NERDS Treasure Hunt and Photo Safari

[Geezer]

I've done my winning plan to gobble up points.

 

Only problem is I have to ride it and I get lost easy. I'd better take my passport for that wrong turn I"m bound to make. :blink:

I'm going into stealth mode and sneakily follow Mr. Bill around.

 

[Mr Bill]

I'm going into stealth mode and sneakily follow Mr. Bill around.

Oh no Mr Bill now there will be two of us lost!

 

 

 

Greg,

 

Turn me around if you see me heading toward Montreal please.

 

[FJReady]

damn you rally master *******s! Can I have two days to get through THaPS.? Massholes can't figure VT roads.

 

[MarFJR]

Hey! Just cuz I added myself twice, ya didn't have to delete me both times. :lol:

See you guys tomorrow!

:yahoo:

"I did re add me to the roster"

 

[ionbeam]

Taking a hint from Fred, I have copied the THaPS pixs to the correct thread.

Some of the real WINNERS of NERDS and the THaPS, meet the Rally crew:

L to R #2 finisher Mr Bill; team MarFJR; winning team FJReady (good job!); team Pepperell; Shakin; Charlie Hoss; team Geezer (with his daughter)

I would like to add the Rally Tool and public enemy #1, hated by everyone within ear shot:

Between Rally stuff and all my rain gear my big camera stayed home, the picture I posted was a phone photo yielding less than sterling quality. Note the coveted THaPS trophy Russ is holding over Sara's right shoulder.

Great job everyone! Russ points out that the Rally was HARD even as a couple and individuals would find it even more difficult. Should there be a next THaPS we will take that in consideration when putting the scoring together. Anyone interested in a THaPS at the next NERDS?

 

[GinaMcD]

A few cell phone photos -

One of the Rally Masters weilding the ever popular Rally Tool

The Tally Men sharing a celebratory beverage after sounding the final three blasts of the Rally Tool

And the winners are...

Probably thinking, "Honey, what the heck are we going to do with this thing?"

 

[FJReady]

gee whiz Gina, did you have to photoshop that bald spot onto my head?

 

[FJReady]

It was requested by the THaPS Executive Council that I post some photos from our collection of photo-evidence gathered along the THaPS route, so here they are. Again mucho thanks to the most excellent Organization Committee. We had a very fun day, it was challenging but very rewarding too.

We were very impressed by the amount of work and detail that went into constructing the THaPS destinations list and the cleverly weighted Bonus list. It was not easy to determine which of the several Bonus configurations would give the participant the clear advantage. Some routes were too long, some too short, some too unpredictable. We ended up building a moderate length route that we estimated at 7 hours riding time, including adjustments for lunch, potty breaks and evidence gathering.

The official FJReady Planning guide:

Someday I'll learn to use electronica for this.

Of course as soon as the rally ******* master issued the 'official NEDRS 2012 THaPS Bonus List at the pre ride meeting all the careful planning needed adjustement to accommodate the "Treasures in the Wild" additional Bonus offerings. But no time for that, let's hit the road:

First stop:

Smuggler's Notch State Park-

Here is Moko (we renamed our 'mojo' to Moko after a friends lovable dog that we had recently been caring for)giving me a good luck kiss to start the day.

Next Stop was over the notch at Smuggler's Notch Ski Area:

About and hour later we arrived at one on my favorite ski areas:

Leaving Jay we ran across these big wood carvings that Moko loved:

Then it was off to Derby Line, VT for some international flavor at the Haskell Free Library. Part USA, part Canada, All Good!

After leaving Derby line we enjoyed a quick blast to Burke Mtn in East Burke. Not much ski traffic in August.

At about this time we thaought it would be a good time to replenish the body (and rest the butt) so we had lunch a great little country store place that made delicious turkey ******, stuffing and cranberry sause sandwiches. Yummy. This proved to be a risky stop as it wasn't quick and we would later be reminded that the best laid plans do not always work out.

