1, 000 miles in 24 hours

Jim and I met a couple on July 27, 2012 (Dahmir’s 11^th birthday) on our ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. This is a section of the Appalachian Mountains.  At this time, we were informed of an endurance ride.  It was 1,000 miles in 24 hours. This guy said that he wanted to do it. We told him of the “Hoka Hey.”  We heard about this during our 2010 ride.  In 2010, Jim also saw the information at one of the Harley shops he visited.  This is what was on a banner at a Harley Davidson shop in 2010.

HOKA HEY

. . .but not today

Key West, Florida to Homer, Alaska

13 days, 9,100 miles.

Finished 115 & 116 out of 683

E.B. Chester & Travis Metcalfe.

June 20 to July 3, 2010

I decided to look up the endurance ride and learn from online that there is an

 Iron Butt Association (IBA). They are dedicated to safe long-distant Motorcycle riding. They are based in the United Stated but have thousands of enthusiastic in the globe. One of their most popular slogans is The World is our Playground.  The website has “Archives of Wisdom” link. This is a collective wisdom and knowledge of some of the most experience, seasoned endurance riders in the world.

Three rides were listed:

SaddleSore ~ 1,000 miles in 24 hours

BunBurner ~ 1500 miles in 24 or 36 hours

50cc Quest ~ Coast to Coast in 50 hours

Can you imagine?

Road Songs

When we first started doing long rides, Jim would create CDs, sometimes with certain themes for the ride. The only problem is that from time to time, we would pull over to the shoulder of the road, open the Harley’s trunk to change the CD. I would hold the trunk top that has two pieces of luggage bungee corded down on it. (It was heavy.) Jim would take out the CD holder and decide which one he wanted to listen to. We did this on the 2007 trip to California. We also did this on some of the shorter rides.

In 2009, I gave him an IPod for his birthday. This makes listening to Road Songs much, much easier. He has over 700 songs on his IPod. Each night, we make sure that it is charged, (along with my IPhone, the still camera, the video camera and the GPS).  The IPod has a connection on the Harley Davidson Motorcycle so that sound comes from the Motorcycle’s speakers. It sounds fantastic now; we can ride & listen to great music for hours without pulling over and changing a CD. He has several genres of music such as: Oldies, Motown, Jazz and Rhythm & Blues. We listened to artists such as Bill Withers, Gil Scott Heron, Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston, Earth Wind & Fire, Chicago, Boney James, War and Sade only to name a few. I like Peace at Least by The Rotary Connection and Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers. Some of the other songs I like are: Walking in the Rain, Pieces of a Man, Happy Music, Harlem River Drive, Que Sera Sera and The Boys are back in Town by the Bus Boys. I have not heard the Double Dutch Bus song in years until this ride.  How many of you jumped Double Dutch in your youth? On our last trip, we listened to Pacific Coast Highway by Jeff Lorber, especially since we were there, and our theme song was, CRAZY by Joe McBride. Are we crazy? Who knows?

Elsie The Cow

During our ride, I saw several Elsie the Cow trucks. I have not thought about this cow that represents the Borden Dairy Company in years. As you know, this trip was a Coastal or Southern ride. I decided to look it up and I found out that according to Wikipedia,

“The Elsie logo has been used by the company since

1936. She was created in the 1930s to symbolized the

“Perfect dairy Product”

Elsie has calves and a husband.”

Jim informed me that her husband is Elmer the Bull.

“Elmer the Bull was later lent to Borden’s Chemical division

as the mascot for Elmer’s Glue.

The first calf was born in 1948 and then twins in 1957.

Elsie has honorary Doctor’s degrees and was named Queen of Dairy.

She has additional honoraries and the family was

Featured in theme parks and other family recreation

events.”