Matt Watkins Wandering North America

Left at about 8 a.m. Leaving in the early a.m. Sunday from Denver to get home.  I find myself having to say, “I-80 is my friend…..I-80 is my friend……there’s no place like home….there’s no place like home.”

I arrived in Eureka, California yesterday afternoon and it’s a bit chilly, overcast, and potentially rainy. A far-cry from Red Bluff at 95 degrees less than 50 miles away.

I rode through some redwoods getting here on Highway 36 and was dumbfounded by the sense of scale…and yes….I imagined myself on an Imperial speeder in Empire Strikes Back.

Now it’s off to Staples to buy an inkjet printer for adminstering the Western FJR Owners – 9 event starting today. My other one didn’t seem to survive transit from home via UPS….ugh.

More redwoods experiences this weekend.

It’s 8 a.m. and my desire to go ride my great FJR on phenomenal roads isn’t quite as high as I’d want. My ear is a bit sore and my butt is as well. I mean, I knocked over 2000 miles on the rally and the prospect of riding more doesn’t quite have the appeal. Maybe I’m just a wuss.

But, I’m sure once I get out on the road it will be different. After big rides it’s sometimes like this.

I’m actually going to ride with RenoJohn and we’re going to meander and make it to Reno by tomorrow evening where’s he going to put me up…so I’m sure it will get fun because he says he knows the long way home.

Then to Eureka, California early Wednesday to get ready for riders coming the Western FJR Owners event. I’m planning to ride through the Sequoias and knock off another National Park.

And some people want to know the basics of how the rally went. Basically, you pretended you were living an entire lifetime in old Nevada….but in 32 hours. You made money by different methods, but tapping into the mining resources was a way I got to nearly $700,000 worth of revenue. But, in life you also spend money including playing poker and visiting whorehouses….and the goal was to spend as close to as much as you made so the taxman wouldn’t take it away when you die. I spent about $800,000 on hookers and poker.

But, the organizer gave you a way to shelter money or expenses and after you had your bonuses verified you went back to your room and picked cards from each pile and tried to get as close to $0 as you could. It’s what your obituary said that you made $700,000 and spend $700,195 for example that was your score minus penalties and taxes.

So, I thought was at $684,935 with $314 in taxes and $20,000 penalty because I asked for the digital file of bonuses (which I’d do again in a second because I rode directly to each bonus). Because I went to two bonuses titled “Camel Spit” I forgot they were a combo and I ended up spending $56,000 more than I thought. Then a tax hit of 1.75 times that amount = about $80,000 less. So, I got about $580,000. Third place was more than $100K less thought so even with my screw up my position didn’t change because Jeff and I were really the only two that figured out the key to the puzzle.

Mining minerals was semi-logarithmic where the last few of 18 were worth $100K each when they were only worth $15K the first few. And poker was logarithmic in that you visit one it only cost $100, but visit 6 and it cost $500,000. Make big money and spend big money.

Jeff Earls had no such penalty as me and scored about $723,000. He also did it by riding 200 miles less than me. Jeff is a role model for efficiency where I was a bull in a china shop that compensated by my right hand. Not elegant, but it is fun in Nevada to do!

My map for the next few days. Think Ely to Reno the long way, then to Eureka, then home on Sunday.

Back from the banquet and a few drinks later. I place 2nd…by a pretty large margin. Both Jeff Earls (who got first) figured out the winning type route and executed a bit differently. His was more efficient with less miles and more points…but it’s fun to realize I was in knocking distance of him. And I got the highest mileage of just over 2000 miles…so I pretty much rode my butt off.

Getting up late tomorrow and then wander towards Northern California…probably staying at my buddy RenoJohn’s in….Reno of all places.

I’ll write-up details later.

I’m a crispy critter having ridden over 2000 miles in this rally…after stopping for a large number of like 50 bonuses.

