2015 Rally the Void

October 9-10 2015

The Void rally is actually four rallies in one hosted out of Fredericksburg, VA every October. There are four available starting points with three of the starting locations some distance from the finish; these allow 31 hours between start and finish. For 2015 these were State College, PA, Murfreesboro TN, and Moultrie, GA. The fourth only allows 10 hours with a start at the host hotel in Fredericksburg where everyone finishes. I started in Moultrie.

For a detailed description on how rallying works check out the description on the Void website here http://rallythevoid.org/pb/wp_73fe8609/wp_73fe8609.html.  

The start was 468 miles from my home in North Carolina. I took off work on Thursday for the ride to Moultrie. The ride down was uneventful but did get fairly warm with temperatures in the mid-80’s. Upon arrival at the hotel in Moultrie I met a few other riders in the parking lot and we chatted for a bit. Later several of us gathered for dinner at an Applebee’s that was a short walk from the hotel. This part of these events is always enjoyable and it’s great catching up with the folks that participate in the rallies year after year.

The Void has a theme each year and for 2015 it was based around movies. This year had what was probably the most complicated rally book I have seen in my six years of doing this. There was a somewhat standard rally book and six additional “B-Roll amplification” bonus lists. These were referenced in the main rally book and could be used to meet the requirements of various bonuses. There were a number of combo bonuses. Also certain bonuses could be claimed more than once as long as they were in different states or on different days. All total there were over 300 bonus locations to work with. Considering all the options available planning this rally took quite a bit more time than normal. Fortunately the rally books are distributed a few days before the start allowing time to work with it.  

In most rallies I look for a cluster of high point bonuses and work to build a route around that. I tried that here and there were some fairly high points in Kentucky but the distance required for points available just didn’t work. For this rally the big points seemed to center around combos. There was only one bonus worth very high points in Kill Devil Hills, NC but it was only available from 8am to 9am on Saturday. Also to get the most points you had to get it very close to 8am. I plugged my start and the Kill Devil Hills bonus into Basecamp and started filling in others so that I would arrive just before 8am. After looking at several options, and considering the combos available, I finally had what I thought was a good route that put me at the big bonus on Saturday. From that point I had two different routes to get to the finish. One was faster but fewer points where the other had more points available but could have been a time suck.

Start – Moultrie, GA

To start you had to obtain a valid receipt between 8:40 and 8:50am and send a very specific text to the rallymaster. Failing to get this correct would result in a major loss of points. I chose to get a receipt toward the end of the time slot to allow a few minutes in case I needed them at the end. My receipt time was 8:48am. I had the text composed and sent at 8:50. I had 31 hours to be at the finish point in Fredericksburg and have my scoring packet turned in; this gave me until 3:48pm on Saturday. Not having it turned in my then meant a DNF (Did Not Finish).

Bonus 1 – Improvisation, Anywhere, 2000 points, planned arrival 9:37am, actual 9:32am

This bonus required that you create your own bonus. You could submit anything that would make a good bonus in a future rally. I spent some time on google maps street view looking around other bonuses I would be stopping at for something that would work. I chose a memorial to the Flood of July 7, 1994 in Albany, GA. The reason for this one is it was just down the street from my first planned bonus and since there have been disaster themed rallies in the past I actually though it would be usable at some point.

Bonus 2 – Ray, Albany, GA 300 points, planned arrival 9:38am, actual 9:35am

Take a photo of Ray sitting at the piano. Not a lot of points for this one, but it was very close to my base route and so close to my stop for bonus 1 that it would have been silly to skip it.

Bonus 3 – TPA (combo), Columbus, GA 300 points, planned arrival 11:14am, actual 11:08am

Take a photo of the “Train Station” sign. This was part of a combo which required a plane, train and automobile bonus from the choices on the “B-Roll” be collected all on the same day. If you got all three it was worth 2500 additional points and could be claimed once on Friday and once on Saturday. While not an actual train station this is a Burger King but was counted as a train.

