2015 Ride with the Champs

[400brian]

The plan this year was to have the trailer loaded and the truck pointed out the driveway on Wednesday, so that Thursday we could leave for St Germain by 2:00 pm. Well, there were some unexpected issues, and we ran out of time. So Thursday mid-day found me out in the snow, freezing my butt off, checking tires on the truck and trailer, then loading the sleds.

Cari Rainville's flight was delayed in Texas, so she didn't land in Madison until after noon, so we were running a bit behind. But we did get on the road by 3:00 pm, the roads were dry, and we made good time. We pulled into the motel just a bit after 6:00 pm, which is what I had been shooting for. JDJR pulled in just a few minutes after us, having left Texas at 3:00 pm the day before.

Joe had a board meeting to get to ASAP, and we had plans to go over to the 19th hole for supper with the Bennetts. I gave Wade a call as we checked in, and he came out to greet us and to explain what they had going on. It seems the late model Cat Mindy rides had ate a driveshaft bearing earlier in the afternoon, and they had taken it over to P-Dogs Sled Repair to be fixed.

When we got all our gear unloaded and the trailer unhooked, we all headed over to P-dogs to get the sled. On arrival, we found that the bearing was in, but that they were still trying to wrestle the suspension back in. I took Katy, Mindy, and Cari, over to the 19th Hole for happy hour, and Wade would ride the sled over as soon as it was done.

Keith Bylin's crew was there, so I visited with them for a while as well. Everyone was in good spirits, and enjoying the evening. Wade eventually joined us, we had a good meal, and some laughs were shared. My understanding is that the restaurant is under new management, and I can say that the potato and bacon soup was excellent!

Everyone was beat, so we headed back to the motel for some much needed shut eye. We had an adventure planned for Friday, and we needed to get rested up.

[400brian]

In the 6 years we have been doing the Vintage Challenge, The Cisco Lake Resort had been our first and last fuel stop, as it was about mid way to Fishtales. Back in December or thereabouts, we got an e-mail from Dan Larsen, informing us that the resort was for sale, and that it was closed. We needed a new gas stop, preferably one that wasn't too far out of our way.

We come onto the Cisco Chain at Bent's Camp Resort, and they have a pump, so I contacted the owner in December. He explained that they don't sell fuel in the winter, but that they would support our group and have someone there to run the pump.

I thought perhaps a few of us should run up there on Friday for lunch to test how this was going to work. JDJR has been trying to get me to do the guide's ride for some time, but I refuse to do 150 miles 2 days in a row, and nobody can make me! However, the section between Sayner and Bent's Camp is where most of the issues have been, so the 80 mi ride up there and back would kill several birds in one shot.

The plan was to depart for Bent's Camp around 10:00 am. If things went well, we could be back in time to grab a brat at the HOF picnic. Katy and I met the Bennetts in the lobby after the Poker Run gang had departed for the HOF. Eventually we suited up and went out to unload the sleds. I had fueled the sleds before we left, so once we had them off the trailer and had made a few laps around the parking lot, we were ready to go.

[400brian]

OK, we are ready to go. But Rainville, who has said he wants to go along, is still in town getting the sleds registered, buying gas, delivering Cari to the HOF, and being JDJR. Wade and I pulled the Sprintfire off his trailer, and continued to wait.

I noticed some younger guys in JD jackets messing around their trucks next to us, so I went over and introduced myself. One name was familiar, that was Lincoln Huffman, the others were Kyle Cowell, and Mark Staudt. They all had some nice looking sleds. I asked if they had planned to do the poker run, and they replied that they knew nothing about that, which was good, as it had no doubt long departed. I asked if they had come to ride, and they said yes, they were planning on doing the Vintage Challenge. I asked if they wanted to do a 40 mi ride up to Bent's Camp with us, and they quite enthusiastically all said YES. So I told them to get suited up and fueled up, as we would be leaving as soon as JDJR returned ( that actually gave them quite a bit of time ).

JDJR did finally arrive. He dumped some gas into the Sprintfire, and did get it running. So the eight of us did finally get moving. Rainville yelled "you are leading", so we headed out of the parking lot and headed north along HWY C.
We hadn't gone a quarter mile when the only one behind me was my wife. We sat and waited, and after a few minutes JDJR rode up and told me his bowl plug had fell out of the carb. I replied "really?"

