After not getting much sleep and having to eat breakfast and coffee from the gas station adjacent to the Hotel parking lot, I was as ready as I could get. I’m going to run all day on the battery with no charging system and no lights. The group was split between two different hotels and the starting line was at the other, a couple of blocks up the street. I did my normal cold start procedure and The Soda Kracker fired right up as always. I hopped aboard and went to the starting line where Cris Simmons came to ask a few questions. It was always a pleasure speaking with Cris in front of the camera or behind the scenes. I assured Cris I would be riding across the finish line today. We lined up for out Class 2 start and off we went, not knowing how long I could ride on the battery. We made our way northeast toward The Cape. Snakes were the animal of the day today. We passed a large black snake trying to get across the road while coming out of Arkansas. Shortly thereafter we crossed into Missouri and there was a huge copperhead sunning himself in the road. He was pushing 36 inches, one of the largest I’ve seen. Chopper Gary and I with Greg Porter in tow kept pushing it hard to get to the finish. We passed the Class 1 guys somewhere in southern MO and I looked down and The Kracker was running 57 mph. We kept a hard pace going in case we needed time for any problems, which is the lesson we learned yesterday with my breakdown. You really have to push everyday, no matter how well your bike is running because you never know when you might need time to make a repair and the sweep truck is unforgiving. We had not gotten wet at all for most of the trip until we pulled into our last fuel stop before the finish line and the skies opened up. We were 25 miles from The Cape and rain was coming down. CG asked me what do you think and I looked at the radar and said “we should push on through”. And that is just what we did. We rolled into The Cape a little wet but victorious. We staged up and waited for everyone to come in and then Headed to the finish line. We made the final turn into the waterfront district and the first people I see lining the streets cheering us on was my family. Eva, Faith and Thomas. It was an event of a lifetime and so happy for my family see me accomplish what I thought would be a miracle.
