2014 Big Tex Rally
After riding The Void, I had a quick turnaround of 2 days before heading off to Texas for our 3rd Big Tex Rally. Barbara and I left Wednesday to spend the evening in Huntsville with old friends Chris and Nancy Stallings. As always, we enjoyed the visit and got to meet their new grandson.
Thursday morning we left for a peaceful ride up to Paris, our start location for this years rally. We met old friends and acquaintances and enjoyed a good BBQ dinner at Scholl Bros BBQ in Paris.
5:30AM sharp we were at the start location to finish registration and get our rally flag. Each prior year, the Rallymaster, Wayne Boyter, has given some additional guidance, information, and bonus locations to add to the rally book. We expectd something like last year where we had the chance to find Texas Icons for additional points. This year the guidance was a bit cryptic - hit the finish line between 3 and 5 PM on Saturday to have the chance to earn up to 5,000 bonus points. We only knew that it would involve us and our bike........nothing else.
I'm a big advocate of the slogan "Plan your ride and ride your plan". That's exactly what we intended to do on Day 1 and would adjust Friday night to accommodate the early return to the finish line for additional points.
Our plan was to head west and then south to Laredo picking up bonuses. At 6:01 AM we got our start receipt and were off into the darkness to our first planned bonus - Gainesville, TX and a photo of some giants. Darkness soon turned to dawn and 95 miles later we arrived.
Other riders were also there. Planned arrival 7:21 - arrival - 7:21. Not shabby but it is the first bonus!
We now had a 2 hour run to the next bonus in Archer City for a photo of the Royal Theater the site of the filming of the movie "The Last Picture Show". We met up with Jesse Lucas here.
Jesse was headed in a different direction so we parted ways. Planned arrival 9:21 - arrival 8:55 AM. We had made up some time. I incorporate a planned stop every 3 hours for gas, snacks, and potty breaks. We hadn't stop so that was our time gain.
Now we are headed south to Throckmorton for a creepy statue of a pioneer woman with an axe in one hand and a bucket in the other. The rally book indicated we both had to be in the picture and we had planned and had a tripod available to take a timed photo. Another rider was also there so we just swapped cameras.
Planned arrival - 10:14. Actual arrival 9:48. Still ahead of schedule a bit. 245 miles into the day at this point. Weather is gorgeous.
Albany is the next stop for a picture of some giant longhorns. Again, both of us have to be in the picture and the same rider as before was there too. I never did catch his name but he was on a Goldwing also.
Planned arrival 10:50. Actual 10:20. Wow - 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Eastland is the next stop and we have a good run across some rural Texas highways.
I digress for a minute since during the 2013 rally we never did make a bonus on schedule. Rural Texas highways have speed limits ranging from 65mph for a narrow 2 lane up to 75 mph for better highways with paved shoulders. I was much more conservative this year in timing since running 5-10 over the speed limit just won't work in many cases. Not for us anyway!
Eastland was the site of the Last Lynch Mob in Texas. In 1928, citizens took justice in their own hands when a bank robber tried to escape the jail shooting one jailer and brutally beating another. They stormed the jail and drug him to a corner and hung him from the telephone wire. Justice - Texas style!
Planned arrival 11:36. Actual arrival 11:01. Still got that 30 minute cushion.
Cross Plains was the home of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan The Barbarian and the most prolific writer of pulp fiction in the 1930's.
Planned arrival 12:17. Actual arriveal 11:45.
Comanche is the next bonus. John Wesley Hardin killed the sheriff here in 1874 and had to run for his life. The town folks hung him in effigy. The saloon is now the Huett Building and we had to find the historical marker. We circled the town square a couple of times before eagle eyed Barbara spotted the marker on the corner of a building.
Planned arrival 1:09. Actual arrival 12:22. A bit more than the 30 minute cushion. The day is progressing well and we are 400 miles into the rally.
The Regency Bride is one of the last wooden suspension bridges in Texas. The bonus was to take a photo of a plate on the bridge listed the contractor, inspection, commissioner, and engineer involved in the 1999 restoration of the bridge. As we approached the turn to head to the bridge, the road was closed with a bridge out sign posted. We didn't know if this was our bridge or not so we continued on to find another way to the bridge. This dirt road was closed also but the GPS indicated the bridge was a short distance away. It was a very rough 1/2 mile to the bridge but we made it in only to find more bridge closed signs. We snapped our picture showing the bridge in the background and took off.
We did try to find the plate but it must have been on the other side of the bridge. We weren't crossing a closed bridge!
Planned arrival 2;07. Actual arrival 1:24.
Near Mercury is the geographic center of Texas. We had to find the historical marker.
