2012 Not Superman Rally July 23 - 27

The 2012 Not Superman Rally is in the books. Thank goodness! Barbara and I have done many of these scavenger hunt style rally events but this one is probably going to go down in our history books as one of the more memorable and not necessarily in our best memory category. This one was going to be a combination of Mother Nature’s fury, a comedy of errors that we created, and just plain ole bad luck. 

The 2012 NSR was scheduled to be 100 hours long. Launch was at 6:00 AM on Monday July 23^rd from St Louis, MO and ending at 10:00 AM Friday July 27^th. There were mandatory 6 hour rest breaks every 24 hours so how hard could it be? Ha!

One of the tenants of long distance riding and rally theory in general is to never make a major change to your equipment/gear/etc. right before a ride is to begin. This way you never encounter something detrimental and unexpected during your ride. I broke this rule and it came back to haunt me on the 2^nd day of the rally. 

We have always run Bridgestone tires since they are proven to have good stability, decent wear, and predictable results. I elected to try a set of Avon Cobras designed for the Gold Wing so a fresh set was installed the week before we left. A short ride to test them didn’t bring out anything shocking. They rode well, had exceptional grip on dry roads, and seemed to be a good choice. You’ll see why this was not a good idea a bit later in the tale. 

We left early Saturday morning headed to St Louis to have a day of rest and sightseeing before the rally kicked off on Monday. Rather than suffering a long interstate ride, we headed up the backroads and were going to scout some of the bonus locations on the way in. The comedy of errors begins Saturday afternoon. 

The world's largest Clydesdale.  He doesn't pull wagons since
none of the other Cyldesdales match him in size.  

 The remainder of the day was spent checking in, resting, meeting the rest of the riders.  Some old friends from previous rally events and lots of new faces.  We all had dinner at a nearby sports bar and totally overwhelmed the poor waitress.  She did the best she could even though it took over 2 hours to get everybody fed with almost all correct orders.  

We were up early Monday for breakfast and be ready to roll at 6:00 AM.  We had planned a very aggressive route that if we could pull it off was going to be worth what I thought would be a top 5 finish for sure.  There was little margin for error or delays but it was going to be worth a shot.  

6:00 AM and we started rolling out of the parking lot.  Almost everyone initially was following the same route so it was leapfrog through the first couple of bonus locations.  All was going well until about 2 hours in when Barbara popped up on the intercom and said we needed to stop because she was going to be sick.  I found a pulloff and sure enough she was!  She lost everything rather violently.  After a fairly lengthy stop, we managed to get back on the road.  We knew it was going to be very hot and had been hydrating pretty heavily.  Barbara is now behind the power curve!

We went to such scenic locations as Fort Chartres State Park, Modoc Rock Shelter, statue of Popeye and Superman, Trail of Tears monuments, site of the Lincoln Douglas debate, and back to the non-existent Birdman of Alacatraz grave.  We stopped in almost exactly the same place we stopped Saturday and within 2 minutes found the marker.  We both must have walked by it 5 times on Saturday!

 Fort Chartres

Popeye

 Trail of Tears

 Superman

 The elusive Birdman of Alcatraz

Onward to the Wabash Cannon Ball Road!  This location was the old wooden railroad bridge where the famed Wabash Cannon Ball train had crossed. It had been converted to a single lane wooden bridge with loose boards and a narrow path to follow.  Quite an adventure on a 1000 pound motorcycle.  We managed to get across without incident…..just a lot of stress!

We saw a neat Red Skelton mural in Vincennes, Illinois before heading to Moonshine, IL - population 2.  

 Red Skelton 

Moonshine

We have all seen the news about the drought and the fate of the cornfields.  We saw these first hand and there is no doubt the corn crop is gone.  At a gas stop, one of the farmers said he was just bush hogging his crop and plowing it under.  

Temperatures have now climbed to 104 degrees.  It is HOT!  At a gas stop, we filled our hydration pack with ice and water and simply hugged the remaining bag of ice passing it back and forth.  We would stuff it in our jacket to keep our core cool and enjoy the cooling effect of the evaporating water.  

