Rally Route – Albany, Bronx, Springfield, Boston, Wellfleet, Mystic
Saturday, June 10 – Sunday, June 11
(~ 994 miles)

We awoke on time, and I put on the coffee while getting together what I needed for the impound and check-in. Made a quick trip down the street for a breakfast sandwich and made it back to the 05:00 bike impound with about a minute to spare. Had my odometer observed and that was that until the rider’s meeting. I went back upstairs to collect my wife and gazed down at the parking lot buzz.

We attended the rider’s meeting at 05:25, and there were no major surprises announced that would affect our route, hallelujah. We turned in our odo cards in exchange for our books and were sent on our way…game on! Last minute restroom break and since it was still before 06:00, we decided to take care of our book report bonus right then and there. Keeping in mind the emphasis on reading comprehension during rallies, we took the book report instructions literally and made three statements about our book (in neat penmanship):

1. This book has a white cover.
2. This book has 107 pages.
3. This book contains two classic plays.

We filed the report away in the receipt bag for later and in two minutes, we were pulling out of the parking lot – about seven minutes to six, still ahead of schedule! The GPS didn’t quite zero in on us right away, so I had to do a short loop through a couple traffic lights before it was clear where to go, then we were off.

There were big bonuses in Springfield and Northampton MA but weren’t available until 09:30 and 10:00, so we would be circling back for those later. We headed northwest through East Granby, crossing into MA in Southwick and picking up US 20 in Westfield. This becomes the very nicely curved Jacob’s Ladder Scenic Byway as you head west, and the early morning provided little in the way of traffic to prevent us from enjoying ourselves on this great road.

Our first bonus was in Huntington at the town library, where we needed a shot of the book return box at the entrance. Char and the rally flag have to be in every photo as well.

There was also a wildcard bonus for getting a photo with your book in front of one of the library bonuses in the rally pack. So this was a twofer and we were able to cross that wildcard off our list and out of mind.

The next stretch of US 20 continued to delight us. A work van passed us like we were standing still on these curvy roads – must be a local – and so we used him as a rabbit for a while, charging along the quiet roadway. Somewhere on 20 or MA 8, a black bear suddenly ran out of the woods from the left, paused as it almost ran into the side of the van just ahead of us, which simply swerved a bit and kept going. The bear then continued it’s path across our lane to the other side of the road as I was grabbing some brake. We was thankful it hadn’t decided to just stop in the middle or do something funky. Adrenaline coursing at the near miss but also at seeing a bear at all, we continued on but no longer tried staying with the van.

The only other wildcard bonus we’d found in the rally pack was no surprise – purchase a pint of Grade A amber maple syrup, from Vermont OR Massachusetts. We passed by a little country store and I spotted a little sign for “maple syrup sold here”. We pulled a U-ey and purchased a full quart of the stuff to feed the Rallymaster’s apparently insatiable syrup craving (plus, they didn’t have pint sizes of the right flavor). The receipt was good, so no photo was necessary. Boom! All done with the wildcards right out of the gate, that much less to think about!

Bucksteep Manor in Washington MA was our next stop, though I can’t remember the literature connection now. This was a very quick roadside stop and we were running perhaps 20 min ahead of schedule at this point.

Next up was this old former schoolhouse, North Street School, in Dalton MA. This was a juicy 5000 pointer.

Then the Crane Museum of Papermaking, also in Dalton, and which required about a  quarter mile ride on a road under construction that had just had all the pavement stripped – worse than a regular gravel road that’s been packed down. We discussed whether to photograph the words over the entrance or this sign, and ended up getting both. This was the correct bonus pic.

We continued on up to Pittsfield to the Arrowhead House, where Melville finished writing Moby Dick. This was our first bonus of the big WHLE combo and was a very quick stop. We ran into our first fellow rally riders while here, another 2-up couple.

We continued west on US 20 into New York, headed for another WHLE combo bonus in Albany. We were still running about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and I knew there was another nice bonus in Troy, just a hop skip and jump north of Albany. I hemmed and hawed and ran a couple scenarios on my GPS, then finally decided we’d go for it, even though it would eat up our current time advantage.

