The Ten ‘n Ten Rally is a motorcycle endurance rally put on by MERA. Its goal is to travel 10,000 miles in ten days, while hunting for and collecting bonus locations listed in the official rally bonus list. The bonus list included approximately 300 possible bonuses, scattered across the United States of America.
While the official rally start time was 10:10 AM MDT, August 26, 2010 in Salt Lake City, the fun started far before that. Months prior, the Rallymaster put the start time up to a vote of the entrants. In a moment of symbolism over substance, the majority chose 10:10 over earlier times. This was a decision they would regret.
Day -33: As promised, the rally bonus list was sent out a month before the rally start date. This gave us a month to calculate the best possible route around the country, using any and all information available. Once we arrived at the start, we had to turn in our planned route. From that point on, no outside help with information or planning was permitted.
I spent countless hours entering the bonuses into MS Streets and trips, and arranging them into planned routes and stops. After about two weeks, I had my plans. Hotels booked, maps printed and GPSs programmed.
Day -2: Bike carefully prepped and packed, I took off from Fremont, CA to Salt Lake City, a 700 mile shakedown and warm-up for the trip at hand. No problems. A nice trip through the Sierras on I-80, including some extensive construction, courtesy of the Stimulus Package. The Rally started and finished at the Holiday Inn, Airport. A very nice facility that really treated the rally well.
Day -1: Checked in, and rode the 24 mile Odometer check route. My odometer was slightly optimistic. Turned in my planned route and attempted bonus list. A riders meeting was held, and questions asked and answered. Everywhere in the parking lot, there were meticulously prepared rally bikes. BMWs, Goldwings, FJR1300s and ST1300s, even a little Suzuki WeeStrom 650 (whose rider won the event!). We had a nice riders’ dinner, and then called it a night.
Rally Start: Day 1
At the start, the first technical problem occurred. The Radar detector was out. I assumed the fuse blew and I could check it later. My route for Day one went over to Wendover UT, then south into Nevada to the Valley of Fire, Las Vegas, and then back northwest into Death Valley, Goldfield, and then to Tonopah for the night. The expected desert heat was my biggest concern. The quick trip to Wendover scored the first bonus, the hangar where the Enola Gaye was prepped to carry the atomic bomb.
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| Enola Gaye's Hangar |
Then it was south. On the way I passed through two refreshing summer rain storms that were a relief from the 90 degree temps. As I dropped into the great basin, the temps reached 106, as I rode into Valley of Fire state park. Despite taking in over a gallon of fluids, the heat was getting to me. I tried finding the petroglyphs for a photo bonus, but decided to push on to Las Vegas before I was fully cooked.
The bonus in Las Vegas was inside its namesake, the Golden Nugget. I took advantage of the location to enjoy the air conditioning and a good meal with plenty of iced tea and water.
Then it was back the road. Furnace Creek in Death Valley was still well over 100 degrees, so I skipped that detour and headed for Goldfield. Just north of Beatty (a notorious speed trap), my mirrors were filled with flashing red and blue. To my surprise, the friendly sheriff informed me my tail lights were out. They wanted me to come back to Beatty with them to try to fix it. I spent about 20 minutes convincing them to let me go on, as it is a real pain to get to the fuses, and many parts would get lost in the darkness.
Back on the road north, I collected the photo in Goldfield
and made my way to Tonopah for the night about 11PM. I'd drank almost three gallons of water and Gatorade that day.
Day 2:
The next day was a long one. There were several time critical bonuses to get before heading east. First it was up to Reno for a photo then over Geiger summit to Virginia City for another photo of the “Suicide Table” in a local saloon. After that, I had to be at Geiger summit at 12 noon PDT for a photo with Steve Lotsofsky.
It was one of the rare moments in a rally when you actually see other riders. The convergence was complete. Then things got tricky. I needed to be at the Hiller Air Museum in San Carlos, CA before 5PM, a distance of 261 miles of construction and bay area traffic on a Friday afternoon.
I made it to the museum with 15 minutes to spare. The museum staff was pleased and confused by the additional traffic of riders who paid, then came in to take a single picture and leave. I promised to return. It’s a very good air museum. Bonus achieved, I set about fixing the tail light problem in the parking lot. It turned out that a relay in my auxiliary power panel was tripping the fuse. I disconnected the relay and got everything back up and running. A friendly distance riding friend was hanging out at the museum, and offered encouragement and held parts after calling in to see if it was legal to do so.