Bonus 4 – You’ve Got Mail, Anywhere, 500 points

Between 11:15am and 11:45am on Friday send a text to the Rallymaster that consist of your rider number and the word mail. I stopped about 11:18 and sent the text and start moving toward the next bonus. My cell phone is paired with my headset and I receive text notifications in my helmet audio system. Shortly after getting back on the road I received a text back from the RM that stated no. This meant I had messed up the requirements. I stopped again and did indeed mess it up. Fortunately you could resend it again as long as the bonus was still open. I entered the correct information and sent it.

While stopped sending the second text my idling motorcycle stopped running and everything went dead. I attempted to restart it and there was nothing more than a dimly glowing warning lamp. Obviously I had a power problem. Hoping it was just a bad connection on the battery I pulled the cover and checked the connections, everything was tight. It became apparent the battery had a problem. There were some guys putting a roof on a house not far from where I was so I pushed the bike to near their location and asked if anyone had jumper cables. They did and helped jump the bike. I got it started but it died whenever the RPMs dropped below about 3k. I tried riding it and keeping the RPM’s up but didn’t get far before it stalled and I was again stuck.

At this point I called my emergency service provider, Riders of Kawasaki, who were very helpful. Fortunately I was near Columbus, GA when this happened. They found a dealership about 10 miles away that had the battery I needed in stock. The dealer agreed to fill and put a fast charge on the new battery while I awaited a tow truck. It took about an hour for the truck to arrive but we loaded the bike and proceed to the dealer. I purchased and installed the new battery in the dealer parking lot. Fortunately the bike started right up and everything was back to normal. The whole event cost me a bit over two hours but I was back in the rally. Had this happened in the middle of the night or out in the boonies I would have been done.

Bonus 5 – TPA (combo), Warner Robbins, GA 300 points, planned arrival 12:53pm, actual 2:57pm

 

Take a photo of the B-52 aircraft with 085 on the nose. This one was at the Warner Robbins AFB Museum of Aviation. Needless to say there were lots of planes. I had looked on Google maps and tried to find this plane prior to the start. Fortunately the one I spotted online was the correct plane so I grabbed the photo and back on the road. I had planned to snag another 500 point bonus about 15 minutes from here but since I was so far behind schedule I skipped it.

Bonus 6 – TPA (combo), Hampton, GA 300 points, planned arrival 2:27pm, actual 4:35pm

Take a photo of the Atlanta Motor Speedway sign over the entrance. I almost gave up on this one as traffic on I-75 heading toward Atlanta was really heavy with a lot of stop-and-go. However this was the last bonus I needed to make one of the 2500 point combos so I pressed on. I thought once I made it to my exit traffic would get better but I was wrong. There were a couple of schools along the route and again traffic was barely moving. I finally made it but the GPS took me in to the wrong gate and there was an event going on. I finally got up to the guys taking money for parking and told them I just needed to get a picture and would be out. They let me pass without paying; I got my photo and moved on. Traffic getting out was again terrible for about 10 miles but finally cleared up as I got away from the populated area.

Bonus 7 – Sac-O-Suds, Monticello, GA 475 points, planned arrival 3:15pm, actual 5:35pm

Take a photo of the Sac-O-Suds used in the movie My Cousin Vinny. This was a nice easy one, photo taken and moved on.

Bonus 8 – Walking Dead Lunch Mansfield, GA 600 points, planned arrival 3:39pm, actual 5:57pm

Take a photo of Harvest Realty Company. Apparently you could see this building in the background when Rick and Shane were sitting in the car in the pilot episode of The Walking Dead. I’ll have to re-watch that episode and take a look for it someday.

I had planned to bag another couple of bonuses at this point but skipped them to make up an hour. 750 points dropped.

Bonus 9 – Laurel and Hardy, Harlem, GA planned arrival 5:43pm, actual 7:16pm

Take a photo of the Laurel and Hardy museum. I had been to this one before in a different rally. One day I’ll actually go inside and see what’s in the building.

