Lonestarrider
Member
It was just a little chilly when I headed west toward Texola, OK from the Loves Travel Center in Erick, OK. The sun was stillnot even a glow in the eastern sky as I pulled out onto I-40 that fine frosty Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. I was on my way to my first bonus location of the Pop's 8hr. Rally/RTE.
The Pop's 8hr. Rally/RTE is hosted by a Ninja 250 jockey named Michael Hickman of Tulsa,OK. This is the Pop's Rally/RTE second year in existence. I participated in the Pop's last year and had a blast. So I figured riding in it again this year would have the same effect. And it did,even if it was only 25 degrees at the start that morning.
Like last year, Michael had a shotgun type start and had us polar bears start anywhere we wanted as long it was within the state of Oklahoma and no earlier than 0500 Saturday morning of November 27th. A week before the Rally Michael had sent out the bonus list to all us participants by email. Bonus locations where scattered about the Sooner state from the Tri-State marker in the panhandle to a fire tower in the wooded area of the SE. There were plenty of options and great roads available to all of us that had chose to brave that frigid Okie morning.
My plan androute was simple;
Ride to Erick, OK Friday afternoon.
Stage from Erick the following and ride to a semi-ghost town located on a portion of the old Route 66, Texola, OK.
Simple as can be. My route had a bunch of great locations and big bonus points in the SW quadrant of the State. First things first though, I had to get the proper start receipt with the correct time and location printed on it before Icould get on the road. I was at the Loves in Erick by 0450, at 0457 I topped off my tank, at 0500:30 I received my most important receipt and by 0503 I had a drained the battery from unsuccessfully trying to restart the Yamaha. My beloved FJR would not start, even though it had started minutes ago when I rode from across the street from the motel I had stayed at the previous night. I was fit to be tied; I couldn't believe that this fuel injected modern bike wouldn't start. I cranked andcranked, only to drain the life out of the battery. I quickly broke out the jumper cables and opened up the Tupperware to expose the battery. So there I stood outside a Love's Truck Stop in Erick Oklahoma at 5 inthe morning, in my glow stick jacket holding jumper cables looking pitiful. I might as well had a rattlesnake in my hand from all the looks I was getting by the weary eyed travelers that walked by. Finally,half an hour later, I get a boost from a hunter who had stopped to get a cup of coffee before heading out to his deer blind. I let the battery charge for about five minutes before trying to start the bike.
The bike started almost instantaneously when I pushed the starter button. I thanked the hunter and offer to buy him a cup of coffee for his time, but he declined and wished me safe travels. I wished him good luck on bagging a forest rat. I put the bike together and looked at my clock; I was 50 minutes in the hole. Why the bike didn't start right back up as usual had me concern for the rest of the rally. At first I thought it was ignition switch, but the fuel pump was pressuring up and the starter was spinning motor. It wasn't until I was back home I discovered it was simply flooding out. After the issue in the Love's parking that morning the bike ran perfectly for the rest of the day.
It was still dark when I pulled up to the location in Texalo to take the required photo of an old single room jailhouse.
From TexaloI pointed the FJR back to the east toward Elk City to gather up another bonus off of Route 66. The bonus list stated "Take a picture of the 15' TallRoute 66 replica road sign that is East of the museum." Well actually it was on the west side of the museum and with my handy dandy 75 dollar Kodak Digital camera I captured the bonus.
The next few bonuses where now to the south and away from the interstate. In a small little town nestle up against Walsh Mountain in the Wichita mountain range, home to a Oklahoma State pen, I had to obtain a fuel receipt. Then a little farther down the road I took a picture of the Greer county courthouse looking into the glorious sun.
I was finally racking up good points and making tracks. In Altus, OK there where two big bonuses worth big points and easy to get to. Also the sun had warmed up the atmosphere enough to turn off my electrical heated appearal.
and
I left Altus behind heading east on US 62 and in twenty miles had to make decsion. Since leaving Erick my GPS was indicting I was making good time even after losing almost a hour, but I was going to be late and probably DNF. My next two bonus locations where to the south and east: a cemetery in Frederick and a Chisholm trail marker in Duncan. At the turn off to Frederick on US 183, I pulled off the highway and looked at my options using the GPS. I quickly decided to drop the trip to Duncan but my ETA to Arcadia was still going to be iffy and I had a couple of bonuses in downtown OKC to go to. So with not knowing how quickly I could make it through OKC , I left the two bonuses worth over 1400 points behind and turned back east to Lawton. At Lawton I turned north and rode through the Oklahoma countryside to Ft.Cobb and Nowhere.
The ride on the narrow two lane OK Highways' 9 and 146 was outstanding, traffic was minimal and the sweepers where nice. It was shame I had to leave the small highways behind and get back on the truckinfested interstate, but the rest of my bonuses where in Oklahoma City area. A photo of The Fence and the Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
I made itinto Arcadia right on time and captured my last bonus of the Rally.
It had been a great ride, I had manage to collect enough points to place in the top ten. If I hadn't had such a slow start Icould have picked up the two in the south, but would have only moved up a couple spots in the standings. No matter I still had a great day on the bike.The winner of the Pop's Rally, Howard Entman from Memphis,TN., had a impressive ride from the southeastern portion of the state. He was presented with a $100kGrand and PayDay candy bars. Congrats Howard!
Michael Hickman announce the winners and then informed the crowd that he would be hosting a 12 hour rally in March, another 12 hour rally in the summer and a 24 hour rally in the fall with another Pops Rally to end the year of 2011. I can't wait.
