Schrader plays the role of Petty's 'accomplice' on ride (cont'd)

For Schrader, to whom the trip west became a salve for missing his first Daytona 500 since he made his first start, in 1985, that mission was "can do," even if it took him halfway across the country -- and bending the lines of imagination -- to do it.

Two-wheel guru Tilley, an ardent 'cycle racer who owns a Harley-Davidson shop in Statesville, N.C., favored by many in the NASCAR community, recommended a tangential route to Petty and Schrader, that happened to hit Marathon, Texas.

Schrader, the unofficial "odometer" for the two men's journey, said the side trip, which included a tour along the Rio Grande, was closer to 200 miles out of their way than the near-300 estimated by Petty.

But even if it was 1,000 miles over yonder, stopping at the Gage Hotel made it worth the jaunt, Schrader said. You could see how the two men easily made the decision to do the trip together, because both of them cited the same stretch of territory as their personal highlight.

"When we cut down from Marathon, Texas, we rode along the Rio Grande River for a while," Schrader said. "And I really had no idea how mountainous southern west Texas is. But the highlight was just seeing new territory that I hadn't seen before."

Kyle Petty, Ken Schrader

On the road again

Kyle Petty kicked off the first leg of his cross-country tour following the Daytona 500.

• Complete story, click here

And Schrader didn't have to say, mostly flying by the seat of their pants -- except for the one stop at the Gage, which was actually built in 1927 to recreate a facility from an even older era.

"Now, that was other than Tuesday night, where there was a motel that Kyle wanted to stay at -- like, a hotel from the 1800s -- a pretty cool-looking place in a town of, I don't know, 400 or something," Schrader said of Marathon. "And we've got a hotel room -- $250-a-night rooms.

"But it was trick -- very nice. We got there and the kitchen was closed, but we talked 'em into making us something and we got to talk to some of the locals, and we had a fun time with 'em."

"Iron Butt" jokes aside, the hardship of traveling the 750 to 800 miles the men had to cover each day made campfires not necessarily a concern, but maybe more of a luxury, or a fantasy, than some people would want to engage in.

No problem, according to Schrader.

"Let me tell you what," he said. "We had [a campfire]. You go to that gagehotel.com and right in the corner of the room -- every room had a fireplace and a couple logs and I went to bed with the fire on, and that's as close as I wanted to be to the damned outdoors and a campfire."

Sitting in the Las Vegas garage last weekend Schrader, who actually rode his Suzuki Boulevard from North Carolina to Daytona Beach, Fla., before kicking off the coast-to-coast trip, said his odometer had about 3,500 miles on it since they'd left Florida, but that Petty "had ridden farther."

Schrader said his black 2005 Boulevard, one of "a bunch" of two-wheeled machines he owns, had "31 and change" thousand miles on it. That fleet makes him one of the more ardent and committed two-wheel aficionados in NASCAR.

"There's some," Schrader said of the difference between 'hard-core' and 'recreational' bikers. "But there aren't a whole lot that would shove off on that trip -- especially with us not knowing where we were going, or where we were stopping, or anything like that."

That fact didn't even make Schrader blink. It did make him shake his head, though, when he thought about how he'd jumped into it, with both feet. And as much fun as he had, he realized why fewer people, rather than many more, would even try it.

"It just screws you up," he said. "Every time you stop, you just got five minutes to [get caught up] and you just get farther and farther behind, you know? But it was a wonderful trip -- a lot of fun.

"Weather is the biggest challenge when you plan a trip like that -- or when you're making one," Schrader said. "But when you make the commitment that you're going, it doesn't make any difference what the weather is. You're going."

Schrader did dispel one legend that almost took root from Petty's description of the trip. Petty was the only one pecking at a BlackBerry e-mail device on their stops, "I just did the cell phone," Schrader said.

Schrader did have to smile about one aspect that also had Petty mostly grinning, and that was fan recognition throughout the trip.

"Between Kyle and I, one got [recognized] pretty much all of the time," Schrader said. "Not all of the time, but 70 percent of the time or so. A lot of them did a double-take, because they knew Daytona was [that Sunday], and you're in the middle of nowhere in Texas and it's Tuesday morning, or Tuesday afternoon -- and [they're thinking] 'there's no way.'

"But we talked to a lot of people, and it was pretty cool. A couple places we ate at, we got to spend some time with people, and it was neat just talking to 'em."

Schrader said he's never had to practice the art of gently disengaging himself from people who "just want to chat a little."

"The majority of 'em are pretty courteous about that," Schrader said. "And when you're at a gas station, you're gassing and going. When you're eating, you're talking and eating and sitting for a little bit, and then you're done, and you're going.

"Of course, we didn't have to worry about sitting down and eating, because we didn't do that much."

And he definitely didn't do as much mileage as Petty did. Schrader did ride from Las Vegas to the Phoenix test, but from his perspective, that was about all the fun he could stand.

"It's going on the truck," Schrader said of his bike. "I gotta get home."

But Schrader did acknowledge that the thousands of miles Petty planned to do, to get from Phoenix back to Atlanta in less than three days for the opening of Kobalt 500 practice on Friday afternoon, was not a nutty endeavor.

"Sometimes you just gotta get away," Schrader said. "Or that stuff will make you go a little nuts."

Schrader said he probably would ride another of his machines to Atlanta as the Boulevard made its way from Phoenix "in something."

And he said that, other than the mid-summer trip to Bristol, which is done en masse by a greater number of NASCAR members "because it's such a short trip," he doesn't spend any time coordinating any of his bike jaunts with any other competitors.

That might be one more thing that could be a little nuts.