2013 Long Riders Digital Scavenger Hunt

     The theme of the 2013 DSH was Angels and Demons.  There is a long break from Ed's Last Resort Rally and this one... almost 6 months.  Plenty of time for the Demons to poke their heads out. It was an uneventful summer, with only one short RTE an hour away.  So come October, I knew I needed to get some seat time before the DSH.  Prior to Cape Fear, dad and I signed up for the Grand Tour of Georgia (GTG) to use a warmup ride.  We had only done one day of riding in the beginning and bagged 8 of the locations.  So we decide to finish the GTG as a warmup to the DSH.  We figured we could start in Thomasville, GA and collect the final 12 stops all in one ride, 1060 ish miles, in 24hrs for a SS1000.  Hey why not.  Since my shock was bad, I decided to try a different approach this time and not go for a used OEM shock and 'upgrade' to a used shock off a ZZR1200.  With a bit of modification to the mounting brackets on the shock, its pretty much plug and play.  No more Connie shock woes!  Or so I thought.  It ended up being bad also,  as I think all the nitrogen had leaked out.  But it was a tad better than the bad stock shock so it was going to have to do for the GTG ride.  DON'T DO A SS1000 ON GA BACK ROADS!  We were not in a huge rush, as the computer had us finishing in 20 hrs.  With only 40 or so miles on Interstates, our finish time was 22:40 mins, and 1070 miles.  Not including my 50 miles to get the start location and the 50 miles to get home.  I was up for 26hrs that day.  But we got our needed seat time, finished the GTG, and I burned off my rear brake pads.  I ordered a brand new Progressive rear shock and got it installed the weekend before the DSH and went to grab the rear brake pads I've had for almost 2 years to install.  Nowhere to be found.  I called one stealer who could have them to me in 9 days.  Nope.  Called another, and they could get them in on Wed before the rally.  Luckily they showed up and I was able to get them swapped out.  Lets see how this new shock and brake combo works!  Off to Dade City.

Dad ended up in bed w the flu for a week, so he smartly bowed out of the rally.  It was an uneventful ride down.  The shock worked great and I kept randomly riding the rear brake to try and get the pads seated in good.  We had been given the bonus locations a week early, and the point values on Wed.  There weren't a ton of locations this time, and some were way out by themselves.  Most were in Central FL, and good cluster in Jacksonville. So I made 3 preliminary routes to build off of when we got the final bonus list with clarification on the Wildcard bonuses.  During the drivers meeting, I sat with Jesse Lucas and Bruce McCrary.  This was Jesse's 2nd rally ever and he made all the rookie mistakes.  He poked the bear when the bonus locations were emailed out, he came in on a brand spanking new bike, and bought a brand new helmet.  But he has done his homework and has studied the art of rallying.  I think he got the rally bug worse than me!  He should do well.  And when I introduced myself to Bruce, he replied "So you are the Infamous Miles Lee."  Man... Infamous? Already?!?!  Not too sure thats a good thing.  But we talked shop and I found out more and more people are well aware of my HSPBA (high speed photo bonus apparatus)  But do they know how to make and use one?  I'm still not making it public knowledge on the construction and operation of it, so people can improvise one. (I did see one good attempt, but it left much to be desired) Once we recieved our rally packs, we were informed of the Angels&Demons wildcard bonuses.  Basically anything that was or said "Angel" and/or some variant of an angel, like the name of a famous one... or anything of or like the devil or a demon. Pretty broad, but also very specific.  Then we got the bad news.  To be considered a finisher, we had 6 mandatory stops.  I generally do 20 or so stops, so 6 should not be an issue... depending on where they are.  We all finish chatting and asking questions and head off to our rooms to plan our new routes.

Just as a baseline I added the 6 mandatory stops into S&T.  Just that route was 7 hours!!  That only leaves 2.5 hours for other bonuses and stops, and .5 hrs for a high point lunch bonus.  Not a lot of wiggle room.  The good thing is 4 of the 6 were already on or near my original route.  But two were wayyy off.  An the rally masters ordered up a monsoon to hit just as we are starting and lasting most of the day, so that will slow us all down even more.  The mandatory stops pretty much will make everyone ride 2 different routes.  The easy one around all the stops in central FL, and the hard one which is running up into Jacksonville.  I had already planned on doing the Jax route, but I had to tweak it to get the 2 far off mandatory stops.  But somehow I'll have to pull in a few extra stops no one else will do AND get the max of 4 wildcard bonuses to win.  This is going to put all the top riders very close in points since the routes will be so close. But thats why they are called Rally Bastards. S&T has me running North to Ocala and Gainsville, then NE to Jax, then South to Daytona, then back across to Dade City.  But with a storm front moving in around just after the scheduled start, I reverse that route hoping I can dodge some of the rain early, ride wet for a few hrs, then come home in clear skys.  I get my route set to Jax and back, and get it uploaded to the GPS units and pray its enough points.  I called it a night around 11pm. 

  5am came quick, but I showered and got all my stuff loaded on the bike.  I packed everything just in case I broke down and needed a ride back to the house, since my route took me closer to home than rally HQ.  I parked the bike at the front of the hotel, that way I have a staight shot out of the parking lot as soon as they say GO.  Weather looks like it will hold off till 7:30 or so I left all my gear on the bike and headed into the morning meeting and breakfast.  As I was walking in, I saw David and Ray in a serious looking discussion out front, so I politley said Good Morning and kept walking.  But they stopped me and asked me how the routing went.  So I told them flat out that the mandatory stops have created only two possible routes and that just the 6 stops will take 7 hours to get.  So they will have a lot of non finishers, finishers that just get the required stops, and the top riders all going to Jax.  That it made it real tough to plan a winning route.  They agreed, and asked if I had made a route prior to arrival, and if it was still in my GPS.  I told them I did have a prior route, but I only upload the final route in the GPS.  They were toying with the idea of scrapping the mandatory stop rule and letting people go back to their original routes.  I let them know that was a terrible idea.  Everyone was already a bit mad they had to totally re-route with the stops, and if you tell them now, 30 mins before the start that they can go re-route AGAIN, it would not be pretty.  Stick with thier plan, and deal with the grumbles.  But next time you have mandatory stops, maybe say 4 of 6 required to be a finisher.  That will allow more creativity in people's routes.  But not this morning.  I went in and got a quick bite to eat and heard some of the grumbling, but hey... it is what it is.  We just have to adapt.  And during the pre-start meeting, Ray and Dave appologized for what appeared to be a bad decision on the mandatory stops.  But they were not going to change it last second, and it will not ever be an option again either.  But as they were about to let us out across the state, we could hear the rain hitting the building.  Crap!  All my gear is on the bike.  Gloves, helmet, jacket... everything getting soaked.  So when they finally released us to the Rally Gods, I ran out and grabbed my gear, and ran back in to donn it all while soaking wet.  To me, nothing is worse than the feeling of putting on wet clothes.  I can handle getting wet, but being dry and putting on wet clothes... hate it.  So I throw on the wet jacket, wet helmet, and wet gloves.  Ughhh.  I hope my plan to run the reverse route was the right one.  No way to change it now.  I run out, bring up the first stop, and hit the road.  9:55 to get back. 

The longest 2 lights in America are right in front of the hotel.  I think it took 8 mins to get one block away... but after that it was finally time to ride.  I ended up behind Jesse at the second light, and followed him for a short bit.  But after watching my GPS lose 10 mins, I politely passed him and picked up the pace a bit.  All the other bikes seemed to take the Northern route and us two took the Eastern route.   It was raining, but the further I drove, the lighter it got. My first stop wasn't until Cassadaga on the Eastern side of Orlando, so I had a good 1.5 hours to get there.  S&T wanted me to go through downtown Orlando, but Ms Garmin wanted me the shorter route around the northern outskirts of Otown.  I chose to follow the Garmin in hopes of seeing an Angel or Demon wild card bonus.  Luck would have it, about 45 mins into the ride, I spotted an Angel's Nail Salon in a strip mall and turned in to get my first points of the rally.  In and out quick, since the rain was real light,

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and the sun was up enough for a good photo.  By the time I got to Cassadaga, I drove out of the rain.  This bonus was a graveyard and I had to walk a bit to get the required photo, but a pretty easy stop.  Ma Garmin finally got me on the Interstate so I could work on drying off as much as possible before I find the rain.  I had hoped to make it to Jax, but I hit the cold front again just as I was getting to the Ormond beach exit for the Sugar Mill bonus, and I got soaked.  But I was able to ride out of the rain again to a dry spot and got the photo.  About 2 mins later I was back in the rain.  I made the trek north to Matanzas for a photo of a sign, then back tracked a bit West for a ghost town sign, then the Angel's Diner sign.  When I got to the ghost town sign, there was a marker right on the hwy.  I was just about to snap and go when I saw another rider in the back of the park with a flag, so I rode back there.  Jesse was done getting his photo, so I asked if he was sure which sign we needed.   He reminded me the description said "In the back of the park"  so I got out my HSPBA, got the photo, and headed out. (Insert Photo Here)

I told him I'd see him at the next stop.  It was only 5 mins away.  When I got there, there was another rider pulling in at the same time.  I got my photo and left.  I was a few mins down the road when I passed Jessee coming in.  I love my HSPBA!! It makes stops super quick.  I got back on 95 and the rain was in and out.  But by the time I got to Jax, it was over, and I never saw another drop.  There was a diner on the East side, a school and a statue right downtown, and the Blue Angels jet at NAS Jax on the SW side.  I was able to find another Angel's thrift store in all that somewhere, and started my route south.  I had two good ideas on the Devil WC bonuses, I just needed to pass the right store on the right side of the road.  I crossed paths with Roger and Kathy Allen leaving downtown, as I was coming in.  And I saw Tony Hudson just as I got the the Angel statue, so I was right on this being the better route.