Here’s the MAX BMW in Troy NY. They sponsor the Minuteman every year, providing the only BMW shirts I’ll probably ever wear, so a big THANKS! 🙂

After the quick out-n-back to Troy on I-787, we stopped off in Albany, still pretty quiet in the early weekend morning. The GPS took us precisely where we needed to go and we got the pic of this historical marker about Herman Melville in a postage stamp sized park surrounded by intersections, our second WHLE combo bonus.

We were now about 25 minutes BEHIND schedule after adding the MAX bonus, but I felt sure we could make it up over the course of the rally, added to the fact that the route had a half hour of cushion already built in.

Now we had a long interstate run of about 2 hours down I-87 to the Bronx to get a photo of the gravestones of Melville and his wife. The day really began to heat up in the late morning, making us sleepy on the boring highway ride. Traffic wasn’t jam-packed but it was constant and not super fast, so we weren’t able to gain much if any time back on the rally clock during this leg.

When we finally got to the cemetery, the GPS tried to take us in via a gate that was locked. It looked like a main gate, but no way in and we were distressed for a few moments until getting directions to the actual main entrance from someone inside the fence. We found the graves from there without further issue, crossing off our third WHLE bonus.

Getting out of the Bronx on the Hutchinson River Parkway turned out being the worst traffic of the entire rally (surprise!), with traffic coming to a halt with stop-n-go for a few miles – the hot sun beating down. Just as I was about to try an exit and find another way with Waze, things started to move and we finally got out of there, on to I-684 which looks like it’s had some decent re-surfacing (at least until you hit CT).

The next stop was the MAX dealership in Brookfield CT off Route 7, and we kept on moving.

The next bonus was a big 9000 points, but we had to earn them by going inside the White Horse Pub in New Preston CT. The rally pack directed us to get our photo taken alongside a framed check written by Charles Dickens. Because this required the rider in the photo and the pillion must ALWAYS be in the photo, I interpreted it to mean we both had to be in  it this time. Luckily, a patron in the pub was happy to snap the shot of us and interested to hear about our scavenger hunt.

The young fellow directing parking outside (must be a very popular pub!) in shorts and a tank top commented “You must be hot in all that gear.”

Yes. Yes we are. And we’re just getting started. Braaaap!

There were two 1500 point bonuses nearby a few miles out of our way, that’d I’d made note of in case we found ourselves doing well on our schedule. We were still behind, so we ignored them and pressed on to the northeast, zig-zagging our way up through western CT and passing within a mile or two of rally HQ as we picked up I-91.

Next up was a familiar bonus location from last year’s Team Lyle rally, at the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Park in Springfield MA. This was another one that directed the rider to get a photo of yourself in the chair, so we enlisted another friendly passer-by to get us both in front of the sculpture.

The direction we chose was north on I-91 to Northampton for two bonuses located right downtown amidst the shops and shoppers milling about. Snapped a shot of the Raven Used Books entrance way while parked on a steep hill just off the main drag.

The next bonus was for a big 8000 points and looked to be just up the street. It was a tea shop inside a marketplace, which seemed to indicate we’d need to be taking a short walk away from the bike. The coordinates seemed to be a bit off as we navigated the busy main street and down a couple alleyways looking for the marketplace. We again enlisted 3rd party aid from a local walking by, who directed us to the Thornes Marketplace right on the main street, literally right around the corner from the Raven bookstore.

We ran into Gerry, a fellow puzzled rally rider, who parked by us once he saw we were on the right track and we all trooped through the throngs of lightly-dressed shoppers in our boots and textile gear, up a large stairway, and found the tea bar for our photos.

Walked quickly back to the bike and scooted out to I-91 back south to the Mass Pike, which took us eastbound for a good long while to the Natick exit. As Char recited the next bonus instructions, we realized we’d be in for a longer hike this time, but I was committed to sticking with our plan, despite still being behind schedule, knowing that we could skip couple bonuses along I-495 later if we needed to, to make up some time.

MA 126 brought us north up to Walden Pond State Reservation in Concord MA, where we needed to hike out .6 miles around the pond to the site of Thoreau’s cabin and back, for 6500 points. Having lived in this area once, we were familiar with the Walden layout and knew the parking lot would be a time suck. We pulled over next to the stairway leading straight down to the bathhouse, set the hazzard lights blinking, shed our jackets and set off on our trek.

