I have had the great pleasure of navigating for Bill Hedrick over the past several years as we swept three straight 1sts in the annual Lands End Rally. The rally in 2000 was first switched to September and then cancelled, but this year it was back on. Unfortunately, Bill was unable to make the rally this year, so it was up to me to drive my Bugeye assisted by Gordon Gilomen as navigator.

Those of you who have run this rally in the past know that it is typically 200+ miles over beautifully curved and hilly rural roads with NO stoplights for the entire rally. Unlike some previous years, this day the rally was run in perfect weather. The rally started near Beloit and wound and wound and wound its way up to Dodgeville. We were immediately in trouble as question number 1 was answerable only prior to exiting the welcome center start point. We settled down after that and did a respectable job of navigating and answering questions up until lunch time, when we ran into the ‘bonus questions.’ From past experience I knew it was always good to be in appropriate attire and with working accessories. It was also good for us that Gordon had happened to look around the welcome center as we waited for the rally start.

After lunch we had one backtrack plus some slowdowns thanks to county gravel spreading. This made for some spirited driving as I tried to make Dodgeville in time to clean up for dinner. (There are priorities.) Many times I was wishing for 2 speeds in reverse as I blew by our turn or a suspected answer lurking in the weeds. Despite Tom’s ever diabolical set of questions mingled with logic and timing problems (answers to questions are in order but you may pass the same answer several times during the day!) and aided by the ever helpful ‘bonus’ questions, Gordon and I managed to snare 1st!

It really was a great day of driving and entertainment. Dinner in downtown Dodgeville was very nice, especially noteworthy for 2 local brews on tap and the great company. We had to leave early Sunday. but enjoyed the ride home plus our lunch break at Blackhawk Farms watching some Midwest council races. Thanks again to Tom for putting on a great event and to Gordon for keeping us on track!