 

(Insert Photo Here)

Getting in and out of Jax, I knew was going to make or break the ride.  I was able to actually be right on time after leaving NAS, so I figured now was a good time to stop and take the lunch bonus.  I picked a Krystals just because it was the only place on the right side of the road, and didn't look crowded.  30 mins seems like forever when you are in a hurry!  I got my start receipt, took my photos, got my end receipt and was off.  I am about 10 mins behind schedule, but that means I am still 20 mins good on my built in buffer.  The next stop is just outside of Jax.  Its actually 2 bonuses right next to each other in a cemetery.  Couldn't pass that up.  But again, I had to park and walk to find the cherubs.  But I was in a sand lot parking lot, after a lot of rain.  I finally found a tree root to put the side stand on, and hoped it wouldn't slip off.  I got my photos and prayed the dogs barking at me could not jump the fence they were behind before I got out of the lot.  The next stop was a street sign of a ghost town out in BFE.  I remember the route on the computer and it was a fairly straight road.  For some reason on the Garmin, it was a very windy road coming up. So to be safe, I stopped in Starke and filled both tanks since I was about 315 miles on the trip meter.  Getting closer to said windy road, when it told me to turn, all that was there was a young pine tree forrest.  So I continued on hoping the 2 roads would converge on the sign... which luckily it did.  I had to park in a driveway to get the photo, and was greeted up close and personal this time with the guard dog.  Luckily the Golden was a nice guard dog and just wanted a pat on the head.  I completed the 3 point u turn in the road and did not follow Garmin again through the woods, and started listening to her when she had me back on the paved road.  I got back on 301 South and was just cruising.  I saw a peanut vendor on the side of the hwy and remembered that WC bonus in Ed's rally.  And right about that time I felt something hit my leg then foot.  I did a quick glance and it wasn't the GPS or SPOT, so it had to be out of my tank bag.  NO CAMERA!! I pulled off on the next turn lane, not 1/8 of a mile after I felt the thump.  I parked and went for a hike to grab the camera.  Hopefully it will still work.  Other wise I can use my iPhone for the rest of the photos and be OK.... I'm thinking.  I walked all the way back to, and past, the peanut vendor.  No camera.  Its bright orange!  How can I not see it.  I walk back the other side of the road.   NO camera.  I get on the bike and do circles back and forth on the hwy.  NO CAMERA!!!  I used my whole 30 minute buffer looking, and never found anything.  I was sweating my butt off, so I rode up to the next gas station, got a cold drink, and made the call to David.  I told him I lost my camera, and since I was just as close to my house as I was rally HQ, I was just headed back home.  My first DNF.  As I was cooling off, Jesse rode on by and honked his horn.  I waved and thought he was cutitng it pretty close on time, but he should do well if he doesn;t get time barred.  So our routes must have been almost identical.  But I made the disappointing ride of shame back to the house.   

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Once home and showered, and adult beverage in hand... I added up what my points would have been had I finished. I only had 3 more easy stops to make and I still had a 20-30 min buffer on time, so assuming I finished those and did not even get the other two WC's... I would have had a bit over 21000 points.  When the final results came out... The winners, Roger and Kathy Allen came in first with 19,200.  Jesse Lucas pulled out a second place w 18,945 points.  And third was Rick Baily with 18,878 points.  All routes were the Jax routes, so it WAS the winning route.  So shoulda, coulda, woulda... had I not lost my camera, I would have taken home the win.  But instead... I got to congratulate Roger and Kathy on their win, and Jesse on his 2nd place finish in his 2nd rally ever.  Great job guys!   All of the riders that went North first, stayed in the rain most of the day, and some threw in the towel.  My idea of running East first to avoid the rain ended up being the drier route.  And I am glad I decided to pack all my stuff and not leave anything at the HQ hotel.  Oh well... at least I know my routing and riding was good.  Just a random mistake on my part foiled it all.  Now I have to buy a new camera, and remember to zip up my tank bag all the way from now on.  Every ride is an adventure, and every ride is a learning experience. 

My results for 2013:

Cape Fear = 9th

Ed's Last Resort= 1st

GTG/In State GA SS1000 = 1070 miles in 22:40

Digital Scavenger Hunt = DNF

Miles

Ed's Last Resort Rally - 2013

Coming off a semi disappointing Cape Fear 2013, and a very disappointing Ed's Last Resort 2012, I felt I really needed a good performance this year to lighten my mood.  This last Cape Fear was my first rally with lots of rain to deal with.  And after being wet for 8 hours, I was really questioning why I do these rallys. (Of course better gear would help) This rally would prove no different.  I look forward to this rally more than any other as it was my very first rally, my first rally win, and I also have a stake in its success, as I do the website, manage the registration and funds, and the Facebook page.  But I was unsure going into it how I would feel if I had another bad performance.  But I won't know till I try.  Lets prep for Ed's!

Ok done.

I literally did nothing to the bike other than check tire and shock pressure and load all my crap in the tool and tank bags.  Thats one good thing about back to back rallys.  If nothing breaks, ready for the next one!  But the rear shock was flat again.  I have no luck with these used ebay shocks.  I guess I need to pony up the $400 for a Progressive shock that is repair/rebuildable. But so far I'm only out $150 for the 3 used ones off eBay.  I was able to get a few days of riding in before this rally, so that was a plus.  About a week before the rally we got a notice to bring a digital camera if we wanted.  It was not mandatory, but some of the bonuses we would be able to photograph if we felt it would help document our location.  I brought my waterproof camera and my iPhone w/ a waterproof case as a backup.  I took Friday off and headed out about 8:30 in the morning to help Ed get things set up.  At 8:45 I got a call from the office that 2 of our servers went down when the power flickered.  Great!  But luckily I wasn't 200 miles away.  It ended up being a quick fix to get them back up and running.  Plus I moved some power cables around to better load balance them on different battery backups to prevent it from happening again.  It was a pretty uneventful ride there.  I stopped to fill my tanks 10 miles from the campground and cruised on in.  Of course ELR is on a GA clay road, that gets a bit sandy if it doesn't rain.  It hadn't rained in about 3 weeks.  The trick is to turn left onto the driveway at Ed's house, then take the grass down the hill to the cabin.  I hit the sand right when I got to the house.  I was able to keep it upright and limped it onto the grass for a safe arrival.  Dad and Wayne had gotten there on Thurs so they were there already working.  We loaded coolers, built tables, moved a bunch of stuff, and fished a little.  I was going for another 10 lb catfish like last year.  I was able to finally hook one, but the hook broke as I dragged him ashore. I'm pretty sure he was about 50 pounds!  People started trickling in around 4 or so.  Not too many early arrivals this year.  The only casualties on the way in were David and Valerie Gillespie.  David hit the sand and laid his bike down.   And Valerie's kickstand sank in the dirt and her bike fell over in the parking area.  Luckily neither was hurt and the bikes just got a few new scuffs.  Eventually most everyone showed up and it was time to eat and get some rally packs!