[lwb140]

Brian , you recap of the weekend is priceless as always , keep it coming, wade

[400brian]

Once the plug was back in the carb, the Sprintfire ran a whole lot better! I don't think we ever stopped again until we reached Bent's Camp.

This was a relaxed paced ride, as Katy doesn't enjoy riding as fast as the guys ( that was part of why I was leading ),
but we never stopped, so I thought we had made the run up in a reasonable amount of time. I made all the correct turns on the way up, and 8 sleds is a group size that is very manageable.

We parked on the lake and went in for lunch. I'd never been there before, it is a nice typical Northwoods bar/restaurant. We had an attractive young woman for our waitress, and she was complimenting us on our "retro" riding gear as we sat down.

I thought the food was good, and they were doing good business, as quite a few snowmobilers came in while we were there.

There had been some concern about the green machine Katy was riding. This was the machine that wouldn't re-start after it was warm last year. I had changed the external coils, and put about 3 miles on the sleds running pretty much on grass around the yard, as we had no snow the week before we left. It had ran great, and re-started numerous times, still, I was not fully confident it was good to go.

It started right up as we prepared to leave, which was a relief, and I had a guy standing right at my elbow as I prepared to fire the X8. He was saying how great it was to see the old sleds out and about, as I casually reached up and twisted the key to start the engine. He seemed to get a big kick out of the fact I had e-start on it.

We pulled up to the gas pump to wait for those who were taking fuel, I decided we were OK on gas. I didn't want to, but I shut both sleds down while we waited. When everyone was ready to go, I went to start the green machine, and of course now it won't run right, my worst fears realized!

I put a pair of new plugs in ( in an act of desperation ) and after a bit it spooled up and ran! We took off up the driveway, me waving for the others to follow. We got out to the trail with no one behind us, and sat there for several minuets before the rest joined us, I was getting pretty antsy.

We settled into the ride, and everything went very well until I missed an intersection and had us heading towards Boulder Junction. I knew we were seeing landmarks that were all new, but couldn't figure out what I had done wrong. I stopped at the next intersection, where we discussed the situation, Joe was helpful in pointing out that I had screwed up. There was a map in a glass case at that intersection, so we could figure out where we were.

The decision was made to backtrack, and after waiting for 4 or 5 guys to whizz in the woods, we headed back in the opposite direction. Joe ran up ahead to find the turn, which was maybe 5 miles back. In my fat and happy state, I simply rode through that intersection and never saw it.

We ran our way back to the south, having some discussions on a turn or two, but we were on track. Just before we got to Stillwaters Resort we met a groomer, and had to pull to the side to let it pass. This was where the green machine decided it had had enough, died, and refused to re-start. My last set of new plugs didn't help, so the decision was made to put it on the rope. As I was getting the belt off, the HOF guides ride came through, Joe moaning that we were never going to live this down.

As we were hooking Mindy's Cat up to the sled, I heard Katy ask Joe how this was going to go, and he replied that it wouldn't be as much fun as driving it.

We headed out, and were soon running across Star Lake. I looked over at Katy just in time to see one ski go into the air, I knew that would have her peeing herself, but after that the ride was smooth enough, and we made it to Sayner without incident.

[Jd sled rider]

It amazes me how you remember everything so well! I want to thank all you guys and gals for letting us tag along it was a great experience, I am already in preparation for next years event. Trying to decide which sleds I will bring. I will definietly be doing som suspension upgrades and be going through the clutching with a fine tooth comb. Can't wait to read the rest of the story. Thanks again Lincoln

[400brian]

Even though we are just a few minutes from the motel, a few of our group decide to take a little gas, and after looking at my gauge, I decide to take a gallon as well. Running out at this point is going to be very inconvenient, not to mention embarrassing. Joe asks if I want to leave the green machine here and drive up and get it...I think about that around 2 seconds and decide no, we tow it back. Mindy is doing OK, and we'll have it towed back far quicker than it will take to drive up with the trailer.

It's getting dusky, and we need to get back for the Amber "Meet and Greet". We head out of Sayner, with me thinking I need to take the correct route back. We generally come out onto "C" a couple of miles above where the trail in the ditch ends. Last year Dan Larsen was leading, he did it correctly, and I tried to remember how he did it.