Fort McKavett has been a bonus in all three Big Tex Rallies. We were here in 2012, had it planned in 2013 but had to delete it due to the timing issues. We knew exactly where the Commanding Officers Quarters were.
While taking the photo, one of the site historians wanted to chat and tell us all about the place. He did have an interesting tidbit of information. It seems that historians have placed the date of the fire that destroyed the quarters as December 7, 1941. The family was gathered in another building listening to the radio describe the attack on Pearl Harbor. One of the sons picked this time to burn some trash. A flaming ember started the fire that destroyed the quarters. If the family had not been engaged by the radio in another building, they may have all lost their lives.
Scheduled arrival: 3:56 Actual 3:18.
Next stop is near Roosevelt for a historical marker.
Now in the famed Texas Hill Country, we were off to a historical marker off Highway 336, one of the 3 Sisters. This was a bonus last year and while we searched for it last year in the dark and rain we discovered the coordinates were off by about a mile. So, we went straight to the right spot. Other riders were not so fortunate and had to hunt it down.
Scheduled arrival 5:48. Actual arrival 4:58. Almost an hour ahead of schedule. Although there was the temptation to try and add another bonus, I was adamant about sticking to the plan.
Camp Wood is the site of a crash of 22 year old Charles Lindberg while flying across country. He had touched down for the night in Camp Wood but while taking off the next day crashed into Warren Puett's store. We had to get a photo of the historical marker. This also has been a bonus in previous years and we have always dropped it. Not this time!
705 miles into the rally. We are still about 54 minutes ahead of schedule.
Crystal City - the self-proclaimed spinach capital of the world. We had to get a photo of a statue of Popeye with both of us in the photo. At this stop, the camera batteries decided to die. I quickly opened our goodie box only to discover I had failed to pack extra AA batteries. There were was a Dollar General next door so off I went leaving Barbara at the bike.
Why is it when you need to check out quickly someone has an issue? I stewed and simmered while a price check and coupon exchange drug on and on and on! I had taken my helmet off so I wasn't too out of place. Just high vis motorcycle gear. Barbara always finds strays when we stop and some young fellow was giving her his best shot. The conversation quickly ended as I approached, loaded the camera, setup the tripod and got the photo.
Scheduled arrival 7:54. Actual arrival time 7:13 but we lost some time dealing with the camera.
Nothing to do now but make the 100 mile trek into Laredo for our mandatory rest bonus. At 15 points a minute up to a total of 480 minutes, it didn't take much to figure out that taking the whole 8 hour rest was the way to go. We got our start rest receipt at 8:42 PM - 40 minutes ahead of schedule. We had a tasty dinner of WhatABurger and checked in for a shower and a good night's sleep. Before going to sleep, we re-worked our route for the next day to manage an arrival during the 3-5PM window.
At 4:42 in the morning we got our rest end receipt - exactly 8 hours. Now it is downtown Laredo to San Agustin Plaza for a photo of a granite bench dedicated by the International Bank of Commerce.
We were here last year for a different bench and the park was jammed with people and no parking anywhere. Other than a tow truck, we were the only folks in site at 5:00 AM. Flashlights in hand we started searching the 30 odd benches for the right one. Sprinklers had been going off so it was slick and muddy too! Found the bench, snapped the photo and we're off. Oh yeah, don't make a wrong turn down here our you will find yourself in Mexico.
We dropped a couple of bonuses and headed to Bandera and back into the Hill Country for a photo of a historical marker.
The revised schedule has us arriving at 7:34 and we arrived at 7:42.
Off to the town of Luckenbach. Approaching Luckenbach, a dense fog settled into the area making navigation on these crooked roads a bit challenging. The fog was so dense the windshield looked like it was raining with drops flying off.
A bonus in all previous rallies, we had to photo a license plate on the outhouse wall. We knew where it was and were in and out in no time. There is an annual vintage motorcycle gathering here each year so there were lots of folks out and about. One man had to snap our picture in disbelief as we told him what were were doing.
On schedule, we left in what seemed to be even denser fog. We were headed to Austin to the mandatory bonus - a photo in capital rotunda. We picked our way to US 290 where the fog started to lift as the sun burned it off. The good thing was we couldn't see the hundreds of deer that always line the roads in an out of Luckenbach.
Traffic in downtown Austin is always tough but it was Saturday morning which helped somewhat. As we were sitting at a traffic light that took 2 cycles to get through, we overheard a group of guys on cruisers behind us discussing the fuel cell that then progressed to the IBA and 50CC plate backers on the bike. They finally figured out the fuel cell when one hollered to the other - "There is no way you can go from coast to coast in 50 hours or less on a motorcycle" - obviously reading the 50CC plate backer. One of his riding buddies hollered back something to the effect of - "These Iron Butt guys are nuts. They do some crazy rides". We both got a good chuckle out of that conversation.
