Funny thing happened Tuesday morning!

[BIGMACACE]

We've been on vacation the last few days. Went to the Smokey MTs 6-18 thru 6-24. Rode all the Parkways and the DRAGON! Even got in a little of the Natchez-Trace on the way home.
Now, Tuesday morning Janet says "Want to do another Iron-Butt?" I say "Sure where am I going?" She says "I was thinking about you taking me to the ocean" I said "So this is going to be YOUR Iron-Butt?" She said "Yeah, I'm ready to try one."
So I throw together a quick plan. We left at 8:48 PM Tuesday night. South to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi. Got there just after sun up (7:44 AM). Got gas and went to the beach. Strolled the sand, took some pics and picked up a few seashells. At 9:00 AM we're off for home. I didn't want to hit San Antonio and Austin traffic so we went up highway 77 through Victoria and Rockdale to Waco. Got on I35 and immediately hit a super-slab parking lot. Construction everywhere! So detoured off back to 77 and north to Waxahachie. Gassed up and back on I35 over to highway 75 in downtown Dallas. It's 5:00 PM and you know there was a parking lot there. So for the next hour we nearly walked to the north side of Dallas (actually almost to McKinney). Traffic thinned and we hammered it to Scherman. We had about 1,050 miles on the clock so I opted to get fuel and a time stamp just in case we had to officially end the ride there if we didn't get home in time. A quick stop and we're off for the final leg home at 6:45 PM. It was going to be close (I knew we were 2 hours from home since we drive this trip a lot) and I had 2:03 to make it. Well I hammered it pretty good and we made it back in time (8:24 PM). Total (unofficial) miles....... 1,130.5. Total time was...... 23 hours:36 minutes. Talk about close huh!!!! LOL.
Anyway Janet is now an (unoffcial) official Iron-Butt Passenger! YEAH!!!!! And I now have 5 Iron-Butts (4 SS1000 and 1 BB1500).
Man this has been a great vacation! 3,400 miles of rain, sun, mountians, curves, beautiful sights, bears, camels, ocean, and a perfect wife. I guess I should let the Valk cool off for a day and mow some grass before I have to bale it!!! LOL.

[RumbleBee]

You are living the good life my freind, being able to put that together spur of the moment. Thats cool. Congratulations to you and your wife. Sounds like you all had a good time.

My family and I went on vacation at the beginning of June, somewhat the same route - but in a cage. We went to San Antonio, Houston, then Galveston beach. LOTS of seaweed and not much blue to that water.

[BIGMACACE]

Yeah the Iron-Butt thing just kind of came out of nowhere. It really surprised me that she wanted to do it.
But the trip to the Smokey's was something else. Man we had a great time there. I spent a couple of months planning that one. Tues. afternoon we went up to Clingmans Dome (the highest point in TN.) and then down to Cherokee, rode a little section of the BRP east to I40 then a little short section of the Foothills Prkwy back to Gatlinburg then to Pigeon Forge for dinner and a show. Wed. we went to Cades Cove. The ride along the Little Pigeon River is worth the trip all by itself, just a beautiful ride. Saw a bear at Cades Cove, that was pretty cool. Then we rode the west half of the Foothills Prkwy to the Dragon. Finished that and spent $150 at the Deals Gap Store and rode the Cherohala Prkwy back west to 441 to Marysville then back to Pigeon Forge. Left Thurs. morning and went by the Honda Hoot but didn't stay. Way too hot and we were ready get on the road. Left Knoxville, went through Tupelo and spent the night in Athens, AL. Friday we did about 100 miles of the Natchez-Trace. That is a great road too but you gotta go 55 all the way, pretty long sweepers all the way though. West to Tunica, MS, left a little deposit for the mob and crashed about 1:00 AM. Sat. morning we headed for home via highway 49 up to I40 then came on home. Rained like hell in Little Rock on the way out. Perfect weather while we were there. Sprinkled a little on the Trace. Rained up a flood on 49 at the MS. River. Met some great folks while we were hiding from the rain though so it was OK. All-in-all just a great trip. If anybody is looking for a fun place to ride, head for the Smokey's! You can't be dissapointed.