| Original Message |
Kirk G. (no login)
Posted Jun 26, 2009 2:49 PM
After have a such a great time on the ButtLite IIII and the '08 MN1K, I talked my dad into riding in the '09 MN1K with me. I told him I'd take it easy on him and make sure he had a grand time. He says he was not disappointed.
On Friday, we meandered our way to Leo's picking up some Ville's for our Villian's Grand Tour. A nice lazy ride before the crazy rally riding. We got to Leo's where I ran into many familiar faces and smiles. Telling my dad, these people are crazier than me, if that's possible. The meal was great and as other have said... did I really need to eat all that before trying to plan a route. Made me sleepy.
I talked to my pa about my rally philosophy. I have no aspirations to win the thing. I'm in it to challenge myself, have a great time and see some things I'd never have taken the time to see if it weren't for this rally. When we got the rally pack, we decided that picking up the mug on Friday nite was a guaranteed 500 points, why not.
We got back to the hotel, dug out the rally sheets, maps, pens, paper, etc and got ready to figure out where we are going to go. My rally planning centers around 1 or 2 things I would like to see and then plan the route around that. The things that jumped out at us were the Geographical Center in Rugby and Lucky Lindy's boyhood home in little falls. After figuring out what else we could pick up coming and/or going, we decided on the southern swing first to pick up the timed bonuses that were along that way.
Our first stop was to hit Watkins for the McCarthy bonus. Two other riders showed up while we were there. They were the last rally riders we saw until ND.
#2 stop was in Terrace, MN where the misquitos were ready to carry away a person. Cool little fishing spot that seemed to be pretty popular.
#3 stop was in Kensington, MN and the Rune Stones. We had a little trouble reading the directions on this one. Said to go to the end of the rode, so we stayed on the road and ended up leaving the park. Turned around and went back and turned into the "park" where they were setting up for a wedding that day. Stopped to get gas on the way out of town and asked the gal what a rune stone was. Ah, Vikings left it. Ok, good thing I'm not a Vikings fan.
#4 stop was in Fairmount, ND. The stone creations (grottos?) by the church. The neighbor came out to chat with us while we were taking pics. Wondering why cycleists were stopping by to see them. he wanted to chat more, but we need to be on our way. Still trying to get to Ma's Cycle before they closed.
#5 stop was at Ma's Cycle. Not being a triumph rider, I decided to pick up a coffee mug for a friend who is a Triumph rider. that'll make a nice little gift. Dad found some nice riding gloves. The guys working there were "complaining" how busy it was... "It's just been crazy around here, we've got a rally going thru and it's been crazy". Dad and I re-evaluated where we were, the pace we were keeping and if we still thought we could make Rugby and get back to Leo's in time. We agreed, let's press on to Jamestown.
#6 gas receipt in Jamestown and another discussion if we think we can make it to Rugby and back. It was about 3ish I think and we decided, we've come this far, let's go for it.
#7 picture of the monument for the geographical center of north america. I haven't been there since I was a small boy. Seemed like a larger monument back then?? Did it shrink? Talked about how long it would take to get back to Leo's and we decided we'd start heading back that way. probably make a straight shot and have to skip seeing Lucky's boyhood home. We decided you know what, I think we can stop by Hatton, ND and pick up the decent sized bonus there. Neat story of the man to fly over the north pole. We headed back to I-29 and headed towards Fargo. along the way, I look off the the west side of the interstate into the setting sun and think.. "look at that horse running thru the pasture, hey, that's a MOOSE!"
Stopping in the MN rest area at Morehead, we talked again about the time we had left and what we should do. I got the route sheet/maps out and said, hey... let's follow 10 down, we can pick up Detroit Lakes and Little Falls (yeah!) on the way back and really shouldn't loose any time. We can still get our rest bonus.
#8 stop in Detroit Lakes. Never been there before, bet it looks nice in the day time. Grabbed the GAR bonus and headed on... bars were letting out and it was time to watch out for drunks.
We stopped in Staples, MN to get our rest bonus. We were both pretty tired by that point. Dad got a room to keep the "girls" happy for his time stamp and I went to a gas station to get my time "punched". we caught a nap and were back and running again.
#9 making our way to the boyhood home of Lucky Lindy, get our picture and start rolling back towards Leo's. Down to 94, around 494 to 35... see other riders heading the same direction, get into Leo's with about 30 mins or so to spare. What a fun 24 hours.
Dad had a great time (as did I). The only close call with wildlife was a kamakazi skunk. Glad I didn't hit that one! We finished and saw the 2 things we set out to see. And clocked more than 1k miles.
Was doing some calculating. I only need 1451.5 miles in the next 2 MN1K's to get the Bentdahl award.... hmmm... doable 
Thanks to all the volunteers. |
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