From Moonshine, we headed north of the home of Becky Burgoyne in Covington, IL.  Becky is the author of the book “Perfectly Amanda” the story of Amanda Blake who played Miss Kitty in “Gunsmoke”.  Just Google it and find out more - we plan on ordering the book.  She would have autographed a copy for us, but the motorcycle was just too full to safely carry it home.    She was an excellent hostess, had cold water available, signed our rally flag, took pictures, and marveled at what we were doing.  What a nice bonus location!

Now a long interstate slog to Louisville, KY and the home of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory and the worldest largest baseball bat.  

Across Kentucky we went until around 9:00 PM we elected to start our first rest bonus in Berea, KY.  Barbara was pretty much toasted from the heat and collapsed as soon as we were in the room.  We are only 45 minutes or so behind schedule.  Not bad considering the heat of the day and a sick passenger.  

4:00 AM and off into towards West Virginia.  Another critical mistake was made at this point by not checking the weather forecast.  I had checked earlier in the week and found nothing alarming.  Had I checked that morning our plan would have altered greatly.  

Everything went smoothly through some very crooked roads in western Kentucky, through the Nada Tunnel which is single lane and was hand carved through solid rock!  Pretty impressive.

Gentle rain had now started and the first indication we were going to be in trouble surfaced.  Those new tires which had so far proven to be excellent on dry roads were now like riding on greased marbles.  The combination of mountain roads, coal dust from the many, many coal trucks that rumble through the mountains, and rain proved to be our downfall.  The bike felt unstable as the tires would skitter a bit in the turns.  At any moment it felt as though the front end would just slip out from under us.  I can handle that back tire sliding a bit, but the front really puckers you up!  Anyone who has ever ridden a motorcycle in the rain can testify that this is one of the most unnerving feelings you can encounter.  

Gentle rain has now turned into rain of biblical proportions.  Visibility is reduced, water pools in every low spot even to the point where at times, the water would be over my footpegs.  We found the bonus for the Rocket Boys although you almost needed a boat to get to it.  The Rocket Boy bonus is a monument to Homer Hickman who wrote the book “Rocket Boys” on which the movie “October Sky is based.  Of course….Google it for more information.  

Nexrad radar on my GPS showed red all around us.  Red isn’t a good thing and means severe weather, rain, thunder, lightning, wind, etc.  I can tell you that is exactly what is going on around us.  Progress is unbelievably slow since we often have to stop simply because we can’t see the road or because I need a break from fighting to keep the motorcycle upright.  At one such stop under the cover at a gas station, I simply failed to put the kickstand down and over the bike went.  I stepped off, Barbara just stayed in her seat.  No damage to the bike or either of us, but it certainly was an indication that fatigue had really started to set in.  

We passed the New River Gorge bonus simply because it wasn’t safe to make the hike down to the observation deck in the rain.  

Finally in Sommersville, WV we stopped for another break from the rain and to evaluate the situation.  It is now late afternoon and we are hours behind schedule.  We both are soaked, I am exhausted and tremendously frustrated.  More red on the radar for as far as we can see.  The TV in the gas station is talking about the storm damage all around us……I believed every word!

According to the rules, you would have to acquire 26,000 points to be considered a finisher.  There was no way we could ride our planned route in the time allotted since we were so far behind.  I didn’t think that I could ride out of the storm safely to pick up an alternate route,  so after a bit of discussion we elected to withdraw from the rally.  Safety is always our first consideration.  Very reluctantly, I called Jim Puckett, told him the situation, and formally withdrew from the rally.  We would decide what to do in the morning when heads were clear.  

We found a motel, got warm and dry, had a bit of supper and collapsed.  

The next morning was clear and cool so rather than just go home, we elected to continue to ride the remaining part of our West Virginia route, do some sightseeing,  and then head back to St Louis.  

One of the neatest stops was in the town of Cass, WV.  Created as a lumber town in 1900, with a railroad built to haul timber out, the town has been restored to what it looked like in the early 1900’s.  There is an operational steam railroad engine that gives train rides through the mountains.  It was fired up and ready to roll when we went by.  

Since we were off the clock, we headed into Pennsylvania to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA.  Don Leemhuis and I had been to the temporary memorial in 2008 and were impressed by not only the site of the crash, but by the plans for the future memorial.  The memorial is complete with the visitor center to be completed in the future.  A walk through the grounds, and the memorials certainly gives pause and wonder at the bravery of the passengers of Flight 93.  On our previous visit to the temporary memorial, there were many very touching memorials left ranging from the simple to the impressive plaques from around the world.  These have all been safely stored and will be on display in the visitor center when it is completed.   