I messed up a paired bonus that I didn’t know was a pair and the government taxed me like $100,000 in points. I still think I did pretty well having figured out the puzzle with a great ride. I think Jeff Earls did the same thing and will probably win with about $140,000 more than me.

UPDATE at 11 p.m.:

This is a very interesting puzzle. We’re pretending we’re living a lifetime in Nevada in 32 hours. Making money and hopefully spending the same amount of money. Anything over zero gets taxed at 125% so if you made $500,000 and spent $300,000 you’d get taxed 1.25*200K…or $250K leaving only $50K at the end.

You make money by going to mines and spending money by going to whore houses. You make money by visiting historica sites and spend money by going to casinos. I’m hoping to make about $600K and spend close to that.

I’m going to to Wendover then across I-80 to Reno areas and south to a Checkpoint at 7-9 p.m. Then south along 395 to south of Vegas, then back up to Ely.

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Tech inspection (not that there was one) and odo check are over. It’s tire kicking in the parking lot before a 6 p.m. dinner and they drop the bomb on us of the puzzle. Rumor is it’s Brian Roberts brainchild and will take him a while to explain it. Bike’s fueled and ready to to. Doubt I’ll be able to post afterwards so here’s my map that will be online starting in the morning.

Bonus! There’s also an Aggregate Riders Map of those that signed up to be added. Probably at least a dozen riders will be displayed.

MCW – Matt
caw – Cletha on a Wing. Newbie from St. George, UT
RKV – Roger VanSanten on an ‘05 FJR.

95 and clouds are forming up…possibly a thunderstorm might happen this afternoon.

Had a great ride down including Burns to Winnemucca via Denio was new to me….and fast. Also new and similarly fun was Carlin, NV to Eureka. Passed a Beemer and he passed me as I was snapping a picture of another county courthouse. About 1400 to go.

Cletha and Chris P. are here. I just met Cletha at the Utah 1088 a couple weeks ago. She pilots a spiffy new Wing and bet she’ll like this event as a newbie. I knew Chris from the forum as an FJR owner years ago, but randomly ran into him in Missouri on the way to the IBR 2007. He’s gotten bit hard and is making his 2nd Cognoscente ride.

Off to shower and put on shorts and Tevas. I forsee a beer or a scotch in my afternoon.

The Cognoscente Group hosts an invite event occasionally where some of the most hardcore riders descend on Ely, NV and it’s 4  major highway departures.  Go about 2-20 miles in any direction from Ely and you’re out in the middle of nowhere with a whole of distance and sparsely traveled road until the next smallish outpost of humanity.  Essentially, if you look at a map of the U.S.–the areas we typically ride are the most barren in all the U.S.

Riding parallel to Area 51 is one of them.

This year’s theme is Wild Wild West and includes the opportunity for firing lever action firearms, a unique puzzle, and undoubtedly some serious long distance riding in the Great Basin.  I’ve ridden two events of their so far and look forward to a third.

One was called “White Pine Fever” and included completing a substantial and non-specific number of miles in a 24 hour period (meaning you’d have to liquor me up to confess how many)

Another was called “WORD!” and I attempted to play a twisted game of 36 hour Scrabble where I failed rather resplendently to spell correctly the word “ZZYZVYA”, but still had the time of my life.

What will be guaranteed is the sick & twisted rallymasters will be flogging and hazing us in a empathetic manner and not turn our gray matter into oozing puddles of tapioca pudding.

So, I’ll be riding down sometime between very late Wednesday evening to possibly Thursday evening depending on how my work schedule goes.  I haven’t yet decided on a route, but will either be the boring and quick way down I-84 to Twin Falls and the South through Jackpot and Well or perhaps something more meandering through Burns, OR and possibly Denio, Battle Mountain, and Austin.

Friday is registration and decompression day with Saturday morning beginning this epic event.  And after the event…I won’t be coming back home.  I’ll be meandering to Northern California for another FJR event I’m organizing later that week.

Here’s my GPS tracking for the commute down to Ely.

