9 May Mini Iron Butt Ride
Write-up by Steve Ochs, pictures by Mike Mills and Duke Thompson
On Saturday, May 9th, the day started out rather cool and cloudy as the riders slowly met at the HEB on SE Military and Goliad. As I arrived I found Duke Thompson's Goldwing parked in front of the store. I waited for him to come out so we could determine a good meeting place in the parking lot so that other riders could find us. We located a good place by the gas station that could be seen from all directions. As we waited Skip Surry arrived and informed us that he could not go on the ride as he had been (Roped) into working that Sat. As we were visiting Rod Cotter and Dave Weaver arrived followed shortly by Ron and Maria Delaughter and Cooper Smythe and last but not least our fearless leader of the day Gary Skorman arrived. We visited for a few minutes waiting for anyone else to show up. At 7:00 we decided that this was the Iron Butt riders for the day. Gary told us of the route and gas stops along the way, and we were off on our journey.
As we headed south on I-37 Gary told us the Mike Mills may meet up with us at I-37 and 1604. Sure enough as we approached 1604 Gary radioed Mike to see if he was waiting for us and Mike fell in to pull drag for the group. As we headed south the temperature started to rise as we knew it would. We made our first pit stop about 100 miles later for gas and a short break. We mounted back up and continued on our journey south. We turned onto Hwy 77 in Corpus Christi and traveled down 77 until we turned onto Hwy 100 towards South Padre Island. As we approached the BIG Bridge leading to the island the temp, the dropped about 6 - 7 degrees with the wind coming in from the gulf. We headed down the main drag of Padre Island and I notice that all the shops offer just about the same thing for sale. We arrived at Blackbeard for lunch and went inside to be seated. They kind of put us at a corner table out of the way. (Being the loud Bikers that we are!) But the food was good and the company great.
After lunch we decided to take a different route back to San Antonio. We could head back on Hwy 100 to Hwy 77 to Harlingen and Hwy 83 to McAllen on onto Us 281 to home. We stopped in Edinburg to gas up and take a short break. As we about to leave someone noticed that Rod's rear tire looked really low, so Rod pulled over to the air pump to check out the tire. It was at that point he discovered a small nail in the tire. Gary had a tire repair kit, as did Mike, Rod plugged the hole and off we went. A little ways down the road the tire went flat again, so Rod used Mike's tire kit, as it had a little bigger set of plugs. Cooper let Rod use his on board air compressor to fill the tire. After a few minutes the tire was aired up and we were off again.
We stopped outside of Falfurris so that Duke could buy a watermelon. Gary and Rod decided to buy one also. Off we went to our next pit stop, Three Rivers. As we pulled into Three Rivers someone yelled Dairy Queen, so we just had to stop as required by Chapter U rules. As the day was long and hot it was much appreciated by all. We gassed up and checked Rod's tire. It looked fine as it still had plenty of air, so off we went. Just as we passed US 281 and Hwy 97 outside of Pleasanton Rod's tire went flat. Rod checked the tire and it had come apart, so there was no fixing it this time. As we tried to figure out what to do, we sent Gary and Duke on their way home as Duke had a long way to go anyway. Rod started calling Roadside Assistance to find a wrecker to take his bike to his house. That in itself is a long story, (as anyone who has used it before can tell you).
Mike, Copper, Dave, and I tried to think of who in the chapter might have a trailer. I called Susan to let her know of our problem. She tried J D Kvapil who said that Jack Dowda had a trailer. Susan called Jack and asked if she could borrow the trailer to help out fellow chapter member. As it was now going on 10:00 PM we told Cooper to head home as it was his Birthday. Susan called back and said that she and Jack were on the way with the trailer. When they arrived Rod called Roadside to cancel the wrecker (who had not even left yet). We loaded the bike on the trailer tied it down and headed to Rod's house to drop the bike. When we got there Jack told Rod to just keep the bike on the trailer as he would need it Tue. to take the bike to the shop. We all said our goodbyes and all headed to our homes.
What a day. It was a great day as it went from good to bad in a short time, but
it is great to have friends who will come to your aid in the time of an
emergency. I would like to thank my wonderful wife, Susan Ochs and Jack Dowda
for coming out in the middle of the night to Rescue Us. That’s what Chapter U is
all about. Till our next ride, Keep The Shiny Side Up.
Steve Ochs
© Copyright 2009 Chapter U, Texas District, Gold Wing Road Riders Association, Inc.