Iron Butt Riders

Iron Butt Riders
I understand why people do most activities on two wheels but one thing I just don’t get is the Iron Butt thing.   It’s not the miles they ride because I’ll put on big miles if I see the need.  I guess it’s the reason why they do it that I don’t get.  I have a friend that lives in Daytona Beach, he’s going to ride North on I95 to South of the Border, sleep for three hours and ride back South to Daytona Beach so he can get an Iron Butt license plate frame.  I’m destination oriented, I usually have something to see or an interesting event that gets me out on the road.  I rode to Seaside, Oregon to get a picture standing beside the statue of Lewis and Clark on the Pacific coast.   Sometimes it’s a road I want to ride that happens to be on the other side of the Country.
Sitting around the campfire at the Cass Rally (WV) one of the guys said he had ridden to Newfoundland.  I’ve been to Sydney, Cape Bretton a few times and often thought about taking the ferry to the island so I started pumping him for info.  He lives in Virginia, slabbed it to Portland, Maine (RT95 Uck) took the ferry to Nova Scotia and highways to Sydney and the ferry to Newfoundland.   I asked if he went clockwise or counterclockwise around the island.  He told me neither, he got off the ferry, took some pictures to establish the time he was there and got back on the ferry before it pulled out to return to the mainland.   I almost fell out of my Kermit chair, I asked ‘You didn’t go to see Fogo island on the East coast or the Viking settlement up North?’ He answered ‘No’.  I said ‘So, you slabbed almost 3,000 miles paid ferry fares for four ferries just to say you went to Newfoundland, but you didn’t see anything’.  That ended the conversation.
I was somewhere in the Dakotas, headed to a BMW rally West of Calgary, Alberta, at a McDonalds in some backroad town, out for almost three weeks my R1200R was covered in road dirt (some dirt/gravel back roads) and the duffle bag had acquired some extra things tied to it like my towel (that was drying out) some clothing that I had removed in the noontime heat and a bottle of water tied on to something.  Looking out the window a R1200Gs pulls up alongside my bike.   Filthy dirty, camping gear pilled on the back seat and stickers all over the saddle bags.  The rider walks around the back of my bike and checks the license plate on the way in.    He comes over to my table, we exchange nods, and he sits down.  Iron Butt guy, but with a twist.  He started in Lincoln, Kansas (almost the middle of the 48 states) went to Fort Kent, Maine and back to Lincoln, then to Key West and back to Lincoln, he was now on his way to some place in the Northwest corner.  I asked why – he said ‘something to do’.  I could almost ‘get’ this guy, he was camping most days and riding back roads seeing some of the Country.
I think it was Charles Kuralt (CBS ’On The Road’) that said” With the advent of the National Interstate Road system people can now drive coast to coast and not see any of this great Country”.    That’s what I see most of these guys doing, blasting by America on the slab at ten miles over the limit and not seeing anything.
I’ll admit to sometimes slabbing it out or back but always make one side of the trip on secondary roads and following the signs to see “The Field of Dreams’, The Battle of something Park, the Biggest, the tallest, the highest, the middle of, some cliff dwellings, the Greyhound Bus museum, the Jell-O Museum or some dinosaur bones.   So much to see, even in the middle of this Country (the fly over zone) that many people discount as boring and not worth riding through.

I think it equates to running a marathon - something to accomplish more than something to enjoy. A lot of people are about accumulating achievements in their lives rather than taking time to experience life along the way.

Mary and I are discussing a road trip for our 40th and it will be more about the journey than getting to any particular destination.

Several years ago I rode with 3 Harley guys on their massive baggers to Annapolis to have lunch. They insisted on slabbing it there and back. When we got home one said “that was a GREAT ride!”. I responded “that was a great LUNCH, the ride SUCKED”. They just didn’t get it.

Cam, you obviously need one of those 1400cc Guzzis for riding with the Harley crowd.
Used to be motorcycles were all about riding and being able to wrench them, nowadays not so much, it's become a social thing.   Not a good or bad thing just what is.  As most on here know I usually go to lunch with the Harley crowd (On the Valk) on Tuesday/Wednesday every week when the weather is good.  I give them credit as usually a big crowd shows up, of course they have a big pool of people to draw from.  20/30 bikes traveling the same few roads every week to the same few places, at the speed limit and slowing down in the curves, and as you said , upon arrival, they go on about the 'great run'.  Good people, but in it for the social aspect, I usually hate the ride but enjoy their company.
At the last Beemer National, that's BMW the touted 40,000 mile a year guys that make a big deal of Harleys on trailers.  I was volunteering, doing registration, with a view of the front gate it was amazing how many relatively new LTs (big touring BMW) and GSs (Premier off road) were arriving on trailers, even at Guzzi rallies I see Guzzis on trailers.  Things have changed.
Like I opened with, lots of things to have fun doing on two wheels, just hope the 'other guys' don't get in the way and spoil your fun.