We Survived the 2006 GBES Rally

The rally is behind us and we are happy. Happy that we finished and happy that we don't have to do this route again!The day rally was a challenge! Actually, the first part was great and lots of fun. It wasn't until we were all hot and tired that we hit the rough stuff.

The route took us straight up the the side of a hill in Ricky Canyon. One of the vehicles (a Suzuki Samarai) couldn't make it and had to be towed to the top. The rest of us waited below and watched the whole thing unfold. When it was our turn, Mike navigated straight up the hill and got us to the top without incident. It was a dirt road so, in theory, it should not have been a problem--yah, sure!!!

We were navigating our way up and down hills, through and along creek beds, and stopping now and again to pick up a cache. We had some great views, but we never managed to take any pictures--no time.

It took us 8 hours to complete the whole trip. They expected it to take about 7, but since we were stopped twice (both times the Samauri had to be towed up the hill), it took us a little longer.

We were part of the "non-comp" (non-competitive) group so our time didn't matter. Our starting time was later than the competitive group, but we managed to finish ahead of a few of them. We did find all the caches along the way and we were never lost for more than a second.

It was a long, exciting day. It ended with an excellent dinner at the Elks Club in Gardnerville.

The map shows our routes. The yellow route is the Night Rally and the red is the Day Rally. The red line should serve as a warning for anyone who wants to follow this same route. It was a doozy in spots!

The Night Rally

Let's see, the rally itself was great fun. We did have a few problems before and during, but we finished and we were still smiling. In fact, Cynthia and I broke into song several times while Mike & Larry rolled their eyes and pretended not to know us!

We arrived to check in to discover that one of the rally organizers had failed to show. He had all the routes and waypoints for the rally, plus the means to download them into everyone's GPSrs. So, we made due. Brian (the remaining man in charge) loaded the copies of stuff he had to those GPSrs that connected via USB. We had to call my trusty MAC into duty to download all the older serial port GPSrs. See, I told you the MAC was better. I could have downloaded to the USB units also, but Brian had to do something with his PC and he didn't have the ability to handle the serial connections!

Eventually, it was time for the rally to start. It was like starting all over again! The computer and GPSr connection wasn't working (I think it was tired from all the downloads), so our computer tracking was hit and miss. Larry wasn't sure how to use the route function on his receiver so he had to have a quick lesson as they were counting us down to START! Cynthia did a great job with the cache waypoints and getting the extra GPSr set for our cache hunts out of the car. Larry found all the caches along the route and I found the caches at the checkpoints. It was doubly hard since I had to use both the receiver and a compass to find the cache. Mike followed the roads, even when we gave him wrong directions, but he was able to make the necessary adjustments and we made it to the finish line.

Now it is off to bed! We have to be up bright and early for the Day rally. We have to be at the breakfast location by 7:30 AM so we can load the Day waypoints and routes.

Wish us luck on our adventure tomorrow!

The Great GBES 2006 Rally Begins

Today we head out on another geocaching adventure. We will be in Nevada, more specifically, Gardnerville and Minden. The event will take place over the next two days.

This evening we will participate in the night rally. It will last about 2 hours. We will be driving a specific course within a specific time limit and grabbing caches along the way. Mike is our driver, Cynthia is our cache navigator, Larry is our trip navigator and route cache finder, and Linda is our computer tracker and check point cache finder.

Tomorrow is the day rally and will last the entire day. We all play the same rolls.

Last year was the first time we participated and we placed 5th overall. We were just grateful to finish. This year we decided to go for the fun rather than the competition. We hope to be able to enjoy the scenery and take a few pictures without the stress.

Check back for more about our rally adventure