Another 3200 miles, Overcrest Rally '22 trip report Options

[Optimusglen]

The trip has come and gone and as promised here is a trip report. It was, in a word, wonderful.

My report for last year's OC Rally is here if you're interested, it sets the stage a bit for my, my car, the rally, etc.

Of course, my build thread here with some updates and fixes before I left.


After the success of last year's OC Rally, I was excited to find out what they had in store for this year. It had all the ingredients of a great time: the spirit of adventure, a limited group size, non-snobbery of driver/vehicle selection, and time spent with friends old and new.

The location shifted north, and was now in early September to better avoid potential snow or cold weather. Our starting point: Challis Idaho.

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Just like last year, getting to the start was a battle of it's own. Sure, the car was "proven" now, 3400 miles to Utah was likely to work out most of the bugs, but there were some things I had done in the interim, and old cars are always a mystery it seems.

Now, my schedule the week before was a little hairy too. That Tuesday was my daughter's first day of kindergarten and I wasn't about to miss getting her off the bus. So Tuesday evening I hit the road. Destination: the middle of nowhere North Dakota.

[Optimusglen]

Saturday, September 10th - Rally day 2

The second day of the rally started in much the same way after a logistics change. The airport we were going to start from had to use the space for emergency vehicles, so we relocated to a nearby park. I was thankful that we had a little sun this morning.


My cockpit, the little bear is my daughters, reminding me that I have a lot to go home to, so don't drive beyond yer means.
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I started my day driving with a nice dude named Kevin and his wife Ashley in their Toyota MR2. We hit a local hole in the wall for what turned out to be not only the best breakfast I'd had on the trip, but the best food overall. *chefs kiss* After we ate we got to driving, and were greeted with some very pleasant roads.

What ended up being a theme for me this year, I jumped in with different groups throughout the day, and this day I spent a lot of time with a few guys from California. Jesse Bohan, a previous 9-four-teener now in a 991 GT3, Ian in an E36 M3, co-piloted by Drew (a.k.a. Cooled Collective), Nick (Weekndr) in a Cayman Gt4, Allan in a 964, Quan in a RSR inspired 911SC, and Tyler in the early 911.

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This day had much nicer weather and was a pure joy. A lot of the drivers that took the gravel routes on day 1 opted to do tarmac on day 2. Day 1 was pretty rough on them (it claimed the life of a 911 motor, JoshyRobots)

The route was about 230 miles including the "out-and-back" at the top. Our group decided to skip that part.

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We got into town early and got our lodging set, then several of us went to a local bowling alley and just had a ball. Old, small-town, bowling alleys are just so neat. We walked around downtown Grangeville, had some pizza, and some ice cream, talked to locals, and explained why there were so many cool cars in town. Fun time.

Then, that evening was the Overcrest Rally Film Festival where they rent out a drive-in theater and show a bunch of car short films. The arrival time at the drive-in gave pl;entry of opportunity to connect and reconnect with fellow rally-goers and share stories. There were a few mishaps along the way unfortunately.

-JoshyRobots in his 911, sounds like it may have spun a bearing, but this is all second hand.

-Josh in his E36 M3, took a corner too hot and hit a mailbox, some suspension damage, some glass damage, and a very large gouge in his C-pilalr

-Cliff in his Alfa, I'm sad to say that he burned a bearing in the 1.3. He'll be back with a 2.0 maybe next year

-A Volvo 242 that was having engine trouble arrived on a U-haul flatbed but, in the time before the film fest began, they were able to fix it and drive it off!

The Film Fest itself was a great send-off and culmination of the Rally. Next year though, I need to bring an AM/FM radio so I can hear it better.