Author Archives: Timothy Allen

April sucks so far, am I right???

The weather has definitely kept riders home more this past week. We only had a handful of riders out collecting a jaw-dropping 14 locations…LOL! But better weather is on the horizon (he chants to himself over and over and over).

We did see some activity. Several riders picked off some low hanging fruit on Whidbey Island, and one crazy Canadian rider ventured out in the cold to collect locations on the east side of the state.

53 riders have visited 85 locations so far with GT13 leading with 15 visits so far. We still have 7 locations with no visits, probably because there is still snow blocking access. That too shall pass.

I think the picture submission process is working pretty well? There have been a couple riders we have worked with to get the process working smoothly. The biggest issue so far has been the location code – it must be the first thing in the subject line and cannot contain any spaces. The other issue is occasionally trying to send from an email address different than the one used during registration.

Well, here’s hoping the weather starts to turn for the better!

It has been a busy week with quite a few riders getting out last weekend to visit locations in every state except Montana. It looks like the practice sending pictures to the scoring email worked out pretty well, too. We had very few issues on our end. I would be interested to know if any of you are struggling with the process and could use some help. We don’t want it to be frustrating to get a picture sent in!

We don’t have an award for the first visit of the year, but if we did it would go to rider 212 for his middle of the night visit to Grand Coulee Dam! The lighting was pretty cool, and I imagine he was also pretty cold.

Riders Dave and Ellie hosted a pancake breakfast at their house and then visited Cooper Spur Mountain Resort on the 2nd of April. That is pretty cool and I am sorry I missed out. It looked like the roads up by the resort were clear of snow (although it could change at any time this time year).

Idaho didn’t get a lot of love last year until later in the season, but rider 128 is making a strong bid to change it this year. He made it out to the location I am most looking forward to this year – Hells Canyon Creek Visitor Center. Looks like he had good weather, too!

Two locations have drawn a lot of interest early on – probably because of the pancake breakfast group and the proximity to home for many riders. Whidbey Island leads the pack so far with 9 visits.

43 riders have been out to collect a total of 71 locations so far. The weather is not being too cooperative this week, but warmer and dryer conditions are on the way.

Finally, because many of you chose to donate to the YMCA when you registered, I thought I would let you know that we are approaching $2,000 overall. The YMCA has been hit as hard as any other organization and the money is definitely appreciated.

Well, the best laid plans and all that. The courthouse is dead, long live the new courthouse!

Rider Doug Blair went out to Bear Lake County courthouse (GT18 over in the great state of Idaho) over the weekend only to find it had been destroyed and replaced with a new courthouse a very short distance away. He did the right thing and took a picture of the new one and sent it in – perfect!

I have updated the sample images on the website. I don’t think you need updated GPS coordinates – it is right next to where the old one was located.

Sometimes this can happen, although it shouldn’t! The old courthouse wasn’t in bad shape as far as I could see when I last visited. This is one of the locations I have actually been to somewhat recently, so I was surprised to hear it was gone.

Anywho, off we go!