Walla Walla

Day 13, Stage 12 Thursday, July 7, 2005 Hotel: La Quinta Weather: Gorgeous, perfect rally weather We got up at 4AM today, well before sunrise, to begin the day's activities. After checking out of the hotel, we traveled a short distance to the Buzz Langdon Visitor Center on the rim of the Snake River canyon for a hosted light breakfast in the picnic area. While waiting to receive our instructions, we were treated to a demonstration of BASE jumping. The bridge over the Snake River is the only legal bridge jumping site in the United States and is a favorite for this sport. Three jumpers parachuted off the bridge, landing on the bank of the river. Since it was still predawn, they carried sparklers for added effect. This was a very long and very interesting day. Dawn and I had a great time - until the finish line in Walla Walla. We were very happy with our effort for the day - just not the score! We missed no turns, we hit every sign and speed change, and we made the proper adjustments as necessary …………. we thought. The weather was gorgeous, the scenery breathtaking and the rally course challenging but fun. The first leg was good at 3 seconds, then the next two legs came in at 12 and 13 seconds, not really too bad considering the terrain, roads, distances and number of instructions. Then we were shocked with a score of 26 seconds on the last leg. Unfortunately, we cannot determine what we did wrong on this leg and that is frustrating because we really felt we did well. The total score of 54 was not what we hoped for and will be one that we discard. Many teams had a worse day than we did; in fact, our score was still the 49th best score of the day. A typical rally road in Oregon
Our morning pit stop was in Mountain Home, Idaho, home of a large Air Force Base. The local fire department brought their trucks to the festivities and permitted me to climb their ladder truck for my photo.	The morning pit stop in Mountain Home
Lunch was in Ontario, Oregon. We were treated to a unique service in a historic train depot. A good variety of Chinese food was packaged in plastic tool boxes along with drinks and cookies.
The lunch stop in Ontario	Our restart outside of Ontario
The afternoon pit stop was in La Grande, Oregon and featured a great crowd and music by the Blue Mountain Fiddlers Association. The overnight stop was in Walla Walla, Washington which is the home of one of the X-cup entries. The hometown boys received quite a welcome.
Tha afternoon pit stop in LaGrande...	...and the Blue Mountain Fiddlers Association
Our overall ranking is now 36th. No more scores can be discarded. Everyone must keep their scores for the next two days as part of their total. On to Tacoma! Sharon (my wife), Jeff (Dawn's husband) and their three oldest children plan to meet us at the finish line in Puyallup tomorrow. The Parc Fermé in Walla Walla

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Contents Copyright 2005 by Jerry L. Gregg