The 2010 Utah 1088 is in the books and a great puzzle and ride.

Ken Meese – 104888 (first top place finisher consecutively in the Utah 1088)
Matt Watkins – 98270 (my first Utah podium)
Ken Morton – 91382

Other FJR Riders did well including our own Bionic Pelvis with 6th place (she placed 6th in the Cal24 last month) and Reno John 9th.

Stories are going to come out for sure and I have a good one about the difference between a 2nd and 1st since Ken and I played leapfrog all day.  It truly became a single choice of taking a left to reasonable, prudent, and safe vs. a right turn to risk, unruly throttle hands, and DNF risk.  I teased him I was riding west after my choice hoping he got time barred.

…he rolled into the finish line with about 10 minutes to spare….and I shook his hand.  Bold move!

Chalmers throws a Great Event.

More details once I get home and catch of REM sleep.

Change of plans…I wanted to read the packet one way, but was corrected.  Big changes to route…trying to figure a new one.  Going first up to Snowville for a checkpoint I was hoping we could skip.  Vegas is out now for sure.  Scramble, scramble, scramble.

I had some difficulty last night with the blog.  If it has problems refreshing….go to http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=6296 or click here.

Broad strokes it’s to head South towards various national parks in Southern Utah, maybe wander farther South or maybe West to Nevada and then back to the barn.  Very interesting packet.  I think I see the answer to the puzzle.  Now it’s if I can pull it off.  There are at least half a dozen, “What happens if….” things that are critical to pulling it off.

http://www.towelday.org/

This is a test of POP3 e-mail to the blog.

Tuckered out after 1800+ miles….had a good time. Report including pics in the next few days.

Made it through the East entrance and all the way to Old Faithful for a show in Yellowstone. Man, that is a big, GIANT park! Then took off out of the south entrance. Roads were clear and dry except for where it spit snow on me for about 3 minutes near Faithful.

Then through the Tetons….and those mountains are KEWL!

I meandered around Idaho gathering up county seats near the route and holed up in Arco tonight…the home of the first nuclear reactor that powered a town. Idaho National Lab is near here…a sister site to where I work.

Two bars in town and both are in walking distance of the motel I parked my bike. Woo hoo!

Maybe I’ll put up pictures later depending on how late this town stays open.

Tomorrow is Swan Dam and then back home…with some more counties.

I’m in Red Lodge, MT after having ridden a couple hours past dark. Man, Montana is dark! It’s also cold in this area up against the mountains with snow in the parking lot.

I had hoped to make it to Cody, but only an hour ride in the morning. Nothing open for dinner so it’s trail mix and jerky for a late dinner and an early breakfast.

Then on to the dam near town and a big day through Yellowstone. Where is my pic-in-ic basket?

I’ve also been stopping to take pictures of county courthouses…thinking I might try and visit all 50 states one day. I figure about 45 down and 1500 to go.

Carbon County, MT

I gotta go snag Timothy Lake if I’m going to hope to finish the Dam Tour by Memorial Weekend.  I saw a picture snagged from 4/25 that had no snow anywhere to be seen…so I hope I can come in from the east side.

Plan is to leave about 2-3 a.m. and catch it at sunrise.  I had a long nap this afternoon.

So much for being a ringer, multiple Iron Butt Rally finisher, and even a winner of the 7 day 2008 SPANK rally before. The fickle nature of rallies and reality that it’s a perpetual pursuit to achieve the perfect ride….I placed 2nd in the Umatilla Lion’s Club Scavenger Hunt this year. That’s better than my third place last year.

I give props to my friend, my work colleague, my lefty liberal friend and a person I recruited to ride this hunt for his victory of his very first rally. Jimmyz rode VERY well and no amount of woulda-coulda- shoulda I might write should diminish that.  Good job Jimmy!

The page they gave us was very similar to the previous year with a mix of answers to provide by being there and/or digital pictures.