However at this time we were feeling pretty good and continued on our path to St. Johnsbury to score some points at the Yamaha dealer (very friendly), the Taco Bell (a packet of hot sauce) and the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium: (Moko wanted to go in but we had to say no)

Somewhere in here we picked up some brewery points:

And then off to Cabot Creamery. Moko claimed to be born here.

Then it was time to find the Grandview Winery which turned out to be a little challenge. Of course it meant a several mile detour on unpaved roads so I was sure it was part of Fred's plan given his affinity for dirt. But we persevered and found the place without much help from Garmina as she didn't recognize all the roads on the detours. If it wasn't for some hand made paper signs on sticks that pointed to the winery, we may still have been out there. However the view was grand as the name implies and it was a nice place to visit:

Now it was time to make a beeline for Warren Vt as we had two more ski ares to grab if we wanted bonus points and not much time to get them. We altered our plans to skip a couple other planned stops (points) and focus on the ski areas, which we got, Sugarbush and Bolton Valley.

According to Garmina we had only 1 minute to spare at this point if we wanted to meet the 5:00 deadline for the 10% overall score bonus. So it was hammertime. Fortunately we had no traffic trouble getting back to Stowe and we logged an official return time of 4:57. Close!

We turned in the gathered treasure for official receipt and we were done.

 

[FJReady]

Wrap up:

Here's a shot of the most excellent Organization Committee, sans Master Fred and TMJ. Again, much gratitude is in order for this fine crew.

And here is Moko getting ready for the ride home on Saturday. A proud addition to our family:

 

[Fred W]

Thanks for the pictures and details Russ!!

That moko sure was one lucky moojo! We should have seen the handwriting on the wall when you picked the #1 cow outta the bag that morning.

For those not in attendance Friday night, Russ and Sarah won the rally by a scant 20 something points (hopefully Ed will be along with the details) out of over a thousand total. Mr Bill, the first runner up, took a similar approach of opting for the ski areas bonus, and hit many of the same locations up north along the border, but he didn't score quite as many of the "wild treasures". It very well may be that having a co-pilot and navigator on the back seat was the big advantage in this rally.

Nice work to all hunters!! :yahoo:

 

[FJReady]

Fred, You're so right about the pillion factor. I have to give all credit to my lovely bride for jamming on the 'wild treasures' list. She was adamant about collecting those points, the chocolate, maple sugar candy, Taco Bell hot sauce, etc. We missed the maple creamy though. I'm very sorry about that.

And I must congratulate Mr Bill too. His organization and navigation skills are impressive. No way I would have collected the same points going solo. Fine job, Mr. Bill!

 

[Willie]

gee whiz Gina, did you have to photoshop that bald spot onto my head?

Very Kewl RR....thanks for the Read...the rally looked like fun

Willie

 

[FJRed]

Official 2012 NERDS THaPS Results:

 

[Fred W]

Here are a couple of pictures of the contestants and disorganizers from the THaPS kickoff at 8AM last Thursday

 

[Mr Bill]

Great job everyone! Russ points out that the Rally was HARD even as a couple and individuals would find it even more difficult. Should there be a next THaPS we will take that in consideration when putting the scoring together. Anyone interested in a THaPS at the next NERDS?

I think you did everything perfect and would not change a thing on scoring the rally. Well maybe you can give more points for age? Ha ha ha.

I blew past my turn for Little River State Park because I chasing a cute little sports car a little too fast. Oh no,I had a feeling I was going to lose because of those 20 points Next year I'll try harder!

I could tell I wasn't in Worcester any more....

 

[RaYzerman19]

I have the distinction of being on the list but DNF..... methinks the disorganizers programmed Cow #8 to punish me........ I couldn't get "her" to moo while I was at the event no matter what instructions were followed. "She" has been sitting on the shelf quietly since we got home, and of all things today, I heard mooing. This has been going on randomly yet regularly all afternoon and evening........ I thought it might be a mechanical device inside, but maybe it's electronic..... can't find a battery port...... hilarious enough but "Bessie" will be sleeping in another room under a pillow tonight.

Edit - Sometime during the night, Bessie went silent.........