp of I-30 in eastern Texas.  Got bitten by ants.

End of day 4 near Nashville, TN.

1 3/4 hours sleep for the day.

Day 5, Friday, September 3rd,

Rode to Pigeon Forge, TN.  Got bonus at Dollywood around 6:30 AM.

Rode to Gorham, ME, via TN 166, I-40, I-81, I-287, I-495 and I-95.

End of  day 5 near Saco, ME.

Got a room in Saco.  Two other motels had “no vacancy” signs out, but didn’t seem like they had many guests.  Got 8 hours sleep at Saco.

Slept till 11:00 in Saco.  Rode to Reynolds at 12:30.  Got checked in and helped Jeff Johnson work on his bike.  I soldered the wires on my water system switch, then washed some of the mud off the bike.

We got our bonus packs at 2:00 PM.  I left Reynolds at 2:45 PM.

Rode to Confederation Bridge at Price Edward Island.

End of day 5 near the Canadian border.

8 hours sleep for the day.

Day 6, Saturday, September 4th;

Rode to Confederation Bridge, New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island, via I-95, SR 9, Canada 2 & Canada 116.

Caught up with Peter in Canada.  We got stopped about 50 miles south of Moncton.

Got the bonus at Confederation Bridge at Price Edward Island around 2:00 AM  Peter was coming across the bridge as I was going over it.

Rode to Cutler, ME, via Canada 116, Canada 2, US 1.  Had interesting conversation with the clerk at a gas station in Calais, ME.  Saw Peter there.

Got bonus in Cutler, ME.  Guard at the Naval installation helped by holding my flag.

Rode to Maryville, TN.

Saw Mike Kneebone, Ed Otto and Bob Higdon in New Hampshire.

End of day 6 near the VA/TN border.  No sleep for the day

Day 7, Sunday, September 5th;

Rode to Maryville, TN, via I-81, I-40, TN 166.

Got heavy rain near Hershey, PA.  Stopped for 30 minutes sleep at a rest area in Virginia.  Saw Bobb Todd and Greg Mcqueen at the rest area.

Greg said he knew where the sign was in Maryville.  They wanted to follow me to Maryville.  I told Greg to take the lead and guide us to the sign when we got close.  They followed me for an hour or so, then were gone.

I got off on TN 166 and went into Pigeon gorge, like Greg said.  I couldn’t find the proper road to Maryville.  I asked two police officers in Gatlinburg where it was.  They gave me directions.  I rode through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park at 2:30 AM. 

I got the bonus in Maryville, then headed for the check in St. Augustine.

Rode to St. Augustine via I-40, I-26 & I-95.  I pulled off of I-40 and got about 1 hour of sleep.

Rode to St. Augustine.  One of the screws holding my face shield on came off near the Georgia/Florida border.  I pulled over and taped the shield on.

As I was passing through Jacksonville it started to rain.  I couldn’t put my shield down because it was taped up. I got splashed by a car with some dirty water that blinded me for a few seconds.  Pulled over and cleaned and closed my face shield.

Got to the check in St. Augustine at 3:15 PM.  I checked in to the rally and heard about John Laurenson’s accident.  I checked into the motel, took a shower and got 4 hours sleep.

I got my bonus list at 8:00 ( 1 hour after everyone else).  I calculated my route and left the motel at 9:00.

Rode to White Plains, NY, via I-95 & I-287.  Got one hour sleep in a motel parking lot in North Carolina. 

End of day 7 near the North Carolina/Virginia border.

Total sleep for the day: 5 hours

Day 8, Monday, September 6th;

Rode to White Plains, NY.

Met Jeff Fisher at a gas station in New Jersey.   He asked if he could ride to the bonus with me. 

We arrived at the BMW dealer in White Plains at 12:30 PM.  We checked in, had pictures taken and took off.

I rode to Rugby, ND, via I-287, I-80 & I-94.

Got one hour sleep in Wisconsin.

End of day 8 in Wisconsin.

Total sleep fore day; 1 hour

Day 9, Tuesday, September 7th;

rode to Rugby, ND via I-94, ND 52 & Local rd. 3

Had bike problems in between Eau Claire & Willmar.  Got bike running at 1:30 PM.

Got bonus in Rugby at 6:30 PM.  Called donna and had her run Automap and we confirmed I could make it to Ojai in time.

Stopped for sleep in North Dakota.  I was cold but I managed 2 hours of restless sleep.

End of day 9 near Miles City, Mt.

Total sleep for day: 2 hours.

Day 10, Wednesday, September 8th;

Rode to Ojai via I-90, I-25, Wyo 220, I-80, I-84 & I-15.

Saw Fran in Beaver, UT.

Stopped for gas and food in Scipio and looked at the bonus list.  Decided to get the bonuses in Primm and Baker.

End of day near Las Vegas.

Total sleep for the day: 0

Day 11, Thursday, September 9th;

Rode to Ojai.

Got bonus in Pirmm, NV.

Got bonus in Baker, CA

Stopped for 2 hours sleep outside of Barstow.  Accidentally turned my timer off.  Overslept, but still made it to Barstow within ten minutes of schedule.

Rode to Ojai via I-15, SR 138, SR 14, I-5, SR 126 & SR150.

Got to Ojai at 7;00 AM.

Checked in at the finish.