Jrally
Adventurer
Arizona Exteme Shortcourse Rally 2013
The rally wasn't going to be the normal stage format, but a 14-mile loop on private property. This meant a very compact format, good viewing opportunity and service right next to the start/finish line.
I was excited because Laura would get to ride along, since this time we would be running the 00 car, first course opening to make sure the course workers are in place and the road is ready to race on, no HAM operator needed. Laura and I talked it over and decided we might as well make it a big adventure, since Kingman is only about a three-hour drive from Phoenix.
For the first time, we drove “Carlos” to the rally, rather than trailering it. Along with that, we also thought, a side trip to Laughlin would be fun as well. With a plan hashed out, all I had to do was make sure the Celica would be ready for a 600-plus-mile road trip. Not a big deal, change the oil, pack some drinks, snacks and clothes for a quick weekend away.
Thursday night I finished up the packing, minus the drinks and car prep. Friday , we were able to leave pretty much right after work, driving towards Wickenburg with the setting sun. Funny, the town felt like it had closed down with the sunset. I think it was more like they all went home for dinner, before heading back out to the bars later. How did I come to that conclusion? We ate at the main corner bar and grill for dinner, empty when we got there, standing room only in the bar area as we left an hour later. The next stop, on the out skirts of Wickenburg, was to top off the gas tank for the lonely stretch up the 93. Apparently it's where all the troubled youth of town hang out.
Part of the adventure of driving Carlos on such a long trip is dealing with the noise level, the wandering steering and the less than luxurious race seats. The long haul up 93 was made even more difficult by 20mph side winds trying to push the high ground clearance car off the road every 30 seconds.
A few hours later, we pulled onto I-40 and before we knew it, into Kingman. First thought, the town has been growing; second thought was the gas prices surprised me as I figured they would be a good bit more expensive than in Phoenix. I topped the tank back off then headed over to the host hotel, Hampton Inn. If you ever find yourself needing to spend the night in Kingman, I can recommend this new hotel—hard to go wrong with a Hilton property. Laura and I checked in with the usual late-night rally zombies before heading to bed.
The next morning would be a quick bite to eat before heading out to the track with the other volunteers. The track was only a few minutes down the highway to the north of the hotel, but the last couple of miles turned down a somewhat bumpy dirt road. Is this what we should expect of the stage road?
Nope, the first look at the stage road, amazingly smooth and well groomed, even after the heavy rains Arizona got pounded with earlier in the week. And the biggest surprise of the rally, not a single rock to be found ANYWHERE!! I've never seen a rally, anywhere in the country without rocks, at least a few here and there, let alone any southwest rallies, which are known for their rocky, rough nature. The course builder designed a really fun, including the challenging 14-mile loop and a great mix of technical sections connected by long stretches diving into tight turns.
As so many rallies go, the cars started DNFing, leaving me with a second job as co-driver taxi cab. I had to run out and grab Leelyn Pritchard from the Porsche with the thrown rod, so he could jump in the Eclipse to fill in for the co-driver who became too sick to continue. The format and compact nature of the event made this all possible. Beyond that, the race seemed to be moving along smoothly. We ran the course one more time in the afternoon, before our Car 00 duties were over.
And this is where Laura and I decided we might as well get on with our weekend trip and head to Laughlin while it was still early in the afternoon. This brought the next surprise, the temperature was in the low 80s up in Kingman but by the time we got to the river in Laughlin, it was over 100. Glad the race wasn't down there.
Not much to report about Laughlin, it's not as fun as I remembered from when we use to have a rally based out of the town. Frankly it felt dirty and run down, but it could have been just the hotel we chose to stay in. The highlight of the evening was spotting a raccoon hanging out on the dock, looking like he was waiting for the boat taxi to take him down to Lake Havasu.
Sunday morning, we knew it would be getting warm quickly, so we had a nice breakfast before hitting the road before 10am. The question would be, which way to go? Back over the hill to Kingman, or follow the river down to I-40? A simple question to the waitress decided for us.
"Where's the nearest Bank of America ATM?"
"Five miles south down the road."
Follow the river it is. The bigger draw for me, I had never driven that stretch of road before. Staying close to the river, made for a nice drive, so much greener than up in the high desert. The only down side was the continually rising temps all the way down to Needles, Ca.