The path was easy and level graded, but the 86F temperature made hiking in MC boots/pants a bit challenging, expecially for Char, whose Joe Rocket boots gave her blisters. We got a lot of funny looks from the other folks we passed walking the path – no doubt our crazy helmet hair and the looks of flushed determination had something to do with that.

We got our photo and returned the way we came, passing by a wayward raccoon that was out and about in daylight, entertaining some of the beachgoers.

Sweating heavily by the time we returned to the bike, we had a quick drink and pulled our gear back on reluctantly. The things we do for points!

There were a few more bonuses around the Concord area that we now fixed our sights on. Unfortunately, this meant no extended riding wind to cool us off after our hike!

First up was the Ralph Waldo Emerson house.

Then the Louisa May Alcott house down the street. We had to both leave the bike and walk around the house to the gift shop entrance for this photo.

Back around front we ran into our friends, Jeff and Erin, also running the rally 2-up. We exchanged brief words, planted the evil seed of doing the Walden hike in their heads and took off.  }:-)

Our Garmin then led us through the Concord square rotary and up a dead end street to try to get us to Author’s Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. We were still flustered from our hike and not paying attention, because we’ve been there before and know the way in. Once we realized our mistake, we back-tracked through the square and into the cemetery via the front gate.

This was another one where we both needed to leave the bike in order to climb the small hill which is the final resting place of several literary masters, including Daniel Hawthorne, who’s tombstone was the bonus. This was our fourth WHLE bonus, as the rally pack mentioned Melville in reference to Hawthorne.

I know the next bonus well, having visited it in both my previous Minuteman runs, though both times in complete darkness. This was my first visit in daylight, though it was still a quarter mile walk down the path, over the bridge to snap the statue, and back. Hopefully, that concludes the hiking for today’s program!

It was about 18:00 and I should have thought more at the time about getting to the high point bonus at the House of Seven Gables in Salem MA before it closed at 19:00. It was the last bonus in our route with a time restriction, so it would have been smart to go for it now and then do some re-routing afterward. But we were still a bit off our game and our brains were on slow simmer inside our helmets. We continued with the plan and headed north on back roads through Carlisle and up to US 3.

On the Road is one of my all time favorite books and I’ve probably read it a dozen times over the years. Visiting Jack Kerouac’s gravesite was an unexpected surprise as I hadn’t even realized it was located in Lowell MA in the huge St. Patrick’s cemetery. Garmin again got confused getting us through an open gate, so we found our own way and the waypoint was spot on. The grave was easy to find due to all the offerings left by Kerouac fans paying their respects to the beat generation master.

At this point I realized we would miss out on the Salem bonuses (13,000 points!) and kicked myself for missing one of the critical high pointers on the route. It did gain us some time back, but I also wanted to try to recoup some of the missed points if we could later on. We’d have to see.

We hopped on I-495 up to Andover and located what we hoped was the correct house once owned and redesigned by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Pretty nice looking stonework. There were no signs, but the house appeared to be the correct address, so we got our photo and moved on.

A few back roads and MA 133 brought us to the nice little hamlet of Georgetown, for a photo of the John Updike’s former home. The bike had to be in this photo and we had no trouble, but heard from other riders later that the homeowners must have complained and the local PD started shooing people away at some point.

Now that Salem was out of the picture, we bee-lined straight down to Boston via I-95 and US 1. I needed gas, but kept missing the stations on Route 1 and then just figured we’d have to get it on the way out of the city. Traffic wasn’t too bad and we made it downtown without much trouble. The bonus was a plaque next to the entrance of a hotel that Charles Dickens had apparently frequented when in town.

We pulled up in front of all the valets at the swanky Omni Hotel on School Street, scanning the building for what we needed. There was a large plaque right next to the entrance but no mention of Dickens so we asked one of the valets who pointed out another smaller pair of plaques down at the building’s corner. Sure enough, it mentioned Dickens so we took the photo, but I insisted on another one of the entrance plaque by the door, following the wording of the rally pack (207-W was still very fresh in my mind from the Mason-Dixon!).

The smaller one turned out to be the correct plaque, so we received the full 6500 points.