I had two more bonuses planned in Augusta, GA but just kept going in I-20 as the exit came up, another 950 points lost. Even though I probably had time to get these I was very worried about traffic in South Carolina. There had been a tremendous amount of flooding in the state recently. As I departed I knew a big part I-95 and many other roads were closed. Even though my route put me on I-95 just north of the closed section I had no idea how bad traffic would be. I thought it better to save 20-30 minutes I might need later than get the extra points. Looking back I wish I had grabbed these as it would have made a significant difference in the end.  

Bonus 10 – Columbia Pictures, Columbia, SC 300 points, planned arrival 7:30

Get a receipt in Columbia. This one substituted Columbia, SC as getting the actual Columbia pictures in California would have been a bit difficult in a 31 hour east coast rally. I needed fuel anyway so I stopped at a Flying J right off an exit, filled up got a good receipt and hit the road.

Bonus 11 – Days of Thunder, Darlington, SC 600 points, planned arrival 8:44pm, actual 9:55pm

Take a photo of the HHM titled Darlington Raceway. This should have been simple and quick however I could not find a HHM but there was another informational sign seeming labeled correctly. I took this photo but it just didn’t seem right.

I retrieved the full rally book from my top case and read the instructions and knew I had the wrong thing. After looking around some more the correct sign was obvious so at least I got the right picture.

Bonus 12 – Rest for at least 3 hours, Anywhere 25000 points, planned arrival 9:46pm, actual was closer to 11:30pm.

The rally masters for the Void really wants you to rest and make it impossible to finish well without taking the rest bonus. In addition to the 25000 points, you could claim an additional 10 points per minute for every minute over 3 hours up to 180 additional minutes. My original plan called for me to take 5.5 hours of rest but I was still behind so I planned for closer to only four hours. I had reserved a hotel room in Lumberton, NC before the start. It is not always the best idea to make reservations on a rally as plans can change but for me it provides a known destination with a guaranteed room. It still worked this time but I would have preferred to stop sooner than I did.

To start the rest bonus clock I stopped at a 24 hour gas station close to the hotel and got a good receipt. Upon arrival at the hotel there was a line and only one slow clerk. I waited for my turn and got a key. The room they gave me had someone’s belongings scattered around in it. I went back down and the clerk told me there was no one in the room. I argued there was and he finally reluctantly gave me a different room. I set the alarm on my phone to go off 3.5 hours later and again 10 minutes after that just to make sure I got up. I woke on the first alarm checked out, got another receipt from the same fuel station and was on the road now back on schedule.

Bonus 13 – Coming to America, 30 minutes prior to or after any other bonus. 250 points, planned arrival 3:28am actual 3:26am.

Take a picture of your motorcycle in front of a McDonalds. This one was pretty simple as there are always McDonalds along the Interstate. This one just happened in the right place to meet the timing requirements. It helps that at 3:30am no one is around to get in the way or question why you’re taking a picture.

Bonus 14 – Two Tickets to Paradise, various locations, 275 points, planned arrival 4:17am actual 4:22am

Take a picture of OfficeMax and submit a receipt from the same town. I planned to get this one in Smithfield NC. I exited the interstate and found an open fuel station to gas up and get my receipt. With that in hand I followed the GPS to the OfficeMax but ended up on a dead end street in a neighborhood. I had to exit the neighborhood and locate the store myself with the GPS complaining the entire time. It took a few tries to get a decent photo but once I was satisfied I was on the way.

Bonus 15 – The Big Lebowski, various locations, 250 points, planned arrival 4:49am actual 4:55am

This was another B-Roll location where there were many locations to choose from. The requirement was to take a photo of a bowling alley.  I chose Westview Lanes in Wilson, NC since it was close to my base route.

Bonus 16 – TPA (combo), Plymouth, NC, 300 points, planned arrival 6:24am actual 6:20am

Take a photo of the red caboose behind the museum. Nothing too difficult here although there was apparently a fishing competition going on as there were lots of pickups pulling boats out and about. Since this was a different day I could claim the Trains, Planes and Automobiles bonus again for another 2500 points. This was the train.

