Tagging along with Ron

jeffrey gebler

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#1
Last April at the IBA Muster I discussed with Ron Perry (Grey Gentry) his upcoming plans for his 100 CCC. I told him that my days off would be limited due to all the time I had off for my participation in the 2019 Iron Butt Rally but if he could start on a Monday I could tag along with him for a few days.
Ron took me up on my offer and decided to start on Monday June 14 from Sydney. My plan was to meet up with him in Port Augusta later on that day and spend a few days on the road with him.
For me this was one of the easiest rides I ever planned as Ron had taken care of all the details and had sent me a very detailed spreadsheet with all of the desired information. All I had to do was show up and go along for the ride.
My ride started just before 14:00 near my home in the Adelaide Hills. The Tenere was chosen as the lighting and protection was better suited for this ride. As I made my way towards Port Augusta I decided that a run down Horrocks pass would be in order with a moment at Davo’s spot.
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I arrived at Port Augusta with Ron already there doing some adjustments to his lights. With both of my tanks filled plus my 5 lt jerry can and we were on the road at 17:24 for a quick uneventful ride across the Eyre Peninsula.
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We arrived in Ceduna at 22:00 and Ron knew just which room number we were in and proceeded to pull up directly under the veranda of the motel. I parked slightly back and noticed Ron could use some extra lighting as he got off the bike so I put on all three sets of LED’S to assist him. As I dismounted I could hear a beeping and did not know where it was coming from. It was then I noticed the figure standing in the open door of the motel unit lit up by my lights. I then finally realized that the beeping was coming from Ron's “Get Rooted”. I finally managed to get Ron’s attention and the beeping stopped and many apologies were offered to the no doubt startled occupant of “our” room. With a check in to our new room it was a brief 4.5 hours off the bike before a 03:00 alarm, we had all the necessary work done and tanks filled before we were back on the road by 03:30.
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A night time crossing of the Nullarbor had no problems with wildlife, we were greeted to some spectacular lighting shows but were lucky to avoid most of the rain. We kept a steady pace until our first full stop for the day at Border Village, with a couple of iced coffees for fuel we continued on across the country.
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As we dropped into Western Australia I noticed a dramatic increase in fresh roadkill and was glad that we were doing this section of the ride both ways in the safety of daylight.
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We had further fuel stops at Balladonia, and Southern Cross before we made our way into Perth and our final stop for the day in Scarborough Beach. The weather for the crossing was great with just a little wind at time to contend with. The welcome party from the westies was welcomed as they escorted us to the final stop for the day. After spending some time meeting those that had come out to welcome Ron on his successful crossing and checking into the flash accommodation Ron had booked it was time to get a little sleep as we had to be back on the road in less than four hours.
With a few hours’ sleep it was time to head back east. The westies once again showed up and took us down to the beach so a sample of sand and water could be obtained for Ron, they then escorted us back out of town before leaving us on our own as we made our way in cold to our first stop in Southern Cross. I was glad for the break as the temperatures for the last couple of hours has been between 6-8 degrees and I did not have my heated gear hooked up on the Tenere. With a hot coffee and something sweet to eat the sun was now beginning to rise as well as the temperature as we retraced our steps from yesterday. We had a couple of more stops for fuel in Norseman and Caiguna and then continued east with a short stop at Madura Pass to pay respects to Davo. I had tried to find this spot before but this time Ron was able to point me to the direct spot.
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Another fuel stop and Ice coffee before the night time crossing of the Nullarbor where we arrived at the end of the days riding once again in Ceduna and a few minutes ahead of schedule.



As we were slightly ahead of schedule we had almost 5 hours sleep before being back on the road by 03:30. It was another cold start to the day and the idea of a hot coffee in Kimba was very inviting. Unfortunately the roadhouse in Kimba was not opened yet and a few layers were added to fend off the cold for the next 90 minutes as we made our way to Port Augusta. We stopped where we had met about 60 hours prior to this. A coffee was had and then it was time to say farewell to Ron who still had another 1500 kilometres to go before his ride ended. I had to be back to work in about 4 hours so I made my way back to the Adelaide Hills with about 100 km of dirt to just to keep things interesting before finishing my ride of 5441 km. where it started 70 hours ago.
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It was great to share the road with Ron and to be a little part of his epic adventure.
 

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Grey Gentry

Premier Member
#2
Thanks for your company Jeff. It was very much appreciated.
What wasn't said, Jeff saved my ride. I pulled over on for an ablution stop, and instinctively parked the VFR out of the way in a rest area. Stalled it when crossing a gutter, VFR on it's side in the dark. Needed to remove jerry cans and tank bag off the bike, for both of us to get it back upright.
Regarding the motel room, I rang them on Sunday 13th and confirmed I had booked Room 23. The fact that we woke the occupant up, although I apologized, was not my doing. So we ended up in Room 24 both ways.
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#19
I can't see the pics now.. Sounds similar to what mine were doing on the Wilcannia post recently.

I use Google Photos for pics on forums, what do you use Jeff?