Ahmet

Ahmet's Preliminary Ride Report

The BLII is over.

It has been a very emotionally charged trip for me with it's ups and downs.

I will try to write a lengthy report later this week.

Just a few points to mention right now...

Most importantly, I need to express the incredible sadness I and many others

experienced about the news of Pauline's accident. At one point, Terry and I

were sitting in a hotel room seriously contemplating what everythign was all

about, and weather to continue or not. We finally decided to sleep on it,

and decided the next day to go on. There is so much that could be said ..

but I am out of words.

Before the rally, I had gotten together with Pauline and Richard at Comp

accessories, and we rode to the Rally hotel together. I knew her well, and

will miss her.

Congratulations to Mark Kiecker. Whenever I saw him .. he was on the move he

deserved to win.

Also congratulations to my good friends Bob Lyskowski and Todd Witte, for

this was their first rally, they were fiercely running at the top, and

proved to be made out of the right stuff.

Thanks to Terry Smith(East) for hanging in with me while I was trying to

plug my (new) tire in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. It felt lonely and

desolete, miles away from the nearest civilization, at dusk, with the wind

blowing through the prarie..I had a total of 6 plugs and 2 tubes of glue.

The high wind kept on drying up the glue before I could insert the plug. It

worked on the 4th plug and second tube.

Congratulations to Bill Davis for finishing on that bike of his. He deserved

the standing ovation he got. If you's see it, you would know why.

And congratulations to Paul Pelland for not giving up and buying that Honda

Hurricane. He did the most incredible duct tape job on a motorcycle I had

ever seen. a windjammer type of whindshield, duct taped onto the cafe

fairing and mirrors of the hurricane. Similarly, the GPS and cigarette

lighter adaptor were duct taped onto the fairing. The GIVI top case was

strapped down onto the back seat. It was incredible. I managed to take one

picture which I will publish later, and I hope the Team Strange will have

some pics of this guy's determination to finish the rally.

And many thanks to everybody at Team Strange, especially Adam and Eddie for

providing for this rally and their sick sense of sadistic humor in selecting

the bonus points.

Thanks to Jane for keeping the list and me up to date on the happenings.

When I was down, a message she relayed to me from Garrison was what really

kept me going on my uphill battle on the last leg.

Ther will be more in a few days, just wanted to say hello ... I am back,

Ahmet

00R1150GS

2000 BLII