Bonus 17 – TPA (combo), Kill Devil Hills, NC 200 points, planned arrival 7:51am, actual 7:44am

Take a photo of the Wright brothers Memorial entrance sign. This was another easy one and served as the plane for the combo bonus.

Bonus 18 – Time-lapse Photography, Kill Devil Hills, NC up to 6000 points, planned arrival 7:55am, actual 7:50am

This was the biggest bonus available. The requirement was to obtain a receipt from Lowes Hardware in Kill Devil Hills between 8am and 9am and turn in whatever you bought at scoring. At 8am it was worth 6000 points and lost 100 points per minute for every minute past 8am. Being the largest bonus available there were a lot of riders here. The folks at Lowes were very accommodating and opened most of the registers to get us all through quickly. I selected a pack of batteries and got in one of the lines as the fourth individual to be checked out. While I was waiting additional registers opened and I was able to be first in line. I obtained a receipt with a time of 08:00:02. The full 6000 points was mine.

During my planning I had developed two routes to take from this this point. Both led me toward the Chesapeake VA area where I had to make a choice. Route one was quicker but fewer points and took me toward Hampton, VA and then over to Richmond where the routes once again converged. Option 2 took me to Petersburg first and then to Richmond. It was worth more points and it looked like I could make it so I took option 2 and headed toward Petersburg.

Bonus 19 – Lincoln, Petersburg, VA 500 points, actual 10:37am

Take a photo of the South Side Depot. This building was used in a scene from the movie Lincoln. It was easy to locate but riding on the old brick roads in this area was an interesting challenge.

Bonus 20 – Patch Adams, Richmond VA 200 points, arrival 11:05am

Take a photo of the VCU Medical Center, Gateway Building. This one was in downtown Richmond and as a general rule I try to avoid these areas as they can be a major time suck. However it was only a few blocks off my route and close to an Interstate exit so I decided to try it. Fortunately it was easy to get to, grab the needed photo and get back to the Interstate. Not long after this is when the problems would begin.

Bonus 21 – Two Tickets to Paradise, Glen Allen, VA 200 points

Take a photo of OfficeMax and get a receipt from the same city. This was right on my route but at this point traffic on the Interstate was at a standstill. I was stuck in the left lane going nowhere. There was a split on my right and traffic was moving over there. I made my way in between a few stopped cars over to the exit and took it. It didn’t really matter where it was going as long as it was moving. I told the GPS to recalculate and took some surface streets to my destination which took far longer than I had expected. I got the photo and headed back to I-64W which was still at a standstill.

The GPS was no help in rerouting at this point so I just located surface streets heading west for several miles. I made my way back to I-64 to check it and finally saw the problem. It was down to one lane due to repaving. I took an entrance ramp that put me at a point where it was one lane and once through the construction it opened up and I was moving normally again.  

Bonus 22 – TPA (combo), Staunton, VA 300 points, arrival 1:25pm

Take a photo of the Pierce-Arrow at the Woodrow Wilson museum. This was the last bonus I needed to make the second TPA combo. It was a long 103 mile ride from the last bonus as I was watching the clock as I had be at the finish and have my scoring packet turned in by 3:48pm. I got the photo and saw at least one other rider in the area which gave me hope. All there was to do now was make the 101 mile ride back to Fredericksburg. 

Finish – Fredericksburg, VA

Traffic getting to the host hotel in Fredericksburg can be a bear. My route from Staunton took me east on I-64 initially but the last 30 miles or so is on VA highway 3. This is mostly a four lane with lots of stop lights and traffic that kept getting heavier the closer I got to the finish. I was OK on time but not by much. Sitting in traffic watching the arrival time on the GPS creep up is one of the most annoying things for a rally rider.

 I managed to make it to the finish and quickly completed filling in the riders log and submitted my scoring packet before time expired. Since I was one of the later arrivals I was pretty far back in the scoring queue. While waiting there was time to chat with other riders and share experiences. It is always interesting to find out what other did differently and learn from their efforts.

