To celebrate the purchase of my first HD,  I decided to organise a ride with a couple of mates, but since the bike is a '95 Road King I thought, "What better way to welcome the tourer than a propper roadtrip.

And so it came to be that Myself and three mates (Irish on his Sporty, Colossal and Mayhem riding support in the aptly named Ford Territory) are planning a 5000km mission to the center of the country and back.

Leaving on the 20th of August from Ballarat, we're planning a quick run via Adelaide and up to Alice Springs for the 10th and Last "Fish's Run", A run to remember a fellow biker who didn't make it through an altercation with a camel while riding out near Ross River. And he will be remembered in style, with Lots of Bikes, Booze and Bands and a whole lot of people having an awesome time.

Apart from the Fuel (which we're paying for by selling our Kidneys for medical reseach), it should be a reasonably inexpensive trip. A Swag across the back of the bike will sort out accom when we're on the road, and My old man and Brother live in the Alice so we're sorted out once we get there too. The grog bill will be subsidised by the fact that three of the four people going are also Homebrewers (The 4wd will will be clinking all the way through the desert).

Probably three days to get there, four days up there and four or five days on the way home. We want to give ourselves a chance to check out the Rock and the Olgas, maybe spend a day or a night in Adelaide on the way back, or anything else that takes our fancy.

Just wondered if any of the more experienced Iron Butts out there have any advice for this mission in particular, or for long missions in general. The little details will help, Towns with no premium, Pubs with the best craic, roadhouse with the best burger...

 

Man I'm excited. Work is going to get nothing out of me for the next two months. I'll be spending all my time salivating over this trip.

 

Good onya Bear, sounds like a well planned trip. Keep us posted on the departure time and the trip in general.

Sound's like a great trip Bear. There is no fuel between Glendambo and Cobber Pedy, so if the bikes can't get 300km range, and you will be draged back with swags on, you'll have to cart some extra fuel. If the 4b4 is going then you won't have a problem, just make sure you take a jerry can for the bikes. Glendamo also has a covered camping area that we allways swag out under when we do our Finke Race trips.

Have a great time, and let me know when you are planning on comming back through Adelaide. If we are back from our trip, then we'll have to have a beer or two and share war stories.

Regards Bob

Thanks for your thoughts guys, particularly re: Glendambo - Coober pedy. We were thinking of carrying some fuel, but looks like it will be a requirement. I might be OK, but the Sporty's gunna struggle.

Will keep you all updated, would love to catch up for a beer LoftyBob, who knows, we may even still have some Homebrews on the go, and they're delicious.
Scotty, you're not the only one who wishes he had more leave. I've got half a dozen mates who are spewin they can't get the time off to come. Personaly, I recon half of them are just too scared to ask the Missus.

The Final Countdown begins... no, not the song.
Just 24 short hours to go until we leave sunny Ballarat and head for the SA Border on the first leg of the Mission to Alice.
We won't be breaking any land speed records on the way up, but a few 700-800km days should see us through without too much hassle.

So if you're somewhere between Ballarat and Alice over the next two weeks and you come across a Road King and a Sporty being followed by a Ford Territory, feel free to give us a toot, a wave, or a beer. Preferably a beer.

Good luck mate and remember- thread is useless without pics.....

Cheers

Mick

T Minus 3hrs 20mins... but who's counting? And I've come into work for the morning too, so it's gunna drag like a bitch. The plan was to save half a day's leave to use another time, but now I'm not sure it's worth it.

Bike's packed, fueled up and ready to go. The Camera's packed too Mick, So I'll upload some pics when I hit Alice.

Looks like we might be dodging a bit of rain between here and Woomera, but that's what the full face helmet and winter gauntlets are for. And besides, we've gotta have some war stories to tell at the end of it all

See you on the road.
Bear

Bear,

Enjoy the trip, ride safe and simply love every minute of it

You would be right in the thick of it by now. Bet ya havin'a ball.

Good on ya for havin' the balls to get out & do what most of us dream about doing "oneday".

Safe travels & can't wait for the Photos.

Yep...oneday list for me.....enjot it Bear...

You asked for Photos... well here they are.

 

The Convoy (And Irish)

Jerry Can Petrol Stop between Glendambo and Coober Pedy

The Gathering before the Start of Fish's Run

About 20ks before the Ross River Station (the party point of the Run), everyone stops at Fish's Memorial, has a beer, remembers those brothers and sisters we've lost, and saddles up for the last stretch. Helmets Optional > FYI, That's me followed by my Old Man.

