Plano TX – Coralville IA
Sat Jun 22, 2024
(~969 miles)

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands.

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Settling in and re-routing had eaten a couple hours last night, but I managed a solid three hours on the rack before getting up around 02:15 to be on my way . I recalculated my rest minutes in my head several times to make absolutely certain I’d logged the necessary 16 hours for the leg. By the time I got packed up and had taken the bonus photo – finally clocking out of rest bonus ZSLPC at 02:53 – I had a comfortable 14 minute buffer.

The onramp to US 75 was right in front of the hotel, but there’s no way onto it from the hotel lot entrance. Rather than waste time heading down the access road to the next exit, I did a little loop through the business park behind the hotel to come back out before the ramp. Conveniently, there was a Racetrac gas station along the side street, so I fueled up there – one more task checked off.

Just a few miles up the highway, I come over a rise and see something odd up ahead in the road. I immediately began easing off the throttle and checking my mirrors. There’s not much traffic at this hour, but the vehicles out here were moving fast and I don’t want to get run over. As I slow my approach, it turns out to be two cars stopped smack DAB in the center lane of this major six-lane highway, no flashers. I’m not even sure if they had any lights on. Some sort of minor accident or breakdown, but holy shit! Brakes on, I swerved over into the fast lane at the last second. I saw two men walking around the cars and looking at oncoming traffic as I passed by, still trying to slow but not feeling great about the situation.

I thought briefly about pulling over to the center shoulder, but I was already quite a ways past the scene before I could register what just happened. So I looked at the next exit number and dialed 911. The people had looked OK (aside from being idiots by stopping in the middle of the highway), plus it was dark with cars zipping by. It didn’t feel safe stopping in that situation, knowing other vehicles might have to react quickly like I did.

The 911 folks passed me around as I had apparently crossed into a different jurisdiction, but I gave them the incident location as best as I could remember from noting the nearest exit number, not being that familiar with the area. After a transfer or two, they finally said they already had received a report and had help en route, and thus ended my first-ever 911 call. Nothing like a bit of adrenaline to wake you up first thing in the morning!

An hour up the highway, I was thinking about breakfast. I could really use some coffee and something warm in my stomach to soak it up. I also needed to slow my roll just a bit – a delay now would help ensure that I reached the next bonus, which is daylight-only, after sunrise. Not to mention just getting the meal bonus out of the way early so that I didn’t have to think about it any more today in calculating my checkpoint arrival time. I spotted an IHOP while breezing through Dennison and decided to turn around at the next exit.

I’m not a fan of IHOP at all, having had a bad meal there once – just not at all confident in their quality. But it had been a while since I’d been there, and it was open. I figured a simple breakfast sandwich could surely cause no harm, right? At 4AM, my only companions in the dining room were a few early morning contractors and truck drivers, so I had a quiet meal and counted the minutes until I could get moving again. The biscuit tasted ok, but was too soggy and crumbly to pick up like a real sandwich. I finished perhaps half of it along with a couple cups of coffee, fulfilling the bonus requirements for MEALD.

Back on the road, I crossed immediately into Oklahoma and over the course of the next hour began to sincerely regret my breach in good judgement by stopping at that restaurant. My gastrointestinal system began to signal signs of sincere distress as I cruised through Durant and exited onto smaller state highways to head west towards Lake Texoma. The sky was getting lighter and this was actually quite a pretty stretch of riding, but I couldn’t think beyond my gut at this point. My entire being was focused on finding any sort of restroom facility. Unfortunately, this was exactly the wrong time for this, as I seemed to just be heading deeper into the rural countryside of southern Oklahoma. Nothing around but farms and woods! Oh why oh why must it be sit-down restaurants?! Never felt like this from a Subway sandwich!

Well I always carry TP in my tank bag for emergencies and this certainly seemed to qualify. Bears do it, and so do desperate rally riders. An unplanned stop was made along a lonely stretch of woodsy highway. I’m just glad I have experience with overnight hiking and camping in the woods…and that’s all I have to say about that!

Rolling into the town of Tishomingo, at the northern end of Lake Texoma, in a more relaxed state, I quickly find the small town park and veteran’s center showcasing a few different military vehicles. Only one was a bonus however, and I need the additional 6 points from bonus TAFTO, an M-110 Self-propelled Howitzer. Pretty neat-looking artillery!

That brings my current strike force up to 10 armored points, but defeating the next alien will also require 10 rotary-wing points. There is a distinct lack of helo assets operating in this region, so I called for fire support, using my first wildcard RXCAS to bank an immediate 15 rotary-wing points. Now I have enough troop strength to proceed.

The next couple of hours saw nice riding north through the Sooner State on two lane highways. US 377 to Ada, then jig west on OK 3W to US 177, which brought me north a good many miles, skirting east of Oklahoma City, crossing I-40 and I-44. In Tryon, I pulled into a nice modern wayside travel plaza that seemed to be operated by a Native American tribe. My stomach was still queasy from this morning’s disastrous breakfast, so I freshened up here and purchased some Rolaids to try to get things settled down. My hydration thermos was almost empty too, so I bought some cold water to resupply.