I was finally called and went through scoring. Fortunately everything was in order and no points were lost at the table. 46,520 points were awarded with 1,335 miles ridden. Time to check in, clean up and rest a bit before the banquet.

If you have never attended a rally banquet hosted by Scott LaShier you are missing something fun. Let’s just say he is very entertaining. Scott is also one who seems rarely at a loss for words but this year was an exception. It seems the other half of the rally team, Gary, was running a bit behind schedule completing the scoring and coming up with the final totals. Scott did his best to keep us entertained until Gary entered the room to a resounding round of applause.  

As the winners were called I landed in 3^rd place for the Georgia starters, 854 points behind the winner. Not too bad but if it was not for the lost hours dealing with the battery first place could have been mine. There is always next year and with any luck at all I’ll be playing the game again.

Thanks to Scott, Gary and all the volunteers who make this event happen.

 

The Void 7

 

The VOID rally runs in early October and is based in Lynchburg VA. This year there were 3 starting locations Allentown, PA - Nashville, TN and Statesboro, GA all ending in Lynchburg. My starting location was Statesboro. Rally packets arrived via email on Tuesday afternoon and as soon as I made it home from work it was printed and the locations went into BaseCamp for route planning.

 

This years rally book was a little different than previous years in that there was no clear if you pull this off you'll have a high score bonus. There were several combo bonuses offered and I tried using them but never found a plan where using them meant a better score then ignoring them. 

 

This is my first route which took me from Statesboro toward Savannah and then up the SC coast, through NC, western VA, up through WV and then doing a clockwise route back down to Lynchburg. This route included a large combo bonus finding at least 3 of 4 replicas of the Statue of Liberty. The problems with it were a lot of coastal riding and if one of the 3 locations were lost at the scoring table then so was the combo bonus. 

 

 My second route and the one I rode took me from Statesboro toward Augusta and then up through SC, NC, into Virgina and then a counter-clockwise loop around VA and WV. This one provided the most points and left the mountain riding for Saturday morning with several bail-out options.

 

The first bonus on my route was to take a photo of the HHM titled "Graniteville Cemetery" in Aiken, SC. The waypoint provided was at the entrance to the cemetery so it took a little looking to find it but it was close enough.

 

Bonus 2 was to take a photo of the World's Smallest Police station in Ridgeway, SC.

Again the waypoint was off and the actual site was several block away.

 

Bonus 3 required a picture of the Gate 20 Diamond tower at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. The GPS had me exit the interstate on what was a straight shot to Lowes but it was several miles of heavy traffic to get there. The better option would have been to stay on the interstate for a couple more exits and it would have saved about 15 minutes. Finding the right tower required riding around the outside of the speedway. Thankfully there was nothing going on at the track so that went quickly.

 

Bonus 4 wanted a photo of the horse mounted atop the sign for Myers Double M Farms in Belews Creek, NC.

 

Bonus 5 required a photo of the giant banjo on top the roof of Billy's Mountain Music in Bassett, VA.

 

Up to this point I had been seeing a couple of other riders at each stop. Shortly after we left here everyone took different routes and I didn't see another rider until the next morning.

 

Bonus 6 required a photo of the Keysville Drive-In Theatre's marquee making sure to get the name of the drive-in in the photo.

 

Bonus 7 in Dinwiddie, VA was different in that you had to use information on a HHM to calculate answers to a few questions. You can see the HHM here http://www.hmdb.org//marker.asp?marker=17668&Result=1. We had to determine how old the individual was when he entered the army, passed the bar and died. This was more far challenging than just taking a picture.

 

Bonus 8 required a photo of the giant bass atop the Winding Brook sign in Asburn, VA. As you can see it was dark which presents problems taking pictures.

 

 

Bonus 9 in Milford, VA wanted a photo of the rearing horse statue. This one was located at the entrance to a campground and the driveway was gravel. I ended up leaning over too far and my bike slowly dropped to the ground. This was only the second time I have done this and last time there was someone to help lift it. I had seen a demonstration on how to lift a bike properly but had never tried it. My choices were to try and hunt down help or see if I could do it. I was amazed how easy it was to upright a 650lb bike using the correct technique. It was up and ready to go in no time.

