The rally started this morning, with 117 riders (107 bikes) rolling out of the hotel parking lot on a gorgeously sunny, blue-skied day. I have to admit, the video of the start got me a little choked up. I can only imagine how each rider felt, getting the signal to pull out and go.
If you’re looking for Ken in the video, he pulls out from the right side at 6:41, saluting the guy waving everyone out on his way.
There’s also a picture of Ken leaving here (photo #166).
Several of the ride reports have photos of Ken, too:
In the June 25, Day -1 post, on p. 10, upper left, is a shot of the back of his bike and his license plate holder.
In the June 26, Day 1 post…
p. 4, lower left
p. 9 lower left
p. 10, upper right picture, he’s the third bike from the left/the first full bike on the right
I’ve spoken to him twice today so far and he’s in good spirits. He’s happy with the plan he’s made and so far he hasn’t hit any major snags or problems. There will be ups and downs throughout, but here’s hoping for more ups than downs!
One modification to an earlier post (which I’ve fixed): there are five categories of animals, not four. Land, Air, Sea, Mythological, and Prehistoric. And since these next bits are in one of the official posts, I think I can mention a few more things here
The riders were given all of the bonus locations for the entire rally, but only the points for each location for the first leg. The points will go up each leg. They can return to locations they visited in previous legs. Also, if you get three of the same animal category in a row, the third bonus location is worth double points. Apparently that made for some fun and challenging routing decisions!
The two middle checkpoints, both at the same hotel in Dallas, will be on Wednesday and Saturday. Check-in starts at 8 pm local time.
That’s all for now!
xo Dayle
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