Story By:Brad Farmer
I had never ridden an Iron Butt event before, but had always wanted too. I was doing some searches on the internet for Iron Butt information and happened to find the "Tennessee Volunteer 1000" ride. This event was going to start out about an hour from where I live, and it was a "Hoagy's Heroes" long distance riders fundraiser as well, so I decided to sign up for it. I met up with the group at the hotel where they were registering everyone a couple of hours before the midnight starting time and started checking out all the bikes and chatting with some of the guys that were gearing up and getting ready.
I didn't know what to expect really, by never doing one of these before so I rode in the group with Hoagy as we pulled out of Erwin, TN at one minute after midnight. We rode thru the brisk early morning air at a nice pace and made our way southwest across the whole state of Tennessee. We made stops for gas and restrooms about every two hours and kept trekking toward our halfway point of Memphis. We rolled into Memphis at about 7:30 and I knew I had made it halfway and was feeling great about it. The trip to there had flown by and almost the whole group congregated together for a few minutes before we saddled back up to backtrack across the state. The sun had made it up so we had the daylight and warmth riding with us for the return trip. I rolled back into Erwin at about 4:30pm, finishing the 1000 miles plus in 16 hours and a half. I had such a blast riding my Buell with all the Harley's, Honda's, Suzuki's, BMW's and other bikes that took part in the ride. Everyone rode like a pro and made this newbie feel so welcome, I enjoyed the fun, fellowship and the food they had waiting on us when we got back. If you have never ridden a long distance ride or even if you are an old pro, I would highly recommend riding with Hoagy and all of the Hoagy's Heroes long distance riders to raise money for some very deserving causes and just to have a great time with an incredible bunch of people. I plan on riding the Tennessee Volunteer 1000 in 2011 and hope you will join with me.