“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.”

T.S. Eliott

            In the end, the Titanic sank.  It still made a pretty good movie.  So perhaps it really is the voyage and not the destination.  My voyage abruptly ended in a small town in Colorado as night began to fall on Day 9 of the 2007 Iron Butt Rally.  Despite massive amounts of preparation, I would be relegated to DNF status, along with dozens of other riders in what would turn out to be a brutal rally.  Did Not Finish.  Now that the destination is known, those that are interested in the voyage are welcome to read on.  One note, many of the photos here are very blurry, mainly because they are digital scans of Polaroid pictures.  Though I had a digital camera with me, I rarely took the time to use it.

            For those that are not familiar with the Iron Butt Rally, the concept is fairly simple.  Over an 11 day period, riders crisscross North America visiting assorted locations to obtain bonus points, similar to a giant scavenger hunt.  The more difficult the locations will usually garner the riders the most points.  At the end of 11 days, the rider with the most points wins.  This Rally was slightly different from those in years past.  There would only be one checkpoint.  Riders would start from St. Louis on a Monday morning and return to St. Louis for the one checkpoint Friday afternoon.  Riders would then head out for the second leg returning back to St. Louis one week later.  Essentially, each rider would be riding two large circuitous routes starting and ending in St. Louis.

Continue to Chapter 1

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