Then we did several laps around the Post Office Square area, fighting the one way streets to try to find the next bonus on Milk Street, across from where Ben Franklin apparently lived. The tall buildings played havoc with our GPS signal. We just needed an answer from a plaque for this bonus and no photo. The question was along the lines of: What life event did Franklin partake in across the street from his house? Answer was “baptism”, as it was a church/chapel.

Having just been to Fort Independence in South Boston during the Mason Dixon rally a few weeks ago, I was familiar with the historical marker there and we decided at the last minute to go for it, though it hadn’t been on our route. It would make up for at least some of the Salem points we’d missed and I calculated we’d still be able to get to the finish on time, though not by much!

Edgar Allen Poe apparently stayed here at Castle Island for several months, once upon a time.

As night fell, we got gas by the highway and then made the long run down I-93, MA 3, and US 6 onto Cape Cod and out to Chatham, on the elbow. I rode right by the Yellow Yellow Umbrella bookstore amidst all the Saturday night hubbub, but Char had spotted it and we pulled a U-ey and secured a spot right in front of it. There was a sign on both sides of this pillar, but the rally pack stated on the “stone” column. Brick being more similar to “stone” than the wood trim on the other side, this is the shot we took (which turned out being correct).

MA 28 took us north back up to US 6 and eventually to Wellfleet, for a photo of the landmark Moby Dick’s restaurant. The instructions for this bonus were VERY specific, obviously meant to catch a tired rider napping on the job. The red and green lights atop the sign had to be visible as well as the red inside of the dorade vent (hey, I learned a new word during this rally).

The lights were off, and it was a tough photo to capture, balancing all the light levels. But you can see the lights in the dark above the sign if you squint a bit, so we received full points for our fifth WHLE combo bonus.

THIS one, however, lost us our only points at the table. We stopped off at the Edward Gorey house in Yarmouth Port on the way back west off the Cape. It was nearing midnight and I was feeling the effects of the missed sleep the previous night and the exertions of today’s ride.  There was a truck stop in West Greenwich RI that was a sure thing for taking a break, but it was beginning to look like we wouldn’t make it that far before exhaustion caught us. We were even discussing taking our rest bonus while still on the Cape if we could find a good spot.

I took 4-5 photos, but didn’t realize that the rally flag was overexposed in all of them, making it unreadable. 5000 points down the dorade vent, so to speak.

For some reason, I got a second wind after the Gorey house and didn’t feel like nodding off was imminent. We crossed US 6 down into Hyannis and hopped on MA 28 west to Falmouth to the birthplace of Kathy Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful.

This was a dark residential street and I had the bike parked so as not to flood the house completely with LED glory, in case the occupants were sleeping inside. As we set up the photo with Char standing on the front lawn, I saw movement inside the house, someone coming down the stairs to look out the window at us, most likely. “Get off their lawn!” I hissed at Char over the bluetooth connection, “There’s someone inside looking and they may call the cops!” She quickly stepped out to the sidewalk, we got the photo, and skeedaddled out of there before John Q. Law could make an appearance.

I had all the remaining bonuses punched into the GPS route at this point, and it showed us getting back about 20 minutes prior to the deadline, including a two hour rest bonus that we still needed to take. Our margin for error was shrinking and I wanted to get the rest underway as soon as we could. We continued on Route 28, looking for a likely safe resting spot, but nothing appeared and we rolled off the Cape over the Bourne Bridge onto MA 25, and then picked up I-195. It was looking more and more like we’d be waiting until RI for our rest.

We exited in Fairhaven and quickly located the Joshua Slocum Monument down a small side street next to the water – a 20,000 point bonus that was listed in the rally pack under Martha’s Vineyard. Easy points!

We crossed the harbor on US 6 to seek the next bonus in the streets of New Bedford after 01:00. This one gave us a bit of trouble and we kept circling around some sketchy-looking one-way residential streets, trying to get to the waypoint. It didn’t help that I was getting groggy again and missed a few turns.

Part of the neighborhood was blocked off due to a Portuguese festival that must be taking place this weekend. At one lonely intersection, a car was stopped in the middle of it, with the doors open and some people milling about – not sure what was happening, but we weren’t about to stop to find out! I scooted on through as quickly as I could. When we finally got to the waypoint, there was no marine supply store as stated in the rally pack and nothing but a boarded up auto shop and more sketchiness. We began to see police lights back at that intersection with the car in the middle.

