Minus Ten Review 2009-12

A look out the back at a road grader from within the "Dirty Blue Box"

Ten years ago on the blog I was recounting a late recon for parts of the Trans Iowa v5 course. This was the first course we were able to run outside of the Northern tier of Iowa counties as we were starting the event in Williamsburg, Iowa that Spring.

The proposed route had a checkpoint in LeGrand, Iowa with the route to leave Northward and a bit Eastward with a hopeful crossing of the Iowa River somewhere.

The year before, in the Fall, David Pals, then co-director of Trans Iowa, and I had no luck forging through this area. I ended up having to stare at maps all Winter trying to figure the puzzle out, and then it hit me. It was a bit convoluted, and it included about two miles of pavement, but it was a solution. I had to wait until the roads straightened out in March that year to get out and get the deed done.

My little 1990 Honda Civic Wagon was on its last legs. I had pretty much used that old thing up running gravel and Level B Maintenance Roads, which it was not made for, as you know. The poor shocks were done for, and whatever rubber bits that held the hatchback in place were beaten down to the point that the hatch rattled something fierce when I went down a gravel road. In fact, it was deafening. Oh, and dust infiltrated the cabin rather easily. Yeah.....I didn't call it the "Dirty Blue Box" for nuthin'!

Road "furniture", Trans Iowa style.

That old car served me well though. It had been around for T.I.v3 and v4, and after this one it finally croaked when the distributor crapped out and a brand new one cost more than the car was worth. Anyway......

So, running recon and then doing cues was stressful for sure. We barely got things done in time for the event, but we did. This was before I ever did final recon checks or anything like that. We flew by the seat of our pants back then and it showed! There were things "not quite right" with cues and mileage, but for the most part it was passable back then. I'll mention a story about this come late April or May in the "Minus Ten Review", so look for that. It's a famous story that maybe you've never heard before. Definitely one of my chief T.I. memories.

But for the most part, recon was good and T.I.v5 was set to go. It was another stressful time though. I gotta say I don't miss that part of my life. This Spring has been a welcomed change!