National Radio Astronomy Labaratory in West Virginina

Let's Roil!

Memorabilia is collected and archived each day. 

Southern Pennsylvania is beautiful countryside as we toured through headed to the last bonus of the day.  The Lost Children of the Alleghenies is a folk story and a pretty neat one at that.  You can read all about it at the following link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Children_of_the_Alleghenies

Getting to it isn’t easy as you ride down a rough single track road several miles back into the woods.  Then it is a hike along a trail to the monument itself.  We parked and started back into the woods and were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes and flies.  We walked, waved our hands in an attempt to keep them from eating us alive.  We took the picture and quickly headed out of the woods!

We decided to start back towards St Louis via the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  Two lane interstate with no median.  Truck traffic is very heavy so if you are in the left lane, there is a concrete barrier inches to the left and 18 wheelers to the right all running wide open!  It is a toll road with only one exit for 100 miles.  Signs warn you that there are no services or exits so the only option is to keep going and don’t run out of gas!  It cost us $6.80 for the 80 odd mile run.  This is one to avoid!!!


We spent the night in Carthage, Ohio before making the 500 mile I-70 run back to St Louis.  Nothing to see but burnt corn crops, 100 degree temperatures, and heavy traffic across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  Thankfully, there were no traffic backups through Columbus, Ohio or Indianapolis, IN.


Safely back in St Louis in the late afternoon on Thursday,  we rested and got ready to welcome everyone back on Friday.


Friday morning we started getting updates as riders were coming back in before the 10:00 AM deadline.  Most had encountered weather of some sort as riders came back in from as far north as Canada, as far west as South Dakota, through the heat of Oklahoma and Kansas.


Several other riders had withdrawn mostly due to heat exhaustion rather than biblical rain.  Of course, mechanical issues plagued a couple of riders creating humorous stories of breaking down in graveyards, in the middle of nowhere, etc.   Others had what I consider epic rides in some pretty adverse conditions.  Kudos to the winners!


We stayed over Friday night and visited went out for a great steak dinner and let Barbara have some world famous frozen custard from one of the St Louis landmarks - Ted Drewes.   Pretty cool place that has been featured on the Travel Channel.  It was packed at 9:00 PM!


Saturday was simply a test of endurance in the heat on the way home.  We stopped in Memphis to have lunch with Barbara’s college roommate she hasn’t seen in over 20 years!  Oh yeah, we hugged that bag of ice again Saturday afternoon.


The bottom line!  We made it back safe.  Lessons learned - lots!  1.  Do not make major untested changes before a rally.  2.  Check the weather frequently.  3.  Hydration is the key in hot weather.  4.  Hugging a bag of ice isn’t a bad thing in 100 degree weather.  5.  New boots that are supposed to be waterproof but really aren’t make for some really wet feet.  6.  No more rallies in the middle of the summer.


Next rally is in October when we will run The Void quickly followed by the Big Texas Rally.  For now, we are just going to stay cool.

One of the bonus locations was the gravesite of the Birdman of Alcatraz in Metropolis, Illinois. Previous experience had taught us that sometimes grave markers are bit hard to find so we went to the GPS coordinates and started the search. For over an hour we stomped around in a fairly large cemetery searching for the headstone. We knew what it looked like…..had a picture of it…..had coordinates for it….but for the life of us could not find it. We asked several locals if they knew where it was but no joy. I even called the Rallymaster to make sure it had been positively identified. We gave up and headed on to St Louis after checking out a couple of other bonus locations. 

We arrived at the host hotel a bit later than planned and met Jim Puckett, the Rallymaster who assured us that the marker was there. Oh well…we would look again during the rally. I had made reservations a month in advance but when we went to check in, no reservations could be found. The motel was full and they could not accommodate us so we asked for alternate lodging suggestions. They had been checking and it seemed that with the Cardinals playing the Cubs, multiple concerts in town, that every room was full. We did make a reservation for the following night. We searched via the internet, smart phone, etc. and finally located a room 50 miles west of St Louis. Back on the bike and off we went. 