For moreinfo:
https://therally.us/Pops_2010.htm
The Pop's 8hr. Rally/RTE is hosted by a Ninja 250 jockey named Michael Hickman of Tulsa,OK. This is the Pop's Rally/RTE second year in existence. I participated in the Pop's last year and had a blast. So I figured riding in it again this year would have the same effect. And it did,even if it was only 25 degrees at the start that morning.
Like last year, Michael had a shotgun type start and had us polar bears start anywhere we wanted as long it was within the state of Oklahoma and no earlier than 0500 Saturday morning of November 27th. A week before the Rally Michael had sent out the bonus list to all us participants by email. Bonus locations where scattered about the Sooner state from the Tri-State marker in the panhandle to a fire tower in the wooded area of the SE. There were plenty of options and great roads available to all of us that had chose to brave that frigid Okie morning.
My plan androute was simple;
Ride to Erick, OK Friday afternoon.
Stage from Erick the following and ride to a semi-ghost town located on a portion of the old Route 66, Texola, OK.
Simple as can be. My route had a bunch of great locations and big bonus points in the SW quadrant of the State. First things first though, I had to get the proper start receipt with the correct time and location printed on it before Icould get on the road. I was at the Loves in Erick by 0450, at 0457 I topped off my tank, at 0500:30 I received my most important receipt and by 0503 I had a drained the battery from unsuccessfully trying to restart the Yamaha. My beloved FJR would not start, even though it had started minutes ago when I rode from across the street from the motel I had stayed at the previous night. I was fit to be tied; I couldn't believe that this fuel injected modern bike wouldn't start. I cranked andcranked, only to drain the life out of the battery. I quickly broke out the jumper cables and opened up the Tupperware to expose the battery. So there I stood outside a Love's Truck Stop in Erick Oklahoma at 5 inthe morning, in my glow stick jacket holding jumper cables looking pitiful. I might as well had a rattlesnake in my hand from all the looks I was getting by the weary eyed travelers that walked by. Finally,half an hour later, I get a boost from a hunter who had stopped to get a cup of coffee before heading out to his deer blind. I let the battery charge for about five minutes before trying to start the bike.
The bike started almost instantaneously when I pushed the starter button. I thanked the hunter and offer to buy him a cup of coffee for his time, but he declined and wished me safe travels. I wished him good luck on bagging a forest rat. I put the bike together and looked at my clock; I was 50 minutes in the hole. Why the bike didn't start right back up as usual had me concern for the rest of the rally. At first I thought it was ignition switch, but the fuel pump was pressuring up and the starter was spinning motor. It wasn't until I was back home I discovered it was simply flooding out. After the issue in the Love's parking that morning the bike ran perfectly for the rest of the day.
It was still dark when I pulled up to the location in Texalo to take the required photo of an old single room jailhouse.
From TexaloI pointed the FJR back to the east toward Elk City to gather up another bonus off of Route 66. The bonus list stated "Take a picture of the 15' TallRoute 66 replica road sign that is East of the museum." Well actually it was on the west side of the museum and with my handy dandy 75 dollar Kodak Digital camera I captured the bonus.
The next few bonuses where now to the south and away from the interstate. In a small little town nestle up against Walsh Mountain in the Wichita mountain range, home to a Oklahoma State pen, I had to obtain a fuel receipt. Then a little farther down the road I took a picture of the Greer county courthouse looking into the glorious sun.
I was finally racking up good points and making tracks. In Altus, OK there where two big bonuses worth big points and easy to get to. Also the sun had warmed up the atmosphere enough to turn off my electrical heated appearal.
and
I left Altus behind heading east on US 62 and in twenty miles had to make decsion. Since leaving Erick my GPS was indicting I was making good time even after losing almost a hour, but I was going to be late and probably DNF. My next two bonus locations where to the south and east: a cemetery in Frederick and a Chisholm trail marker in Duncan. At the turn off to Frederick on US 183, I pulled off the highway and looked at my options using the GPS. I quickly decided to drop the trip to Duncan but my ETA to Arcadia was still going to be iffy and I had a couple of bonuses in downtown OKC to go to. So with not knowing how quickly I could make it through OKC , I left the two bonuses worth over 1400 points behind and turned back east to Lawton. At Lawton I turned north and rode through the Oklahoma countryside to Ft.Cobb and Nowhere.
The ride on the narrow two lane OK Highways' 9 and 146 was outstanding, traffic was minimal and the sweepers where nice. It was shame I had to leave the small highways behind and get back on the truckinfested interstate, but the rest of my bonuses where in Oklahoma City area. A photo of The Fence and the Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
I made itinto Arcadia right on time and captured my last bonus of the Rally.
It had been a great ride, I had manage to collect enough points to place in the top ten. If I hadn't had such a slow start Icould have picked up the two in the south, but would have only moved up a couple spots in the standings. No matter I still had a great day on the bike.The winner of the Pop's Rally, Howard Entman from Memphis,TN., had a impressive ride from the southeastern portion of the state. He was presented with a $100kGrand and PayDay candy bars. Congrats Howard!
Michael Hickman announce the winners and then informed the crowd that he would be hosting a 12 hour rally in March, another 12 hour rally in the summer and a 24 hour rally in the fall with another Pops Rally to end the year of 2011. I can't wait.
For moreinfo:
https://therally.us/Pops_2010.htm
