Lag three was the big one, five days to get from Washington to Maine. The buzz was of course the Hyder, Alaska bonus, which every one knew, was coming. What most people didn’t expect was the Deadhorse bonus again, this time for 1,000,000 points. I already knew that I wasn’t going to Alaska, but I was disappointed that there were not many places on the east coast.
Roy and I then decided to continue to ride together and hit the bonuses in Colorado and maybe pick up a couple others on the way. We left soon after the checkpoint closed and stayed somewhere in Oregon for the night. Our first stop should have been the Golden Spike National Park in Utah, but we missed the first road to it and decided to skip it.
On the road to Fruita, Colorado we meet up with Marsha Hall and at the same time a large storm that looked like it would be pretty bad. In reality the storm looked much worse than it was, the worst part was the wind and the lighting that was striking just off the side of the road. Luckily the storm wasn’t very big and we got out of it without incident. We stopped in Fruita for a picture of the “Mike the Headless Chicken” statue in town.
We stayed in Grand Junction for the night and the five-hour rest bonus. We got there kind of early so we had a sit down dinner at Denny’s. The next morning we left for Black Gunnison National Park a few hours away. There were actually two bonuses in the park, one at Crystal Dam and one at Devil’s Lookout. We got into the park and first went for the dam bonus. Well, the dam was at the bottom of the park, in the valley, a five-mile ride down a 17% slope all curves. It was a fun road but it took awhile to get down to the bottom. At the bottom we found a sign that told us it was a dam but it wasn’t the Crystal Dam. After a little discussion by all three of us we headed up the road another mile to find the correct dam.
After getting the right picture we headed for the Devil’s Lookout further in the park. Going back up the road to the dam was much more fun than coming down. At the top of the road we met up with a couple of other riders who had just gotten there. I told them to go to the end of the road for the dam and the three of us went on the road for the lookout. The road to the lookout was easy, no huge slopes or nasty curves, but there was a walk involved. Devil’s Lookout overlooks the valley much like the Grand Canyon only smaller; it’s an impressive view, but we had no time to look for long and off we went.
Soon after leaving the park Marsha went her own way. Roy and I continued on our next bonus. We had planned on doing the Alpine Slide bonus, but we figured out that we were behind in time so we wouldn’t make it. Our next stop was the Rocky Mountain National Park to take a picture of the Alpine Visitor Center. The center was on the top of the mountain a good 15-20 miles into the park. Before getting to the park though I started to have some problems with my lips. I normally ride with my face shield up, for a few days this had never bothered me; however, since I had been gone a week now it was taking its toll on my lips and they split open and started to bleed. Since I needed some lip balm I also got some gas. I had a problem though because my credit card was maxed out. What I learned was that the credit cards charge $75 each time you get gas at the pump and since I had gotten so much gas I went over my limit. The clerk inside took my card though without a problem.
The road to the center was mostly uphill and into the sun. This caused some problems because of the lack of guardrails so it was hard to see the edge of the road. We thought that we wouldn’t make it to the center in time, the picture had to be taken before sunset, but we got there with a few minutes to spare. The ride back down the mountain was spectacular with a full moon included, though it was hard to see the sides sometimes at least there were no critters to worry about. Just after getting out of the park Roy and I split up, he wanted to go to Kansas and I was planning on heading straight to the checkpoint.
An hour or so after Roy and I split I found a room. I figured that I had plenty of time as it was only 2000 miles and I had three days to get there, but when I got my room I started looking at what was left that I might be able to pick up. I found out that I could actually pick up a good amount of points along the way that I had already planned on taking. I decided that I wouldn’t set my alarm and ended up getting about seven hours of sleep. When I woke up I felt really good so I started off after a quick breakfast at the hotel.
My first stop wouldn’t be for over 1000 miles in Hell, Michigan. I could only get the bonus during daylight so I knew that I didn’t need to hurry since I wouldn’t make it that day. The ride for the first ten hours or so was pretty uneventful, it was all through Nebraska and Iowa. I did pay something like $2.10 a gallon in Nebraska though and someone from out of state asked me if this was the normal price, I had to tell him I didn’t know as I was from Maryland. I got rained on in Chicago but other than that it was a nice 1000-mile day. I stopped just south of the Michigan boarder for the seven-hour rest bonus.
The next morning I left for Hell, which was a few hours away. The road to hell isn’t actually paved well at all as there were tons of potholes. I had a slight problem finding Hell actually because people like to steal the signs, for those looking Hell is on Darwin Road which is marked. I spent a few minutes in the shops, took my picture with the wrong devil, almost left, then found the correct devil and got another picture. Hell isn’t too bad really.
The next bonus would be Niagara Falls for a picture. I ended up getting to the falls right around sunset, which was good because I had to take the picture during the day. I stayed at the falls for a little bit since I still had almost a day to make it to Maine. I then left for Albany since that’s where I needed to take the next road to get my next bonus. I stayed the night a few hours outside of Albany at a hotel that ended up taking around in a circle to get to and then stopped giving me signs. I found it eventually right next to the highway so I got lead around for nothing. I got about five hours of sleep and took off.
My last stop for this leg would be in Brattleboro, VT for a newspaper. I decided to take some of the back roads that lead straight to Brattleboro instead of taking the interstates so in Albany, NY I got onto route 7. The only bad part about taking this road was getting though Albany, but after that it was a nice ride though the country. It took me a couple of stops to find a local paper, but I found one in a local store and then got a bite to eat.
The way to Gorham was pretty easy and I had plenty of time. I took route 2 across Massachusetts, a road that’s ok nothing exciting but it is quick. When I got to I-95 I knew I had plenty of time so I stopped for ice cream and just sat down for a few minutes. When I got back on the road I meet up with another rider who I thought knew where he was going so I followed him. We ended up taking the wrong exit and had to turn around, it only took us a few minutes out of the way.
After getting scored I tried to sleep but really didn’t need it so I took to talking to people that I knew. Then I was asked if I’d like to be filmed for Speedvision while riding. I took the chance right away. There was bout five or six of us, we made a couple of quick passes and that was about it. Unfortunately I was not one of the rides seen on Speedvision when it came out.
Pictures for Leg Three
Leg Two: Pomona, CA to Sunnyside, WA
Leg Four: Gorham, ME to Huntsville, AL