I then got bonus pictures of Candlestick park, and crossed the Golden Gate bridge twice (needed toll receipts are only charged southbound) and headed for Pasadena for the night. I arrived about 1:00 AM.
Day 3:
Off at 6:00 AM, I went to Santa Monica, for a bonus at the end of Route 66. Then to La Mirada for a photo of the Donut Hole. I next arrived at San Diego for a bonus at the BMW dealer. There I noticed the cap for my extra fuel tank was gone! The cap, which was there in Santa Monica, and was chained to the tank, had somehow escaped. Duct tape would do for now. Took a picture of the Coronado Bridge and headed east.
The Sonoran desert is one of the hottest in the world, and it was at its August worst. Temps were above 110. I stopped in Dateland, AZ to replenish the gallon of water I’d drunk and cool off. Pulling into the gas stop, I met up with another rider, Cletha W.. We decided ice cream was in order and took a short break from the heat. Tanks and water full, with a bag of ice in my lap, I headed toward Phoenix. At the turn north to Phoenix, I could see intense thunderstorms over the city, so I decided to go to Tucson instead. Just west of Tucson, the storms loomed ahead. I took refuge in a truck stop until the storm passed, and headed on. Another storm, bigger and more violent that the last tore up the sky with lightning. I ducked into a hotel in Tucson, 500 miles short of my New Mexico goal. Another two gallons of fluid intake.
Day 4:
Off at 6, stopped for a photo at the Pima Air Museum. Next stop was a photo of the Cochise Hotel in the almost ghost town of Cochise.
Leaving Cochise, I spotted two vultures feeding on the left shoulder of the two-lane highway. One flew off. As I neared, the remaining vulture took off and flew directly into my path. It struck the fairing below the windscreen and was left to be lunch for its friends. I stopped and checked for damage. Folded mirror put right, nothing else. Whew!
Traveling I-10 through New Mexico, there were brown stains on the highway, and what appeared to be leaves along the shoulder. These were actually millions of locusts migrating across the road. I left I-10 at Deming NM, taking a shortcut over to I-25.
Passing through Hatch NM, I stopped at a farm store/NAPA parts store, and a helpful counterman found the right cap for my gas tank. Yea!
I arrived in Albuquerque and got the car arch and rattlesnake museum bonuses.
As I was leaving the museum, I spotted Ken M. searching Old Albuquerque for it.
Short for time, I trimmed off the trips to Mesa Verde and Four Corners to get back on schedule.
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| A Colorado Sunset |
I arrived in Pueblo, CO about 10PM.
Day 5:
Heading north, I stopped at the Air Force Academy for a picture of the B-52 on display. Had to wait until 8AM for the public entry. Next stop; Denver for a picture of Invesco field. Continuing north, I found a Brewery bonus, and then headed through Wyoming for the Black Hills and a Mt. Rushmore photo.
My GPS decided to send me over a jeep road to my Mt. Rushmore spot, despite specifying avoiding unpaved roads. Never got to the bonus, but I did get within two feet of a Bison. Headed up to Sturgis, Mecca of all things motorcycle pirate. Thankfully, it was a quiet Monday.
Traveled back south to Old Bent Fort. Then on to Sidney Nebraska – the Mid Rally Checkpoint. Checked in at 9PM, and there were no options for food. Even Dominos Pizza closed at 9. Vending machine Roulette.
Day 6:
Had a good breakfast along with the others riders that had arrived in the night. Turned in my points and was on my way by 8:30AM. Headed East on I-80 to Lincoln Nebraska and turned north to a bonus in Fremont. I passed through a great little town named Wahoo. Turning southeast, I rode through Omaha on the way to Kansas City.
At this point the rally plan changed. Ahead was yet another massive thunderstorm. My GPS weather system flashed extreme storm alerts and the sky darkened. I pulled into a Wendy’s to wait for it to move west. They had the Weather Channel on the screen, and things were deteriorating fast. The storm wasn’t moving. It was growing. And it was extending west and north over my intended route. Added to that, Hurricane Earl was expected to make landfall in North Carolina or Virginia, right where my plan sent me.
Shortly after me, Cletha appeared on her ‘Wing in the parking lot. She joined me and we discussed options. She also pointed out that we were in Iowa, so the receipt was good for bonus points!