This years theme was "Here comes the Judge".  I had an idea that courthouses would come into play.  When they handed out the packs I mentioned to Matt Hube next to me that it felt REALLY light, and was very thin.  Normal packs are 20-30 pages of bonuses and info.  And when opened this one turned out to be about 5 pages.  It was just a list of every County Courthouse in GA.  The rules state you must get a photo of as many courthouses as possible, as long as the courthouse photo has the name of the county on it.  OR just get a receipt in the city of the courthouse.  That leaves only 159 places to choose from.  And one of the Wild Cards was to get all 5 of the past State Capitals in the order they were founded.  That one was actually was easy as you could make a loop to get them.  But it also involves a trip in and out of Atlanta.   I quickly decided against that.  Plus it was over 600 miles and not a lot of points in between the 5 required stops.  I plotted a loop that would take me a county north, head straight west to two high point courthouses on the Alabama border, then follow the counties on the FL border most of the way back.  I finished a route of 25 locations, with 2 maybes if I am ahead, and 3 drops if I'm behind. It shows a scheduled ride time of 10.5 hours.  That gives me 1 hour to make my stops, and 30 mins for the rest bonus. I set my S&T average speed presets down a bit, so hopefully I can keep on schedule.  I'm sure it will be tight.  Dad has somewhat the same idea but his loop takes him a bit more north.  Points wise, they are all low. The lowest being 50, the highest being 450 IIRC.  And their values are dependent on distance.  So everyone will be very close on points which makes it impossible to plan a guaranteed winning route.  So mine was just based on getting the 2 high point bonuses and everything in between.  I didn't even add up my expected points.  I just laid out the ride, uploaded it to my GPS and was done.  I was a little frustrated because there was no obvious route, but that's why we call them rally bastards.  I would just ride my ride and see how I stack up.  At least I can go get some sleep.

Rally morning was painless.  But over bfast I got to thinking about what I needed to do to win this thing. My win here two years ago involved riding really hard for a long way.  But it was all on Interstates.  On my 2nd place Cape Fear ride last year, I actually took it pretty easy and came out good.  And my 2nd in the DSH I rode moderately.  So what do I do now?   After talking w dad previously about his Cape Fear win this year,  he kept mentioning how hard he had to ride for the win.  So there's 2 wins with riding hard.  Time to go for broke and see how hard I can push the ole girl with a bad shock and stay on schedule.  My plan is to make it to the courthouse and if there is no name on it, go get a receipt.  If there is a name, just snap a photo and go.  But that means lots of little purchases, and I have little cash, so stop one needs to be ATM instead of the courthouse photo.

Somehow I lucked into getting out of the gate first this year.  I survived the wet grass and the sandy road on the way out and it was off to the races.  Receipts had to show the city of the county seat, so I was watching for city limit signs prior to each stop.  Stop one was the ATM in Reidsville for a receipt and cash.  As I passed the courthouse, I did not see the county name on the building so good thing for the receipt.  Stop two was Lyons, GA.  No name on the courthouse, got another receipt.   In case this is what I will see all day, the process will be just to run in a store and buy whatever was on the counter.  Gum, lighters, candy... whatever

was $1 or less.  I started stashing them in the little glove box and just left the door open so I didn't have to unlock it every time w the key.  Stop three, Mt Vernon... Still on schedule.  Alamo, McRae, Abbeville, Cordele, Vienna... Still. On. Schedule.  Once I get to Americus, it starts raining.  Nothing bad, but I don't have ANY rain gear at all.  But being that I am dead on schedule, that means I have not used up any of my allotted stop time.  So I start looking for places to add to the route.  I have never added to a route.  Only taken away.  I add Ellaville and eat up some of my buffer.  I hit Preston, Lumpkin, Cuthbert, still ahead of schedule so I add

Georgetown before Ft Gaines, and still able to make up a bit of the buffer I lost.  The rain finally stops and makes the ride a little more bearable. I make the run to Blakely and then added Colquitt, and continue on the Donalsonville, Bainbridge, Cairo, and Thomasville.  I make up some more on my buffer.  I continue East to Quitman, Valdosta, and Homerville.  Somewhere on the way to Waycross, I get passed by a car that is in a bigger hurry than me, so I gave him a little room and let him run rabbit for about 25 miles and gained some more time so I added Blackshear. I picked up beer in Waycross just to be safe, as I had a hard time finding beer close to Ed's

last year.  I headed to Alma which was my last scheduled stop, but I was about 40 mins good on time, so I threw Hazelhurst into the mix which had me coming in 10 mins to the good.  Generally that is too close for my comfort, but so far everything all day had pretty much fallen into place better than expected.  I found a store on the outskirts of Hazlehurst and was able to shave about 5 mins off the ride to the courthouse, and headed back to Baxley.  On the way I see a rider stopped in the median of the road.  I pulled up and asked if he was OK, which he said he just making a phone call, so I

continued on.  It was Steve Eubanks, and he chased me down and followed me into Baxley.  Just before we got to Baxley, I felt something hit my foot.  I did a quick check and  my 2 GPS were still there as well as my SPOT tracker.  Everything seemed to be in my tank bag.... so I assumed it was a rock or bug or something.  Then Steve pulled up next to me and pointed to my back seat... where my 6 pack of beer was bungee corded.  I felt back there and realized I now only had a 5 pack of beer.  Luckily the bomb I dropped on Steve hit the ground and exploded away from him and he missed it.   So I used my last stop to get even more beer. The rest of the ride in was short and sweet.  I survived the sandy road again and made it in with about 10 mins to spare.  Done.

Now the fun part.  I have 30 or so receipts to organize to get scored out which I put in the order that I got them.  And of course while scoring out they ask for them in alphabetical order... ughhh.  But we got through it.  With all the WildCard and actual bonuses I ended up w right at 5500 points.  Not too bad I figured. Again, all the point values of the courthouses were very small and close together so I turn my packet into Jim Phillips who acted shocked at the amount of points.   I asked if it was good, and he said it was the best he'd seen yet.  But there were plenty of people still needing to score out and too soon to get excited, but I figured a top 5 was an easy possibility.  Time for a beer and a snack. One of the Wild Cards was bring back some boiled peanuts. A can of peanuts was allowed, so I bought one of the cajun kind since that was all the store I found them in had.  But WTH!  Last year I brought in a can of peaches instead of "a peach" and that wasn't allowed, but a can of boiled peanuts are???  Whatever.  This year I got the points, and I got to try canned boiled peanuts for the first time.  I LOVE boiled peanuts.  I stop for them at the road side stands all the time.  But anyone that tries to tell you that the canned ones are just a good... slap them.  Maybe it was the fact they were cajun, but those things were horrible!!!  We all milled around for a while before diner and got to talk of our woes of the day.  Come to find out I was the ONLY person that got rained on all day.  How did that happen!  But after a giant spread of BBQ and fixins, it was time for the awards.  There were only 18 finishers, so they read from the bottom to the top.  I had 5500 and dad had 5000, so as they were calling them out along with their points scored, our chances of a podium kept creeping up.  Once they got to third, Ron Allen, we knew we finished 1st and 2nd!  There are not too many events a father and son can compete at the same level, so it was pretty neat for me and pops to finish one - two.  It was a special moment.  I hope we can do it a few more times!  Maybe I'll let him win the next one.

Miles

Cape Fear 1000 - 2013

The Cape Fear 1000 is one of the largest rallys on the east coast.  The 28 hour rally starts in 3 different  locations from Florida, Tennessee, and New York and ends in Wilmington, NC.  And they have a 12 hour mini rally that starts and ends in Wilmington.  Registration generally opens at midnight, and is full in 10 mins.  This year they changed up the registration process to give everyone a chance to get in no matter what their sleep habits are.  They instituted an application process which required a 'riders resume' to be submitted to even be considered for a spot.  Just some basic questions on your history as a rider, history as a rally rider, as well as a "Why the hell should we let YOU in the rally" question.  I listed a few of my rally finishes, my SS 1000 time, and a PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me in the rally answer.   I guess it worked since I got a registration request a few weeks later. And Dad got his too for his 6th consecutive year.  Awesome!  Someone to split 2 of the 3 nights hotel room bills!!!

As always, I don't ride enough between rallys.  I needed something to do to prep for the 4 days on the bike for this Cape Fear.  Dad and I talked about just making up a faux rally and riding around FL and GA a bit.   Then I saw the link to The Grand Tour of Georgia and all that is documented in the previous blog post.  But on the GToGA ride, I noticed my front forks were leaking pretty substantially after I changed the seals and the oil a few weeks back.  But they were leaking from the top, not from the seals.  I ordered some more fork oil and did the repair again.  But this time I remembered to tighten down the  top bolts that the oil was leaking from.  I also was going to attempt to replace the front wheel bearings, but one of the jesus clips that held one of them in was broken, so I could not get it out without further destroying it.  They looked and felt OK so I'll do that at another time when I can order new retaining clips.  The rear shock I replaced last year after Ed's rally was already bad again, so I had to find yet another replacement.  This time I found one off a 2005, replaced the shock oil in it, and installed it.  The fork redo and the newer rear shock tested fine on a short RTE to Moultrie, 2 weeks prior to Cape Fear so I hope the issues are gone.  That's all the repairs/maintenance I'm doing.  I checked all the air pressures in the tires and rear shock and they were all fine so its time to rally.