We got lucky and managed to park not too far from the entrance to the capital building. We chatted with another rider and headed in to try and figure out how to get a picture of both of us standing on the star in the center of the rotunda.
The security folks had obviously seen other riders coming and going so we passed on through even though the metal detectors went nuts.
Lucky for us, one of the other rider's spouse was there and gathered up everyones camera to head up the stairs to take our picture from above.
This endeavor took a bit longer than planned so we are about 15 minute behind schedule.
The Throne of Magnificence is at the intersection of Live Oak and South Congress in Austin. We both had to be in the picture so out came the tripod.
Although a bit behind, we couldn't pass up the next bonus. Ardys Kellerman had recommended to Wayne in 2013 that this statue outside the Bastrop Fire Department be a bonus in his rally. How could we pass this one up? It is titled Queenie's Request in the rallybook.
Time now for a bonus of a different flavor. We headed off to Belton, TX to Pete's Pasture to a target range. Last year there was a huge wait time as everyone seemed to be there at once. We arrived only to find only a couple of riders. With motorcycle gear on, you had fire a 9MM or .45 caliber pistol at your rally flag. If you hit your flag it was worth 2,000 points. No hits - no points. Eric Bray handed me the .45 and jokingly asked if I knew how to shoot. 21 years in the Army and most of that carrying a 45 - I think I've got it down by now. 3 shots - 3 hits! We were in and out in no time.
The Texas Ranger Museum in Waco was our next stop. I-35 is always a mess of construction and today was no exception. Luckily traffic kept moving and we made reasonable time into Waco.
Another tripod shot with both in the picture.
The plan now was to head into Dallas to pick up bonuses worth a total of 262 points. As we headed up I-35, we realized that even going to the next 2 bonuses we would be short of the 1500 mile mark to get a 1500 point bonus. So, once traffic cleared on I-35, we did some math and did a U-turn to head back down the interstate to pick up the 75 extra miles to put us over the 1500 mile mark.
With math computations complete, we headed to the finish line in Cedar Hill. We pulled in at 3:57PM almost exactly on schedule with 1503 miles on the odometer.
Now for the extra 5,000 points. Wayne had a small riding skills course set up in the parking lot. Ride a 2x6 for a specified distance, a slow ride from a standing start between 2 cones, tight circles between cones and the finale was a 4 bike at a time slow race around the parking lot.
We rode the rally 2-up so did the skills course 2-up even though it wasn't required.
It is hard to maneuver a fully loaded Wing on a 2 x 6 so we didn't do too well here. The slow ride from a standing start also didn't work out well before I touched a foot.
Tight circles - I'm not sure of the diameter of the circle but it looked tight but doable.
You had to go around 3 times to get some points and then you could continue for 5 more for additional points. With Barbara planted firmly, lots of clutch feathering and rear brake dragging we made 8 complete circles before being waved out. Look where you want to go really works - even when you are a bit dizzy from going round and round! I would guess the circle is slightly less than the width of a 2 lane road. Hey, we turn around all the time on those!
4 bike slow race was a hoot. We were leading about the halfway point - which meant we were last when the bike in front of me virtually stopped. I couldn't avoid a toe touch and was disqualified.
Scoring was a different experience this year. We were to self-score ourselves by filling out a score sheet claiming all of the bonuses we completed. Once complete, all your documentation, camera cards, etc were to be placed in the envelope with your projected score written on the outside. The unknown was how many points we had gathered in the riding skills.
We checked in to the hotel, showered, and headed over for supper and the open bar. The restaurant does an excellent job with delicious food and unlimited adult beverages.
We hung around chatting, eating, and drinking until around 9:30 when Wayne started to announce the standings.
We finished 6th out of the 36 hour riders and were pleased with the result considering we finished at the bottom of the pack last year. Even more rewarding to us was our ability to plan our ride and then ride the plan almost to the minute at the finish. Woohoo!
Wayne puts on an excellent rally that really gives your the opportunity to explore as much of Texas as you can handle. Kudos to Wayne and the Rally Staff for an excellent adventure this year.
We made the 600 mile trip home Sunday the 19th of October without any problems other than the boredom of droning along I-20.
October 30th, Cora and I are off again to Brooksville, FL to ride in Ray King's Florida Digital Rally. Last year was Cora's first rally and we finished 1st in the 2-up category. She is anxious to repeat that.........we shall see.
