The Saddle Sore 1000 -1 and Iron Butt Certification!

I had wanted to do the Iron Butt ride for a long time, but the time never seemed just right.

Now it did.

The Iron Butt Association had the required forms on line and I printed them out. A Helena, Montana Certified Iron Butt Rider, Barry Reddick, agreed to serve as my Start Witness and my twin brother who lives 1,040 miles away in Monticello, MN would be the End Ride Witness.
Sidecar Bill Ryder gave the Yamaha and sidecar a final check and the ride was about to get underway.

We meet at 3:30am  on Saturday morning September 27, 2014 at High Country Travel on highway 12 east of Helena. It was raining. The temperature was 51 degrees with an east wind. Barry signed the Start Ride form, Bill did a final check, my son Roger took pictures and with their shouts of Good Luck ringing in my ears, I roared off into the moonless night.

The first sixty rain slowed miles were two lane highway and as expected 55 MPH was what I was able to run. Pulling into Three Forks I filled the tank and rolled over the steel rails of the cattle guard and on to the interstate. Now what I expected to be the easy ride was beginning.

Interstate highways would take me the 1,041 miles to Monticello, MN. and the coveted membership in the Iron Butt Association. The Euphoric feeling lasted all of thirty minutes. That's when I reached the base of Bozeman Pass.

As I began the run up the pass the wind began swirling around me from all directions. Rain began falling again and I was beginning to feel cold and wet. Half way up a misty fog began drifting with the wind. Near the top snow began slapping the wind screen. More like hard crystals of frozen rain than flakes.

Around that last long bend at the top and the rain was gone, the wind slowly died down and the road was clear. It was then that I realized why I was feeling cold and wet. When I filled the gas tank at Three Forks, I had failed to zip my rain coat up all the way and the leathers under it were soaked.

In the east I saw what appeared to be light filtering through the clouds and I knew I would soon be out of the inclement weather and might even have some sunshine to help dry things out. And that's what happened.

The ride through the early morning to Billings was relatively uneventful. By then the sun was up, I was drying off and it felt good to be warm again. I seemed to be having a problem with mileage which I attributed to the ENE head winds I was running into. I was stopping for gas every 75 miles. This continued as I made the run across North Dakota.

Gas stops were meant to be short, but the inevitable visits with people who wanted to learn all there was to know about sidecars made them longer then planned. I can sometimes make these visits shorter by giving them an old copy of The SideCarist, the official magazine of the United Sidecar Association. Alas, my few copies were soon gone and I was loath to give up the latest issue. So I visited and met new friends.

It was a great ride across the rolling hills of North Dakota. It was I dark by the time I rode past Bismarck, the state capital and past 11pm by the time I crossed the state line into Minnesota. Now I was facing a new challenge.

I had invested $240.00 in a new LED headlight for just this eventuality. This was Minnesota deer country and this new headlight would shine far down the road giving me a clear view of any animals joining me on the highway. Unfortunately, thousands of Dakotans had attended a huge entertainment event in Minneapolis and were now on the way home. An endless line of cars traveling the other way kept me from taking advantage of this modern miracle of headlights.

I MADE IT!

That's what I felt like shouting as I pulled in to the Holiday gas station in Monticello. It was 1:50am Sunday morning. I had left Helena at 4am MDT Saturday morning and now, some 21 and a half hours later I had completed my FIRST Iron Butt Ride.

Despite the late hour and the lack of sleep I was elated.

For over two and a half years my wife Lois and I, with the help of our six children, had journeyed through a terrible disease called Alzheimer's. The journey had ended in March and now this remarkable family and I were proving that there was indeed, life after Alzheimer's Disease.

The Iron Butt Ride then, was an expression of faith. Faith in a life rich and full. It was a great ride, one that I might just try again.

Look for me America, I'll be in the right lane.

Del "Lonnie" Lonnquist

The National Long Distance Motorcycle Tour continues

Hi Everybody,
I'm sorry to be so slow with updates. New Tablet computer and much too high tech.

The National Long Distance Motorcycle Tour continues, following the adventure called The Saddlesore 1000 -1. The Iron Butt Association web page had all the forms I needed to qualify for the Iron Butt ride. Sidecar Bill Ryder had the Yamaha and sidecar tuned up and ready to go. Barry Reddick of Collision Pro Auto Body service in Helena, MT  agreed to be my official Start Witness and my twin brother Dean Lonnquist  agreed to be my End witness in Monticello, MN. Monticello is 1,041 miles from Helena.

