Monday was a low key day for me.  Just waiting for the banquet on Monday night to get my list of bonus locations.  Finally, the banquest was here and I was given rider #32 and the "D" route sheet.  I went back to my room and started to pour over the list of bonus locations and my atlas/maps.  My goal for this rally was just to finish.  I was not in it to win.  When choosing my bonus locations, I picked something that I really wanted to see and built my route from there.  I left myself lots of "outs" if I needed to drop bonus locations and just head to the checkpoint because of time.

The item that jumped out at me was the Grand Canyon.  I had never been there and thought it would be a fun place to see.  So, my route was established with that goal in mind.  What else could I do?  Time to try and sleep.  HA!  I was so excited, I think I may have gotten 4 hours of sleep at the most!

 

Tuesday:  I was up at 4:30am and getting the bike packed and ready to go.  The skies were dark and threatening rain.  At the Two Rivers Saloon, I was ready to go, just one more short rider's meeting and I was on the road.  You know, sometimes I'm a little slow... or maybe I was naive... at the rider's meeting, we were handed routes A, B and C.  Man!  That's all I needed!  After briefly scanning the other route sheets, I decided to stick with my original plan.  It was time to get rolling.  Rolling in the rain.  The skies decided to let loose shortly before the start.  I also learned not to pack so darn much.  We got some shirts and a hat from TeamStrange, and I had no room for them.  So, I made a quick stop in Mitchell to leave some things with my folks.  Then I pointed the bike west, next stop Sturgis.  I grew up in SD and had never been to Sturgis at rally time before.  What a zoo!  My first bonus stop was to stop in Sturgis and get a gas receipt.  Lucky for me, it only took me 15 minutes to get thru the gas station.  Whew!  I got my first bonus points.  Next stop, Devil's tower.  There were Harley's everywhere out here.  I did my best to get thru traffic and get my picture of Devil's Tower.  Hey, two bonus stops and I'm feeling good :)  Then I was in for a long lonely stretch of Wyoming.  It was hot, it was windy and it was open.  I followed I-90 to I-25 and headed south.  The next bonus location I got was at Hell's Half Acre.  It's a small chunk of land that looks like the Badlands turned upside down.  The sign says Native Americans used to run bison off the edge when hunting.  My next destination was going to be in Colorado Springs to sleep a few hours at my wife's cousin's place.  It was dark when I crossed into CO.  I stoped at the welcome center in Ft. Collins to pick up a fresh map.  When I got back on the bike... wouldn't start.  Battery wouldn't turn it over.  I push started it and headed on.  When I got to Denver, I decided to stop for the nite.  There was a thunderstorm ahead of me and after stopping for gas, I again couldn't get the bike started.  Dead in the water.  Couldn't even push start it.  Motel 6 here I come. 

 

Wednesday: I called HRCA and got a tow to the nearest dealer.  Funny... it was literaly 3 blocks away.  If I had known that, I'd have pushed it there myself and been waiting at the door when they opened!  Oh well.  I wanted them to check out the electrical, since I didn't think the battery was very old.  I didn't get back on the road until 5:30pm.  Right in the middle of rush hour traffic. I decided I was going to have to skip the Grand Canyon and another bonus stop in Colorado.  I rode all the way to Grant's, NM before I stopped at about 1:00am.  When I was riding thru Northern New Mexico, I got to see my first elk crossing sign.  Now, that's intimidating!  At one point, I swear I smelled that musky elk odor.  You can't miss it.  Even tho it was dark, Santa Fe looked beautiful.  I told Sheila, we are going to take a vacation there.

 

Thursday:  I had to make Tombstone today by 6:00pm.  I had a long way to go.  I decided I would have time to stop in Winslow, AZ to stand on the corner.  As soon as I decided that, I couldn't get that song out of my head!  In Winslow, was the first time I ran into other BL riders.  I continued west to Flagstaff... that was a beautiful ride as well.  Going South from Flagstaff, I headed towards Phoenix and into the desert.  It got HOT.  I couldn't drink enough water.  I would also poor some on me before I put on my helmet and jacket.  It would keep me nice and cool for a while, then it would get hot again.  It was fun to ride thru Tucson and remember the things Sheila and I had done here in January.  Fun place for a long weekend.  I went on to Tombstone and made it with about an hour to spare.  Got all checked in and my points added up.  It wasn't to hard.  Losing all that time in Denver really hurt my points.  Oh well.  The new list of bonus locations were handed out at about 8:00pm.  There were two sheets.  There were two things that jumped out to me.  1) the mailbox in the middle of nowhere 2) the Dr. Pepper museum.  The Dr. P museum was only open at certain times, so I had to time it right to get those points.  I decided to try and sleep for a few hours and then hit the road.  We needed to be in Atlanta by Sunday at 6:00am.