I was getting a bit worried when I still had not received my rally pack in the mail with my sticker and rally flag two weeks after most everyone else got theirs.  It finally showed up a week before the start, and it had been sent to my old address.  Luckily this year there was no mix up with the bonus lists.  We got the right one the first time on Wed evening.  I use Microsoft Street&Trips to plan my routes on the computer.  But the coordinates in the pack are not compatible with S&T, so I had to copy and past them into Google Maps, name and describe them, convert that .kml file to a .gpx file, upload that to S&T, then color code them all in S&T.  That was a 3 hour process.   But when done, it gives a birds eye view of everything to start the route planning and makes it fairly easy to pick a route.  And also by using Google Maps, I was able to get down to Street View and verify that there was actually something there to photograph.  That prevents screw ups like last year where I mis-typed a location and instead of a post office, I was looking at a pine tree farm 30 miles away.  Or when the coordinates are mis-typed by the rally master, and instead of pulling into a restaurant, you are in someones driveway.  They all looked good.  Plus I was able to move the markers dead on the object, instead of the parking spot the person who got the coordinates was parked in.  This can save some time hunting if there are multiple monuments or objects that can mistaken for the bonus in the same general area.  Time to pick a route.

This year, there were a lot of bonuses in Florida.  In the past, there were only a hand full to get in FL.  But I think there were 25 this year.  And there were a lot of points in the Keys.  But the Keys are tough to get in and out of on a Fri/Sat.  But for 20,000 points it was worth a look since there were no other big points in FL.  One other thing we had to factor in was the weather.  A nasty cold front was moving in from the north West and headed at an angle to the South East.  It wasn't too wide, but from the way it was headed, you could spend 2 straight days in the rain depending on your route.  I chose a route that would cause me to ride through the rain Friday afternoon, pop out of it, then spend Sat nice and dry and scooping up the bonuses.  Numbers wise, I was weighted heavier on Sat for number of bonuses, but they were more tightly packed together.  I was done planning by 9:30 Wed night.  I called dad to see how he was doing.  Come to find out, we had the exact same route planned for Friday all the way up to Atlanta.  Then our routes were completely different, but the total point values were within a few hundred points.  We decided to ride the first leg together, then part ways.  Little did we know, 10 other riders had the same route planned!

On Thursday, I met dad at a truck stop near his place, and we started the boring ride south on the interstates to get to Wachula FL.  I-10 West to I-75 South, to whatever road West to Wachula.  It was about 315 miles and we were able to make it with out having to stop for gas.  Actually, I don't think we stopped all the way there.  We got checked into the hotel which was actually pretty nice considering the area.  We chatted with a  few other rider that were making their way in.  We rode into Wachula to scout out some good starting locations and check their receipts to be sure they had the information we needed printed on them.... correct time, city, and gallons purchased.  We found a few, so that won't be an issue.  Last year we had to use a CVS because all the gas stations had bad receipts.  We still had plenty of time to burn, so we just milled around the hotel meeting everyone.  Finally we headed out to dinner at a small place inside an old house.  Greg Rice said he scoped it out earlier, so everyone followed him with blind abandon.  Then he started doing circles downtown looking for it.  Here are 15 people, probly 25 GPS units, all bonus hunters ready for a rally, and no one had the restaurant in their GPS.  Not even Greg.  We looked like a bunch of Harley riders looking for a dive bar on a poker run.  But we finally made it to Paul's Place.  If you are ever in Wachula, and VERY hungry... go to Pauls.  For $12.99 I got a 12 oz steak, salad, soup, bread, rice, fries, beans... and probly some other stuff... enough food for 3 people.   You won't leave there hungry, or broke.  But since I'm lo carbing it... all I was able to eat was the salad and steak.   And I didn't finish all that.  As we were leaving, I was following dad and when we got to the stop sign, dad's bike died.  Just shut off.  No lights, motor, nothin! He pushed it across the intersection to an empty lot so we could take a look.  Red battery terminal was a tad loose, but not falling off.  But after jiggling it a bit, and tightening it down, luckily everything was fine. I needed some bungee cords to hold my beer bonus, and figured some Heet water remover/gas treatment may be good to have for the ride, so we stopped off at the Walmart.   Dad hit the electrical connections on the battery with a wire brush to prevent anymore issues, while I went inside.  Apparently our bikes and all the gear attached to them, piqued the interest of some of the "local" migrant workers, and a pair did a few drive bys hoping they would be left alone.   That of course never happened and we made it out of there without loosing any equipment, or having to stab anyone with my tire plug kit or box cutter.  The rest of the evening was just final planning and getting the GPS's all loaded up with way points and routes.  I learned from the last rally that if I upload the entire route into my Zumo 665, that any deviation from that route, and the GPS will recalculate to get you back to where you got off track, not recalculate a diff route.  So I chose to build the route in my GPS from the uploaded way points.  Only takes a few more minutes, and can keep the Garmin from freaking out if you get off track.  Did the same thing to my backup GPS and called it a night.  So far pretty stress free.

The next morning we ate breakfast and had to go back out to find somewhere to buy some money orders for a bonus.  We were supposed to be able to Paypal the money to a charity, but something wasn't working right, so they needed a check or money order.  Why would anyone bring a checkbook? We lucked into a money store that did money orders for free.  Easy 1000 points. Then we decided to look for one of the other Wildcard bonuses.  Public Librarys would be worth 250 points each, and we could get up to 4.  We found one right next door to a gas station, so that would definitely be our starting location.  We went back to the hotel and packed everything back up and prepared for the rally to begin.

Most everyone left out of the hotel around 9:30 to get to a gas station.  And most everyone ended up at the same gas station.  Me and dad just pulled up to the pumps and sorta-kinda blocked anyone from using them before us.  No cars were there when we got there, but there was a long line when we left :)  Start time was 10am, but you could get  start receipt from 9:50 to 10:10am.  Mine was for 9:52.  Got my splash of gas, stowed the receipt, and drove 500 ft to the first Library bonus.  I document the start there instead of the gas pumps since there were plenty of people waiting.  I texted in my starting information, took my photo of the library, wrote it all in my log book, and we left to get out of town.  Our first real bonus stop wasn't until Ocala, FL for a gas receipt.  It was back roads for a while to get to the highway, so I did another library search on the GPS and there was one on the way.  We stopped there along with 5 or so other bikes.  We got our photos and got back on the road.  We decided not to take the back roads north all the way to Ocala like my GPS wanted, so we followed dad's which took us a toll road and expressway west then north on 75.       Dad and I had our Sena bluetooth headsets on intercomm mode and were in constant comms the whole time.  But once we were on I-75, I turned mine off to conserve the battery since my plan was to ride until

around 1 am.  I would turn it on and off on the long stretches of interstate. Back on the boring hwy, we made it to Ocala and did a gas n go at the Hwy-40 exit.  In and out in 5 mins.  Then another long boring stretch to Perry, FL for the Ray Charles house bonus.  We stopped at the first rest area on I-10 to put on our rain gear.  It want raining yet but we were headed right into it.  I chose not to put on the rain gloves at it was still about 90 degrees and I was hot and sweating.  As we were approaching the front, the wind was slapping us hard from the side.  A few times I was blasted into the other lane by the strong gusts.  I was not looking forward to the actual storm.  We made it Perry and ran into 3 other riders there.  We got back on 10 and headed to Banbridge GA, via Tallahassee. Once we got off 10 and headed toward GA, that's when the clouds got VERY dark.  We pulled over one last time to get all the gear on, which for me was just the gloves.  But after riding all day in the heat, my hands were sweaty.  Trying to get them in the new gloves wet didn't work out so well.  I could not get the pinky finger or thumb to go all the way in.  I fought for about 5 mins, then gave up and hoped I didn't have to grab the front brakes too hard since I could barley reach them with the ill fitted glove.  Off to Bainbridge via Havannah.  We got there a bit wet, but nothing too bad.  Got my gas, and pulled off from the pumps to go in and get some water.  I'd already finish off my 2 litre camel pack on the ride in.  I drank a 16 oz water in line, and then purchased that and a 32 oz water for the camel pak.  It was then dad realized the gas pumps were running 30 mins fast on time.  I checked the water receipt and the same thing.  Not a big deal normally, but they were threatening to check all times between gas stops to prevent people from running 100mph between stops.  I figured we were in the clear with stopping twice for rain gear and a bonus stop and we were not running fast anyway.  But I HAD to get the problem glove on or go back to non-waterproof gloves.  I tried this on the last stop, but it didn't work... I ran the fingers of the glove over the clutch handle until it bottomed out in the fingers.  It took a few tries to get it right,  After that my fingers went in fine, and I had no other issues.  I was glad to have the waterproof gloves since the next 4 hrs were all in the rain.  But the non-motorcycle, waterproof boots I bought... not so much.  They were full of water in about 10 mins.  That would not have much of a problem

