Border Run Day 3 951km

Today was just a fast run to Border Village. I wanted to get there bright and early, mostly to make up for last year making Jeff do all the work.
So I awoke at two minutes to the alarm set. Not sure why as I usually sleep right through early mornings. I have found that my internal clock works differently when I’m on the road.
Up and at 'em and on the road before 3am. Through Pt Augusta and out on to the highway. I didn’t have it to myself just yet though with a lot of heavy vehicle traffic on the move. I couldn’t even hit high beam until the Iron Knob turnoff. Then things improved a bit.
The night was cold but I was well rugged up and all the heaters on full blast. I checked a 1C on the dash one time, but it was mostly in the 5-10 range until sunup. Then it didn’t change.
First refuel was to be Ceduna as there is nothing open at that time of day and the distance is 475km. More than a GoldWing can do so here was where my back seat passenger came in handy. When I got to 400km I pulled up and added the 10 litres and that got me in to Ceduna with two litres to spare. No worries.
Here I caught up with Cuddles and John again. I had expected they would get away early from Ceduna, but they apparently found the motel beds just too warm and slept in until 7am. Mind you, they wouldn’t have got in until well after midnight.
Travelling in the light now, there was one more stop to make at Nullarbor where 98 was only $1.95 and the coffee was terrible. The bloke looked at me strange when I said no sugar but it would have been a good idea to have some to counter the obvious salt content of the water.
Just a short 185km hop to Border Village and I had made it. I haven’t finished the Border Run since 2008 so was happy to be here.
As the afternoon wore on more and more FarRiders turned up to be checked in, 51 in all. Not bad from a starting 56. There were a few animal strikes and bikes down for one reason or another. It happens. Happened to me last year. Border Run is not for the faint of heart.
We were happy to note that FarRiders made for around half of this year’s attendees.
A jolly evening was had by all without anyone getting too drunk. Not at the prices here.