The 1,000 mile ride begaN AT 4am,m Sept. 27th at the High Country Travel Center on Highway 12 on Helena,s east side. A cold rain was falling. It was 51 degrees.

I filled the gas tank, received the required computer generated Time & Date stamped receipt and Barry signed the IBA form. Bill did a final check of the bike, my son Roger took pictures and I rode off into the cold, rainy night. I was well equipped and had read the suggestions for a successful ride on the IBA web page.

Six children offered all of the suggestions and support that an 80 year old rider would need.
The rain eased off after 30 miles or  so, but began in earnest as I left the sixty miles of two lane highway behind and rode across the steel Cattle Guards and onto Interstate 94.

Now, I thought the real ride begins.

The next 1,000 miles would be all Interstate and should be a great, long, but easy fun-filled ride. That thought left me as I passed Bozeman, MT and began the climb up the Bozeman Pass. A lot of traffic was already on the road, despite the early hour. As the Yamaha smoothly climbed the pass, the wind whistling through the mountain seemed like it was coming at me from all directions.

Half way up light fog started drifting across the four lanes of the Interstate. The intensity of the rain increased and soon it was a downpour. It was then that I realized that when I stopped for gas in Three Forks I had failed to zip the rain coat up all the way and the leathers underneath it were getting soaked.

Too late to do anything about that. I was not about to stop on the edge of the road and start rearranging rain gear. Near the top the first snow flakes hit the winbd screen.

Not flakes really. More like hard frozen rain.

Two Days To The Ride

And it looks like I could get wet through the first couple of hundred miles.
From Helena to Billings I could see a few raindrops but from there to Minneapolis it looks sunny and warm with little or no wind.
The Yamaha is ready. The Hack is open and ready to load.
Do I sound excited?
Well I am.
What a great ride this should be with clear skies and sunshine most of the way to Monticello, Minnesota and fair weather through the flatlands to Baltimore.
SideHack cruisin' is about to begin.

I'll try and post a couple of times per day on this BLOG and also on the FaceBook group Where In The World Is Grandpa.
Watch for me.
I'll be in the Right Lane America
Del "Lonnie" Lonnquist

Check www.IronButt.com for information on the 1,000 miles in 24 hours SaddleSore 1000

Ultimate Motorcycle Endurance Challenge.

In three weeks I will be launching my fall trip.

From Helena, Montana to Minneapolis, Minnesota where my brother and sister live.
Then to Maryland to visit Jason and Allison,  Orlando to visit Diana and family, Houston to see Joni and family and to go on a hot air balloon ride with Lois’ brother Stan. Next I will hopefully make it to Denver to see Malachi, Ashley and Jared, over to San Diego and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and up the coast to San Jose to see Janis and family.

BUT FIRST:
On September 27th at 4am MDT I will be leaving Helena on the fabled Saddle Sore 1000.

The Iron Butt Association  www.IBA.com will give me the prestigious Iron Butt Rider Award if I can ride my motorcycle 1,000 miles in 24 hours or less! As I was planning my trip to Maryland I discovered that it is 1,041 miles from Helena, MT to Monticello, MN where my twin brother lives. Exactly the number of miles I need to win this coveted award.

Think of it! Of all the millions of motorcycle riders in the WORLD, only 50,000 have been certified by the IBA as a certified Iron Butt Rider. Can a soon to be 80 year old man complete the endurance test required to win this award? We will have the answer by 5am CDT on the 28th.

I will leave Helena at 4am MDT on September 27th and must arrive in Monticello by 5am CDT the next morning. According to my figures I should have 15 or 16 hours riding time and another 8 or 9 hours for gas, food and rest stops. 1,000 miles in 24 hours to start my fall national motorcycle tour. I will keep you all up to date on my progress preparing and completing this epic Motorcycle Endurance Challenge.

Barry Reddick, owner of Collison Pro Auto Body in Helena has completed the 1000 mile ride and is a certified Iron Butt Rider. He has agreed to be my Start Point Witness. He will sign a statement noting the time, date and starting point and is prepared to answer the phone call from IBA to certify the start was in compliance with their rules. From there I save every gas receipt with computer generated date and time and will have my brother as the witness at the end of the ride.

I’ll be in the Right Lane America!
See you on the other end of the ride.

Del

First Peoples Buffalo Jump

I would bet there are a lot of folks, maybe even you, who have never visited a buffalo jump.
Pull off I-15 at Ulm, Montana about ten miles south of Great Falls and follow the sign that says First Peoples Buffalo Jump three and a half miles (on paved road).