except once the rain started. temps dropped from 90 to 45 degrees.  My other rain gear kept the rain out, but I was so wet from sweat, I was soaked under my rain gear.  Lets just say it was a bit chilly on the ride north.  We made it to Cuthbert, GA in the rain for yet another gas stop.  We ran into 4 more riders there.  It was apparent that we all had the same basic router to get to Atlanta.  Which was the right route for points and for weather.  Our next stop was a plaque in Pine Mountain, GA, near Callaway.  This is where my exact marker placement and street view came in handy.  It took us a different

route than most, but it made for a better parking situation on the side of the hill we were on.  That was a bit of a bad place to be on a motorcycle in the rain.  But we got our photos and left.  We saw 2 riders on the way in there, and 2 were at the location when we got there. On the way out, we ran back into the 2 we saw riding out, and tried to run with them to the next location but curvy roads and lack of passing zones and they lost us.  Plus it was Ed Tillman and Richard Buber, and its almost impossible to ride with them.  But we caught them and 3 other riders at the next location.  There were 7

of us there trying to get a photo.  Its weird you don't see them on the road, then we all end up at the same place.  Goes to show you the different routes each person/gps chooses.  Dad and I almost got split up in Columbus because my GPS said go one way and his said another.    But we continued on to a grave yard just east of Atlanta, and there were 2 riders there already, and by the time we left 2 more coming in behind us.  I was freezing so I took some extra time to get my jacket liner in.  Which entailed taking off the gloves, rain jacket, riding jacket, zipping in the liner, and getting both jackets and gloves back

on again.  Took way too much time, but worth the extra layer of insulation.  We were about 30 mins behind.  We made it to our last common stop north of Atlanta, and as soon as we pulled in, Ed and Richard pulled up behind us.  We got our photos and parted ways.  We were officially 45 mins behind.  But I heard Richard tell Ed they were an hour and a half behind.  So I didn't feel too bad about it.  I followed those two for a while to get around Atlanta on the racetrack interstate.  That place is hell to get through.  But I survived and I was

on my own for the first time all day.  And it was well past dark now and effin cold.  I had 3 stops to make before I took my rest bonus.  I had 3 lined up in a row off the interstate, and the plan was to get down the road closer to SC before I took my rest.  But this was my first time riding in the dark in a looong time and the first time since my eye doc changed my contacts to correct one eye for astigmatism.  I was having a harder time than normal seeing and focusing well in the dark . I was not able to ride as hard as I needed to, to make up any time.  I got off the interstate to get my last 3 stops and passed a gas station.  I looked down to see if I was OK, and I

had run about 325 miles on both tanks.  I had plenty to make it to the town the last bonus was in so I kept going.  Then 10 miles later I remember that we have a 350 mile max range between gas stops.  It was after 11pm, and in bumfuck GA, most places are closed by 10.  I pass a few that are closed before I finally find a gas station that is open.  I pulled up, swiped my card... CARD READ ERROR.  Crap.  I grab another card... Accepted.  I choose premium gas and start pumping.   But the gas was trickling out, and the pump was not counting.  WTF.  I crank up the bike and go to another pump.

Swipe the card, this time choose mid grade, and it pumps $1.62 worth of gas and turns off.  AND NO RECEIPT!!!  So I go inside and tell the clerk I need $10 worth, and something is wrong with the pump I tried first.  "Were you trying to get Premium or Mid grade?"  Yes I was.  " Oh. We aint got none of that." "Then you need to mark that on the pumps you dumb ass hillbilly so no one else does what I did." I grab the receipt and go.  But the receipt only shows the dollar amount and not the amount of gallons purchased as required for the gas log.  Well maybe I'll pass another open station in the next 10 miles and get a better receipt.  NOPE!  By

the time I found one I was over the 350 mile limit, so I would have to be to use the bad one at scoring.  I get to the road to turn for the Ty Cobb monument, and the GPS says turn left.  But the sign on the road points right.  I'll follow the GPS since I know it was right from seeing it on street view.  But as I pull up, the entire building is surrounded by temporary fencing due to it being under renovation.  WTF!  And as I peer through the fence, there is no monument.  I took a photo of the construction, and headed back the other way to find where  the sign was pointing.  I found the location for the Ty Cobb

museum and got a photo of that and hoped it would be OK. I got the next monument photo without incident, and headed to the last one. It was a double, as the monument I needed was in front of a library.  This would be the last one I needed to have the max of 4.  So I got both photos and was done for the night as far as bonus hunting.  It was 12:01am.  I was wet, cold, an hour behind, pissed off, and ready to get off the bike.  I pulled up hotels on the GPS and there was one .2 miles away, so that's where I headed.

There was already one bike in there with a Cape Fear sticker.  I got checked in, took a hot shower with the drain stopped up to thaw out my feet, and created a new route to get to Wilmington in the least amount of time possible to be done with this crappy rally.  Did I mention I was pissed.  That's how miserable I was.  So I plotted a new course, made up a new route cheat sheet, and went to bed.  It was a bit past 1 am, but I set the alarm for 5 am.  5 am came way too soon.
As the alarm went off, I jumped up, got dressed in dry clothes, packed the bike and went to check out.

How I did all that still asleep, I don't know but I did.  When I finally got checked out, I was right at 5 hrs for a rest break.  But I was rested, in a better mood, and ready for a new DRY day.  As I'm headed to the Carolinas, I figure I was an hour behind, but I took an hour less rest break than scheduled, so I should be even for the day.  I'll just go with my original route and be back in this rally.  I pull up the first stop and get moving.  As the sun is coming up, I decide to pull up the entire route in the GPS to see when I should arrive to the end just to be sure I was calculating it right in my head.  According to the

computer, I should be there about 2:10.  And if I was not behind, I could pick up on more high point bonus and head in.  I have until 3 to make it to the finish.  The GPS is telling me I'll be there AT 4:30!!!  WTF!!  How could the computer and Garmin be off that much.  I check the route to be sure I didn't add the wrong one, or in the wrong order... Nope.  WTF.  I guess I was lucky I did the other route last night, because that is what I have to fall back on now.  I pull off to fill up, and add the new route to the GPS.  I get it all in and sure enough, I'll be in about 1:30 so I have all the time in the world now.

No sense of urgency at all.  I start picking them off one by one, they were all easy, got my photos, and kept moving.  After 7 of them, I was still way good on time, so I pulled up the way points to see if there were any more close enough to get.  I picked up the last one, and 2 extras, and headed to Wilmington.  I stopped 10 miles out to get the beer bonus 6-pack and eased it to the hotel.  I just kept praying it didn't blow up at the end again.  I made it to the finish at about 2:00 and started the scoring process.

Since I lost all the points from having to reroute the entire day, I could not leave any points at the table.

I checked and double checked, and triple checked my paperwork.  I had it all ready and got scored out by Lisa Erbes.  She was tough, but fair.  The only points I ended up loosing were for the bad gas receipt that didn't show the gallons purchased.  But it was only a 500 point penalty and not a full loss of the gas log bonus.  That put me out with 42,xxx points.  About 6000 points less than I had anticipated.  But I figured it would be out of the top 10.  I didn't bother going to shower before the meal this time as I was already in my clean clothes.  I just hung around the conf room until dinner telling and listening to a lot of stories. But finally after the BBQ dinner, they finally got around to the door prizes and awards.  Dad bought 5 raffle tickets and 2 were

winners so we got 2 Cape Fear ball caps. But we didn't win any of the cash.  Once they finally got around to the winners they again did FL last.  I was not 10th, 9th or 8th.   Then they said how many points 7th got, so I knew I was out of the top 10.  But dad was still in the running.  6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd... Still no dad. Then they called me up there to get my "top Finisher" polo shirt from last year's finish.  Jim Bain made some comment about the Lee Family so at the point I was pretty sure Dad won it.  I got my shirt and sat down, and they called Roni Bazenger to get his 2nd place plaque which meant Dad had pulled of the win!!  They  called his name as the winner and he went up to finally get a winners plaque in a rally.  He's been doing these for 6 years and it finally all fell into place and he got the win.  I was so happy for him.  I hate to say proud, since he taught me how to do this rally stuff, but I was proud of him. He had a flawless ride, he got every point he went for, he did not have any issues... it all just worked as planned.  He always told me.  Plan your ride.  Ride your plan.  He kicked our butts with his plan.  I was originally placed at 11th.  But after they reviewed all the riders, I was bumped up to 9th.  Still not bad out of 23 finishers.  Had I got all my original points, I would have been 3rd. But that's a moot point.  DAD WON! DAD WON! DAD WON!!!