The first intersection we came to I want to go right, but all the arrows are pointing left. As I turn to the left, the headlight illuminates the sign better, and I see the arrow for St Germain pointing right. I turn around to go to the right, we unhook Mindy so she can get turned to the right, and re-hook her, and we get going. The next intersection is the one I'm thinking of. St Germain straight ahead, or Lake Big St. to the right. We want to head for Big St., so I turn right.

We came out on "C" right where we want to be, and made the run down the ditch to HWY 70 and the motel. I park behind the trailer, Mindy and Katy take a Victory Lap around the parking lot. Met Bob and Marna Amber in the lobby, chatted for a moment, then Don arrived and they were off for the Meet and Greet.

Katy had informed me that she had "helmet hair" and that something had to be done with it. That meant time .
After a quick shower,a change of clothes ( and the helmet hair fix ), we picked up the Bennetts and headed over to the Restaurant.

[400brian]

By the time we got to the "Meet and Greet", happy hour was over, everyone was sitting at tables. I imagine because we arrived about the same time, we wound up sitting with the same group we had been riding with all day. They couldn't get rid of us!

The food was good, the company excellent. John Bauer showed us more slides from his photo shoot days with Deere, that was great. At one point Cari Rainville brought Katy out a Brandy Alexander, as it was her birthday.

On Thursday night, I had taken Wade into town to fill gas cans ( 10 I think ) I said; "Dude, what are you going to do with all this gas? He replied that he figured they'd burn it.

Friday night was my turn. Wade and I went down the HWY to the Shell station as it was still open, and I made 16 gallons of premium premix, and that was more than I would need.

6:00 am was going to come early, so we hit the sack to get rested up. The RWTC was tomorrow!

[400brian]

Considering that we had rode around 80 miles the day before, I was reasonably functional when I rolled out at 6:00 am Saturday morning. Felt pretty confident, no real nervousness at this point, the sled had ran good on Friday, all I needed to do was top off the tank.

Pretty quiet in the lobby on the way out. There was two stroke smoke in the air as I walked across the parking lot. I started the truck, then proceeded to fuel the sled. Not too cold overnight, and the e-start easily fired it up. I made a couple of laps around the lot, then gave Katy the thumbs-up to drive the truck over to the restaurant.

I got registered, signed up, bibbed, and headed for the breakfast line. Food was great as always, and we ate in the company of Wayne Nickolson, who talked a bit about hanging out with the Unsers back in the day. Wayne was a SHOF inductee back in 2011, He is from NY, and raced ovals on Ski Doo from 69-2000. Wayne is a great guy to talk to, very unassuming and down to earth.

Another fellow that was sitting at our table was the guy who rode a Blizzard last year. He had the secondary fail on the return trip across Lake Gegobic ( I'll come up with a name...). He assured me that he had the sled upgraded, and he was ready to try it again.

One nagging issue we had this year was that we needed a support truck driver. JDJR was offering his truck and trailer, but no one was offering to drive it. My understanding is that on Saturday morning, Jim Graft of Certified Parts out of Janesville, agreed to drive. By the time Joe got back from fueling the truck, and we got our fuel cans in, the morning program was finishing up, and we missed the group photo.

[400brian]

OK, time to hit the trail! We had 16 names on the sign up sheet, plus Rainville, 3 on modern sleds, no celebrity riders this year. That is a very manageable size, I'm feeling good about that, and most are repeat VC riders. We'd move around throughout the day, but Joe would lead, I would be in the middle, and Dan Larson would bring up the rear.

We ran north in the ditch along hwy C, and then headed up the trail towards Sayner. At one of the first intersections, I looked back and saw we were missing sleds. We waited a few minutes, then getting impatient, I backtracked to see what was going on.

A short distance down the trail, I found the rest of the group gathered around Lincoln's 81 Liquifire. When I got there they were attempting to disconnect the rev limiter, obviously because the engine wouldn't rev up. They had pliers, but they could not get the plug pulled out. Finally Lincoln swapped a fresh set of plugs in, and the sled fired up and ran. I don't know what that was about, but as far as I know, the sled ran OK the rest of the day.

OK, so we get underway again, and we get to Sayner without any more issues. Once there we chat briefly with our support crew, then get everyone fired up to head out. Once I saw all the headlights come on, I pulled out and headed across town. I've got Allen and Ryan Teach on modern Cats with me when I drop down onto Plum Lake, but no one else. After a few minutes, the Teaches head out on their own, and I head back to see what is going on.