The Digital Life

Part of my routine is to find a quiet place, plug bonus information into a laptop Jim Owen style, and in the case of this rally find shelter from a brisk wind churning up white caps in the Columbia nearby.  I schooched my butt up against the leeward side of the restrooms and took about 10 minutes to enter the data into my trusty Microsoft Streets and Trip 2008.  5 more minutes to get an overall route and another 10 tweaking things for a full plan.  It became quickly obvious that snagging all the bonuses was very doable in the 7 hours slotted….I’d even have an hour or two to spare depending on the time it took to find the actual scavenger items.

The first trick was whether to go clockwise or counter-clockwise…and second whether to do Irrigon at the beginning or the end. I chose counter-clockwise because I had more personal knowledge of the earlier bonuses in that direction…plus I wondered if there was the remote possibility of sneaking in Idaho as a third state to visit for an extra 50 point.  That option and one could skip Irrigon if time challenged, but still net 28 more points.  That might be the deciding factor.

Planning the Ride, Riding The Plan

My final route below ended up being very close to my planned route at the beginning.

Back to the bike I could see most people had the route digested…or more probably they weren’t obsessed rally nerds like me and might be riding just to enjoy wandering around.  Some with paper maps and others just knew where everything was.

Mounted up by 8:50 I went through the packet one last time, uploaded the coordinates to my GPS, and wrote down the order of bonuses on a card I then slipped in my tank bag window for easy viewing.

GO!

I watched my GPS go from 8:59 to 9:00 and eased out the parking lot first.  When I got to the first light some traffic went straight like me, some right, and some left.  I’d end up seeing only one other team of 2 during the ride.

First stop were the Millennium Bell in Hermiston that was a block away from a giant locomotive snow blower that weighed 297,000 pounds.  See this YouTube video.  I was on the board with two bonuses for 60 points!

I then pointed to towards Heppner knowing I had some time to start looking ahead on the route, crank some tunes on the MP3 player, and turn my vest on for a little warmth in the blustery 48 degree morning.

I snagged Willow Creek Dam just a couple miles past Heppner…chalking up riding straight to it because of a ride 5 years earlier.  Local knowledge really helps on this rally.

Move Along Little Doggies

Wandering 10 miles farther south I had my first rally surprise….an impromptu spring cattle drive down the middle of the highway.  Moving at a brisk 1 mph I disliked the prospect of waiting who knows how many hours for them to get to their final destination (cows just have no sense of rally time) so I did my best impersonation of a cowboy on a dual sport and wheeled between their right flank and a fence line.   Moo’s ensued, eyes of mothers looked terrified, babies slobbered, and the horse-mounted posse did their best to not look too annoyed with me.

I gave a lasso twirly wave as I cleared the herd to look neighborly and appreciative…and also because I knew I’d be back in less than 20 minutes after I snagged my next bonus.

Ghetto or Ghost Town?

I guess I should note that although the town of Hardman probably qualifies as a ghost town with most buildings abandoned, but there were a few trailers and buildings with smoke coming out the tops and cars with four non-flat tires parked near them.   Because of the fact a a few people still live here…Hardman is actually just a shit hole with none of the nostalgia or finality if it were a properly vacant ghost town.

Sorry for the lame picture…when you’re in rally mode you’re about proving you were somewhere and not trying to take an Ansel Adams.

Hamburger Junction Part Deux

Riding back through the herd was also much less nostalgic the second time around……for me, the cows, and the grizzled cowpokes.  I’m sure the sight of an HID lit motorcycle with a yellow Aerostich-swathed firefighter figure aboard was less than ideal for advancing cows forward.  The cows confirmed the mixed message they were receiving this by mooing more freakishly than the last encounter.

In fact, one of the heffers froze in the road and went all freaked-shitless on me.

Literally shitless!