There you'll find an Interpretive Center staffed by some neighborly Rangers and staff who will guide you through an interesting part of Montana History.
Look at the cliff behind the sign. That's it. The Buffalo Jump.

It took great courage to be the Indian who dressed in a a buffalo calfs hide and ran out in front of the herd, drawing the Mother and the rest of the buffalo closer and closer to the cliff.

The Ranger will remind you as he leads you up the trail to the top of the jump to watch where you step, since the hillside has Rattlesnakes. Lots of rattlesnakes.
A few years ago I volunteered to lead a group on a walking tour  up the trail to the top of the jump. As the Ranger was outlining for us what we would see he said: "Now remember, you may see a rattlesnake along the trail and when you do don't jump and startle it, just stay calm and it will leave. The main thing is to remember that there snakes, and OHHH look there's one now!"
Sure enough, a big fat rattler was slithering across the concrete patio and heading right for us.
One of my elderly walkers was only a few feet away when the snake first appeared.
"Jim" failed to follow the rangers instructions and jumped at least three feet. He was quite agile, when the moment demanded agility.
It gave all of us, except Jim, something to talk about on our way back to Helena.

The story of the buffalo hunt is interesting and quite exciting. The Indians had a need for food, clothing and shelter and the buffalo provided it, until white hunters decimated the herd.

There is always lots of wildlife in the hills and you will learn more about it when you visit The First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park.

Oh, one last thing before we leave. 

If you look south from the parking lot you'll see a famous landmark.

Charlies Butte.

If you are a Charlie Russel fan you will have seen this butte in some of his paintings.
It's easily visible from I-15 as you leave the park and head south toward Helena.
Look closely and see if you recognize it from one of his paintings.

Heading for home the Sleeping Giant appears over your shoulder one more time.

Topping the North Hill is always a thrill as you see Helena and the valley spread out before you.
It's like a Welcome Home.

A great day for a ride and a little history lesson, and good to be home.

I'll be in the Right Lane America.
Come ride with me.
Lonnie

 

Wolf Creek Canyon

75 degrees for a high, wind calm, perfect for a quick Day Ride through Wolf Creek Canyon to Great Falls, Montana for lunch.

Riding the canyon is always a thrill, but especially on a day as perfect as this one.
The scenery is always spectacular, but this mornings sun brought great shadows to add to the color of every cliff, boulder and hillside.

Back in the day a ride through Wolf Creek on a two wheeler meant flying between the Missouri River and the mountain passes at full highway speed (and maybe a little more) and leaning the bike into every curve and bend the canyon has to offer.

I do have to say that doing the canyon with a SideHack at 50 MPH showed me a side of Wolf Creek Canyon I had not seen in the past. Every bend in the road brought boulders, rock slides, deep cuts and gorges that I really hadn't noticed when I was flying into each curve and maybe polishing the pegs as I went.

As Lois and I did a Sunday drive she would often comment on the power it must have taken to cause these deep rifts in the mountains and how the stone seemed to face every direction. I guess I failed to notice those things then, but they stood out for me today.

The new ride is smooth as silk with a throaty rumble from the pipes and a good solid feel to it.
I've ridden the canyon many times, but today I saw it all.

Saw a lot of Gold Wings heading south, and a couple passed me heading north.
If you're riding through Montana just get on I-15 at Helena and head north for Great Falls.
You'll have a great ride.

Visiting family

June 28th through July 6th I went traveling through North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Montana.
What a great trip.
Three Thousand Two Hundred Miles.
I visited in Fargo, North Dakota with Grands Katrina and Justin and Great Grand Vian.

That Vian, he is something else. Always smiling and making everyone around him laugh. Good one K & J.
Then on to Minneapolis, first stop at Twin Brother Dean & Bev's Garden and Vinyard in Monticello.
Here's Dean at Perkins for breakfast.

Had a great time at the graduation party at Vivian and Dave's, but it was raining and I didn't get any pictures. Under the canopy(s) everyone enjoyed the party and another of Viv & Dave's Grandkids has been graduated from High School.
We went to a wedding reception in North Minneapolis and saw Krystal Lonnquist and Adam Harvey. It was a great time at the reception while visiting with many Lonnquists.

Krystal & Adam. They are off to a great start. Thanks Krystal for the great pictures you sent.

I hadn't visited Tomah, Wisconsin for several decades. It was fun visiting some of the houses Lois and I and the kids occupied during the Tomah years.
This one was the first house we ever owned. It was on North Glendale Ave.

While living here the kids went to Kindergarten at the Lemonweir School.