Now WTF happend to my route to cause me to be so late on the GPS and early on the computer.  It took me a while to figure it out.  I rechecked the waypoints on the GPS vs the computer, and I was actually one short on the GPS. That would not cause me to be late.  But when I got it zoomed way in on the GPS, my last leg from the bonus to the hotel was supposed to be on the I-40 south according to the computer.  POS Garmin for some reason decided that I-40 was way to far to go from the last stop, and I need to run the last 120 miles on 2 lane back roads instead of the Interstate 10 MILES AWAY!!!  What the hell Garmin!  And more than likely, once I was closer to the end, it probably would have rerouted to the Hwy but I just didn't have the ability to see that on the GPS from where I was.  Maybe I should go back to loading the route from S&T and deal with the screaming when I get off her route.  I have to make up my mind and pick one way of doing it for Ed's Last Resort Rally 2013 in a couple weeks.

Grand Tour of Georgia 2013 - Leg 1

The past few years, one of our crazy cults of long distance riders, Team Strange Airheads, has put together a  ride in Georgia called the Grand Tour of Georgia.  Its basically just an excuse to get out and ride around the state and actually tell the wife its got a purpose...  To raise money for Eddies Road in support of at risk youth. They give you a 'passport' and you have to ride to the locations and get a photo of that location with your passport.  Unlike most of my rides, you actually get 6 months to get to all the locations, vs the normal 12 hrs.  And if you get the required 17 or more, then you get a certificate.  Not my normal kind of ride, but a good one.  So how can I turn it into one of MY rides.  I have the Cape Fear 1000 coming up in mid April, and Ed's Last Resort in May, and very few miles on the bike since I dropped it in Nov.  The GTG seems like it could make for a good warmup ride.  I talked to dad about it and he agreed.  Lest see if we can do this GTG in a day!!!  We got signed up and awaited the 'bonus' locations.  About a week later we got the email with the locations.  I imported them all into Streets and Trips, selected them all and hit Get Directions... 1650 miles.  Ok.  Time to break it up.  I do need the warmup ride, but I don't need to over do the warmup.     So I broke it up a bit and started playing with multiple options.  What I came up with was 2 rides.  One with 750 miles, the other is 1200.  That way we could work our way up to the longer ride.  Weather was bad the first 2 free weekends, so finally we got a break of a free weekend and no thunder storms March 30th.  Time to ride.  The route was pretty simple.  Leave the house, meet dad at a gas station on our route, and start picking off the locations.  We would have 8 planned stops, one 'if we are ahead of schedule stop', most likely a lunch break and 1 or 2 gas stops.  But we were not going to do this in full blown rally mode.  Just a leisurely ride, off the bike stops for photos, and take our time.  And that's what we did.

The first stop wasn't until almost to Jax.  We planned that leg first since we left in the dark, and I-10 is boring at night when you are tired.  So we got the crappy part done first.  It was about 45 degrees when we left, but tolerable.  I-10 lived up to its normal standards... long and boring.  We shot north just before the city limits and went to find the Cherokee Tribal Grounds in St George, GA.  I knew from google maps, it was behind a ball field, over the RR Tracks.  GPS took us right to it.  I followed the same process for just about every stop today... Got off the bike, took off my gloves, got my passport/camera/cell phone out of the tank bag, took a photo w my camera, then with the cell phone, and uploaded the photo to Facebook.  Put it all up, got my gloves back on, and off we went. 5 to 10 mins per stop.  NOT like my normal 2 min rally stops.  So we got the photos and headed back over the tracks back to the road.  I followed dad out since he got turned around first.  Over the tracks and back to the main road.  About 30 seconds later the train blew his horn and about scared dad off his seat.  It was then I realized I rode over the tracks without even

looking for a train.  30 seconds later and that could have hurt a little bit!    Lesson learned.  Look both ways crossing railroad tracks.  The second stop took us north up to Darien, Ga to Americas smallest church.  It was just off 95 so an easy in and out.  Got the photos and got back on the interstate.  Traffic was thick with Spring Breakers headed to/from the southern beaches.  But only once did a cager try and run into me from the side.  We made it up to Pooler, GA where there is an aviation museum.  We got off the hwy and my GPS said turn left now... dads

said go to the next road and turn.  We followed his route to a dead end where the road we needed to get on was under construction.  So we back tracked and followed mine right to the plane.  He needed a photo of the A-4 Phantom jet parked in the lot.  I'm sure there was some neat stuff in the building, but we took a quick look at the 2 other planes in the parking lot and headed out.  Those Migs were tiny compared to the Phantom! We headed up 95 a bit more then took a left and headed NW a up the state line.  We found the park and huge sign for the Battle of Briar Creek.  Hopefully the battle took place during the time

of year that the gnats weren't there.  I forget how bad they are in GA.  GA has the gnats.  FL has the noseeums.  Not sure which is worse.  But at least they weren't biting.  Now we started our westerly ride.  We were already 383 miles into the ride and past lunch time.  We had probably seen 5 or so BBQ places so far on the ride so we decided to stop at the next one to eat.  We made it to Statesborough and finally punched in a Sonny's in the GPS since we had not seen anything else.  When we got there it had been converted to a taco joint.  So I pulled up the next closest place which ended up being a  Shane's

Rib Shack.  Kinda like a Joe's Crab Shack... but with counter service.  But the hard wooden chairs left something to be desired after 7 hours in the saddle.  We finished up and made our way to our next bonus.  My GPS told me it was on the right.  Dad had his eyes open and saw it was on the left, and only clued me in after I passed it.  Thanks pops!  Luckily there was somewhere to turn around.  I got my photos of the horse drawn funeral coach and continued on.  We made the short jaunt over to Abbeville, GA and found the Wild Hog Express caboose.  We took a few extra photos of us and the the bikes in the pictures.

Something we hadn't done all day.  Stop number 7 on the list was an old steam locomotive in Sylvester, GA.  We had had our Sena headsets in intercom mode all day, but mine finally gave out before we got to the train.  I took it off and plugged in in to charge all the way to the next stop in my tank bag.  We took the pics and got back on the road.  Our last stop ended up being in Boston, GA.  We parked in front of the Carnegie Library and took our photos.   It was getting close to dark so we decided not to go for one more since technically we were behind schedule.  I hooked the headset back up, since it

had about an hour to charge, and it ended up making it all the way home.  I led dad back to his house, and he peeled off behind me while I continued on.  I made it in, right at 14.5 hrs, and a total of 725 miles.  It was a long day, and there was a tinge of discomfort a few times, but much less than anticipated.  And the next morning... nothing.  I felt like I hadn't been on the bike at all.  Nice.  I guess I am ready for the Cape Fear 1000.  Now to fix the front fork leak I discovered.

Fire and Ice - 2012 Digital Scavenger Hunt

Its been a busy few months.  We found a steal of a deal on a short sale house and decided it was worth the efforts to purchase and move.  Luckily we were renting month to month, and had the time and patience to deal with a short sale.  What a slow and painful process!  Plus I would be using my VA loan eligibility which adds another layer of headaches.  But with some haggling with the bank on the 'deplorable' conditions of the house, and a lot of elbow grease to clean up those over exaggerated conditions... plus some cash, we were able to purchase our dream home, and walk into it with equity.  And it only took 4 months!!  We started the process in June, and finally after all the contracts were signed... the closing was set for Oct 18th, a little over 2 weeks from the 2012 Fire and Ice, Long Riders Digital Scavenger Hunt.  I had been signed up pretty much since they opened registration.  I knew I'd be neck deep in moving so I emailed Ray and told him the good news about moving, and the bad news that I'd be withdrawing from the rally.  But I still wanted the Fire and Ice T-shirt!  (the wife gives me crap about me always wearing one of my 3 Ed's Last Resort Shirts around the house so I figured a new one would be good)  So I continued with new house prep, and old house cleaning out.  The house had been vacant for 3 yrs, which means the yard and pool had been neglected for 3 yrs.  Luckily some of the neighbors had been cutting the front yard every few weeks to keep it in check, but the back yard was a jungle. Dad and I hauled 1500 lbs of weeds and bush/tree trimmings to the landfill.... no joke!   And that was not including what my brother in law and his dad took out of there to burn.
Here are some before and after shots:

But it was definitely worth all the headaches and backaches:

Then the last week in Sept we got a call from the bank, and they wanted to move up closing... which generally NEVER happens.  We said sure.... when?  They said Oct 5th!  Pretty much 2 weeks early.  Awesome!  We finished up the painting and other minor repairs on the 4th, signed the papers on the 5th and started moving that evening.  We have a great family and had a lot of help getting help with the move.  We planned on 2 weekends to get everything moved... We got 90% of it done in 1 day!  The houses were less than 1/2 mile apart, so we'd load up a trailer, take it down the street, and unload.   And with a team of 10 of us... we made pretty quick work of it.  We continued to deal with the little stuff for a few days, then moved my giant 90 gal saltwater fish tank the next weekend, and were pretty much done except moving our shed.  Then... like a miracle... the wife said... Since we are done with the move, are you going to still do the rally?  Hell Yeah!!  If a spot has opened up... So I emailed Ray again, and he said there was a spot open.  I'd be rider # 45.  Awesome.  Time to prep the bike!

