Mr. Happy Goes to Denver via Kansas

Since the first part of the trip from home was more or less an exercise in "sit there and twist that" abilities, I won't dwell on the wonderful ride that included beautiful scenery and a bit of warm weather (at one point, the bike gage read an air temperature of 101 degrees). My goal was to get in the vicinity of Kansas City.

My Garmin 550 hadn't been receiving XMradio for some time and I'd eliminated the special antenna as the issue. So, since Olathe, KS was more or less along the way, I figured I stop by and see if there was anything they could do for me. Well, in less than two hours I was back on the road with a new Zumo 550 that had all the data from my misbehaving one transferred to it, including all the latest maps. Awesome! When I asked the technicians if I could be cheesy and ask for their picture, they kind of smiled and agreed. Coming back from the bike, I had my camera in one hand and Mr. Happy in the other. The look on the 6 foot plus guy I handed him too was awesome. When I got in the picture Ryan said, "Oh, she's going to put him on." It was priceless and so was their service. Thanks guys!

Ryan, me, Mr. Happy, Brad, and Javier

From there we traveled north to catch Route 36 across Kansas and on to I-70 into Denver. There was all kinds of road art along the way.  This pony express rider seemingly randomly placed along the road inspired a stop in Marysville, KS where the first Home Station of the Pony Express still stands.

While there are a few Relay Stations and Home Stations still in existence, this is the only one still where it was when it was used during the 19 months when the Pony Express ran.

Mr. Happy and I learned that horses can go 15 miles or so at a hard gallop without hurting themselves, so there were relay stations along the route from S. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA about every 12-15 miles. A rider would blow his horn to alert the relay station that he was near and then take just two minutes to change horses. It was at this point that the guide told me that's why there were no women riders... they obviously have never seen an Iron Butt woman take care of business. The trick is, don't wear a one-piece riding suit :)

About 12 hours from St. Joseph, MO would be this first Home Station where the rider would end his tour and another rider would take off for the next leg or the 10-day run, 15 days in the winter. There were 150 stations along the express route. While most of the mail was government, a person could send a letter for about $5 and in 1860-61, that was big money. But it wasn't the cost that killed the service. After less than two years of service, the transcontinental telegraph line was completed and the need for the riders was no longer needed. During its short run, the Pony Express had 500 horses.

We got to tour the museum and see some cool, local stuff, some of it even related to the Pony Express, but for $4, it was worth it. The original stable was still dirt floor and you could get a feel for what the conditions were like for the boys.

Mr. Happy didn't really want his picture taken as a bronco rider, but I tried to get him to think of it as fun.  He kind of thought it was just sort of lame.  Ah well.

"Mr. Happy, look up at me!"

New batteries installed!

Not so happy now :(

We left Marysville and continued along Route 36. My job was to safely pilot the bike. Mr. Happy was supposed to press the track and okay buttons on the SPOT. He did that just fine, but forgot to check the batteries.

So, if you all noticed a break in the track, that's when MH missed the red warning light. Putting in the special lithium batteries and we were back in business.

As you can tell, we rode at a leisurely pace. In the Iron Butt Magazine Ron Ayers talked about long-distance riders enjoying the things along the road just as much as others, it's just that we are like speed readers, making our way without a lot of stops. Long stretches on the road each day are not about speeding. They are about not taking long stops and going for many hours. But like I said, I was in no rush, so less than a half hour or so out of Denver, MH and I took a hotel and called it a night. The morning was rather slow as well, but we were at Iron Butt HQ early after running a few errands in town. You see, I’d packed a bag for Jennifer to bring down to South Carolina for the closing banquet and such and I’d packed for the rally, but I forgot to pack cloths for the National Meet. With just a single pair of pants, I was styling.

Well, it’s just 15 minutes before the mandatory rider’s meeting so I’m going to have to cut this off. Passed tech inspection yesterday and finished out my paperwork this morning. Now it’s time to get our marching orders, including a safety briefing, and our rally packs with our first group of bonuses.

I going to have to sign off for a while.  I don't know that Jennifer will get much info from me during the rally.  But know I'm thinking of you all and doing my best to both have fun and be safe.  So for now, I'll need to be your shadow rider.

Here’s the link to the most recent official IBA report: http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2010/2010IB5000Day-2.pdf

To go directly to the reports, go to the Iron Butt Association website (http://www.ironbutt.com/) and click on the reports in the “News” section on the right.