Feeling much better after this stop, I continued up to the city of Stillwater. Along OK 51 in front of an auto body shop, I engaged battle with alien bonus AOPPR, which looked a lot like Optimus Prime (though I suspect a Decepticon imposter). This was worth more big points, at 3840.

My sights are already fixed on the next alien bonus, another crash site not too far away in northeast Oklahoma. However, I’ll require a whopping 20 points worth of fixed-wing assets to stage that attack, and the nearest aircraft are back to my southwest in Oklahoma City. So that’s where I point the motorcycle, riding south on US 177 and OK 33 over to I-35. Twenty miles of interstate to the northern fringe of the city, and I was pulling up to the closed and locked gates to the 45th Infantry Division Museum. The bonus I need is within the museum grounds…shite!

Confused, I pulled into a nearby driveway to take stock of this unexpected twist. I pulled up the bonus details on my GPS and then in the rally book itself. I had known this was a limited-time bonus, but I must have misread the open hours. Today is Saturday so the museum opens at 10:00, an hour later than during the week. It is currently only 09:15 local time. Arrgh, I am really off my game in this rally!

I need to figure this out, but at the moment I’m stopped in the blazing sun and the temperatures had reached into the mid 90s by now. Must find some shade! I headed further down the street until I found a convenient church parking lot with some trees. Using my GPS’s waypoint finder map view, I looked at my options. There is another fixed-wing bonus on the southwest side of the city with the same point value. Adding it into the route, however, it would basically be a wash between going there or just waiting around here for the museum to open. Feeling unwilling to take the chance of any delays or unknowns. I decide to wait things out here and nab the bonus right at 10AM.

I felt hot and thirsty. Since I was stuck here for a bit and needed to factor in this new delay to my route, I decided to head back to a gas station I’d passed near the interstate and grab a cold drink while I waited for the bonus to open. I topped off my tanks while I was there, and pulled out my laptop to assess the damage.

Any chance of my “Plan C” route was now blown for today, which had included picking up a final small alien bonus near Iowa City, just miles from the checkpoint. If only I had routed directly to the other (daylight-only) OKC bonus, I may have been able to salvage that plan. Even dropping that bonus, it was going to be uncomfortably close getting back to the barn in time before penalties. It was a stressful half hour, just waiting there in the small shade of that gas station’s sign, trying not to pace.

At quarter til ten, I mounted up and went back to the museum. The gates were open now, so I drove in and quickly located the P-80 Shooting Star that I needed to photograph for bonus FBTOO (10 points). This was the hardest part, standing there in the hot sun for another 10 minutes holding my ammo can and phone, feeling like an idiot but not really caring, waiting for the clock to tick over to 10:01 to make absolutely certain I was within the timeframe to claim the bonus successfully. I half-expected some museum staff to come wandering over to see what I was up to here.

Photo captured, I packed up quickly and got back to the interstate. I merged with I-44 and blasted eastbound for an hour and a half to Tulsa. On the eastern side of the city, I exited on US 169 amidst some construction and promptly lost my EZ-Pass toll transponder when I rammed a big seam in the asphalt while rounding the offramp. Way too busy and unsafe to stop to get it there, so adios transponder, just collateral damage in a warzone! 🙁

169 was divided four-lane highway, getting me quickly north away from the urban traffic, through the suburb of Owasso, and into the countryside. Just past the small town of Talala, I turned into the farmlands on a local road called East 300.

About a mile down, I spotted the alien ship (disguised as a NASA rocket capsule) reported by our intelligence sources. The shoulders on this road were almost non-existent, with steep ditches on either side, but luckily, there was a gravel driveway some 100 yards further down the road, where I could pull in safely. I still needed 10 more fixed-wing asset points to defeat this alien, so out comes my second Fire Support card FXAST.

Now for the spacecraft! In fact bonus AWCSC (1533 points) is an old cement mixer barrel that had fallen off a truck. It became a pretty famous roadside attraction after being painted to look like a NASA rocket capsule by the local citizenry several years ago. I’d always hoped to see it sometime in my travels.

This was going to be a wrap for my Leg A bonus collecting. I’d gained back a few minutes since OKC, but there was no time to spare for any additional detours. Figuring I might as well collect the 15 points for my third and final Fire Support card, I went ahead and hurriedly claimed TXCFF as my final first leg bonus. The pressure of getting back to Coralville on time was real.

Time to sit there and twist that for several hours now to make it back to the rally hotel on time. It was a hot and humid slog of an afternoon, rolling up US 169 through southeast Kansas with a fuel stop in Olathe. Straight through Kansas City, having to pass right by an alien spacecraft bonus due to not having the necessary military force at the time.

A few phone calls with Char helped break up many otherwise boring interstate miles along I-35. I had left the last bonus with very little time to spare, but veeery gradually managed to pull back my ETA minute by agonizing minute, even at my modified pace, thanks to smooth sailing and little traffic to deal with. Straight up through northwest Missouri to Des Moines, then east on I-80 for the homestretch.