There was a Super-8 motel across the way, so we each got rooms to ride out the storm. It raged until 2AM, pelting the windows with rain and shaking the building with lightning and thunder on all sides.
Day 7:
Packed and ready, we decided to ride together to Oklahoma City, OK. On the way, we found some great hotdogs in the convenience store along hte Kansas Toll Road
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| Gourmet 'dogs |
We visited the Oklahoma City Memorial, and then headed West on I-40 with a plan to get to Albuquerque. Near the OK TX border, we hit a powerful storm that pelted us with marble sized hail and lightning. At the first opportunity, we found a truck top, fueled up and got some food.
Another storm hit and knocked out power to the stop. A worker politely asked us to leave as they were going to close due to lack of power. Cletha (using her excellent lawyer skilz) objected forcefully and suggested it would be endangering us to send us out into a severe storm alert. The worker’s manager intervened, and allowed us to stay as long as we wished. During a break in the storm, we made a dash for a nearby Americinn in Sayre, OK for the night.
Day 8:
We launched early, hoping to put tornado alley well back in our rear view mirrors. The goal: Barstow CA. it was a straight shot across I-40. Our early start had a new problem. Fog. Heavy fog reduced visibility as we crossed Texas for the first 50 miles. It concealed lots of things, but not the dozens of fresh deer carcasses from truck collisions during the night. The fog burned off as we reached Amarillo. Then it was a fast slab dash across the country. Just short of Flagstaff, I-40 came to a full stop due to a traffic accident. We spent about 40 minutes standign around in the road, until things were clear to proceed. The sun set about an hour after Flagstaff, AZ. This was a good thing, since we then dropped down into the heat of the desert again. It was 100 degrees in the dark. As we reached Needles, Cletha decided to stop for the night. I pushed on. Pasadena was only another 250 miles, and there was a comfy bed waiting there. As I passed through Arcadia, I remembered the In’nOut Burger bonus and stopped for a quick cheeseburger.
I arrived at the house at 10:45, 1191 miles and 18 hours after I’d started that day.
Day 9:
The new plan was to head for Salt Lake City and check in a day early, then get the remaining miles to finish. My bike had some new passengers: It was teeming with little ants, feeding off the bugs splattered on the front.
I left at 6:30 and headed east to I-15 and then straight north to the Holiday Inn – SLC. This was a 680 mile hop. No problems, except for Vegas heat, and Friday rush hour traffic between Provo and SLC. Parked to the hotel, I calculated I needed 1010 miles to reach my adjusted 8000 mile minimum. Unpacked the bike, had a nice dinner, and was asleep by 9.
Day 10:
As I walked out to the lobby, the clerk told me a woman asked if I had arrived. Cletha had made it here too. Her ‘Wing was parked next to my FJR. A quick look at the GPS showed Reno was 512 miles away. Perfect. Suited up and on the road by 6 AM. For the first time in two weeks, I was cold. Rather than break out the warm gear, I basked in the crisp air and near-hypothermia of the high desert. After all, I knew it wouldn’t last. I reached Sparks at 11:45 PDT. Gassed up, ate a quarter pounder and headed back to Salt Lake. The cold was only a memory now. Still it was only in the 90s. Gassed in Wendover and arrived back at the hotel at 7PM MDT. The Ten ‘n Ten was now over for me. Cletha’s ‘Wing was gone.
I met the rally master in the restaurant. He congratulated me and told me that Cletha was somewhere out there racking up finisher miles too.
The Finish. Got up at 5:30 to be at the check in when it opened. I was scored and odometer checked by 7. It was great seeing the other riders come in, one by one, in various states of excitement and exhaustion. The parking was littered with bikes parked haphazardly in the night. Many with trunks open, helmets and gloves on their seats as their owners abandoned them for a shower and a soft mattress.
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| End of the trail |
At the awards banquet, I was stunned to find that I’d finished 12th of 25, with five riders not finishing. It was icing on the cake of an amazing experience. I’m comfortable with my decision to turn away from the impending hurricane. As luck would have it, the storm stayed off the coast, and many riders made it to Washington DC and collected lots of bonuses. But it could have easily become a disaster.
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| The complete Route - 8080 miles |
People are baffled and amazed that a trip like this is fun, or even possible, but I assure you it is both. Living outdoors on America’s highways is an experience unlike any other. And only by covering vast distances quickly do the differences become so striking and impressive.