 

Bonus 10 was another HHM in Caret, VA titled "Gouldborough Plantation".

 

Bonus 11 near Colonial Beach, VA was a HHM titled "Bristol Iron Works". I rode to the waypoint and looked all over and no sign was to be found. Since some of the waypoints had been off and the one given was at a intersection I rode about a half-mile each way but still never found it. After trying again and wasting about 20 minutes I decided to move on. On the way to the next location I spotted a HHM about 2 miles past the waypoint provided. I made a U-turn and went back and sure enough it was the one I needed. Since this one was so far off the rallymaster gave credit to those who attempted it but didn't locate it. Maybe I should have asked for extra credit. Just kidding Scott.

 

 

As with most rallies the VOID requires a rest stop where you are off the bike and preferably sleeping somewhere for a few hours. I normally try and locate a inexpensive motel and grab some sleep. The requirement was to stop between 10pm Friday and 6am Saturday. I chose stop about 10:30 in Fredricksburg, VA at a decent looking Motel 6 with a 7-11 next door which provided good receipts.  

 

Bonus 12 in Midland. VA required a photo of a pyramid shaped monument to John Marshall, the 4th chief Justice of the United States. This one required taking a trail a half-mile to the monument from the parking lot. While hiking the trail I saw tire tracks and knew that at least one rider had been there and rode their motorcycle back to the monument. I can't say the thought didn't cross my mind but there were some slippery spots and I would not have wanted to explain to the nice office what I was doing with my bike back there.

 

Bonus 13 in Middelburg, VA was another HHM titled "Mosby's Rangers"

 

Bonus 14 in Berkly Springs, WV simply required a photo of the Midas Man with no other information. This was an incredibly difficult picture to take and after a half-dozen attempts this is the best I could get. I need to work with my camera and see if I can do better than this in the future. 

 

Bonus 15 in Artemas, PA required a photo of the Road Kill Cafe. This was the first location since the giant banjo that I met another rider at a bonus.

 

Bonus 16 in Kingwood, WV required a photo of the 1937 Esso gas station "Westbrook's Esso".

 

Bonus 17 in Elkins, WV required a photo of the giant statue of Minnehaha.

 

Bonus 18 in Monterey, VA wanted the fish on top of the Maple Restaurant.

 

Bonus 19 in Lewisburg, WV exposed a flaw in my system of finding bonuses. My normal routine involves printing 2 copies of the rally book, one to turn in for scoring and one to cut up. I take the cut up one and tape the bonus requirements to index cards that fit nicely in my tank bag map window. The problem with this is I only see about 2/3 of the text available. Normally it is not a problem but in this case it was. The full text read "Take a photo of the bell that was installed by Lewisburg Graded School in 1878 and given to the park by George L. Lemon. However what I was seeing stopped at 1878 so I didn't see the part about the park. I saw an old building close by with what looked like a bell on top so I took a picture and moved on. 28 points lost and lesson learned.  

 

Bonus 20 in Eagle Rock, VA required a photo of the gate supported between two brick columns. Arriving at the waypoint was the entrance to a national park but nothing like what was described. Fortunately another rider was departing and pointed down the gravel road entrance to the park.

 

Bonus 21 in Lexington, VA was a HHM titled Washington & Lee University. Normally this would have been very easy but Lexington is home of Virginia Military Institute and it was their homecoming so it was packed with traffic and people everywhere.

 

 Bonus 22 in Glasglow, VA stated "Take a photo of the woman on the dinosaur". Sometimes you not quite sure what you are going to find but here it is.

 

All done with bonus collecting it was time to head to rally central. My goal was to check in by 1:35 and submit my rally book before 2pm to avoid the penalties. Traffic back was miserable. There were twisties with no passing and vehicles going 10-15 under the speed limit. After that there was a long construction zone with a 25mph limit where it's normally 55. I managed to make it back and submit my rally pack at 1:58. This allowed no time to recheck my entries so all I could do was hope I got it right.