Pulling off the highway in Coralville, I had somehow built up a half hour cushion and was very relieved that I’d altered today’s route and dropped the last bonus, painful as it was. There’s a gas station on this  opposite side of the interstate, across the overpass with all the construction. I decided to just fuel up now before hitting the checkpoint, so I’d be ready to go with full tanks tomorrow morning and just to get my mind settled a bit before checking in. They don’t give you much time to collect your thoughts before rushing right in to scoring.

Clocking in at the hotel entrance after arriving comfortably before penalties would start accruing at 19:30, I parked and gathered what I would need for scoring: mostly being receipts, my phone, my notes, and the entire rally pack, which they’d told us to leave at scoring in preparation for Leg B. The rallymaster came over to check out the dried crust of mud on my wheels, which I hadn’t even realized was still there. That storm along 550 just after Aztec had luckily washed most of it off the bike, so it was mostly just the “normal” amount of rally dirt.

The scoring process for LDX is fast and efficient, so there was no line to wait in. I was directed in to the “quiet zone” room almost immediately and handed a copy of my scoring report to review and sign. My score seemed less than what I had been expecting, so looking at it with scorer Lisa Stevens, she pointed out that I had been denied the alien bonus ATGNM near Carlsbad NM due to not having the necessary military asset points.

What?! How did this happen? I couldn’t even begin to wrap my brain around it as we looked at the rally book together. We confirmed that the bonus did, in fact, require 10 tank and 10 helo asset points, whereas I had acquired 12 fixed-wing points on my approach!  Not even in the ballpark! I had obviously messed up seriously here and the first thing that occurred to me in that moment was that perhaps I had intended to use one of my Fire Support cards for that bonus (?). I just couldn’t remember the specifics or process it right then, but the rally book was very clear, so I accepted the ruling and signed off on my score report, for a total of 69,337 points.

Much later, in reviewing my ride, I dove deeper into my data import files and the rally communications from the morning of the start to figure out what the hell happened here. Recall back on Day 1, when we were notified about the removal of bonus ASAMA? Recall my agitated state of mind that morning and how long it took me to prep my GPS data after catching a few mistakes? Well, I had essentially made an even bigger blunder with copying/pasting that had gone unnoticed until it was too late. After removing the bonus from my import spreadsheet, at some point I’d re-copied certain columns from the original rallymaster file (which still included the row for the deleted bonus) to fix one of the other mistakes I’d made. That means about twelve alien bonuses in my data set had incorrect hitpoint information  – basically if they came after after ASAMA alphabetically!

I usually spot-check my bonus data during my import process, but this mistake only affected a small number of bonuses. I feel very lucky that none of the others were on my route plan!  Generally, once you import the waypoints to your map, it’s practically impossible to notice this type of error. You simply trust the data at that point, unless something seems glaringly off-kilter in the field, like the wrong coordinates bring you somewhere totally far from the actual bonus (DAMHIK). This was a huge dumb mental mistake that shows how important is is to have a cool, clear head while you are slicing and dicing the bonus data at the start of a leg, preparing to route. 1500 points left on the table! 😩

The hotel had laid out some food that was available for us after scoring, baked potato bar and salad. I filled a box with some salad to take back to my room, which I retired to as soon as I possibly could. Check-in was quick and my food supply package that I’d shipped from home had arrived. The hotel staff had very kindly called me a couple of times during the leg to keep me posted on when it arrived.

After retrieving my bag of extra stuff from the rally office, I set about my normal checkpoint chores: getting cleaned up, LDC’s laundered, one pair fresh socks per day packed, laptop hooked up, food eaten, etc. I went outside to restock my road food supplies on the bike, noticing that I’d used a lot less than usual due to the daily meal bonuses.

We’d been informed that tomorrow’s morning rider meeting time was scheduled for 05:30, so I covered the bike and got back to my room as quickly as possible. Still thinking at this point, that I’d misread the hitpoint rating for that Carlsbad bonus, I spent some time modifying a spreadsheet formula to add the hitpoint ratings to the bonus names, to help me keep better track. Then I was in bed by 21:40, eager to get a full night’s sleep at last.

Leg A Stats & Recap:

Points: 69,337
Points “left on the table”: 1500
Alien Points: 29,184
# Aliens (Approved/Claimed): 5/6
# Military Assets (Approved/Claimed): 15/15
Total miles (corrected): 3522
Rest bonus time logged: 16:14
Walks in the desert: 1
“Walks” in the woods 😬: 1

Bonuses claimed in order: TAPOI, TAPBN, MEALA, TAPFN, FBTFN, ZSLPA, RACPK, AGCMU, FBTFC, AAZTC, MEALB, ZSLPB, FBTBN, ATGNM (denied), TAPBT, RACBT, MEALC, ADETM, TAWPT, ZSLPC, MEALD, TAFTO, RXCAS, AOPPR, FBTOO, FXAST, AWCSC, TXCFF