Sunday morning was spent taking a Brewmaster Tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St Louis. What an impressive tour. We got the VIP treatment, saw the Clydesdales, did a complete guided tour of the brewery, sampled beer in the cold room right before it went to bottling, and generally had a great time. Loads of history lessons from a very smart tour guide. I highly recommend taking the time to do a Brewmaster Tour if you are ever in St Louis.  One thing we noticed during the tour was the absence of workers.  Our guide told us that virtually everything was automated and controlled from a central control room.  We did see some maintenance workers fixing a broken machine on the bottling line.  Several of the buildings are National Historic Sites.

We Went West!

8 Days, 14 States, 5311 Miles
Another Rick and Barbara Ride Report


Statistics from the US Department of Transportation report that there are a total of 8,212,267 registered motorcycles in the United States and the average number of miles driven per year is 2,248.  These are 2010 statistics so they are pretty current.  Doing a little quick math, in 8 days we rode what the average motorcyclist rides in 2.36 years.  Interesting!  Doing a little more math, in the last 12 months we have ridden the equivalent of 11.9 years worth of the average motorcyclist.  Guess that means we are not average!

This trip was not only for fun but as many recall was also a bit of a charity ride for the American Diabetes Association.  Young John Morgan Harrison, the 12 year old son of a friend of ours is a Type 1 diabetic and was participating in the Tour De Cure in Birmingham.  While we were out motorcycling, John Morgan and his younger brother rode a 100 kilometer course on BICYCLES!  Kudos to these young fellows and of course to their Dad, John, who also completed that ride.  Although the total is not complete, it looks like $2,266 was raised by these young fellows.

Here’s how it all went down.

We left home fairly early on Tuesday May 8th headed to the start point of our ride in Blytheville, Arkansas.  On the way to Blytheville, we stopped in Memphis to check out Central BBQ - supposedly some of the best BBQ in Memphis.  I disagree and was not very impressed!  Anyway, we settled into Blytheville, had supper from Subway and got rested for the start of our trip.

The plan was to leave Blytheville at 5:00 AM on Wednesday the 9th and be in Salt Lake City, Utah before 5:00 PM on Thursday the 9th.  We were shooting for a Bun Burner 1500 certification from the Iron Butt Association - 1500 miles or more in less than 36 hours.  We got out of town at 5:05 AM  with a starting odometer reading of 134,120.  We droned up I-55 to St Charles, MO for a gas stop at 9:34 and 234 miles later.  Next stop was in Kansas City, KS at 1:19 PM at 486 miles.  Hey, we are almost 1/3 of the way there!

Kansas is not a pretty state as seen from the I-70.  Flat, featureless, with nothing to catch the eye for miles and miles.  7 hours of this boring interstate ride with the afternoon sun trying to burn our retinas out!  We stopped in Limon, Colorado for gas around 8:34 PM and 1011 miles later.  We were averaging around 66.6 miles per hour - not hard considering speed limits across Kansas were 75. Eastern Colorado is not much better looking than Kansas.  The further west we went, the more we strained our eyes looking for the mountains!

Kansas sucks!

The plan was to spend the night on the west side of Denver so around 10:30 we found a place to crash for a few hours.  Hitting the road around 5:45 AM, we gassed up before tackling the Rocky Mountains.  It was a beautiful ride which of course is a huge understatement.  Early morning sun on the mountains which still bore the winter cover of snow.  As we climbed, temperatures of course dropped which isn’t a challenge….we just turn up the thermostat on those heated gloves and jackets.  Through the Eisenhower Tunnel, up, down, around we went.  Through the places you hear about, Frisco, Copper Creek, Vail, etc.  We stopped for gas in Vail and discovered how proud they were of gas - $4.26 per gallon.  It wasn’t going to get any better either!

On the way through the Rockies

Green River, Utah was our turn point off the interstate.  We stopped there for gas and a break.  The West Winds Truck Stop is also a stopping point for the Greyhound Bus.  Quite an interesting group of folks ride buses these days.  We enjoyed people watching for a few minutes trying to figure out the who, what, and why of someone crossing the country by bus.

The high mountain desert of Utah is a beautiful place filled with a constantly changing landscape.  I have always enjoyed the desert and this part of our trip was no exception.  You can see for miles in any direction rather than the tree tunnels we are accustomed to.

Unlimited views!