I’ve never seen an animal turn side profile, arch it’s neck, splay out it’s legs, scream at the top of it’s cow lungs, lift it’s tail, and firehose green crap into the air like the fountain at Bellagio.  It arced and spattered off the pavement causing nearby calves to do Bambi-eque splits on the chip seal and just add more confusion to an already tense bovine situation.

Ick, ewww, and laughing I tried my fenceline trick once more and made progress through the herd.  Three calves split off causing one of the mounted cowboys to have to scramble backward as the collie dogs kept making Moms stay in the main pack.

Once clear of the future steaks I slogged back to Heppner and started pondering options again.  I needed to snag Washington State as a bonus for 50 points.  To do that near Wallula or to grab the weigh station north of Umatilla?  Could I possibly snag Lewiston or another Idaho town with the extra 90 minutes 2 hours I was projecting I’d have if the remainder of the bonuses?

Headspace Time

I was playing the ‘can I-what if-wouldn’t it be cool if’ game.  It was the stuff Owens and Earls…and think even Marbach do in their head with uncanny ability.  I’m getting better at it, but I just couldn’t find a way to get to Idaho and get to the finish line by 4…not by several hours.  Sheer physics weren’t even close on it.

I decided then it was about snagging all the bonuses and expect a tie.  Ties would be split by who does the MOST miles…which is opposite of other rallies.  Not that I was expecting other riders to alter their style and I certainly didn’t wick it up because of it, but I started thinking about where I could pile on the miles after I was done with the bonus list.  Hmmmm.

Psssst….Be Careful of Them Druggies

I made it to Pilot Rock looking for a “vault not in a bank” and was treated to this wide-eyed woman in a hoopajoop car outside the supermarket.  Earplugs in I could still easily hear her call me over.  Waking over she said, “Be careful!  This town is full of druggies and they’ll fuck with you!”

Why was I far less worried about these druggies than the woman in the car?  How does she know about these druggies?  Why is she rubbing her arms like a cricket?

Pushing away concern I asked her figuring I’d co-opt her Samaritan nature and asked if she knew of such a vault that wasn’t in a bank.  She said, “There’s a bank over there!”

…..an attention span clearly wasn’t in this woman’s bag of tricks.

Yeah….she was probably one of these druggies she warned me about.  Meth I figured….so I split into the grocery store hoping she’d stay in the car

Unfortunately, she followed me inside even more animated and eager to help.

The locals were unknowing and rather nonplussed with the combination of a hulking man in a firefighter jacket and yellow helmet with a known local that scares off tourists….so I decided to exit and look for a cop instead.  Unfortunately druggy woman grabbed hold of my arm as I tried to exit and I learned she had actually given me sage advice several minutes earlier……even if the irony escaped her.  I instinctively yelled, “Don’t be touching me!” and actually shook off her arm from jacket.

Time to leave…now!

So, I motored down the street I saw the FZ1 of the rally organizer at a cafe.  Bingo!

I asked, “Hey sir, you look like a local and not a druggie I hear are polluting this town.  Any clue where a vault might be in this town not associated with bank?”

He played the part and said, “Well normally there’s one in the Main Street Cafe that’s open, but it’s closed today.”

Thank you sir!  And I hopped back on the bike jotting down the answer.  This was not a Stand By Me type of Pilot Rock….this was a Blue Velvet meets COPS kind of Pilot Rock.  It was time to get the fuck out of Pilot Rock!

History and Reservations

Pendleton next and I had no clue where a historic marker was and know there are 5 or 6 gateway highways to this town so I did use the GPS and stopped at the museum and asked.  They pointed me to the east side of town which made sense since the RM does things along the obvious route and the bonus after this was east of town somewhere.

It’s nice snapping pictures because after I come home and blog I can actually read what I saw!

I also had been trying to think out of the box and that whole “each country visited” bugged me.  Canada just was not doable even if you didn’t get any other bonus.  Would a “sovereign nation” count as a country?  I really doubted it, but stopped and snagged the entrance to the “Umatilla Reservation” just in case.   I wasn’t going to be a limits pusher at the finish line…but again it’s a rally and practice for me to think out of the box.