 

Scoring proved uneventful until the Lewisburg bonus came up and I read the entire text. I knew I had he wrong picture and lost a lot of points. Other than that one everything else was in order and I ended with a respectable score and second place for the Georgia start.

 

My thanks goes out to Scott and Gary and everyone who works with them to put on this fine event. I'm already looking forward to next year.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mason Dixon 20-20

The Mason Dixon 20-20 is a roughly 32 hour rally that runs on Memorial Day weekend every year starting and ending in Hagerstown MD. This was my second attempt at it. Most rallies are simply based on meeting all the requirements while obtaining the most points. This year the MD 20-20 was going to be based on efficiency meaning you wanted the highest points per mile. To keep it interesting there was a minimum of 900 and maximum of 1650 miles required.

This rally gives you some but not all information about the bonus locations about a week prior to the start. You have the bonus location ID, point value, GPS location, availability and special notes available to work with. You receive all the specifics required to claim a bonus about 15 minutes before starting. This allows you pre-plan your route before the rally but can cause you to make some last minute changes if the requirements of a particular bonus are not something you want to do.

As always there are a lot of bonus locations to choose from. This year there were 152 items on the list. The map below shows the locations with red flags indicating high points, green for medium and blue for low. Most of these are simply locations where you complete a specific task, normally a picture, but others can be combo bonuses where you have to get a group of other bonuses or obtain bonuses in a particular order. Most rallies including this one have a mandatory rest bonus requiring you to be off the bike for a minimum number of hours.

 

I normally create a route by picking a few high point bonus locations and build a route seeing what I can pickup along the way. It's not unusual for me to create 4-6 routes and see what I can come up with. Following my normal process I was coming up with numbers in the 6 points per mile range. After talking with a few other participants at the pre-rally banquet I found others in the 9 point-per-mile range and rumors of some near 12 points per mile. Sometimes these are misleading but I felt I had the wrong plan. After the banquet it was back to the drawing board. My best original route had me travelling deep into West Virginia and riding about 1305 miles.

A couple of hours with the computer and I had a new route that was 920 miles and 9.479 points-per-mile. The key seemed to be keeping you mileage as low as possible. This also had the benefit of having plenty of time and a very long rest period.

A riders meeting is held at 5am on Sunday morning where the rally books are handed out and last minute details are covered. Once all questions are answered it's time to ride.

My first stop was in Siler WV requiring only a picture of the sign below. All pictures require your unique flag to be in the picture. I was rider #5.

 

Stop 2 was a HHM titled "Population Center" in Wardensville WV. It states that the population center of the US was located in West Virginia 4 times (1820, 1830, 1840 & 1850) as it moved westward.

 

 

Stop 3 was another HHM in Lost City WV. This one was about Lost River's first church built prior to 1797.

 

Stop 4 in Petersburg WV was the World War memorial in front of the Grant County courthouse.

 

 

Stop 5 in Scherr WV was another HHM titled Greenland Gap.

 

 

Stop 6 was the birth place of Abraham Lincoln's mother Nancy Hanks in new New Creek WV. This was one to be careful with because the actual house was there but the requirement was to get a picture of the marker across from the house.

 

 

 

Stop 7 was in Keyser WV and required a picture of a bridge marker that listed Jonah Kelly. 

Stop 8 was in Barton MD and was a memorial to all those who have served.

 

 

Stop 9 was a marker indicating Backbone Mt. This one required having my rally flag and additional personal flag in the picture. 

 

 

Stop 10 was near Thomas WV and I needed a picture of the Fairfax stone. The stone marked

the western boundary of land granted to Lord Fairfax by the King of England in the 1700s. Almost

two centuries later, the stone was used as the determining factor in the state boundary between

West Virginia and Maryland. It is actually the 6th stone to mark the location as earlier ones were damaged or lost.

 

 

Stop 11 was near Redhouse MD and marks the highest point (3095 ft) on Maryland roads.

Stop 12 was to get a picture of Skip Cryer's memorial. This one was in the back of a small park on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere Maryland.