The miles quickly passed as we hit the never ending construction that surrounds Provo and Salt Lake City.  We got our ending receipt very near our hotel at 2:28 Mountain time.  1660 miles on the odometer in roughly 33.5 hours.  We got the Bun Burner covered and arrived fairly well rested.  The fun and frivolity shall soon begin.

I did some quick running around to parts stores trying to find the right size O ring to fix a fuel connection on our auxiliary fuel cell.  Couldn’t find the right size so back to the hotel to clean up for social hour.

Friday morning was going to be the kickoff for the charity part of our ride.  Dubbed the 7-11 Ride, we were going to ride 700 miles in 11 hours across Utah and Nevada making 3 mandatory checkpoints.  The finish line for the 7-11 ride was also near the host hotel for the Big Money Rally Banquet on Saturday night.

Back to the fun……we wandered into the hotel bar around 4:30ish PM and met our host for the evening, Steve Chalmers.  Steve was also gracious enough to sign as our ending witness for the Bun Burner ride.  We met the other 11 riders that were going to tackle the 7-11 ride, got acquainted, chatted, and generally enjoyed the evening.  There were riders from all over - we had the furthest from the start location won hands down!

A mysterious thing kept occurring though!  Every time my beer glass or Barbara’s would near empty, another would just appear without having to do a thing.  Just so happens, I was enjoying a local micro-brew that was very, very good so the glass seemed to almost empty itself rather frequently.  It seems that our host was picking up the tab and ensuring that we all were having a grand ole time - which we were!  Sometime late in the evening, we realized we had a pretty demanding ride ahead of us the next morning so bid farewell and poured ourselves up to our room.

The ride was due to start at 6:11 AM Reno, Nevada time which was 7:11 local.  Note more of the 7-11 theme?  At exactly, 7:11 Steve gave us the go signal and off we went.  We first had to tackle about 200 miles of interstate crossing to the south of the Great Salt Lake and then across the Bonneville Salt Flats.  We had a horrible quartering headwind that really made riding difficult.  We crossed the Salt Flats at an angle fighting the wind.  Once we crossed into Nevada and into the mountains the wind eased and we were able to return to upright riding.

Bonneville Salt Flats

First mandatory checkpoint was the Dove Tail Ranch near Carlin, Nevada.  We were met there by Brian Roberts and one of the employees of the Dove Tail Ranch - which happened to be one of the many legal brothels of Nevada.  We wondered a bit about her skimpy attire since it was a bit cool that morning and finally it dawned on us just exactly what the Dove Tail Ranch was!  We don’t have those here in Alabama!

The Dove Tail Ranch

We had a very scenic ride for a while through the valley’s and passes and enjoyed the views enroute to our next stop in Eureka, NV.  We rode for a while on US Highway 50 which has been dubbed “The Lonliest Road in America”.  I believe it!  We encountered very few vehicles and the most activity we saw were prairie dogs running for the lives across the highway.

We were cautioned to be very careful of our speed entering Eureka.  My guess is the organizer of the ride had given the local constabulary a warning that we were coming.  We were VERY aware of the 25 mile per hour speed limit.  We quickly grabbed a gas receipt at the only Chevron station in town and were soon back on the road.

More of the loneliest road followed before a turn onto Nevada Hwy 376.  This one wins the award for not only the loneliest, but the straightest road I’ve been on in a while.  15 mile straights were common and traffic was virtually non-existent.  The clock was ticking down so we decided to up the speed a tad…..nothing like setting the cruise control on a triple digit number.

Zipping across Nevada

Checkpoint 3 was most interesting.  Located in Tonopah, NV, the Mizpah Hotel has a very interesting history.  The 5 story Mizpah was the tallest building in Nevada until 1929.  According to legend, Wyatt Earp kept the saloon, Jack Dempsey was a bouncer, and Howard Hughes married Jean Peters at the Mizpah.  It also was featured in Ghost Adventures on The Travel Channel.  Our goal was to meet Aimee Thompson, a middle schooler, who wrote an award winning essay.  We met Aimee, had some pictures taken, got our copy of the very good essay, and were on the way to the finish line.  We did not get a chance to interact with the team of professional paranormal investigators who were investigating the ghosts of the Mizpah.  It is a very cool place and if ever back in the area, I wouldn’t mind spending a night there just for kicks!

