What a beautiful day for our October Rallye. It would be hard to worry about ghosts and goblins on such a day. 29 teams left the Start at the Burger King in Wayne. The Rallye used locations gleaned from the WeirdNJ WEB site and some weird places they were. Tom and Mike did a sensational job of weaving them into a great event. We proceeded to the grave of the 'World's Greatest Electrician' and passing close by 'Midgetville' along the Passaic River. We then proceeded north toward  Ringwood, West Milford and Green Pond. We got to visit the site of the long defunct Safari Animal Park and Jack's Place, a restaurant in an airplane.

The challenge was the Trick or Treat sacks (grab bags) that contained several route instructions that you executed in the order that the first action of the instruction could be executed. Choosing incorrectly brought you to the correct exit point but with a different mileage than the correct route. For example, in the first sack, the first action was an onto Parish Dr. If you failed to notice that Parish Drive turned, you went about 1 mile further. A very clever trap was the fact that you were told that all the instructions in the sack would not be executed and that the one that contained the words 'close the sack' must be executed. The last sack allowed you to use all the instructions meaning when only two were left, you'd have to go to '...close the sack' and skip the other. Good Trick! 

Speaking of tricks, I managed to invent my own in Wayne. I added 4 miles when I misapplied the generals, despite the fact that my wife disagreed with me and I should have known better. Oh-Oh. The Weirdest location was a small town of empty houses, just off Route 23 at Germantown Road. Tales of cults and Satan worship only heightened the mystery of a small town with boarded up windows with shades painted on them. All but one team finished and enjoyed the camaraderie of  the group at Fuddruckers in Wayne. Congratulations to the Winners and to the Rallye Committee - Great Job.

September 24th found 17 cars at the Burger King in Wayne under threatening skies. The Rallye had been billed as a tribute to a Charter Member and President, Brad Arch, who passed earlier this year. Rallyemaster, John Groot, (that's me) tried to plan a Rallye that touched on some of the points of Brad's life. Brad had been a Assistant Postmaster in New Vernon. He also spent a lot of time at the VA hospital in Lyons.

Bradley had put on a Rallye a long time ago called Mr. ZIP's Trip, if my memory serves me, based on visiting US Post Offices to identify ZIP codes. He also had used Zarephath on a Z Club Rallye that he also belonged to. He once, on an all-night Rallye, led people to Paulsboro in South Jersey and then told them to retrace their steps.

All of that put together led to the format. 10 Post Offices were listed and the Experts had to get to all 10, the Intermediates to 8 and the Novices to 6. At the Post Offices they had to identify photographs that proved they had actually been there. The teams got to pick the route they traveled and they order in which they visited the POs. The points had been chosen to promote back road travel and great scenery despite the weather. Most of the Rallye was run in Hunterdon County with a bit in Morris and Somerset.

All of the cars finished, although two Experts were overtime and one chose not to be scored. The results are shown below.

August 27th saw 17 teams start our late summer Rallye at the now-famous Burger King in Wayne, NJ. Mike used some interesting formats to bring the teams through Morris and Passaic Counties. They had to stay alert, however. Almost immediately the teams were told to either turn after a "reformed church" or a street sign. Turning after the "reformed church" was incorrect since signs must be quoted and upper case. In any case, all the teams found themselves going south on Route 23, right past the Starting spot. Only one team noticed the Checkpoint sign, which had been there all morning, that should have drawn all teams in. That lack of concentration cost 200 points.

Mike used Route 80 as the OD Leg out to Denville and the Grab Bag format which is basically an Either/Or/Or... format through the pretty area around Cedar Lake. We went north to the dam over Charlottesburg Reservoir on Split Rock Road. A rest break at the Lakeland Shopping Center gave the teams a break but set them up for the next control. Given the instruction R onto 23 North, many thought it was a typo since you would have had to go L. Correct execution caused many teams to go straight right into a Control manned by Mal & Lynn Michels, saving 200 points. Logic Blocks, a checkerboard matrix of instructions brought the teams north to West Milford and then east to Route 17 in Sloatsburg and south to Mahwah.

The final trap called for a R into the Parking Lot of the ending spot at the Best Western Hotel. Of course a "R" can only be executed at an intersection. Correct execution would have been to continue on Route 17 and pull into the manned checkpoint. There you would have gotten additional and correct  instructions to the end. 

All but one team came to the ending spot to enjoy the food, beverages and camaraderie. Thanks to Mike and to all who participated or worked this great Rallye