After maybe 15 minutes wasting time on these streets, it was Waze to the rescue, we punched in the address, which was now showing back on the waterfront – where we had come from! This was the correct spot and we got the pic of the Herman Melville Blvd address sign, for our sixth WHLE combo bonus.

We later found out the provided coordinates were indeed wrong. Our time cushion was now down to under 10 minutes.

We quickly got back on I-195 and needed gas so we pulled off a Dartmouth exit that had service signs and into a Mobil station. While I filled the tank, Char suggested we simply start our rest now and lay down in a grassy strip toward the rear of the parking lot, rather than waste more precious minutes stopping again later. The pump didn’t spit out a receipt, so I had to go in to get a dupe printed. But first, I went over to look at the rear area of the parking lot, which ended with a small grass strip and then a seven foot drop-off wall overlooking a darkened overflow shopping center parking lot surrounded by trees and a wide swath of short inviting-looking grass. Looked like a nice private spot to lay our heads for a couple hours so… our REST bonus had officially started at 01:42, to both of our relief!

I got my starting REST bonus receipt for the gas inside, as well as picking up a pre-made chicken salad sandwich – eating nothing but fig newtons and Gatorade all day left me a bit sapped. The attendant seemed a bit odd (perhaps stoned?) and stared at my gear:

“That’s a real interesting look, with that jacket and all. Why do you wear that?”

Feeling a bit slow myself, I said “Armor if you crash, vents to cool you, it’s waterproof…”

“Oh you’re on a bike, I didn’t see that.”

“Yeah, we’ve been riding since 6 this morning and are going to take a rest out around back in the other parking lot.”

He didn’t appear to know what to say to that, so I got my receipt and supplies and went back out. We pulled out of the gas station and made our way down through the main shopping center parking lot to the darkened lot behind the gas station and parked in the dark under a tree for additional stealth.

We laid out the bike cover on the grass and Char immediately laid down and conked out – what a trooper. I wolfed some sandwich and water, set the cell and Screamin Meanie alarms, and settled down myself, using a fleece for a pillow and my jacket for a cover in the 64F night air. Very comfy and I drifted off in no time. We got a good solid 1:20 of sleep and got up with the cell alarm before the Meanie could do its damage. Groggy but refreshed, we got things packed back up and went back up to the gas station. I had to use the restroom and went inside for another bizarre encounter with the odd attendant, who was still on duty. Nobody was around at first, and as I looked around for the restroom, he came walking out pushing a mop bucket.

“Is the restroom back there?”

After staring at me a couple beats, he exclaimed, “You know, if you just have to go pee I prefer you do it outside!”

Completely taken aback by this outburst, in my stupor, I stared back and shook my head in confusion. “No I don’t. Do you mean the restroom is broken?”

“No, but I just cleaned it!”

“Well thank you for that, but isn’t that what restrooms are for, to be used?”

“Well, yeah but I like to keep them clean,” he replied.

“OK, well, are you telling me I can’t use it?”

(resigned with heavy sigh) “No…”

“OK then…” and in I went.

You can’t make this stuff up! In a more wakeful mood, I would have lost it, gotten the guys name and probably called his manager, but at the time I chalked it up as part of the Rallymaster’s plan (somehow it always is their fault, isn’t it?) and just moved on in my mind to what we had to do.

Luckily, using another pump got a receipt to spit out for a few splashes of gas at exactly the two hour mark (the minimum mandatory rest interval), and I didn’t have to deal with weirdo anymore. Time was tight, so we hopped back on the bike and I-195 as quick as we could and shot westbound through Fall River, into Rhode Island, and picked up I-95 in Providence.

The next planned stop was one of the Saddlesore route’s corner gas stops in Wyoming RI (aka Richmond). There are three stations right off the interstate, and we pulled in to a Cumbie’s for a few more splashes of gas. Checked the receipt…damn, no town/state listed! We rode back up the road to the Mobil station, which we should have just stopped at in the first place as they usually have good receipts. A few more splashes of fuel and…nope, no state on the receipt! Frustrated, I took a pic of the receipt and Char holding the flag by the pump, as well as another shot of the store entrance on my way in to request a dupe receipt.