The Mizpah

Hawthorne, NV is the next town we encounter.  It is home of the Hawthorne Army Depot and believe it or not,  the Naval Undersea Warfare Center!  There are ammunition storage bunkers for as far as you can see!  This is a major ammunition storage area for both Army and Navy and where the Navy stores undersea mines and torpedos.   It is also adjacent to Walker Lake which is 18 miles long and 7 miles wide.  Conspiracy theorists have a field day with this one discussing everything from submarine testing to underground passageways all the way to the Pacific Ocean from Walker Lake.   We also encountered road construction with a pilot car and were stopped for about 20 minutes watching the clock tick down.

The finish line is in Holbrook, NV at the Tee Pee.  We had to maneuver through several small burgs, all with their own version of Barney Fife!  We pulled in at 4:43 leaving us a grand total of almost 30 minutes to spare.  The ride was finished. 700 miles, 11 hours.  This was a one time event most likely never to be repeated and we were finishers!  Two riders failed to finish…..one was time barred for being late and another with mechanical problems that prevented her from being a finisher.  A silly photograph had to be taken to prove we finished.  I didn’t disappoint.

We finished!

We headed into Minden, NV which is just south of Reno to our hotel for the next two days.  Saturday night was the banquet for the Big Money Rally.  We cleaned up, had a very nice steak in the casino and were soon fast asleep.

Up early Saturday morning, our plan for the day is to visit Yosemite National Park.   Before making into Yosemite, we stopped for gas and paid over $5.00 a gallon.  Gotta love California gas! Tioga Pass into the park had only recently opened and that was our entrance to the park.   A gradual climb to over 9,000 feet puts you into the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The sides of the road are still covered in deep snow pack, mountain lakes are still frozen, the smell of pine and spruce in the clean air was invigorating.  Small waterfalls dotted the sides of the road as snow melt filled streams to capacity with cold clean water.  The forest was thick with huge pine and spruce trees - much bigger than we grow in Alabama.  Traffic was very light and we enjoyed the ride across the mountains.


Everything changed once we entered the valley enroute to the Visitor Center.  Traffic now choked the roads, tour buses filled with every nationality filled each parking area.  In an attempt to get a good clear picture of Bridal Veil Falls, we hiked back dodging Japanese and European tourists.  Europeans especially do not have the same sense of personal space we do so they had to be dodged as courtesy is not part of their vocabulary.  We made it to the overlook only to be disappointed since you could see nothing except the drenching mist from the falls.  Nice and cool yes…but frustrating because you could see nothing!

Making it to the Visitor Center was not an option due to the traffic so as soon as we could, we got turned around and headed back out of the park.  We did get a great view of El Capitan!

Scenery without equal!

Just one of many

Bridal Veil Falls

El Capitan

Big ole trees

More El Capitan

Big pine cone!

Rather than backtracking, we picked a different route back to the hotel.  California backroads through the mountains are interesting.  A rockslide had closed one road and rather than clear the rockslide opening traffic in both directions, California just put in a signal light.  One way traffic only and we had a fairly lengthy wait for traffic coming the opposite direction to clear.

Now we encounter Ebbetts Pass.  Today, Ebbetts Pass is one of the least traveled passes in the Sierra Nevada. An extensive section of highway over the pass is less than two lanes with no dividing line. It has very steep sections with hairpin corners.  The eastern slope is particularly difficult, as many of the hairpin corners are blind, and steepen suddenly at the apex, making it necessary to shift to first gear in most vehicles and certainly on a motorcycle. It is rarely used by commercial traffic and is not recommended for vehicles towing long trailers.  It is a delightful road for motorcyclists, but I was admittedly worn out by the time we made it through.  Quite a challenging ride.  Barbara made the observation that in the last month we had tackled 3 major mountain ranges from the east to the west coast - The Smokies, Rockies, and Sierra Nevadas.

We made it back to the hotel in time to clean up and attend the banquet.  There were around 50 or so people in attendance, all celebrating their successful finish of the Big Money Rally.  Lots of good fun and a delightful buffet.  For the uninformed, the Big Money Rally was a self-paced scavenger hunt that had started back in January.  The initial bonus listing contained over 900 US Post Offices!  Each post office was worth 2 points and you had to accumulate 112 points to finish.  Subsequent bonus listing contained unique challenges such as Catholic Universities, Shriner’s Hospitals, mountain summits, and other odd and challenging locations to visit.  I had achieved finisher status back in February by visiting 50 or so post offices and a couple of national parks.