Like many of the previous posts, I tend to not get the bike out enough between rallys.  And this one would be no different.  I probly put 200 miles on the bike from May to October. Luckily,  Ed's Last Resort 2012 would be the first rally that I didn't break anything during or immediately after the ride.  Yes the rear shock was toast, but I had already replaced that a few weeks back.  So all that was left to do was change the oil and try to find all my stuff after the move.  One other thing I decided to do along with the move, was sell my fish breeding business.  It was 30 something tanks I didn't want to have to move again!  So I found a buyer, and sold every piece of it.  This allowed me to finally purchase a motorcycle specific GPS and a wireless bluetooth headset to hear the turn by turn navigation. I went with the Zumo 665 and Sena SMH10 headset.  This will eliminate the ziplock bag over the GPS, and having to move the headphone wire from the GPS to the MP3 player and back.  That's what got me in trouble on Ed's Rally after loosing the headphone adapter for the GPS.  So I may have upgraded my status from 'Bubba Style' rallying to just 'Average Joe' rallying.  But his time I rode the bike to and from work, 5 or 6 times in the 3 weeks leading up to the rally to work on my stamina... and play with the GPS and headset.  I loaded up about 15 songs to a 4 GB microSD card for music, synced my phone w the Zumo to make calls, synced the headset with the Zumo, and got all the volumes sorted out for music, directions, and calls... I like this setup!  Works like a champ!!  Its nice to be able to listen to music on the long stretches of a ride, then still be able to get the alerts to turn.  This is going to make the rallies more enjoyable.

The weekend before the rally, we got the rally pack... minus the wild card information of what the "Fire and Ice" bonuses would be.  But most people figured Fire would be fire stations or eternal flames, and ICE would be roadside ice machines, or the Rallymaster's favorite, ice cream parlors.  Besides Fire and Ice, this year's side theme is "History on a Stick".
All bonuses are the very common plaques on the side of the road, and in parks, that gives a little bit of history of the area.  They gave us the names and locations of almost 400 of them.   And the point values per bonus would be the serial number of the marker.  Most markers in FL have an F number... F-123, F-35 etc.  If there is no number on the marker, then its worth 25 points.  But we would not be limited to the locations they gave us.  We could find ANY historical marker in FL or GA and claim the points.  So now there are only about 5000 to choose from.  Time to start searching online!  I found a site that had just about all the info I needed on many markers that were not on the list already... Exact GPS coordinates, maps, and most importantly... the serial number/point value.  This way I could skip over the lower point signs and go for the higher point signs.  There were huge clumps of signs in and around Tampa, Gainesville, and Cocoa, and the rest were scattered around.  But many of the point values were 200 or less, and most were just the standard 25 points.  But I was able to find on my secret site, most of the ones around Cocoa were 400-700 points each.  So I began my route planning to Brevard County and not looking anywhere else.  When it was done, I had 35 stops to make, all on the east coast, minus the 5 in Orlando, and one 5 miles from the start/finish.  That is a LOT of stops on a 10 hr rally.  Plus we had a 30 min mandatory lunch break.  So really we only had 9.5 hrs.  My route in Streets and Trips had me at 8.5 hrs with the lunch break included, so I had a buffer of 90 mins to do my 35 stops, plus whatever the Fire and Ice stops could be.  Its going to be close. But I have a couple of drop offs if I get behind.  I'm also using the latest version of Streets and Trips I just downloaded, and I tweaked the average speed settings a bit, so hopefully that will help with not getting too far behind.

I took Friday off to have a leisurely drive down to Dade City.  Since my planned route was all on the East Coast, there was no scoping out bonuses on the way down... although I did pass a few on HWY 98.  I'm just cruising and listening to music, taking my time.  I make a few stops since I'm not rushing for last minute stuff like drinks and snacks.  I made a stop at a Walmart to get some beef jerky to throw in my tank bag.  I was not about to leave the new Garmin on the bike as I shopped, so I unhooked it and took inside w me to be safe.  But when I was ready to leave, the GPS would not load the maps.  I could hear the music fine, but the maps would not load.  I turned it off and on a few times, and sometimes the maps would load, but no music.  And others, music but no maps. WTH!  I finally got them all working like they are supposed to and headed on down the road.  Then the same thing happened on the next stop.  No maps after I un-cradled and re-cradled the unit.  This time I couldn't get the maps to come back but the music still worked fine.  Well the music is on a micro-sd card that is NOT provided by Garmin.  I used one I had laying around in my office and is probably a few yrs old.  So I removed it just to see... Maps come right up.  Put it back in... NO MAPS!!  I did this a few times... back and forth.  I could never get the maps to come back up with the music card installed.  No brainer... I need the maps, not the music.  The card stayed out.  So much for riding with tunes.  I got to the hotel and checked in and talked to a few riders I had not met before, and a few others I knew.  We rode over to the riders meeting/dinner at Pappa Joes Italian Restaurant for some more trash talking and some good food.  I got to eat with Jim and Donna Phillips, Ron and Denise Guire, Phil Ward, and Cregg Crosby. And according to Phil, my High Speed Photo Taking Apparatus is beginning to be not so Top Secret, as he had a similar device.  And I heard a few others talking about trying one out.   There goes my 2 min per stop advantage.  But with this kind of rally, you need one due to all the stops.  Once everyone had a chance to eat, it was time to get the official rally packs with our flags, stickers, and finally explanation of the wild card bonuses.  "Fire" was to be any pre 1930s Firehouse, or pre 1950s firetruck,  as long as its being used as a memorial... not a junker in someones backyard.  And "Ice" fell true to Ray King's second love... Ice Cream.  We needed a photo of our flag at any non-chain ice cream shop.  So no Baskin Robins or DQ.  The kicker is we are REQUIRED to get a min of 2, with a max of 6.  I didn't like the required minimum, as last year I only found 2 of the wildcards.  But I like the max, since last year the winners found a little fishing town and got 50 nautical wild cards.    But hey... they lucked out and took full advantage.  Just like I would have.  I figured I would find a few ice cream shops out on the beach, so I didn't even bother searching for any prior to the start.  But again there would be one more voluntary task we could elect the next morning, but we won't find out until the morning meeting.  Last year I passed on that one, just because if you didn't complete the task you lost points.  So I'll probly pass again.  I headed off to the gas station to fill both tanks, and get some drinks, then back to the hotel for some sleep.   I did a last min check of my route, loaded it all in the Zumo and my backup GPS, and crashed for the night.

I woke up at 5:30 to shower and re-pack the bike before the 6:30 morning meeting.  The hotel has an OK continental breakfast, but I wish I would have gone to McDonalds instead.  At the meeting they told us the extra bonus would be getting a numbered golf ball and photographing it, our flag, and the sign of a golf course at 5 different golf courses.  Thats 5 more stops on top of the now mandatory 2 wildcards, and the 35 I had planned.... Nope.  Not gonna do it.  I think it was 5000 points to complete it, or loose 2000 if you don't.  Not worth the risk for me.  Plus I don't do well with last minute route changes, so I passed.  I got my license and registration bagged and tagged to get, hopefully this time, the no speeding bonus.  But my route was kinda conservative, so speeding shouldn't be required.  Around 6:50 I went out to warm up the bike, and wait for the start.  7:00 came and went and no one was out telling anyone to go, but a few riders started making their way out of the parking lot, so I just followed them out.  Here we go!