Luckily, that receipt had all the required information, but our finishing time cushion had completely evaporated now. We had to make up minutes on the road, with one final bonus still to go, or else we’d be penalized 150 points per every minute late at the finish.

We barreled down the mostly empty I-95 into Connecticut and exited on CT 27 in Mystic. The GPS tried to have another laugh with us, sending us down a dead end alley next to Mystic Seaport Museum, but we’d been there before and I had a vague recollection in my head of where the visitor center (the bonus) was.

We arrived at the crosswalk from the parking, and left the bike standing with hazards flashing (no traffic at this hour) while we jogged into the museum grounds and over to get our shot of the visitor center in the dawn light.

This was our seventh and final WHLE combo bonus – we hoped we had found them all in the rally pack! Now it was a ride against time to the finish. Garmin was showing us arriving at 6:03, but those minutes gradually evaporated as we rode northeast towards Hartford on CT 85, CT 11, CT 2. We had a 4 – 5 minute cushion when we hit I-91 and made it the rest of the way north to Windsor Locks, pulling in to officially finish at 05:56. Done!

We got our finishing odo reading recorded, parked out back, and went in to prep for scoring. We continued to work well together to efficiently record all our bonus and fuel log information into the rally pack and scoring log. Then we double-checked all the photos and discovered the overexposure at the Gorey House, but nothing to be done about that now. I totaled up our expected points, and with the syrup and everything else in tow, we got in line to be scored with plenty of time to spare.

First we had our book report graded by the Rallymaster himself, who got a kick out of our straightforward and efficient answers and gave us an A for 10,000 points. The scoring went a bit slowly as some riders had questions and points to contend, but we were in the barn with nowhere to go now. Finally we were scored and lost only the 5000 points for Gorey House. We were relieved to discover that we’d successfully identified all the WHLE bonuses in the pack and were given credit for all of them – 40,000 additional points there.

We compared scores with the scorer, cleared up a discrepancy and came to agreement on 255,000 points or thereabouts. “Good ride you two” he said, but of course we had no idea where that score would leave us in the field. The rider being scored next to us looked like he had about 20 more bonuses listed on his score sheet than we did, so I had a feeling that once again I’d missed a blatantly obvious winning route.

We made it up to our room at 09:05. With the breakfast and awards scheduled for 09:30 this year, there was no time for a nap – probably a good thing since I’d slept through the closing banquet last year! Just time for a quick shower and then we headed down to find some grub. We received our swag t-shirts as we entered the dining room. Breakfast was delicious and served with some of that pure maple syrup collected by all the riders during the rally.

Awards presentations were next, first the Saddlesore riders, whom we all welcomed warmly to the ranks of the Iron Butt Association (those completing their first one). Then it was the open rally finishers and Rob called out everyone’s time and score working his way up to the top placers. As he got to fifth place and our name hadn’t been called yet, I began to realize that we’d picked a good route after all. We were stunned (and really pleased) then to be told we’d had the winning ride and First Place. Char remained sitting while I went up for the plaque, but ended up joining me for recognition when she was presented with the 1st Place Pillion plaque herself.

I was, and am, so proud of her, as we worked together well to achieve this win and she hadn’t complained at all (not even that much about that little stroll around Walden, but hey riders gotta bitch about something, right?) on her first 24-hour ride, just six miles short of a Saddlesore. As Rob mentioned while acknowledging all the pillions, it’s got to be much harder for them to be sitting on the back for that long, unable to control the bike or stretch out as much as the rider can. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it. Well, maybe on a Wing…

Below are two maps showing our planned route in Basecamp as well as the actual SPOT track showing the actual trip. For the third year running, my Minuteman route stayed in southern New England, having never been further north than Concord NH during this event.

Bonus locations we claimed in order:
HPL, BUCK, NSS, CMP, MBD, MELA, MAX2, MELB, MAX4, DICK, SSG, RAV, BTB, WAL, RWE, ORC, SLE, MM1, KER, STO, JUG, OPH, BFR, POE, YUB, MBR, GOR, KLB, SLO, LMS, REST, SS4, MSM

It was a great weekend seeing friends, kicking tires and the weather was great. We offer a big thank you to Rob and all of the NELD riders and rally staff for putting on this event year after year – the countless hours you put in are appreciated! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next time!