Iron Butt Rally 2019...

"The Iron Butt Rally is a competitive motorcycle road rally held in the United States. The rally lasts 11 days, and riders often travel over 11,000 miles in that time." This is something that Merril has wanted to do for a really long time, over 10 years. It's a serious thing. He rides so many miles and that many miles on a motorcycle has its risks. He's had to get special insurance to life flight him back home if he crashed half way across the U.S. He had to make sure his life insurance and will was in order before he left. 😳 

It's a lot of miles but it doesn't start on the West Coast, it starts clear in Greenville, S.C. So before Merril even starts, he has to drive a truck with his motorcycle on a trailer. His race number is lucky #76! Wahoo! 

This whole process feels like it took forever to get going. He was working on his bike for days before he left and then left 5 days early to have enough time to drive there and have a few rest days. But start he finally did on our anniversary June 17th! His first checkpoint was in Kennewick, WA and he had 3 days to get there. His bike for the adventure is a 2014 KTM Adventure 1190

On the first leg, his bike was running great and he didn't have any mechanical issues. He stopped at our house to sleep for a few hours before he took off to the checkpoint in Kennewick. The next day he was still feeling great and had a good night's sleep. He was ranked #29 out of 100 riders so he was in the top third after leg 1! The only mishap included not buckling his case lid on and it blew away somewhere along the route. I ordered another lid and had it shipped to the checkpoint hotel in time for him to get it! And Jack made a lego Merril on his adventure bike, which I think is adorable!

Merril's motorcycle pants zipper was pulling apart so while he was here for a brief moment, I stitched them back together while he slept. 

This is a screenshot of me video chatting with Merril while he's riding. It's nice to see him riding along.

While in Washington, he called Matt and they had lunch.

Merril made it to the checkpoint #1 in Kennewick safely and slept. He was surprised how much his tires were wearing down. He was thinking he might need to swap them out after leg 2. He decided his route for leg 2 would take him up to Vancouver Island and ferry hop. Also there was a hike that was quite a few points that he didn't think many riders would want to do. Merril had a satellite tracker (Spotwalla) and I noticed it wasn't working. I asked if he'd been in the same place for a while. He said he was moving normally. He stopped to reset it but lost points because his tracker wasn't functional the whole time.

Some pictures of the hotel in Kennewick.

Riding ferry boats with another IBR rider.

Merril got a mention in the daily rally newsletter for riding the first and only KTM ever entered in an Iron Butt Rally! He completed leg 2 feeling awesome! He spent most of his time around Vancouver Island, BC, riding ferry boats and collecting big bonuses. Riding the ferry boats allowed him time to get off his bike, relax and eat.

On leg 2, Merril's fuel pump started giving him some trouble when the bike got low on fuel. He called a KTM dealership in northern Utah and found a fuel pump. He left the Washington state checkpoint for leg 3 and the plan was to pick up the fuel pump and ride home and change out the pump here at the house. That's was a good plan but his bike quit near Bountiful, Utah. After chatting with a KTM mechanic, they decided it needed a fuel filter, not fuel pump. One was available in Payson and Merril left his bike and took a Lyft from Bountiful to Payson. Got the part and some tools from a friend and got back to fix his bike. A couple hours later he was on the road but missed out on the Zion NP bonus. He came home late, slept and had a shower here at the house. 

Ryan Rosenberg came to ride with Merril for a little bit as he runs back to South Carolina for the finish. After going for a while, Merril reported his bike was running perfect! He's a little behind the field of riders but should still be able to pick up plenty of bonuses and make it to the finish with time to spare!

Merril took the Southern route back to the finish to avoid weather and hazards like deer jumping in the road. He made it to the finish on June 28th and I'm relieved! These 2 weeks were very stressful for me. I was watching his Spotwalla tracker like a hawk. I was watching the IBR newsletters for any information about who was still going and who was out. I was able to fly out to South Caroline for the award and finisher banquet.

These are the 3 riders from Utah: Merril Campbell, John Kerr and Michael Best.

Merril received his finisher plaque! He finished 44th, scoring 95,710 points, traveling 9,781.9 miles on his 2014 KTM Adventure 1190. He achieved Bronze Finisher status and was the first and only rider to have ever ridden a KTM motorcycle in an Iron Butt Rally. 108 riders started and 37 didn't finish because of mechanical problems or physical injuries. 

The party and dinner was great! Riders were telling stories and mishaps along the way. I'm so proud of Merril for wanting to do this hard, competitive race and working hard to the finish. This is the website with all the ride reports www.ibr.wvi.com

The IBR was won by the first woman ever. Her name was Wendy Crockett and she not only won, but won by a lot of points! 

And then the next day we left at 6 a.m. to start driving home. We headed for Enterprise, Alabama so that we could visit some friends who moved from our ward, Libbi and Rick Manning. Enterprise has a 'famous' boll weevil statue. Ha ha!

It was fun to see her and her new house but I didn't take a picture. The rest of the trip is just a blur of food, sleeping, and getting gas.

As we started, I felt like the truck was loud, like really loud, like I needed earplugs loud. I started investigating and found two quarter-sized holes in the passenger foot well. I crawled down there while Merril drove and plugged the holes with a bunch of napkins. It quieted down considerably. Merril said he wished I had been there from the beginning because that truck was loud all the way to South Carolina. 

I'm glad I was able to go help him drive, he was beat! He can usually drive for a lot longer but he was worn out. We were pretty evenly matched for the drive home.

While we were in the South, I kept seeing these big pots of boiled peanuts at the gas station. So weird. Why boil them? 

I was worried about driving across the country without stopping. I get stiff after riding in the car for about 4+ hours. I thought I'd be dead from South Carolina to Hurricane. I just got the same amount of stiff from 40+ hours as I do from 4. The trip across the country was actually pretty fun with just me and Merril. I still enjoy spending hours and hours with Merril after 19 years.