I'm at the junction of 89/91 in White River Jct in case anyone runs into trouble on the way through on their iron butt

 

Hey I've seen you there. Aren't you the guy wearing 3 coats, a knit hat and pushing a shopping cart?

 

Excellent. I have several questions that I want to ask Ed, but maybe you know the answers.
1. Does he give you a specific route out to 95N from the start point?The directions he sent me to/from his house (start point) took us out to 95N through Augusta. That's the way you must return to his house.
2. He gave me directions to the start point via Gardiner. Can we return that way?
See (1) above. No you must travel up to Augusta exit and then back through town to his house.
3 Did he give you specific checkpoints?
No checkpoints, just the circumnavigation from Augusta to So. Burlington to New Haven and back by specific routing.We probably have the same info but I will e-mail you what I have.

BTW, the SOOS footboard extensions will be traveling along with me

 

Could be, been known to wear 3 coats when standing outside of my cardboard box shanty

 

I'm planning on doing a SS this coming weekend out of Sierra Vista, AZ to Pecos, TX and back. Though I haven't contacted them yet, I plan on using the police department blotter as my start, mid point and return witnesses. Straight shot on I-10 out and back with about 40 miles of it on I-20 into Pecos. Riding solo on this one so I can stop when and where I want.

 

That looks pretty slick.....

 

Soooo - sitting in the lobby of the Comfort Inn here in Augusta waiting for my buddy to come down. Leaving in half an hour for "the ride". I'll be incommunicado for about 20 hours. I'll post up after the ride. Checking Blackberry at every stop.

 

Any kinks you encounter on the ride like traffic, road construction or whatever would be appreciated in a report. I am getting ready for my 3 am start on Friday.

 

Just got back to the office after the ride day. Here's the update:

Three a.m. start was simple and efficient. Met a guy there on a Guzzi that was doing the trip on the same day and leaving just ahead of us. He tried it prior and broke in Vermont. Saw him twice enroute but this time he broke in Mass, according to the RallyMaster. First stop for fuel was in Mercer a few miles past Skowhegan, rest rooms and road food available there (cashier's "rack" was worth stopping for too) On route 2 we got behind a trailer with a pair of windmill turbine blades just before Gilead but we were lucky they changed Troopers at the state line so we could blow by. Road construction in the Gilead area but not much of a slowdown, helluva project though - enjoy the view. Next stop for fuel was in Montpelier and here is where we got in trouble with the directions. Ed said "you can get right on 89 in Montpelier" well we thought he meant 89 South. NO!!! Get on 89 North to Burlington and then double back on 89 to pass Montpelier Southbound again. This caused us to be about 48 miles short as the trip wound down. We figured this out at around 650 miles into the trip and added a loop in Maine to make the mileage come out to 1000. We live and travel in Maine so constructing the loop wasn't much of a challenge but it was frustrating to be diddling around in Maine at 9 p.m.

We set the cruise at 70ish on the interstates and stopped once between each gas stop to get the butt blood-flow working again. My Garmin said we did 1011 miles with 16.27 hours moving - and 47 minutes stopped. Average speed was 58.7 overall and 62.2 mph moving. We didn't make it a race, just enjoyed the trip.

We made the VT/Mass border at 1:00 pm (consider the screw up we did in Montpelier if you are comparing times) The only area we were a little worried about was getting into Providence at commuting time but we buzzed right past the exit ramp tie-ups. Then on Rt 128 we saw a 5 mile long tie up on the southbound side where there were lanes closed down for paving. Northbound was the typical 128 traffic; 80 mph to 40 and then do it over again, but no stopped traffic.

After we got back to Ed's we had a big plate of food at Denny's and drove another hour Home. So we actually did 1090 miles back to Bangor.

Pictures are: The start, crossing the VT/Mass line and 80mph northbound on I-95. (Incredible talent from the photog)

Good luck and have fun. This is one of those days when you don't have to stop riding your bike.

 

Congrats Jim. Ed told us you came in at10pm which means you did it in19 hours. Good going. We started out at 3 am on Friday. We also tweakd the route just a bit. Route 2 parallels RT 95 for about 25 miles so we decided to stay on the highway as much as possible before getting onto RT 2 so we went up to exit 182 and doubled back down to exit 157 in Newport where we gassed up and picked up RT2.

As for RT 2 and 89 in Monpelier, there was no getting onto RT 89N there. We had to continue on RT 2 to RT 100 to pick up RT 89N which is at least a third of the distance between Montpelier and S Burlington. No matter, it still saved us time by getting us off of the slow RT 2.

We also cut out RT 24 in MA and stayed on RT 495 to RT 95N when we saw the signs for construction on RT 24. We got back to our neck of the woods at 730 pm. We stopped at a rest area just before the exit we would take to go home. We called home so that our "pit crews" could have something ready for us to eat, then got back on the bikes, got gas, stopped by the house to eat and were back on the road by 830. We pulled in to Ed's at 11pm. We did 1045 miles in 20 hours.