On Thursday I rode up to my start location in Youngstown, OH. Approximately 14 other bikes would be leaving from there as well. Several participants were two-up husband/wife teams. A group of us wandered down to the Quaker Steak for dinner and socializing. Each of us had already made our plans for the rally so there was a lot of hemming and hawwing going on trying to get that little bit of info on what route others were going on.
In this rally there were two Elvis themed combination bonuses. If you rode to 4 or 5 designated bonus locations, you would get an additional bonus for the combo. One of the combo bonuses had a location in downtown Nashville, TN at the Country Music Hall of Fame. As we are sitting at dinner, ESPN begins broadcasting scenes from downtown Nashville where the NFL Draft is being held. The feeling of "oh s#*^" was obvious around the table. How would we be able to get past all the blocked streets to get to the bonus locations??? Needless to say, dinner was cut short as we made our way back to the hotel to replan our routes. I decided that I would not attempt to go into downtown Nashville but I would later learn that others were successful.
With a new plan laid out and loaded into my GPS units, I get some restless sleep and get up Friday morning for our 7am start. The START requirement called for a dated business receipt with a Youngstown, OH address. Below are two pics of my start receipt. I originally took the photo on the left and was about to submit it but something didn't seem right. I did a double take and noticed that the timestamp had been cut off the bottom of the receipt. I would have been sad if I had left with that receipt photo. I took a second photo as shown on the right and it turned out to be a good one to submit.
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My plan was to head south to Pittsburgh for a big bonus but it was risky to do at rush hour. With the rain the risk was increased but I was committed to the plan. Fortunately I was only delayed about 10 minutes in reaching the bonus location. The requirement here was that I needed to be in the photo which means that I need someone else to take the photo. I carry a small tripod that can be used for this purpose but with people around it's usually not a problem to get someone to take your photo. People are often intrigued with the idea that you're running a scavenger hunt and they enjoy being able to help out.
Next up was bonus location that I had visited before in another rally. In downtown Wheeling, West Virginia is the Capital Theater. It's a quick bonus to capture as it is right off the interstate where you can exit, capture and be on your way in a few minutes.And on to the next bonus, the giant Gavel bonus located in downtown Columbus, OH outside the Ohio Supreme Court building. I've been to this one before as well so I roughly knew where it was. Unfortunately I miss my exit and wasted several minutes trying to get back to the bonus. As I pulled up to the bonus I look down and notice that the power cable plugged into my phone is smoking. Yep, I fried my phone. The plug had melted into the powerport on the phone. Ugh...
Arriving in Cincinnati, the Amans and I pull into the parking lot of a vintage sign company where our next bonus is painted on a nearby wall. Several other riders were at the location at the same time. Something unusual in rallies. As you can see in the picture, I adopted a new strategy for me that was copied from a rider that participated last year. I made a small rally placard and taped it to my windshield. This made it convenient to roll up on a bonus location, document the stop and snap a quick picture. This allowed me to capture many of my bonus locations in under 2 minutes. With the rally book also saved on my iPad, I am able to read the bonus requirements prior to arrival. Every second counts.
At this point I split off from most of the group to ride due south of Cincinnati to capture a relatively high point value bonus located in Cynthiana, KY. I don't what the relevance is to the town but located on the back of the local Opera House is a huge mural to the TV show The Walking Dead. I'm glad that I got here in daylight as this would have been impossible to capture at night.
Upon leaving the beautiful countryside of northern Kentucky, it was back on the slab heading to Louisville. There were 3 bonus locations within the city but one was downtown and being close to rush hour and being a bit behind schedule, I made the call to drop one of the three bonus locations. First up was Bowman Field which was a simple Historical Marker. After fighting some heavy traffic I made it across town to where Elvis' grandfather is buried to photograph the entrance to the cemetery. I'm not sure who was shadowing who but again I ran into the Jeff and Erin Arsenault at the bonus location.
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Now ahead was the longest run of the rally, a 245 mile dash to a daytime only bonus located in eastern Tennessee. I had to pass up a number of bonus locations along the way so that I could make the daytime bonus but I planned on picking some of them up on the way back to the finish.
Just a short distance off I-40 is the Loretta Lynn Dude Ranch. Wow, quite the spread. Just about everything that you could ever want to do outdoors is available there. The grounds were beautiful. The 10 miles up and back provided a blessed change from the drone of the slab.Apparently some other riders were bit by the Garmin Goatpath feature where the GPS attempts to route you down non-existent roads or gravel roads. I believe this is a picture of what some riders coming in from the north were faced with. And to make it even better, Garmin thinks this is a 55 mph road.
The diversion to Loretta Lynn's Ranch cost me a significant daytime bonus located in Jackson, TN. The business below required to capture the front and the mural on the side with the motorcycle in the picture. I missed the allowable window by about 20 minutes. It's better to go ahead and claim the bonus and be denied than it is to just not claim the bonus at all. It's ok, I'm clearly late for the daytime bonus.
Now it was time to hot foot it to Memphis for an important time restricted bonus located at the Tennessee Welcome Center located almost directly below the I-40 bridge spanning the Mississippi River. For those that have been on that route, the big pyramid on the north side of the bridge is now a unique destination Bass Pro Shop. The Visitor Center closes at 10 pm and my bonus was a photo of the Elvis statue inside. Since this was required for my only combination bonus, I had to make it in time. At 9:45 pm I shut the bike down and hustled inside to take my picture.
Now here it is, 10 pm in downtown Memphis on a Friday night and there's a party down on Beale St., right where 2 more bonus locations are at. With some nifty alley work and sympathetic security officers, several of us were able to slip in and capture our bonus locations, another Elvis statue and the Memphis Hall of Fame sign.
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After negotiating a joint visit with another Virginia based rider, Lance, we made an amazingly quick exit of downtown Memphis and headed to the Graceland mansion. Sadly, the mansion is located in a somewhat rough part of town and even the rally book mentioned that you don't want to linger at the location after dark. Fortunately, the street was clear and we were able to roll up to the bonus and snap the required photo of the historical marker shown below.
I finished up and was ready to depart and Lance told me to go ahead and not wait for him. Thus off into the night heading south for a few more bonus stops before turning in for my rest bonus. I arrived in Oxford, MS a bit after 11 pm and headed downtown only to find that Ole Miss University apparently has a spring street party every year on this weekend. OMG, to be 22 again. The bonus locations was an old English style phone booth located on the town square. The requirements included that I had to be in the picture. A quick ask if anyone would mind taking my picture had a dozen students hustling my way. A nice young couple helped me out and got the required shot.
A quick exit from Oxford and back onto the nighttime highway made better with the new LEDrider lights. Holy cow, they throw a lot of light.
Slipping into Pontotoc, MS in the middle of the night had the local constabulary interested in what I was doing. After snapping my bonus photo, an officer pulled up behind me to ask what I was doing. I simply said, "Scavenger Hunt" and he nodded his head and drove away.
Now I could make my run into Tupelo, MS where I planned my rest stop. I had confirmed before with the Red Roof Inn that their receipts included a suitable timestamp. All was good and I checked in at 12:54 a.m. for a shower and some rest. Despite running this rally with a cold, I was feeling pretty good at this point.
Great stuff, James!
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