East Texas Biker: NATIONALS 2025

Had been thinking / planning on this one for a year. Hell, my brain is already on '26! This one didn't turn out exactly how I'd thought it would but had a great time as always.

My plan was to drop into Long Beach, MS as the 1/2 point, jump in the pool... hell, maybe take a nap .. then freshen up and head the rest of the way to Athens GA with a lil over 1k miles total in a day. Easiest Iron Butt ever? Yeah... didn't play out that way. I was rolling with Goose and SassyPants and we were making good time. Instead of stopping, we opted to keep rolling. Problem was right at the 1/2 point I hit a wall, due to deyhration. I'd been hydrating the previous 24 hours but obviously not enough. Took a shit load of waters and a Liquid IV to get my shit together, but once I got it all down, I was back and within minutes.. felt like 100%. So, we rolled NE from there and up through Alabama and on to Georgia. We'd pull in as the sun was going down. Another thing worth mentioning; I had my full face on and damned it felt like a suana wearing that damned thing. I prefer no helmet, but tend to wear my 1/2 helmet which I put on after hydrating. I've really got to figure all that out.....

Once we had over a 1,000 miles for our Finish the Mission / Iron Butt, checked in to the hotel, grabbed a cold one as the bar in the hotel was a few minutes from closing. Then, upstairs to unpack and cleanup, check in with momma .... and ... off to zzzzzz and get ready for the next day.

Caught with with Dutch and EZOUT Thursday for lunch and caught up on things. Still surprised they didn't do the Iron Butt; they did about 850 miles the previous day ... I'll always go the long way for a few hundred extra miles as necessary. Funny thing is we are all three staying at Marriott Springhill suites but on opposite ends of the town; same owners, diff locations. I thought I was playing it smart being close to the venue but I was still several blocks away and didn't walk it daily so I might as well have stayed at the cheaper one. I'd hoped to get some miles in on the bike riding in the area while there, but that didn't happen.... founds some good places to eat, do a lil sippin' and we had a great Bike Night on Friday..... but pulled the plug early to make sure I was fresh for Saturday.

Saturday is the big day and they've chosen a great venue. We fill up what looks to be 90% of it for the big day, lots of vendors everywhere, ran into lots of folks that I'd met the previois year in MN, and overall just had a great time. Lefty, our Region V rep would become our National Secretary, Boomer would be elected National President and Cupcake elected to the AUX NBOD as Secretary. Great showing from Texas!

On the way home, again I'd hoped to get a few nice miles in maybe up by Tail of the Dragon. But, my baby girl and her Hubby are visiting Texas in a few days so I opt to leave a day early with EZOut and Dutch, rolling back over a 2 day period. I stay hydrated this time with zero issues on the trip. Hell, I made it home early enough to clean up and head our for a Sunday Funday with folks!

Next year is Syracuse NY for Nationals. Over 1500 miles for that one. Not sure I'm going to do the FTM for that one. I know I will but... yet .. I'm thinking .. F' that's a long ride. Hell, do I even need to go? Well.. I've already got some reservations in the area.. just in case. I'm scheming to do a 1500 mi Iron Butt that way... but ... they are really starting to 'hurt' nowadays. Guess my ass is shrinking or something.....