My first waypoint was 5 miles down the road, but since it was dark, I decided to make it my last stop on the way back, instead of trying to get a photo in the dark.  My first stop wasn't until Melbourne, 2 hrs later.  I was expecting to be dropping time on the GPS the whole ride over to increase my cushion since I would be making so many stops, but Streets and trips, and the Zumo both said 9:01 am when i left... and I got there at 8:59 am.  Hmmm. I may get way behind with all these stops.  But I had my drop dead time of when I had to leave the coast, so I would have to keep a close eye on that.  I started picking off the stops down on Melbourne Beach.  About 5 in, I checked my time and I was actually a few mins ahead of schedule.  And on my way off the beach, I spot an Ice Cream place... Wild Card 1 done.  I head north into Titusville to get a few more markers, and bam!  Another ice cream store.  WC 2 done.  Now I'm legal, so anything else is icing on the cake.  Then I spot a marker in a parking lot I just passed that was not on my list.  It was black like the other higher point markers I had been collecting, so I figured I'd stop.  It ended up being the highest point value I got all day.  Cool.  And since I was still ahead of schedule I decided not to drop the 2 markers out on Cape Canaveral and headed out there to get them.  The first one was quick and easy, but the 2nd on I couldn't find.  I drove all around the parking lot looking for it.  Nope.  Not there.  But as I was heading out, I noticed a pole in a flower bed.  That's where the sign USED to be.  So I took a photo of the pole and my flag and hoped for the best.  I picked up a few more signs on Merrit Island and around Titusville, then headed north to Cocoa.  I found one group of 3 signs, 100 feet apart... each almost 500 points.  That was a quick 1500 points.  And once I got my northern most marker... my 28th, I decided to take the lunch break.  This year it did not have to be a McDonalds, but that's what I found anyway.  I was still right on schedule.  Which means the 90 min buffer I worked in, was not needed, so If everything went as planned... I'd be 90 mins early.  IF.....  I got my start and finish receipts for the lunch bonus and started my trek south.  I decided to stop and  fill just my aux tank,  to be 100% sure I'd make it home on gas.  I got on 95 headed south to pick up one last marker right off the Interstate in Titusville, before I started West to Orlando.  Where the marker was located, was up on a slight hill, in the bend of a road, and no parking.  But grass everywhere, so I figured I run through the little ditch, and then up to the maker for the photo.  No water to be seen and the grass looked plenty dry so the tires shouldn't slip if it was damp.  Boy was I wrong.  As soon as the front tire hit the bottom of the ditch I knew I was in trouble.  It sank.  So I gunned it to try and power through it.  NOPE.  Buried to the frame.  I tried rocking it back n forth, and side to side... nothing.  Buried.  So like any good rally rider... I grabbed my flag and camera and got my photo.  Then started to figure what to do next.  A guy on a bicycle rode up and we tried pushing, but it wouldn't move an inch.  I saw a truck drive by slowly but didn't stop.  The cyclist said he'd go get his truck, but he was 3 miles from home.  He left, so I tried digging a bit with my hands, but only ended up with an exhaust pipe burn on my wrist.  The truck that passed slowly, came back with a friend of his who lived a block up the road.  We attached a thin strap around the forks, and to his hitch to pull it out.  The bike didn't move an inch before the little strap snapped.  They went back to the house and came back with a 'fire hose' strap, and some plywood.  I took the bags off the rear, and we were able to push the bike over far enough to get the wood under the rear tire, and then we built a road with the plywood strips.  With all that, it pulled right out with out any issues.  The front tire and brakes were clean as a whistle... the rear was nothing but mud.  The good samaritan told me to follow him to the house and hose it all off before I destroyed the rear brakes with all that mud and dirt.  It got a good wash down, and I tried to give him $20 bucks, but he refused.  Just a biker helping out a biker he said.  Bikers are the nicest people.  Total time wasted... 45 minutes.  Could have been a lot worse!  But I am still AHEAD of schedule!  I get back on the road, and as I'm passing by the mud pit, I see another rider there staring at the torn up ditch looking a little puzzled.  I'm sure he's glad he didn't do the same thing with his Gold Wing.  I wave as I drive by on the way back to the hwy.  Everything felt ok w the bike but I did a few hard braking sequences and bounced around to make sure the forks weren't binding and the brakes worked. Off to Orlando.  

My first stop in Orlando was right off the Expressway (SunPass is great) at the old Army Airbase, which is now an Executive airport. Grabbed that one and headed off to another site that was actually 2 identical markers on opposite sides of a pond.  I'm in old downtown either on Orange Blossom Trail or Colonial Dr, dealing w stop n go traffic.  Everyone in front of me stops hard, so I get on the brakes a little harder than normal as I'm passing through the intersection, and then I'm flying through the windshield and sliding on the road.  WTF.  It was over before I knew what was happening.  They have pretty brick paved cross walks, with 6 or 8 inches of concrete on each side of the bricks.  So braking hard on the asphalt with lots of grip was fine.  Then when the tire hit the concrete, it slipped and locked, then hit the bricks locked up... wheel turned hard right and threw me over the handle bars through the windscreen.  I wasn't doing more than 10 mph, so with all my gear on I just stood up, looked around to be sure I wasn't about to be hit, and started picking up what had been tossed from my tank bag.  A man and woman stopped to help me pick up the bike.  The woman was shocked I wasn't dead, let alone hurt.  She kept asking if I was sure I was OK.   I assured her I was OK.  We picked up the bike and I moved to the parking area on the side of the street, and we picked up the rest of what had fallen off the bike.   All in all, probly took 2 mins tops.  I thanked the people, and did a quick check on the bike.

Bag was attached, foot peg attached, mirror bent back but not broken, fairing cracked where it had been cracked before... but nothing to prevent me from riding it.  I pack it all up, and see it it starts.  It took about 10 secs of turning over, but it cranked up.    I walk around it to be sure nothing was leaking, which it wasn't.  So now its decision time.  2 incidents in 1 hour... I decided to cut my losses and just head straight back.  There were 3 markers in one park 5 or 10 miles away but I didn't want to press my luck any more.  But the 2 markers on opposite sides of the pond were on the road back to the expressway.  Fine.. I'll get those, then head back.  A quick 900 points and I got back to the expressway and headed back to Dade City.  I still had a big buffer so I took it easy all the way back.  I will tell you though.  After riding behind a windshield for 2 years, riding w/o one is a diff experience.  I may need to look into a quieter helmet.  The cheap Hawk helmet is pretty loud fully out in the elements. I got the last bonus 5 miles from the end, and eased on in the hotel parking lot.  David and Valerie Gillespie greeted me with a "Why are you back so early? You still have time to get more bonuses.  Go get some more points!"  So I pointed out my busted windshield with a brief explanation, and that I was done.  Mama Valerie was real concerned about me... so I had to reassure her too that I really was fine.  Bikers are the nicest people.  I got checked in as a finisher, and went back to the room for a shower and dry shirt, before I went to score out.  It took me a while to get all the locations transcribed into my riders log, and everything in order, but I scored out and ended up with 22,800 something points with the 31 markers, and 3 ICE wildcards.  Not too bad considering the extra adventures I had.  But I messed up the rider log, so they docked me 1000 points for that.  But they DID take the picture of the post that was missing the sign at full point value.  I figured it was a top 10 finish. We waited for everyone to score out, then ate, and finally got around to the scoring.  The top finishers were pretty close on points with about 500 points between each place. Each place was pretty much the difference of one sign.   But they kept counting higher with out saying my name.  I squeaked out a 2nd place finish and received a nice plaque.  Awesome!  And the winner... with 120,000 points!!!!  WTF!!!  Sal Terranova!  He did what no other rider did.  He went to GA.  I didn't look at a single marker in GA.  But apparently they number their signs differently than FL.  Each county gets a 2 digit number, then each sign gets a 2 or 3 digit number.  Sal found county # 95 and had to leave before he got all the signs so he could get back in time.  So when I thought I was doing good with 500 - 600 points each sign... he was getting 9500 points per sign.  Ouch!  Luckily he was the only one who went to GA, so he outsmarted everyone. And if you know Sal... He is not known for outsmarting others!  Good job Sal!  See you at the next Cape Fear!!  I thought loosing to Greg Rice in the Cape Fear by 20,000 points was bad... But 100,000!!!  Wow.  But again... I'd rather loose by a lot than a little.

I decided to head back to Tallahassee that night... and what a mistake.  About 30 miles up the road, the fog hit.  That was the worst fog I'd ever seen, let alone rode a motorcycle through.  Many times I had to slow down to 10 mph or less just to be able to see the lines in the road.  It would come and go, but probably half the trip home was less than 30 mph.  And it was a wet fog, so I was continually having to wipe the water off my face shield.  Luckily I didn't have to wipe off the windshield :)  I kept trying to fall in behind cars and follow their lights as best as I could A) just to have a reference to where the road was, and B) to take out any deer that may wander out.  Luckily the cars never ran off the road or into any deer.  But it was a long a crappy ride back.  I made it home in one piece, showered again, and climbed into and nice WARM and DRY bed.  Rally Complete!  That takes my average finish back to 5.25 from 7th.

It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed something didn't look right when viewing the bike from the rear. The bags looked droopy.  So I check the bag on the side the bike went down on, and sure enough, the 'antler' mounting bracket is broken.  Some how the bag made the 300 miles after the drop w/o falling off.  Then I looked the bike over even more, and found the left foot peg bracket was also broken.  Again... luckily it was the bottom part where the retaining pin mounted the peg to the bracket that broke, and not the top so the pin stayed in keeping the foot peg from falling off.  So add another $80 to the $200 or so for a new windshield... it was not a cheap fall.  But again... it could have been a lot worse.  The bike can be fixed. I ended up with a sore left wrist for a week or three, but nothing needing medical attention.  I'm still waiting on the parts to fix everything, so 5 weeks later... I still have not ridden it.   I think I need to upgrade/downgrade to an adventure bike with crash bars or something.  I need the "off the pavement" security... but do I want to give up the comfort and protection of the big fairing-ed bike.  Time will tell.

Miles