Stop 13 was to get a picture of a bridge in Grantville MD. While not a great picture it managed to get credit, barely.

 

Stop 14 was in Que Creek PA and is a memorial to coal miners.

Stop 15 was the Jacob Kinsey marker near Schellsburg PA. It was placed in 1939 and marks where the first log house in the area was located.

 

Stop 16 was a HHM located in Windber PA dedicated to Johnny Weissmuller who starred in a dozen early Tarzan movies.

 

Stop 17 was one of the original Lincoln highway markers in Ligonier PA. Most of the original 2,346 markers were placed by Boy Scouts along the route on 9/1/1928. Only a few remain today.

Stop 18 was a marker to John Montgomery in Lewisville PA

 

Stop 19 was a marker for the village of Idaho PA.

 

 

Stop 20 required a picture of Flower Power Phil in Punxsutawney PA. This one presented a bit of a challenge as some creative individual had rearranged the plaques that had the names and the name on this one didn't match the bonus description. However the GPS coordinates indicated this guy and it looked right. It was.

 

Stop 21 in Beccaria PA was a memorial to veterans on the town.

 

 

Stop 22 in Ashville PA was a marker dedicated to Elmer "Boob" Crossman who's contribution was to have a creek stocked with trout. I guess the folks in this area like to fish.

 

 

Stop 23 near Bellwood PA was the marker about The Lead Mines.

 

Stop 24 in Petersburg PA was this memorial dedicated to Sgt. William D. Port who was awarded a congressional medal of honor.

Stop 25 in McAlevys Fort PA marks the location near where McAlevy's Fort was built in 1773 to defend against the Indians.

 

Stop 26 in Boalsburg PA was this Armed Forces Memorial

Stop 27 near Spring Mills PA called for this sign. The GPS coordinates were a bit off on this one and I was looking for it about 1/8 mile down the road.

 

Stop 28 was simply a picture of the Troxelville PA sign. 

At this point it was about time for my rest bonus. I found an inexpensive room in Shamokin Dam PA and got a receipt from a fuel station to start the clock. The requirement called for a minimum of 3 hours stopped but I spent closer to 8 hours off the bike. Another receipt from the same fuel station to stop the clock, breakfast at McDonald's and the bonus hunt was back underway.


Stop 29 in Northumberlin PA was the Joseph Priestley house. Mr. Priestley was a English scientist who discovered oxygen in 1774. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were some of his friends.

Stop 30 near Pittman PA was the Purple Pump. It's a old purple pump in the middle of nowhere.   

Stop 31 required obtaining evidence of Centralia PA which is all but abandoned due to an underground mine fire that started in 1962 and may burn for another 1000 years. I had trouble finding anything that stated Centralia and wasted several miles looking for a sign. I was about to give up when I finally located this. Apparently there were other signs but I never saw them.

Stop 32 in Marlin PA was another memorial to coal miners.

Stop 33 is one that is always part of the Mason Dixon and a required bonus. Jim Young's grave is located in the Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. Being Memorial Day weekend American flags line the roads and make for an impressive display. This bonus always make me thankful for those that sacrificed so we could have the freedom we enjoy.

Stop 34 in Boiling Springs was this war memorial.

Stop 35 in Pine Grove was this sign for Camp Michaux which was a CCC camp.

Stop 36 and 37 were near Cashtown PA not far from Gettysburg. The first was The Round Barn and the second was a HHM about the Gettysburg Campaign

 

 

Bonus collecting finished it was time to head back to Rally HQ. Due to a couple of bridges that were out requiring detours and the problems in Centralia I rode about 20 miles farther than planed. Overall it was a good ride with only a little rain and no problems with the bike or equipment. Scoring was easy and I did not lose any points claimed. At the ending banquet I was lucky enough to place 8th and received this.

 

 

Yes, it's a trophy for shooting. Following the theme of the rally "The Mountain Do-Do" all the trophies were located at yard sales and re-purposed. The top 10 riders received trophies and many of them were ballerinas and such so I consider myself lucky.