One on the reservation I had my first GPS snafu.  I’ve had several before on other tribal lands around the U.S. (including a very unfortunate experience of being told to turn right on Bureau of Indian Affairs Road 8 for 20 miles straight when none existed) and am increasingly of the opinion that they’re some black hold for updates with Garmin or the mapping service.  I can’t help but wonder if this discrepancy isn’t indiciative of a larger social condition that continues to exist today.

But, I’m an interloper in these lands and instead decide to enjoy the beauty of the land.  While it’s not that much different than cruising through typical wheat field, pasture, and scrub of Eastern Oregon…it’s subtlety a little different.

Where in the World is Thorn Hollow Road and Mile Post 14

Finding Willow Road on the earlier didn’t yield specifically where Mile Post 14 was.  And the GPS was a little vague too.  I’ve ran across this before and MP markers are typically numbered where the county or jurisdiction line begins…whether that be north or south is anybody’s guess.  My hope was to hit the middle of what appeared to be a generally north-south road, pick a direction, and cover two marker to decide whether I was headed the right way or double back.

When I got to what my GPS said was Thorn Hollow Road..it was called Cayuse on signs.

Damn.

I looked in the GPS for another road in the area and found none…so I followed Cayuse a few miles and saw another sign that said Thorn Hollow.  I even found MP 14 and looked for a 1950s car.

This one was obvious just off the road, but this Caddie is twenty years too young.

I stopped next door at a gaggle of dead Beetles that oldest still looked only to be from the 60’s.  An MG or TR was decidedly 70’s as well as an oxidized Volvo.  The owners confirmed this, confirmed I was on Thorn Hollow Road , agreed I was right near MP 14, and couldn’t think of any 50’s vintage cars in the area.

Next door this one wasn’t a car and also not in a yard and think it was 60’s.  No owner home, but a very cool seemingly running version of a Toyota Land Abuser.  10 more minutes.

A very old Dodge pickup was also not 50’s, but I met one of the Minthorn clan….a relative of who I’ve met as the leader of the Umatilla tribe. 10 more minutes.

And an old Jeep work rig nowhere near a yard.  Where is this frickin’ car?

Back and forth I rode between 13 and 15 and WAAAY off the road I spotted an old hulk behind a garage.  I rode out to it past a gaggle of dogs that started to chase me.  As I rounded the corner to what I thought was a 50’s car one of the pitbull persuasion came up I thought I’d done something really stupid.  I snapped this hasty picture in case I got eaten and figured at least I’d get partial points posthumously and an epitaph, “He loved motorcycle rallying…..’till the end.”

And the owner came out…a very striking Native American women with a dangly ear ring that seemed a metallic feather.   I was arguably trespassing and knew I pushed this one a bit.  But, I just fessed up that I was lost and on a scavenger hunt and she was very friendly and said the dogs wouldn’t hurt me….they really seemed to like licking the dead bugs off my kneepads.    I think I counted 8 or 9 of them!

She also didn’t know of any car matching my description so I decided I had done my due diligence and would hope the RM would accept whatever I put down and hoped others had the same problem.  This had to be the right road because the next bonus was essentially at the other end of it and even incremented the MP markers 13, 12, 11….clear down to 1 before the next bonus.

Another Town I’ve Never Been!

A striking building in what is now a town with almost no commerce.  Everybody must go to Pendleton or Milton-Freewater for goods at their favorite Costco.

And then 10 miles east to another berg with a couple more commercial establishment, Weston, OR.  I even chalked up my 50 point bonus with a 99 cent hot dog in addition to the 37 point Suzi’s Market.

Heading Towards the Barn

Another stop at Holdman….same place last year I found an obscurily placed bench mark.  While this year’s school district number was easy to spot–Holdman would prove to be the undoing of the #3 finisher that didn’t have the local knowledge I had.  Holdman doesn’t show on paper maps.

