It's in the bag, 1120 miles all told, 1000 miles was hit at the 20 hour mark. The route was changed to follow the warmer night time temps but we had planned for this and made the call on the morning of the ride. We were never rushed on the ride and in fact stopped for a couple of lengthy meals along the way. We left at noon rather than the traditional 4am early start for such rides. Our reasoning was that we would be more awake and alert for the night time portion of the ride rather than it coming at the end. We left Sioux Falls and headed West on I-90 to Rapid City. This was the toughest part of the ride as we had gusts to 40mph from the SW, hitting us on the left side the whole way. It really got interesting when the east bound traffic was filtered to our side because of construction. Every time a truck or bus came the other way you had to anticipate the change from 45mph to 0mph of side wind - FUN! From Rapid City we went South through the black hills intercepting I-80 in Sidney NE. This was the only 2 lane section of the ride and was a welcome break, quiet roads, great scenery and a great sunset. We were lucky to get a calm still night with a full moon, I'd like to say it was planned but it wasn't. I have to say the ride back East on I-80 that night was fantastic. Dead calm night, bright moon and almost zero traffic. My buddy was on his Guzzi Norge and we kept the pace 'up-there' most of the way to Omaha NE. My butt was fine for about 700 miles and then after that I did the 'how many different ways can I sit on a motorcycle dance'. Standing on the pegs while passing 4 wheelers at 75 got their attention too. So, what did I learn? My 1100 only gets 28-31mpg with a strong headwind. On a still night at a comfortable cruising speed I get 45mpg. I need a new saddle or modifications to the one I have. Avon tires are the best. When we stopped more people looked at my 22yr old brick than the brand new Norge, haha, priceless. My speedo was not accurate (which I already knew) so I used an app on my iphone for speed. I'm old school and use a map and notes in the top of my tank bag rather than GPS. I find you are constantly looking at and checking a GPS and it almost becomes distracting. So the old girl will finally get the Iron Butt plate on her rear, well deserved.
