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PA LBC Rallye (Kinda sorta long)

To: Spridgets <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Subject: PA LBC Rallye (Kinda sorta long)
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 22:32:26 -0400
It's a 2-peat. Theresa and I won, not only Kevin's PA Rallye, but we 
earned the Broken Axle award along the way.

We headed out for Tamaqua about 9 AM Sat. Met up with Jim and Karen 
(MGB and the only one there this year) of the Philly MG Club and drove 
some cool eastern PA roads up to Tamaqua. Once again we met at the 
Leiby's resturant on the south side of Tamaqua. Had brunch and went out 
to make sure the cars were not getting lonely. Well, I have been having 
some cooling problems, nothing serious (I thought), but I wanted to top 
up the radiator. So I reached under the steering wheel and pulled the 
bonnet release handle right out of the car. So Frank, Kevin, Chuck, and 
I were scrambling to open the bonnet. Well the 1500 is a bit different 
in the bonnet release cable. IT is a fully sheathed cable all the way 
to the release. Nor is there really room to get at the cable end 
through the RB and small holed grille. Well I managed to snag the end 
of the cable and pull it out and pop the bonnet. Frank tied it up 
behind the bumper so I can get at it again. Then I topped up the rad, 
like I started out to do.

About 12:30 Kevin and Rob Valentine got the Driver/Navigator Meeting 
started. Seems some folks last year had been complaining about all the 
loose pages floating around in a bunch of small open cars. So Rob did 
something about it. He printed all the instructions, which were mainly 
photos of each turn, not a verbal description, on one 4x6 FOOT 
poster!!! That evil punk!!! Well no loose pages, just have to fold the 
darn thing like a map to get it in the car. The thing is as big as my 
tonneau. The Valentines set up another of their infamous "Scavenger 
Hunt" Rallye's and the first car was off at 1 PM. While Theresa (the 
new Mrs. Macy) and I were waiting our turn, we were doing a bit of 
scrounging. Found a flower, a hook (broken hanger) and a few other 
choice scavenged items along the parking lot. A few other items were 
"obtained" from the Leiby's resturant. A few items were brought from 
home, knowing we were headed for a hunt (like a lawn chair). Then off 
we went.

Actually we found that following the photos was not that bad. It was a 
bit difficult handling the "map" but the pics were from Spridget level 
a while before the turns. Some of the questions were a bit sneaky, but 
we were doing ok up to about the 1/2 way point. Then as we were headed 
down a road (I have no idea what town) we spotted a couple other 
Spridgets sitting in front of a house having a Yard sale. So what did 
we do, well we pulled in of course. Snagged a few items along the way. 
Hey Great Idea, stopping at a garage/yard sale. Glad I thought of it 
;-). SO a bit later we hit another one and then another. Well the day 
was hot and my temp kept climbing. When I was running down the road 
(once for 7 miles and 205, yes we counted, passing zone yellow stripes) 
the temp was OK. But when going slower and stopping it was making me a 
bit more concerned. After stopping to try to find an American Tower 
site number in a German Protestant cemetary, (well how was I to know 
Rob was talking about a BIG CELL Tower and not one of the special 
tombstones??) We got stalled for a minute on the highway after a Fire 
Truck pulled a U-ey, lights and all in front of us. After that the Temp 
pegged out. And would not go down after hitting speed. So we pulled 'er 
over and let the thing start to cool down.

Kevin and Rob pulled up a couple minutes later running sweep. I had 
some water, but they had more, I needed it. Seems the radiator cap was 
letting the water out when the engine was running, but letting nothing 
back in from the expansion tank when idle, or stopped. We were nearly 
dry. After a bit we got filled back up and the temp back in the normal 
range. At that point Theresa and I decided to just finish, have some 
fun and figured we were out of it.  Then missed the the very next clue 
AND turn. A few minutes later we got back on track and finished up the 
rallye with out further mishap. We came in 13th in time out 14 
competitors.

Soon Rob, Kathy and Kevin were reporting the results of all the 
questions on the "map". Well we ended up in FIRST after the questions. 
Then came the "assessment" of the scavenger hunt. Somehow, we got the 
top o' the heap in points on the scavenger hunt. They even let us get 
points for a pot holder made of a corn stalk (don't ask) ;-).

Well they came back and announced all the final scores and the Philly 
MG Club took 2nd (Jim and Karen in an MGB) and FIRST. Yep that's right 
folks, a 2-peat for the Macy's (well last year, the Macy/Kulik team). 
Oh yea, we won the Broken Axle for first needing the repair the bonnet 
release before the start of the rallye and overheating on the Rallye 
course. This is a 2-peat for us too. We won the first Broken Axle award 
for a stuck starter at the end of the very first PA rallye.

My thanks and congrats to Kevin, Rob and Kathy Valentine for a well put 
together Rallye for the fourth time. We are looking forward to a 3-peat 
next year.

Larry and Theresa


--
Larry B. Macy, Ph.D.
macy@bbl.med.upenn.edu
System Administrator/Manager
Neuropsychiatry Section
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce St. - 1015 Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104

  I have great faith in fools - my friends call it self-confidence.
  - Edgar Allen Poe

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