I have got tired of the same old rides so I wanted to do something different. Had an idea to do the Ironbutt 1000 but I didnt know if I could get anyone to go. Ronnie said yes as always, great to have a friend like him to ride with, and also Rick and his wife Mindy. The Plan was to leave Ringgold at 6am Saturday morning, Ride I75 to Knoxville TN then on to Lexington KY. From Lexington we would go 64 west into Louisville, then on to Saint Louis to see the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, ( The Arch ). From Saint Louis we would travel back home on 64 East to 57 South then on to I 24 to Paducah KY. From Paducah on to Nashville TN to Chattanooga TN and 75 south to Ringgold GA. When everyone arrived and we got our new Scala rider q2 multi set communication set synced up and we were ready for our adventure. We finally left out around 6:45 am from Ringgold GA. We have rode the slab to Knoxville plenty times so we were just getting to point A to point B at this point and fooling with the new communication set. It was nice to be able to talk back and forth between the three of us and the bluetooth mobil phone hook up was nice, but you haft to make sure your names in your phone book arent to close, solution is to add a middle name to your contact. 75 north to Lexington was a nice ride, alot of mountains and hills to look at. From Lexington is started getting straight and flat, something I am not used to. 
It was amazing to me to see how pretty the horse farms were in Kentucky and the area in general. Louisville is a neat city with all the bridges going accross the Ohio river. After Louisville it really got flat, miles and miles of flat farm land. I think it would be cool to be able to get out there on one of those hugh John Deer tractors and just plow the fields. We finally arrived in Saint Louis at 6PM, a little later than I had planned. I thought we had made good time but we must have spent to much time at the stops. We finally found a place to park the bikes, after getting detoured because the riverfront road was flooded by the Mississippi being out of its banks. After we took pics we went to Hannegans restaurant downtown and had some great BBQ. After eatting we were in a hurry to get back on the road. Getting our gear put on I started to sync my phone back up and did not have it. CRAP! I had left it on the bench outside the restaurant. Ronnie calls it and I sprint back up there, full leather and rain suit. 
When I get there 2 girls were there talking to Ronnie on it. Close call. We get underway at 8:30 pm, man, that stop took to long.By the tome we got going good it was dark and a long ride home. I forgot to mention that the whole ride my low beam would just go out after a while. When it got dark this was a problem. I turned on the high beam and it was so weak that I couldnt see with it either. You could cut the bike off and back on and it would be good for a while. It only went out one time while on the interstate, I just cut the switch and re started and was good. I have a new harness I am going to put on it today thanks to Keith. I made it home at 5 AM with 1133 total miles. The miles from Ringgold back to Ringgold was 1119 miles. It was a fun trip and I am surprized that I am not sore. I will post a few pics I took and maybe I can get a copy of Mindys to post later that she took while riding.
Tim
It was amazing to me to see how pretty the horse farms were in Kentucky and the area in general. Louisville is a neat city with all the bridges going accross the Ohio river. After Louisville it really got flat, miles and miles of flat farm land. I think it would be cool to be able to get out there on one of those hugh John Deer tractors and just plow the fields. We finally arrived in Saint Louis at 6PM, a little later than I had planned. I thought we had made good time but we must have spent to much time at the stops. We finally found a place to park the bikes, after getting detoured because the riverfront road was flooded by the Mississippi being out of its banks. After we took pics we went to Hannegans restaurant downtown and had some great BBQ. After eatting we were in a hurry to get back on the road. Getting our gear put on I started to sync my phone back up and did not have it. CRAP! I had left it on the bench outside the restaurant. Ronnie calls it and I sprint back up there, full leather and rain suit. When I get there 2 girls were there talking to Ronnie on it. Close call. We get underway at 8:30 pm, man, that stop took to long.By the tome we got going good it was dark and a long ride home. I forgot to mention that the whole ride my low beam would just go out after a while. When it got dark this was a problem. I turned on the high beam and it was so weak that I couldnt see with it either. You could cut the bike off and back on and it would be good for a while. It only went out one time while on the interstate, I just cut the switch and re started and was good. I have a new harness I am going to put on it today thanks to Keith. I made it home at 5 AM with 1133 total miles. The miles from Ringgold back to Ringgold was 1119 miles. It was a fun trip and I am surprized that I am not sore. I will post a few pics I took and maybe I can get a copy of Mindys to post later that she took while riding. Tim
