QUICK STATS

It was great to wake up in a bed again and be able to wander down the hall to the continental breakfast. You can never have too many Belgian waffles...at least not on a bike trip!

After breakfast, we made use of the washer and dryer on the second floor. While our clothes were being washed, we began the process of "un-exploding" our stuff from all over the room and back into our panniers. It's amazing how quickly we can go from everything being neatly contained on two bikes to taking over a large room!

While the rest of us played cards, April found a place for us to spend the night since we were planning to stay another night in Cave City (but not in the hotel).

Our clothes were just barely done in time for us to check-out, but we made it. We asked if we could leave our bikes with the front desk while we went out to eat lunch with my family. The lady at the front desk said sure, just leave them in the entry way. She also recommended a restaurant called the Eagle's Nest.

So, directions in hand, the six of us piled in the car and headed for some more food. When we arrived at the Eagle's Nest it appeared to be part restaurant, part antique shop, and part flea market. Almost everything on the walls, tables, and anywhere else in the dining area was for sale.

There were antique phones, washers, tools, random junk and even some art! It definitely had a small town diner feel to it...especially when our waitress started asking a lady at another table questions about what was on the menu while she took our orders. (We later found out the other lady was a waitress there as well, but it was still a little weird).

Somewhere between ordering and waiting for our food, my mom started to have a laughing fit. She was laughing so hard she couldn't tell us what was so funny. Every time she started to calm down, she would try to say what was so funny and just start right back up again! We never did find out what was so funny.

Eventually, we got our food and mom calmed down enough to eat. The food wasn't too bad, but it wasn't as good as we've had at other hole-in-the-wall type places. But it was an interesting little place to say the least.

Then it was time for my family to go. They took us back to the hotel so we could get our bikes and we all said our goodbyes. They were driving back to North-East Indiana, so they had a pretty good drive ahead of them.

After they drove away, we went to let the front desk know we were taking our bikes and heading out. The lady at the front desk asked what rooms we had stayed in so we told her. Then she held up a bag with something in it and asked if we knew who it belonged to.

We looked and discovered that Zach had left his phone! So I called my mom and told her to ask Zach why he hadn't answered his phone. All I heard in the background was "Oh my gosh, we have to go back!"

About 15 minutes later, we were saying goodbye to my family again as they prepared to load back up and head out again. As they left, we decided to head over to the McDonald's up the road and work on the blog a bit while we waited for it to get late enough to go set up camp.

As we sipped on our milkshake and worked, someone came over and said, "I recognize a mobile office when I see it!" He then introduced himself as Greg and told us that he had spent his fair share of time on the road.

It turns out that Greg and his wife, Pat, are part of a group of bikers known as the Iron Butt Association. We felt like we could relate, except their bikes have motors. To be a part of the IBA, at minimum you have to ride 1000 miles in 24 hours.

Greg and Pat however, were far beyond the entry level ride. They were preparing to take part in something known as an Iron Butt Rally, an 11 day ride covering at least 11,000 miles. The rally only occurs every-other year and is only open by invitation. The winner of the 2009 rally rode over 12,600 miles!

Here is the description of the event from the IBA's website:

The Iron Butt is a fairly simple concept. The rally consists of five checkpoints located around the perimeter of the United States. In order to be considered a finisher of the event, riders must be present at each of these checkpoints within a two hour window.

No consideration is given for bad weather (during the running of the Iron Butt, riders can expect to ride through rain, sleet, snow, severe thunderstorms, hurricanes and the occasional tornado). Temperature extremes routinely run 125 degrees or more in the desert Southwest in fact, in living up to the name, "World's Toughest Motorcycle Competition", event organizers intentionally route the rally through such places as Death Valley or the Mojave Desert during the hottest part of the day, to extreme cold at the top of mountains like Pike's Peak in Colorado where competitors may have to struggle up a muddy road to reach the peak's 14,110 foot summit.

Riders have the option of boosting their standings in an attempt to win a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal by visiting optional bonus destinations located around the United States and Canada. "Bonus Hunting" as it is called, can be both fun and mentally devastating. Where else in the world do riders have to ride 11,000 miles in 11 days, while trying to find odd places like the remains of the Branch Dividian Compound, or stop by the Los Angeles County morgue to purchase a toe tag or take a hike in Lava Tube or perhaps visit the enchanted Guru Lane in the Black Rock desert in a remote section of Nevada?

Only on the Iron Butt!!

How cool is that? We now have a goal when we finally get motorcycles again!

After Greg and Pat left, we packed up and headed to the United Methodist Church where we would be staying. The plan was to camp behind the parsonage, but as we were getting ready to set up the tent, the pastor showed up and said we could stay inside! Sweet!

It turns out, he had just moved a few blocks away and so the parsonage was empty for now. Really empty. No furniture or decorations or any of that stuff. But it had electricity and running water and we were more than happy to sleep on the floor.

While the pastor was showing us around, April got a call from her brother Evan. Evan is in the Army and is stationed in Afgahnistan. Between his schedule and ours, we hadn't been able to receive any of his calls. Needless to say, April was really excited to hear from him and be able to make plans for him to visit us somewhere on the road when he was on mid-tour leave. It was decided that he would visit us on Wednesday at 7:00 am. Woo-hoo!

I prepared some dinner while April worked on the blog a bit more. The heat had already been turned off at the house, and it was getting to be a bit chilly. So after we finished dinner and cleaned up, we got in our sleeping bags and called it a night!

After a few days of rest, we're both looking forward to getting back on the road tomorrow. This has been a very refreshing break! Sweet dreams. :-)

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