Good Times were had

The following day, the bikes roll up to Fish's old watering hole, "Bojangles Saloon",

And then one by one, roll straight through the bar.

L to R The Paraniod Riders: Bear and Irish Heat; and the Driving Force: Mayhem and Colossal (they didn't like being called the Support Crew)

 

The Mission was a great success, in everyway except the fact that now I remember exactly how much I hate my job, and would rather be anywhere but here.

The last 200 of the 4500ks for the trip, while everyone else was looking forward to getting home to showers, and walls, and their own bed, I realised I'd left my toothbrush in Alice, and was very tempted to turn around and go get it.

All that time in my helmet, listening to the wind and the rumble of my new pipes, and occasionaly getting swooped by the Wedge Tailed Eagles scared off the roadkill on the side of the road, probably left me a little crazier than usual.

Here is the result...

 

 

Four eager travellers left the ‘Rat one night,

Two by car, two by bike,

And journeyed north to their destination,

To Alice Springs and Ross River Station.

There they partied for Fish, a biker who died,

when he centre-punched a camel and shattered his ride.

 

First came the Bear on his beefy new ‘King,

With a quantity of homebrew befitting the thing.

Then Irish Heat, who makes a black Sporty fly,

At two hundred ks with a red tear-filled eye.

And the Driving Force who brought up the rear,

In a Territory filled with swags, food and beer.

With Colossal as Pilot and Mayhem as Co,

They’re both keen as mustard wherever we go.

 

And a mission it was, to the heart of the earth,

With each party member showing their worth.

From a Bordertown Highway to the warm Coogee Bar,

To a fire in a servo, all under the stars.

By the time we reached Alice, having walls was a treat,

Mick’s coffee in the morning and plenty to eat.

 

Fish’s Run was a blast, we all got retarded,

(Until Mayhem was stepped on and a fight almost started)

We rode through Bojangles like the main street of town,

With smoke filling the bar and rubber laid down.

 

But as the night wore on, Bo’s didn’t know what hit it,

Irish Heat on the dance floor and Mayhem to the limit.

Colossal and Bear ate nuts, drank and laughed,

‘Til some wankey beer-jockey kicked us all from the bar

But that didn’t stop us, we were all in high spirits,

We came back the next night and pushed all the limits

 

And now home we return, past red rocks and huge eagles,

Past oceans and vineyards and bored, boring people.

Through rain, dark and sunshine we return to the ‘Rat

With mad stories to tell, and all based in fact.

 

Thanks to Wal and Mick; Macca, Sparks, Brain and “The Shed”

And a big thanks to Dan for fixing the Sleds

To Hoff, Jen and Barbara the Milano hottie,

The birds of prey chick, and we can’t forget Dottie.

The mission is over, we’re all glad we took part,

Now on to the next one, where shall we start?

Onya Bear...really great pics mate...what an adventure mate.......was wondering how it all went for ya...Get much rain on the way?? thanx for the pics....even better is ur write up mate...top class work...

so how did the king go bear

what were your thoughts of the ride, any thoughts on changing things to make it more enjoyable or you happy as is

what bars you running on it?

Awsome ride & write up Bear, can't wait to share an ale or two with you at the Pub Run mate.

Cheers guys, Yeah, the pics came out well, we borrowed a mate's digital SLR and had a couple of other cameras around too. I did the smart thing and didn't take one, everyone else took the photos for me
As for rain, we caught about five 30second showers, barely anything to talk about really. The crazy thing was that the last rain we got for the trip was about 20kms out of Alice Springs, but it was just about dry before it hit us so there was no real hassle.

The King was the perfect bike for the trip, the seat and riding position were great, I had everything I needed plus some crap I didn't in the saddlebags (except the homebrew, that rode in the 4x4) My swag across the back the windshield on the front.
I had my windshield on the way up, but swapped it for Dad's for the way home, his is a couple of inches taller than mine, and it did make a marked difference in the amount of wind on my head, but I recon I'll stick with mine from now on, purely because with mine I look comfortably over the top of the screen, but with Dad's I'm either sitting up too straight to look over the top, or crouched down to look through it... and I do like a bit of wind in my face, I ride open face for a reason.
And I'm running shorty apes at the moment RKC, the guy who had it before me was a tall fella too, and it turns out that his prefered riding style must be similar to mine, cos everything just kinda fit.