Once we got down to I-40, the next topic of discussion became how far east to head before turning south back towards the general Phoenix area. We had time to think it over, just getting back to Kingman was going to be a hike and our gas stop. It's been 25 years since I've driven that stretch of highway; nope, not a clue, didn't look even a little familiar. It was getting around lunch time when we got to Kingman, but the big breakfast in Laughlin seemed to be holding us for now.
What we did want were a couple of large, cold drinks and a short break out of the car. The funniest thing happened while we sat at the Sonic for a few minutes. A grackle, a small crow-looking bird, always shaggy looking, was wondering around Carlos. All of a sudden he dove under the car and was pecking at the front suspension, wheels, brakes. What the heck was he so excited about getting to eat? I don't really know.
We decided rather than taking 93 back south down through Wickenburg, we’d head over toward Seligman. It came to me.
While researching a project of mine, a friend told me of a dirt road that runs from Seligman down nearly into Prescott. We had to go check it out. Williamson Valley Road is the nicest 35-mile stretch of dirt road I've driven on in a very long time—wide, smooth, scenic, diving through a river valley with an iron bridge and lush vegetation before going back through ranch-style rolling hills. The only creepy part was the mass migration of giant grasshoppers near the south end. I wonder if we had run through some while following the river down to Needles and that's what the scraggly bird was eating off the bottom of the car at Sonic?
Eventually the road came back out onto rural roads to the northwest of Chino Valley, Ariz.
Before getting into town, we stopped at a gas station/convenience store to top off the gas tank and empty out the 32-oz. drinks from Sonic. In the strangest places, I'll get people asking me about Carlos, and this station in the middle of nowhere was going to be no different. First, while pumping gas, one of the trucks we had passed on the dirt road pulled in nearby. He and his wife had spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out what my car was. He thought his guess of an AMC would be odd—nope, get that one all the time. I guess the car looks bigger at a distance than it really is. I then went inside for the second half of the stop when sitting up on the counter was a stack of Sunday papers.
The cover story was all about the up-coming Prescott Rally. The cashier turned to see what I was driving and excitedly asked me about rallying and if we would be at the race in a few weeks. I explained what we did the day before and how I would be doing course closing for the Prescott Rally.
Although we weren't home yet, this seemed like a great way to end a long road trip in the Celica, spreading the rally word around...
The rally wasn't going to be the normal stage format, but a 14-mile loop on private property. This meant a very compact format, good viewing opportunity and service right next to the start/finish line.
I was excited because Laura would get to ride along, since this time we would be running the 00 car, first course opening to make sure the course workers are in place and the road is ready to race on, no HAM operator needed. Laura and I talked it over and decided we might as well make it a big adventure, since Kingman is only about a three-hour drive from Phoenix.
For the first time, we drove “Carlos” to the rally, rather than trailering it. Along with that, we also thought, a side trip to Laughlin would be fun as well. With a plan hashed out, all I had to do was make sure the Celica would be ready for a 600-plus-mile road trip. Not a big deal, change the oil, pack some drinks, snacks and clothes for a quick weekend away.
Thursday night I finished up the packing, minus the drinks and car prep. Friday , we were able to leave pretty much right after work, driving towards Wickenburg with the setting sun. Funny, the town felt like it had closed down with the sunset. I think it was more like they all went home for dinner, before heading back out to the bars later. How did I come to that conclusion? We ate at the main corner bar and grill for dinner, empty when we got there, standing room only in the bar area as we left an hour later. The next stop, on the out skirts of Wickenburg, was to top off the gas tank for the lonely stretch up the 93. Apparently it's where all the troubled youth of town hang out.
Part of the adventure of driving Carlos on such a long trip is dealing with the noise level, the wandering steering and the less than luxurious race seats. The long haul up 93 was made even more difficult by 20mph side winds trying to push the high ground clearance car off the road every 30 seconds.
A few hours later, we pulled onto I-40 and before we knew it, into Kingman. First thought, the town has been growing; second thought was the gas prices surprised me as I figured they would be a good bit more expensive than in Phoenix. I topped the tank back off then headed over to the host hotel, Hampton Inn. If you ever find yourself needing to spend the night in Kingman, I can recommend this new hotel—hard to go wrong with a Hilton property. Laura and I checked in with the usual late-night rally zombies before heading to bed.
The next morning would be a quick bite to eat before heading out to the track with the other volunteers. The track was only a few minutes down the highway to the north of the hotel, but the last couple of miles turned down a somewhat bumpy dirt road. Is this what we should expect of the stage road?