 We built a house in 1967 on the other end of town. On the corner of Madison and Madison, the kids used to say.

It was a good visit when I had lunch with an old co worker from WTMB, Patrick J. Adler
He was Patrick J on the air.
Early the next morning I made the run through Fort McCoy on the Interstate. I remember well the morning I hit a deer with the motorcycle a few miles out of Sparta, Wisconsin. Sure glad I had that helmet on. Of course, it wasn't much good after that. The whole side was mashed in. I had lots of Asphalt Rash that morning, along with a broken collar bone.
Stopped in LaCrosse for a visit with old friends Jack & Ethel Sobotta. I remember them as The Country Caravan, a great country band in the 70's.

They sure don't look like they are in their 80's, do they?
Of course I don't either. Do I?
Had a good ride through the rolling hills of southern Minnesota and saw mile after mile of wind turbines spinning in the wind and making lots of electrical energy.
I had a good ride up I-29 to Dawson, MN for a visit with Allen and family. Well, good except for the rain and wind. That was a cold wet ride and I was glad to finally arrive in Dawson, more than ready for a hot cup of coffee and a great lunch with Allen, Pam, Laura and Lydia.
Good Grief, how did those two kids grow up so fast?
The sun was shining the next morning and I was ready for a nice long ride over to Sturgis and Deadwood, South Dakota. First their was a Lonnquist Farewell.

I-90 across Southern Minnesota and into South Dakota was an awesome ride.
I went to through Sturgis, SD with only a short stop at the Motorcycle Museum. It was great with over two hundred old motorcycles, some with sidecars. I told the kids they had motorcycle here that were even older than me.

Following the museum tour I headed a few miles down a great winding, twisting road to Deadwood. A couple of years ago when Lois and I went through here with Diana, Jared and Linda, Jenny found us a neat motel on the edge of Deadwood for just $35.00 a night. It was clean, neat and had plenty of room. I pulled in for another stay. The front clerk said, "Well I will have to charge you $45.00 since this is Thursday and the Fourth of July weekend is starting."
I told her my daughter Diana had stayed there a few weeks earlier and told me to be sure and ask for the specual $35.00 rate.
The lady replied, "Well, I guess it's not really the Fourth of July yet, so you can have the room for $35."
Nice lady. I'll stay there again.
Breakfast in Sturgis the next morning and of course it had to be at the Sidehack Saloon.
If you ever visit Sturgis you should try the Big Breakfast.
That is, if you dare to order The Garbage Omelet. It was actually very good and very, very filling.

Even if Dale Coyner in his book Motorcycle Travel does caution you to eat light to enjoy the ride.

I had planned to visit the Lehman Trike factory in Spearfish, but pushed on through on Sunday morning when it was closed.
Visit www.Trikeit.com to see what my friend Dan Herstein does with the Lehman trike kits.
Wyoming came up fast once I made the run through Spearfish.
It was in the 90's and I stopped often for water.

Really nice Visitor Center just over the Wyoming line.
Nice folks and free coffee for visitors during the Holiday Weekend.
Pulling out of the visitors center I had to make a quick stop.
I had never seen a full size airplane mounted on a pole and being used for a weather vane.
You don't see that every day. But there it was. Turning in the breeze. Pretty neat.

This was a long days ride through 90 degree weather.
I planned on going all the way from Sturgis to Billings, Montana, just over four hundred miles.
Too far for an old guy to ride in one day.
A lot of hills in Wyoming can slow you down, but on a couple I was behind a truck and they sort of pulled me over the top. That was easy.
Worked good until I somehow got behind a semi that was trying out the new 80 MPH speed limit that the state of Wyoming put in to effect that very weekend.
Well I used the brakes and got back down to a sensible speed.
After a good nights sleep at the Billings Comfort Inn I had a nice relaxing ride through the Montana mountains to Helena and home.
Three Thousand Two Hundred miles.
A great ride.
It is true you know.
After being married for sixty years, learning to live alone is a lot easier if you have a sidecar.
I'm heading for Washington DC to visit Grands Jason and Allison in late September, and then, with my new Mini Mate tent camper secured by a sturdy trailer hitch, the Yamaha 1100cc Classic, the sidecar and the tent camper will head on down the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Destination, Lake Mary, Florida and a visit with Diana, Ilidio and Jenny.
Maybe a cruise on the Disney Fantasy if Lorna and Rosario have their way.

I'll be in the Right Lane America.
How about you?
May your ride be long and may your Love Song never end.
Lonnie