Rally Report – Winding River Roads 6 (2015)

Date: Saturday, June 20, 2015
Rallymasters: Bob Townsend, Gale Miner
Cold run:
Workers: Karen Townsend, Sue Miner

The rally was one of the most challenging rallies put on by the club in recent memory, at least for the rallymasters. Unseasonably rainy weather had caused the roads along rivers to rise over their banks. Bob went out on Friday and checked the route, and only found one road that was impassable necessitating a change to the course. However, even though the rain subsided the rivers continued to rise, flooding the course and making it necessary to flag down the cars on US36, and caravanning to the start of the next leg. The leg was short lived however. Car one telephoned the rallymaster and stated that this leg was also impassible, and was told to send the cars to Walnut Point State Park for the break and the restart. At the restart, Bob left ahead of the pack, and soon discovered that the next leg was also covered with water. Another caravan ensued, and finally the last leg was completed. Over half of the rally route had been eliminated, the part with the fun roads.

All of the cars completed the rally, and snacks or ice cream was enjoyed at the park. At the finish, a picnic and refreshments were served at the Townsend’s. First time rallyist Deb and Mike Eperling seemed to catch on real fast, and had some very decent scores. Lots of food was available, since we had prepared for a bigger turnout, so Bob and Karen ended up with a lot of leftovers. Bob reported seeing lots of wildlife, including a deer, blue heron, turtle, humming birds, and a hawk snatching a baby bird from a nest. Bad day for the bird, too.

We had a tie for first in the navigational class, and first was determined by the most zeroes, and the DeMeritts came out on top.