Nope, the first look at the stage road, amazingly smooth and well groomed, even after the heavy rains Arizona got pounded with earlier in the week. And the biggest surprise of the rally, not a single rock to be found ANYWHERE!! I've never seen a rally, anywhere in the country without rocks, at least a few here and there, let alone any southwest rallies, which are known for their rocky, rough nature. The course builder designed a really fun, including the challenging 14-mile loop and a great mix of technical sections connected by long stretches diving into tight turns.
As so many rallies go, the cars started DNFing, leaving me with a second job as co-driver taxi cab. I had to run out and grab Leelyn Pritchard from the Porsche with the thrown rod, so he could jump in the Eclipse to fill in for the co-driver who became too sick to continue. The format and compact nature of the event made this all possible. Beyond that, the race seemed to be moving along smoothly. We ran the course one more time in the afternoon, before our Car 00 duties were over.
And this is where Laura and I decided we might as well get on with our weekend trip and head to Laughlin while it was still early in the afternoon. This brought the next surprise, the temperature was in the low 80s up in Kingman but by the time we got to the river in Laughlin, it was over 100. Glad the race wasn't down there.
Not much to report about Laughlin, it's not as fun as I remembered from when we use to have a rally based out of the town. Frankly it felt dirty and run down, but it could have been just the hotel we chose to stay in. The highlight of the evening was spotting a raccoon hanging out on the dock, looking like he was waiting for the boat taxi to take him down to Lake Havasu.
Sunday morning, we knew it would be getting warm quickly, so we had a nice breakfast before hitting the road before 10am. The question would be, which way to go? Back over the hill to Kingman, or follow the river down to I-40? A simple question to the waitress decided for us.
"Where's the nearest Bank of America ATM?"
"Five miles south down the road."
Follow the river it is. The bigger draw for me, I had never driven that stretch of road before. Staying close to the river, made for a nice drive, so much greener than up in the high desert. The only down side was the continually rising temps all the way down to Needles, Ca.
Once we got down to I-40, the next topic of discussion became how far east to head before turning south back towards the general Phoenix area. We had time to think it over, just getting back to Kingman was going to be a hike and our gas stop. It's been 25 years since I've driven that stretch of highway; nope, not a clue, didn't look even a little familiar. It was getting around lunch time when we got to Kingman, but the big breakfast in Laughlin seemed to be holding us for now.
What we did want were a couple of large, cold drinks and a short break out of the car. The funniest thing happened while we sat at the Sonic for a few minutes. A grackle, a small crow-looking bird, always shaggy looking, was wondering around Carlos. All of a sudden he dove under the car and was pecking at the front suspension, wheels, brakes. What the heck was he so excited about getting to eat? I don't really know.
We decided rather than taking 93 back south down through Wickenburg, we’d head over toward Seligman. It came to me.
While researching a project of mine, a friend told me of a dirt road that runs from Seligman down nearly into Prescott. We had to go check it out. Williamson Valley Road is the nicest 35-mile stretch of dirt road I've driven on in a very long time—wide, smooth, scenic, diving through a river valley with an iron bridge and lush vegetation before going back through ranch-style rolling hills. The only creepy part was the mass migration of giant grasshoppers near the south end. I wonder if we had run through some while following the river down to Needles and that's what the scraggly bird was eating off the bottom of the car at Sonic?
Eventually the road came back out onto rural roads to the northwest of Chino Valley, Ariz.
Before getting into town, we stopped at a gas station/convenience store to top off the gas tank and empty out the 32-oz. drinks from Sonic. In the strangest places, I'll get people asking me about Carlos, and this station in the middle of nowhere was going to be no different. First, while pumping gas, one of the trucks we had passed on the dirt road pulled in nearby. He and his wife had spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out what my car was. He thought his guess of an AMC would be odd—nope, get that one all the time. I guess the car looks bigger at a distance than it really is. I then went inside for the second half of the stop when sitting up on the counter was a stack of Sunday papers.
The cover story was all about the up-coming Prescott Rally. The cashier turned to see what I was driving and excitedly asked me about rallying and if we would be at the race in a few weeks. I explained what we did the day before and how I would be doing course closing for the Prescott Rally.
Although we weren't home yet, this seemed like a great way to end a long road trip in the Celica, spreading the rally word around...
