Travel Log Archive

March 3, 2008 Tim’s 2007 SPANK Rally experience - Part 2: The First Leg

My cell phone alarm, which I set as a back-up, went off just before my wake-up call did Friday morning. It was 4:30 AM and I’d been awake for about fifteen minutes. Before long I was dressed, suited up and trying to get my Rally drawers on over my riding pants. There’s no graceful way to do this and I was envisioning attempting this on the side of the road later in the day. Hmm…probably not the most difficult thing I’d do in the next 30 hours. I was a little early to the morning Rider's meeting but there were a few folks already milling about. I was anxious to hear the rest of what George had in store for us and soon he arrived with another set of packets for everybody. This additional informational sheet was called The Other Shoe......... This is the hand-out we received at the meeting. By the time all of the questions were answered at the morning meeting it was a little past 6. We were now “on the clock” and I would not be able to ride anywhere until I could process all of the information I had just been given. I quickly decided to give myself until 7 AM to plan a route and hit the road. I returned to my room to try and make sense of all this. I could see that the smart thing would probably be to get to all of the soft CP’s to activate all of the bonus listings first and then plan my route. This would require additional route planning during the Rally, not only on the clock but on the fly. Of course, that would mean having my laptop with me during the event. That’s something I had not planned on doing. My laptop is a bit old and the battery doesn’t last very long on its own so I would need to find someplace along the way where I could plug into an AC outlet to let the software do its thing. (Note to self: make sure and get a DC power converter for your laptop before entering any more rallies) With all of the different route combinations and optional checkpoints, it all seemed to be too much for me to think about right then. I was a little overwhelmed and quickly decided to “dumb-down” the first leg to something I could get a handle on. My plan was to take the bonus list I already had and plot a route that included one of the soft CP’s, trying to arrive there during an odd hour. Once there, I would quickly scan the newly gained list for anything that I could easily add to my “base” route and hit the road. I knew this would not be a winning strategy but I didn’t come down here to try to win anything. I came to gain experience and ride my motorcycle and this seemed like a good plan to accomplish both - at the time. Before leaving, I jotted down an ordered list of the bonii that were on my route, along with anything that seemed important about each one. Things like what should be included in any photos or what question I was being asked, to make sure I didn’t forget to do whatever was required at each stop. I also included the waypoint number so that I could route waypoint to waypoint as I went, as well as the points value for each stop in case I had to make some "on-the-fly" decisions to delete one or more bonii. I then stuffed this note sheet into the clear map pocket on top of my tank bag so that I could refer to it as often as necessary. My simple notes to keep me on track. After a mental coin flip to determine which of the soft CP's to head for, I was off and riding before 7 AM. I decided to make for the Hemet Market with a slight detour to waste about fifteen minutes, ensuring that I arrived during the 9 o'clock hour to bag the 15,000 points. The only bonus location that seemed easy enough to add to my route was the Cranston Fire Station. My route for Leg 1 was now finalized. The route I finally arrived at for Leg 1. The thumb tacks each represent a bonus location, although not all of them were available to me since I had not been to all of the soft checkpoints. It was ~15 miles up a very entertaining road to take a picture of the station house then right back down the same road to the market to get my photo approved. This was pretty uneventful except for the over zealous Forest Ranger who was convinced that me placing my Rally drawers on the USFS “Cranston Station” sign constituted defacement of Government property. I got the impression that she was making stuff up as she spoke, which really irked me for some reason. After debating with her for a short while, I eventually realized that arguing with her was just wasting time that was supposed to be used for enjoying all of these great motorcycle roads that George had led me to and I gave it up, opting for a standard pic of the building. This, of course, was perfectly acceptable back at the market and I made a mental note to stop taking things so seriously. Sheesh. Next on my route was a short backtrack to Anza for a photo of a giant, sheet metal amigo playing a bass violin and a trip along a brick paver walkway at a schoolhouse, searching for the brick that said, “Have a nice day.” With these small bonii secured, I headed out to Salton Sea. The next bonus on my list was something called Truck Haven. Not living in California, I had no idea what this might be but it sounded like one of those gigantic truck stop/travel centers even if did appear to be out in the middle of nowhere. As I was getting low on fuel, I thought Truck Haven would be a great place to fill up before heading to Calipatria. As I rode through Coachella though, I noticed a station on my right and decided to stop short and fuel up here, (”see gas, buy gas”). This proved to be a very fortunate move as “Truck Haven” is merely a gravel trail off Highway 86 with a tiny commemorative marker. No gas here. The instructions here were to note what color the truck is on the tiny sign that commemorates Truck Haven. Calipatria, California is home to the tallest flag pole in the world below sea level. The town sits at 184 feet below sea level and the tip of the flagpole indicates sea level. It was this pole that I intended to photograph. The only drama here was the glut of road construction in my way. I didn’t realize until later just how much time all of this roadwork had cost me. Oh, the flag pole is really cool. The rest of the route was to be West on I-8 with a foray onto Hwy. 94 to pick up some points by the Mexican Border and then decide if I had time for anything else before making a line for the hard checkpoint. I had to make it to this check point before 8 PM or I was through. Somewhere along I-8 I began calculating distances and time and it occurred to me that it was likely already too late to even make any of the bonii off of 94. I grudgingly decided that I needed to bail out now and head straight for Crestline. Obviously, it didn’t matter how many points I had to leave on the map if I didn’t make the CP on time. Had I thought of this earlier, I could’ve avoided Interstate 8 altogether. On the bright side, I was riding in California where lane sharing is the rule of the road. I’ve spent enough time in the state the last few years to get somewhat comfortable with this practice which is frowned upon in Washington State. I’m certainly no expert but I got a little better at it this day as it was necessary for nearly 60 miles of my trip up I-215. I know this much, had it not been for lane sharing through the heavy San Diego area traffic, I would have definitely DNF’ed this Rally. With a quick fuel stop in San Bernardino, taking just enough time to scarf some trail mix and make sure my Rally drawers were on, I was ready for the last push of the first leg. The appropriately named “Rim of the World Highway” twists and turns skyward toward Big Bear Lake and goes on seemingly forever. The view from the check point, which was set up in what appeared to be a scenic viewpoint turn-out, was worth whatever minor aggravation I had encountered this day and I managed to arrive with 20 minutes to spare. Rally worker John helps make sure all of my paperwork is in order at the hard check point at Crestline. Photo courtesy Steve Hobart Leg 1 was now complete and I felt pretty good about it. I knew I hadn’t scored a ton of points but I had enjoyed some truly euphoric motorcycling and I was still in the Rally. It was here that we received the Bonus Listing for Leg 2 and it looked to be a bit more “normal” with no soft check points or on-the-fly routing. The bad news for me was that I needed to find somewhere to plug in my laptop to plan a route. I was pretty sure there was a Starbuck’s across the street from the Shell station at the base of this big hill... On to Part 3