I got almost all the way back to the Mobil Station when I met the group, I don't think I ever heard what the hold up was there. Back on Plum Lake, we finally get moving. After a nice run across the lake, we stop on the far side only to realize we are missing more sleds again. After a quick confab, Joe decides that Dan can handle it, and we get under way. After a mile of un-groomed trail, we are running across Star Lake, and I'm thinking this is where the Late Model group comes through us. Either we are really late, or they are really early. At any rate, we exit the lake near Stillwaters Resort, and head into the woods.

We seem to have beaten back the gremlins at that point, because I don't recall any more problems before reaching Bent's Camp around 11:00 AM. We got everyone fueled up, and before we left, the Larsens joined us. It seemed that the lone Polaris in the group had to be towed back to Sayner and loaded onto the "Trailer of Shame".

[400brian]

As we made our way across the Cisco Chain, something about it struck me as odd. Joe hung a right through a hedge row, and I was sure that was wrong, there was nothing familiar about it. Then we passed through another that looked no more familiar, and I was sure this was all wrong. Then we came to the place we exit the lake to cross the bridge, and that was all very familiar and correct, I really was confused. I talked to Dan Larsen about this at lunch, and he agreed that it looked wrong. His thought was that the water level was lower than we were used to, and so things looked different. Could be, there was something that was throwing me off.

We crossed the bridge, and dropped back down to the lake at the familiar stump field, and continued our way north. This part all seemed right, and we were soon passing the ( closed ) Cisco Lake Resort. We headed up the road to find trail 13, and shortly after were running the first railroad grade north.The trail was a bit choppy, but not too bad, and we were running a good pace.

This continued until we hit the T intersection where we turn west. This railroad grade was a little worse, but still manageable. Everyone was running well together at this point, life was good. At the next intersection we turn right to continue on trail 13 north, and this was where things really took a turn for the worse. This is a twisting trail through the woods, but often we have had a very enjoyable time running this, the last couple of years in particular this has been a fun section. This year it is beat to a pulp! Washboards, moguls, you name it. It was pretty much un-rideable on a mid-mount, but here I was doing it!

Finally, we came out of the woods and ran beside a road, this is just south of the Root Cellar, we are getting close! Arriving at the Root Cellar, we drop down to Lake Gogebic, and stop to regroup for a moment. I remember one of the guys asking "where are we going"? I pointed across the lake and replied; " follow the tracks across the lake, on the other side you will eventually see a building with a flashing red light on the side of it, that is where we are going."

So we saddle up and head across. The lake was reasonably smooth, the snow dust was minimal, and while I did see a few places where water had come up on top and froze, no open looking holes this year. We rode right up to the trailer, and headed in for lunch.

The late model group was preparing to leave, so we had no problems finding a place to sit. The food was good! Fried chicken, roast beef, a pasta dish, mashed potatoes, rolls, and slaw. It hit the spot!

We had no time to linger, so I was quickly back out fueling the sled. Didn't quite empty the 5 gallon can I fueled from at Bents Camp! I'm burning half the fuel of everyone else, except maybe Rainville's Sprint. After I get the sled fueled up, I head back in to get JDJR moving. We had everyone fueled, and the sleds all running on the lake in preparation to leave, when our guide decided he needed a bathroom break. Once Joe got organized, we headed back the direction we had come.

[400brian]

I've always enjoyed watching a group of sleds run across a big lake. The snow is flying, which adds to the feeling of speed, and as you are watching for hazards that are going to be very difficult to see before you hit them, you are wondering which one of the hot dogs are going to hold it to the bar too long and burn down. Fun stuff!

As I'm buzzing across Gogebic, I have Rich Acre running just to my right on a '83 Liquifire. I notice him looking down several times, and I'm thinking somethings not right, and about that time he dropped back. When I reached the east shore, I looked back and saw sleds sitting in the middle of the lake, and they are not moving. I rode up the hill to report this development. Wade is sitting in the driveway waiting, the rest are across the road on the trail. I wave to Wade to hold up, and then stopped to tell him the situation. I then headed back to the lake to find out what the problem was, but halfway down the hill, I met the group coming up. FANTASTIC, we keep going! I turned around and headed back out. There was a groomer sitting in the Root Cellar parking lot, so there was hope that the ride back might be a little better.