Some riders were not content with merely being a finisher, but continued to accumulate points.  Several guys and gals had over 400 points and rode anywhere from 10 to 15 thousand miles during the course of the rally.  It was a great concept and took us to places we otherwise never would have gone.

Fun and frivolity complete, the challenge now was getting home.  The plan was 3 days and about 2400 miles.  We left early with our intended stop for the evening in Las Vegas.  The plan was to go through Death Valley on the way to Vegas but with weather forecasts showing a high temperature of 112 degrees we squashed the Death Valley plan and just made of way to Vegas across the desert.

The glitz and glitter of Las Vegas is something to see.  We checked into Excalibur which is right on the famed Las Vegas strip.  It was packed and we waited in line for almost 20 minutes just to register.  Parking wasn’t exactly motorcycle friendly since I wasn’t going to hand over the keys to Valet Parking but we found a spot fairly near a door and lugged all our stuff to our 15th floor room.  The bellhop folks didn’t loan luggage carts either! The keys wouldn’t work so back down, through the crowd to the desk for a new set of keys to a different room.

We opted for a buffet dinner in the casino and then were going to make a small contribution to the Vegas economy.  The buffet was marginal but we ate our fill then wandered the casino floor.  It didn’t take long for the one armed bandits to take our money and after sharing 1 $6.00 beer (where did the cheap drinks go?) we were going to walk the strip to see the lights.  It was still hot outside and after about 5 minutes Barbara said she wasn’t feeling very good so we headed back to the room.  Something on the buffet didn’t sit well with her (translation - food poisoning) and her night was spent in the bathroom praying to the god of porcelain.

Stratosphere!

Our room is up there somewhere!

Excalibur is a neat place!

Old town Las Vegas

The Gold and Silver Pawn Shop

With almost 1800 miles to go to make it home, we were off at daylight.  Barbara was drained from her night’s experience but is a trooper.  We got coffee and Gatorade at a nearby 7-11 store and cruised the Strip on the way out.  The History Channel’s Gold and Silver Pawn Shop was on the agenda as we hoped to meet the cast of the show Pawn Stars.  They may be open 24 hours a day, but the showroom isn’t open until 9:00 AM.  A missed opportunity!

Enroute to the interstate, we went through Henderson, NV and detoured a bit to see Hoover Dam.  Again, everything was still closed early in the morning but we did get to see the dam and the amazing amount of work it took to build it.

Impressive bridge from below!

Hoover Dam!

We soon were on I-40 and started the interstate run home.  We zipped across Arizona bypassing the Grand Canyon (been there done that).  We encounter sections of old Route 66 crossing Arizona.  It really must have been something to see in it's heyday but now it is just a lot of old rundown curio shops and funny statues.

A big jackrabbit!

Barbara finally ran out of steam in Albuquerque, NM.  We had planned making it further but when your tank is empty you just have to stop!

Leaving before daylight, we continued east through the mountains.  Temperatures dropped into the 20’s so back into heated gloves and jackets.  Eastward ho and Amarillo, TX was soon in our rearview mirrors.  We turned southeast on US Hwy 287 through Witchita Falls and managed to hit the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex around 5:00 PM.  Traffic and construction made this an experience never to repeat!  That’s what happens when your schedule gets a bit messed up.  We struggled through without incident and soon were back on  I-20 headed east.

Dallas Traffic - yuck!

There was no way we were going to make it home on schedule so in Lindale, TX - just north of Tyler - we hit a Cracker Barrel for supper and settled in for the night.  Radar on the GPS showed several pretty severe storms moving through the area and not wanting to ride through them in the dark was a wise choice!

Wednesday morning we were up and on the road headed home.  We pulled into the shop around 2:30 PM.  What a ride!

As the title says, 8 days, 14 states, 5311 miles by GPS.  Barbara took over 800 photos which we are still sorting through but will be posted on our photo web site at http://www.rikkitik.smugmug.com/.    Even with getting sick in Vegas, we agreed that it was a most excellent trip.

Next installment will be the Not Superman Rally the end of July.  This will be a 5 day rally starting in St Louis, MO.  Rumors abound but we might get to see some of Canada during this one!  Stay tuned.

These folks followed us the whole way!