Buffalo NY to Jacksonville FL
The goal for Leg 2 is to score Madawaska, ME, Four Corner bonus and score TN before arriving at the Jacksonville, FL, checkpoint. This leg was 61 hours in length. Building on the strategy of Leg 1, maximize the state count, scoring TN during Leg 2 would leave me with just the bottom tier states to score for Leg 3.
The rider meeting was at 0400hrs in the banquet room in the hotel. Final rider instructions were issued by the IBR staff and the bonus listing was passed out to all participants. Since the overall strategy was pretty much set at the kick off banquet in Seattle many riders did not bother to plan a route after receiving the bonus listing. Many just left the building, mounted their motorcycles and departed.
I returned to my room and planned which capitals I would like to score. I knew how much riding time I was going to be able to use for scoring the Madawaska ME corner and state capitals by using my Level of Effort worksheet. The table below contains the LOE calculations base on 61:00 hours of total event time.
- Total Leg Hours 61:00
- Overall Avg MPH Planned 45.0
- LOE Miles 2,745
- Fuel Stops (335 FED) 8
- Fuel stop time @ 0:10 ea 1:20
- Bonus stops planned 15
- Bonus stop time @ 0:10 ea 2:30
- Rest Stops/Time 2 @ 6:00 ea 12:00
- Total non-ride time 15:50
- Total riding time 45:10
- Moving Avg MPH 60.8
I departed the hotel at around 4:25am heading east through the long part of NY. The weather was still overcast with occasional light showers. I had scored NY at the gas stop just prior to arriving at the Buffalo Checkpoint the evening before so my next stop would be VT and its capital. Riding in New England is pretty but very congested. By the middle of the day I was through VT and NH. It was a long slog through the interior of ME, not much there, to get to I-95 on the eastern part of the state. Once on the interstate it was easy riding up to the end of I-95. It was about sunset when I turned up US 1 to Madawaska. I had hoped to be there long before dark as the road is mostly 2 lane with lots of critter potential. On the way up I passed three IBR riders heading back south. It was very depressing thinking I would be the only IBR rider up there. Then, while at the Madawaska PO taking my bonus picture two other riders pulled up. That lifted my spirits.
Heading south on I-95 through the interior of ME I saw several deer but no elk or moose along the way. Of course, it was dark and I was able to see well down the road and to the sides enough to have a nice cushion for total stopping distance if necessary. Somewhere along I-95 about 11pm I passed what appeared to be a body on the shoulder of the road. I could see a heap and the reflection of what looked like an Aerostich riding suite. I thought, " Oh crap, one of our riders went down!" I stopped as soon as I could, dismounted and started to walk back up the shoulder when another rider also stopped. We reached the heap and discovered it was the panniers off of a BMW GS with the riding gear draped of them. That's when we saw the rider and his motorcycle down the embankment trying to get his MC up the hill. I guess he ran off of the road, for what ever reason, decided to lighten up the bike by taking all the gear off. We helped him get the MC back up on the road shoulder. He was OK, no injuries and was just shaken up. He urged us to go on. The other rider decided to stay and I headed back south towards Bangor. I stopped at a Pilot Travel center at 0130 in Augusta, scored the capital bonus, and got some rest in the trucker lounge.
After 4 hours of rest I headed south again on I-95 through MA, RI, CN, NJ, DE, MD and on to VA. Stopping in each of these states to secure a dated business receipt. I arrived in Richmond at dusk to take a picture of the capital building to score the extra bonus points. The next segment of the Leg would take me through NC, SC then TN. To reach TN I would have to detour off the Interstates to dash over the mountains across the border into TN. It was almost 5 am by the time I reached the first opportunity to get a dated business receipt across the TN border. The gas station was not open for business but the pumps were open for credit cards. With dawn growing I headed back the way I came. By the time I arrived back in SC I was in need of a power nap to chase the sleep monster out of my brain. I stopped at a Taco Bell, put the GS up on the center stand, set the Screaming Meanie for 2 hours and "slept" in the Iron Butt Motel.
Refreshed I headed south to Atlanta to score the capital bonus. From there it was an easy super-slab ride to the checkpoint in Jacksonville FL. I had to arrive a the checkpoint by 5pm EDT to avoid penalty points or being "time barred" after 7pm. I arrive a little after 3pm. Checked in, got scored, then headed for some rest before the 10pm rider meeting, and the start of Leg 3.
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