We headed south down the freshly groomed but mushy trail. It was better for a few miles, but then petered out to stuff that was just as rough as before. It was pretty brutal, at one point Mark Staudt stopped his '78 LF in front of me, and went running back down the trail. I'm thinking; what the heck is that all about? I look back, and Dan Larsen is coming up with a 12" Cresent wrench in his hand. Mark takes it, throws it back in his tool box, and we get back under way. I'm wondering what you do with a 12" Cresent wrench?

This leg took way too long. At times I'm right down to walking speed, as the sled is bouncing so bad that it is totally out of control, and the helmet is bouncing so bad that my vision is blurred to the point that I can't see to drive. This is kinda sucking!

Joe stopped a couple of times to let me catch up, the last time I said to Dan Larsen, "we must be just about to the railroad grade?" and Dan replied that he thought we were very close. It turned out it was maybe a quarter mile, and we tuned east onto the grade. It was more beat up than before, but it was still way better than what we had been on. We ran the grades, and made the turn back to Cisco without incident. The trip back across the Cisco Chain seemed more familiar from the reverse direction. Joe stayed out of the trees, and we soon had Bent's Camp in sight. Cari was standing in the driveway waving us up, so those of us with fuel in the truck headed out to the road where they were parked.

[400brian]

Those of us with fuel in the truck were quickly gassed up and ready to go, the guys fueling at the pump take longer. Lincoln took the opportunity to pound on his secondary some more. He was using a 3 lb mini sledge and a big screw driver. I think he got the tools out of Rainville's trailer, and had been carrying them in his backpack since Sayner. I thought about the pounding I had been taking, and asked Lincoln; "Dude, hasn't that hammer bouncing on your back all day been killing you?" He claimed that it wasn't bothering him!

As we prepared to depart, a groomer came out of the trail we would be heading down momentarily, which again gave us some hope! I remember Rainville announcing that we had 2 hours before the autograph session would start at the HOF. I'm guessing that meant it was about 4:00 pm at the time. Gonna be tight, it was time to get moving.

In the first photo below, Lincoln and Rich are pounding the secondary bushing into submission, and it appears that Kyle is viewing internet porn.

In the second photo, the Larsen boys are taking a break in the snow.

[400brian]

OK, it's the last leg, and we have 2 hours, lets beat this out.

The freshly groomed trail was great for a ways, but it didn't last long. The section through the woods just south of Bent's wasn't too bad, and then we get on the seasonal road section, and we made up for lost time! Not much snow or ice for that matter on the road, just kind of a thin glaze. I don't think the slides were getting much lubrication, as we pinned their ears back and wound them out a bit. That was fun! But, we are quickly through that section, back on trails, and then turn south at the intersection I had rode past the day before ( I was looking for it this time ).

The tail degraded rapidly at this point, to just as nasty as we had run south of Gogebic. At times I was driving with my right hand, and holding the rear grab bar with my left, trying to take some of the punishment off my back. Then we made another turn, and the trail was as nice as any we'd been on all day. I wound it up and enjoyed that section, but then another turn, and we are back in the moguls. Joe stopped about the same place that the wife's sled had died the day before, and we regrouped. It was getting dark at this point, and as we got going again, I thought I heard some nasty sounds coming from Mark's 78 LF. With a helmet on and a bunch of sleds running, it was hard to tell, but I heard something that wasn't right.

We passed Stillwater's and dropped onto Star Lake. I noticed Mark looking at the rear of his sled, yeah, something isn't right there. I exited Star and made my way through a very rough mile of ground trail to Plum Lake. Once on the lake, I stopped to take stock of the situation. Everyone ahead of me was out of sight already, behind me I had Lincoln and our guy on the Blizzard. OK, we are missing a few, and no one had any clue as to where the were.

We stood there for a few moments, I was thinking about what to do next. Finally I said; " Sayner is on the other side of this lake, we aren't doing anything here, lets go wait in Sayner. Lincoln replied; "hey, we're just following you!" So we made the quick trip across the lake, it is pitch dark now, and regroup at the Sayner Mobile station.

Rainville wanted to know where the rest were, and all I could tell him is that they never came off Star Lake.

[400brian]

So the first question I asked was; "is Mark here?" The answer to that was yes. OK, then who isn't here? A quick survey revealed that the 3 Larsens and Rod Rimko were not present. Rod's son Garret was sitting at the gas pump, so I walked over and asked him if he had any idea where his Dad was, and he replied; "nope." We tried calling Dan, but there was no answer. Jim in our support truck needed to be back at the HOF, because he was one of the celebs taking part in the autograph session.