I made good time between Athena and Umatilla….wink…wink.  The two-laners are devoid of traffic and long straight stretches between rolling hills.  It gave me time to listen to the zing of my 1300cc motor wring out most of it’s ponies and ponder what I was going to do with the hour of extra time I was going to have.  The car search had eaten up 45 minutes of time, but I still worried there were going to be lots of ties at the top of the pack.

I slogged to Irrigon on a well-used path that was infested with local cops and as boring as cruising a strip mall.  Riding back I cut into Washington and thought better of my personal safety of stopping mid-bridge for the “Entering Washington” sign and figured the weigh station with state flag and trooper van would prove my second state for 50 more points.

My Own Road

Plus, I still had a fair amount of fuel in my tank and lots of time to use it.  To slog I-84 to Kennewick and back or where could I average better than 70 mph?  Mmmmm…..Coffin Road it is!

Those not familiar with this particular road let me describe it as “my secret desert test track” by fellow motorcycle colleagues wanting to test things for other posts as well as a stretch that I have on decent authority the good folks at Shelby Supercars occasionally use.

Name notwithstanding it’s a 5 miles stretch of paved road through wheat fields and essentially straight except for a tiny jig mid way that is only an issue if you’re exploring the upper limits of what an FJR can do.  For me I wanted to average more than the typical of freeway speed, but not run out of fuel.  So, I did 5 or 6 laps until my low fuel light started flashing, and then headed for the barn.  I even pondered refueling, but the 7 or 8 minutes would have put me too close to the 4 p.m. mark and rolled in with instead with 12 minutes to spare.  It was an efficient ending to a well executed ride.

I was the first unusually, followed by Jimmy, then Ray and the RM.  Nobody else which was odd.  Turns out two others were 15 minutes late and three others riding bailed out and never came back.

I Get the Feeling

Jimmy said he didn’t catch Irrigon due to time and figured he’d finish below me, but when he said he’d talked to the owner of the 50’s Pontiac I knew I was sunk.  What MP14 was he at?  Ugh.  I knew he was going to beat me unless the RM took huge amounts of pity on me.

Ray had also gotten the right car, but couldn’t find Holdman.   I wasn’t sure about the point swap there, but if two others find the car and I didn’t…..it was me.  I’ll kick myself, analyze if there’s anything I should have done different, return to the scene of the crime some day, and maybe not make a similar mistake in some future rally.

So, it would stand the rookie would win and give me untold grief at work the following week.  The RM would give me points for being at a MP14, but not the car. No ties and an outright podium with Yamahas.

#1 Jim – 731 points – Yamaha FZ1

#2 Matt – 709 points – Yamaha FJR1300 – 353 miles (~50 added on purpose)

#3 Ray – 708 points – Yamaha FJ1300

I had finished one spot higher than the previous year, scored a whole bunch of prizes far in excess value than the $20 entry fee and couldn’t carry entirely including a cool quilt I’ll probably give my nephew, a bottle of red, a bottle of liquor, and a statue I couldn’t fit on my bike and have to pick up another time.  I gave $10 extra just because and had a great time.

Thanks Umatilla Lions Club!

Beginning Saturday, April 24th, 9 a.m. out of Umatilla, OR will be a scavenger hunt lasting 7 hours. It’s fairly crude compared to the formal competitive rallies I run in other parts of the season, but being 35 miles from home and the good cause…it’s actually a great little event.

I had a lot of fun last year!

This year I invited some LD friends to the event on FJRs to increase the competition and hopefully we’ll have some fun.

I’ll have my SPOT unit on and tracking will start as I transit to the starting line in Umatilla.

We couldn’t blog or otherwise post about our adventures during the rally, but a fair number of riders reported afterwards.  Here’s the growing list of reports and picture sets.

Ride Reports

Jeff and Carol

David Porter Leg #1, Leg #2, Leg #3

Pictures