 

Friday:  I got up at 4:00am and left town to try and find the mailbox.  I road on hwy 82 from Tombstone and followed the directions.  When the road ran out and I couldn't find it, I decided I'd already wasted enought time (2 hours) looking for it and to bag it and roll on.  My route this time would take my up thru the White Sands Missle area, Lincoln County (of Billy the Kid fame) and into the pan handle of Texas.  I was hoping to make Waco (where the Dr. P museum is) before resting.  As I was going thru NM, I would occasionally hear a ticking noise when decelerating.  It didn't concern me to mush, made a mental note to have it checked after the rally.  My first bonus that day was a stop in Vaughn, NM for a gas receipt.  Then on to Yeso, NM for a picture of the post office.  After stopping in Yeso, there were some storms a brewing.  I got lucky and avoided the worst of it.  Although I did have to ride sideways for a while.  The winds were strong for a while.  Once I got to Texas, the weather subsided for a while.  I was kinda playing tag with a guy on a Harley starting in Yeso.  He's pass me, I'd pass him, etc.  I got to ride thru Lubbock and see the birthplace of Buddy Holly.  Kinda interesting, since I live where the plane crashed.  I thought to myself, will I stop at the crash site as well?  I stopped in Sweetwater to fill up with gas and take a break, and he pulled in next to me.  We chatted for a while.  He was heading to Ft. Worth to see his parents.  While we were talking, I noticed my chain was sagging.  Actually touching my center stand.  I guess that's what that funny noise was I'd been hearing!  I called HRCA again and found out there was a Honda dealer in Abilene.  So, I limped on to Abilene and called it a day.

 

Saturday:  The dealer opened at 9:00am and as I pulled into the lot, the chain came off.  I had to push it to the service door.  The didn't have any parts to help me out (they were a Harley dealer that had a couple of Honda's for sale), so they tighted up the chain as best they could and sent me on my way.  I made it to Honda West in Ft. Worth.  They got me in right away and put a new chain on for me.  A good heavy duty one :)  I was back on the road by 2:30pm.  I looked at my options and there was no way I would be able to stop in Waco to pick up some Dr. P.  So much for my bonus points on this leg.  I got onto I-20 and braced myself for a LONG ride across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.  Going thru LA, there were storms all around me, but I was lucky enough to miss them.  Some of the other riders I found out were not so lucky.  The storms caused some of them to stop and miss the checkpoint.  About 140 miles out of Atlanta, I met up with two other BL riders and we all rode into Atlanta together and to the next checkpoint.  We got there at 4:30am.  I was excited.  Two technical difficulties and I'm still in the game.  I would pay the price for that long nite tho.

 

Sunday:  I got the new route sheet.  It was one list of 50 locations all over the place.  I picked going to the JD distillery (it'd be my fourth time taking the tour) and to stop in Clear Lake to see the crash site and see the family.  I rode with another BL rider (that I met up with the nite before) and we rode together to the Varsity resaurant (bonus stop).  I could see the Olympic tourch from there.  Then we road out to Stone Mountain for another bonus stop.  It was there I took off on my own again.  My next stop would be Lynchburg and a tour of the JD distillery.  I don't tire of that.  The people there are so friendly and it's a lot of fun.  I was starting to fade, but knew I had to push on.  I wanted to make it to Illinois before stopping for the day.  I stopped at a BBQ place in Nashville (right before they closed) for another bonus and stopped at a Waffle House for another bonus stop.  There were a lot of food stops on this leg.  From Nashville, I rode straight thru to Metropolis, IL... where I was supposed to get a picture of Superman.  I was running on 1 hour of sleep and didn't read the instructions right.  I took a picture of the superman on the billboard and was supposed to get a pic of the statue of superman.  Oh well.

Monday:  I slept for 4 hours in Metropolis and headed on to Iowa.  I made a stop in St. Louis for a picture on the Chain of Rocks Bridge, which is part of the old Rte 66.  Well, once again, I got a picture of the wrong thing.  There was a Rte 66 sign that I was supposed to get a pic of.  Oh well!  Back on my home turf in IA.  I was trying to find a small chapel in Monterey, IA.  It really isn't a town.  There two farm houses there and lots of goats.  It had rained and I was concentrating on the muddy road so hard, I actually road right past the chapel.  I ended up stopping at a farm house and asking directions.  They sent me back the way I came from.  I'm a mess!  A quick stop at a cemetery in Des Moines and I headed north to Clear Lake.  I wanted to get a picture of the crash site before hanging out at home for a while.  I got to go out to eat with the family and sleep in my own bed for 8 HOURS!!!  It was nice to see them, but very hard to get up and go again.

 

Tuesday:  I had until Noon today to get to Niobrara.  I had plenty of time to stop in Luverne, MN to get a picture of the grave of Francis Sampson.  He is the person that Tom Hanks plays in the movie "Saving Private Ryan".  I was in awe.  He volunteered for that mission, and also server in Korea and Vietnam.  True American hero there.  He didn't want any accolades and made the film makers change the names in the movie.  If you ever go there, it's easy to see why the named it "Saving Private Ryan".  Next stop would be Niobrara.  I was so excited to get there.  When I saw the Missouri river I just started beaming.  I accomplished my goal.  I finished.  My odometer read 5,998 miles when I reached Niobrara, whew!  I didn't have a great score, finished 52nd out of 74 riders.  I'll just try to do better next time.