About this time, I am getting REALLY antsy, I hate standing around with my thumb... Then there was the sound of an approaching sled. A single headlight appeared, and a VERY loud Arctic Cat was heading our way. It was the older of the two Larsen boys, and as soon as he shut the engine down, I'm asking him what happened?

He tells us that he had hit something out on the lake, it had very nearly put him over the bars, and it had messed up the exhaust system on his Cat. I asked; "so you are the one they stopped for?" and he replied; "yes". "OK" I said, "Where is everyone else?" He says; "Oh, they're coming". And about that time 3 sleds came into view, heading our way.

Joe consults with Dan, while Rod is taking a splash of gas from the pump. Joe comes over and says we NEED to be at the HOF, how long is it going to take us to get there? I reply, "10 minutes, IF WE HAUL IT!" Joe heads for his sled. Rod is putting his gas cap on, so I yell, SADDLE UP! I fire the X8, and suddenly realize that Joe will not likely take the correct trail south of Sayner, mainly because he never has in the past. I HAD taken the correct route the day before, and I didn't want to waste that hard earned experience.

I gunned the sled through the brown snirt and pulled alongside Joe. I yell, "take the trail toward Big Saint." Joe looks at me and yells, "WHAT?" I yell it a second time, he yells back, "follow me!" So we take off. Garret Rimko jumps in between us, as we head out of Sayner. Just outside of town, there is a place that stores pontoon boats all covered with the white shrink wrap, and it's wide open there, so I put the throttle to the bar, passed Garret, and got in behind Rainville.

The first intersection we came to was the one where we had to turn Mindy around the day before. Joe paused there, and I just blew by him turning right. I had no more than gotten straightened out, and here comes a groomer.
It was taking up the entire trail, and there really was no place to get off, but turning everyone around was going to take way too long, so I plowed the X8 into the snow and brush alongside the trail. One by one, everyone followed suit, and the groomer came through. The snow was surprisingly deep off the trail, and one of the sleds on the other side of the trail was stuck ( it may have been Garret ). While Joe got off to help pull the sled onto the trail, I rocked the X8 a couple of times and gunned the engine, and the old mid-mount came firing out of that fluff like nobody's business!

I took off down the trail like a scalded cat, and very soon came to the intersection I had been referring to. I hung a right, and waited for a moment, Rainville came sliding around the corner and headed down the trail, with me hot on his tail. This section was no doubt some of the wildest riding I had done in a while. It was rough as hell, but kinda mushy, the impacts weren't as hard as we'd had earlier. It's dark, so we would've seen headlights if anyone was coming towards us, so we straightened out the corners, and rode on whatever was the smoothest side of the trail. I can testify that Rainville did NOT have both skis on the ground at all times. It was a white knuckle, balls out run, but gosh I was having fun!

We came out at HWY C, Joe pulled up to the road, which is too far. I made a hard right turn behind him, jumped onto the trail in the ditch, and put it back to the bar. He saw what I did, but couldn't follow suit, so he took off down the shoulder of the road, running in the gravel stones no doubt. For a time we were running side by side, me on the trail in the ditch, he on the road. After a while, the trail and the road converge to the same level, and Joe was able to jump over onto the trail. I paused for a moment to look back, and it appeared most had not made the turn, and were coming down the road.

We hightailed it down C, and were soon approaching HWY 70. I pulled out onto the road so as to avoid the large berm of snow at the edges of the drive into the Whitetail ( have had a bad experience with those a few years back ), but when I went to turn left to cross HWY C to get onto the trail along 70, the skis just skittred across the pavement, and I missed the trail and wound up nosed into a big pile of snow. I got off to pull the skis around, and somehow managed to hit the kill switch as I did so ( insult to injury ). Wade got off and was standing beside watching as I attempted to restart the sled. It took several attempts of messing with the kill switch and finally choking it, to get it to re-light. I yelled to Wade, "lets take it home," and we ran the last few hundred yards to the motel.

I forgot to make my customary victory lap around the parking lot, as I drove directly to the trailer and shut it down.
Vintage Challenge number 7 is in the books! I sent a text to Troy to tell him I had made it at 6:28 pm. I congratulated Lincoln, Kyle and Mark on finishing, then headed into the room for a quick shower and change before we headed over to the Whitetail for the banquet.