Day 05 Marinating

Friday was a travel day for the rally staff. We transferred our work room from Checkpoint 1 at the Warren Place DoubleTree in Tulsa to Checkpoint 2 at the Sheraton Tech Center in Denver. After going far too long without sleep, a couple of us utilized the travel time for a brief, but needed nap along the way. Lisa Stevens seems quite pleased with herself for getting her man Tobie Stevens to take this photo! At least Tobie did not place a Southwest emergency exit card in that open mouth to enhance the photo…

Your scribe fielded a few calls from Troy Martin with concerns about his Triumph puking coolant. Advice was offered, accepted, applied, and he got moving again. We did not hear from him again until this afternoon, when he had a sliced rear tire on I-10 near the La Brea Tar Pits and needed a replacement. Thanks to Greg Barrett for the assistance. Greg has detailed the story on his Facebook page. Today wasn’t Troy’s best day riding, but it might have been his best day fixing stuff. He has reportedly recovered and regrouped, hoping to continue with better results.

Chris and Stella Wiltshire came from New Zealand to ride the rally. They apparently had some extra time in their schedule on Leg 2 and decided to do some sightseeing. They took a side trip to take a photo of the Iowa Iron Butt sign near Webster City, created by IBR vet Dennis Powell. Since it was not a rally bonus, not having their rally flag visible in the picture is not an issue.

Rider Update: Gerry Arel is scheduled for a medical transport flight to Connecticut, thanks to MedJet.

Rider Update: See Appetizers for the story on Chris Comly’s unfortunate mechanical failure on the mega mile Sportster.

The day was unusually uneventful for the most part. Enough so to make the RallyMom a bit uncomfortable. I may have heard her say “My phone is not ringing much today…” perhaps with a tone of trepidation. Or, maybe it was just a case of 20+ years of successfully running this rally and waiting for the other shoe to drop, or the dam to break, or the sky to fall. Don’t worry, it is bound to happen, sooner rather than later!

This edit is being finalized on Day 06, so we can state the Day 06 report is going to be rather long. Not sure if it was a shoe dropping, or a dam breaking, or the sky falling. Perhaps the perspective on Day 06 will depend on which rider you are talking to…

Stay tuned!