Matt Watkins Wandering North America

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.