Lions and Specials and Zip Codes, oh my!!

Linda Cairnes and Jim Moskowitz took the gold in Full Moon Rallye 54 on May 15, 2011. Guest Rallyemaster Kurt Sinclair sent 7 teams through the country roads of Bucks County in search of elusive lions, birds, elephants, sea otters, cats, dogs, alligators and frogs. While on safari, teams were also on the lookout for railroads, churches, post offices, bridges and many other pesky items.

Rank	Car #	Names	Minutes late (5 per minute late)	RQ Wrong (10 per wrong answer)	SQ Wrong (23 per wrong answer)	Railroad (97 if answered wrong)	Weight Variance (6 per ton off answer)	Lions Wrong (21 per wrong answer)	Zips Wrong (33 per wrong answer)	Total Score
1	3	Linda and Jim	0 (0pts)	9 (90pts)	6 (138pts)	Correct (0pts)	0 (0pts)	2 (42pts)	0 (0pts)	270
2	4	Rob and Joseph	14 (70pts)	12 (120pts)	4 (92pts)	Correct (0pts)	0 (0pts)	3 (63pts)	0 (0pts)	345
3	5	Ed and Nicole	21 (105pts)	6 (60pts)	6 (138pts)	Correct (0pts)	17 (102pts)	1 (21pts)	0 (0pts)	426
4	2	Mike, Julie, Melanie and Friend	0 (0pts)	21 (210pts)	8 (184pts)	Correct (0pts)	10 (60pts)	4 (84pts)	3 (99pts)	637
5	7	Vincent and Heather	50 (250pts)	15 (150pts)	5 (115pts)	Incorrect (97pts)	2.5 (15pts)	3 (63pts)	0 (0pts)	690
6	1	Joe, Dave and Griffin	12 (60pts)	23 (230pts)	6 (138pts)	Incorrect (97pts)	35 (210pts)	2 (42pts)	2 (66pts)	843
7	6	Michael and Dorothy	72 (360pts)	26 (260pts)	6 (138pts)	Correct (0pts)	7.5 (45pts)	3 (63pts)	1 (33pts)	899

Linda and Jim topped the field missing only 9 of 67 Regular Questions, 6 Special Questions and 2 Lions while finding every Post Office and Weight Limit sign and finishing in exactly 4 hours.

The father and son team of Robert and Joseph Hessler came in a close 2^nd having bested the competition with only 4 missed Special Questions and also finding every Post Office and Weight Limit sign; but with 3 missed Lions, 12 missed Regulars and arriving 14 minutes late, they slipped to 2^nd.

Ed Wagner and his niece Nicole rounded out the top three with an impressive run of getting the first 33 Regular Questions correct before getting pressed for time. In the end, they still topped the field with only 6 incorrect Regular Questions, 1 missed Lion and 0 missed Post Offices but with 6 missed Specials, several missed Weight Limit signs and a 21 minute time penalty they fell to 3^rd place.

Just out of the medals was the family plus 1 team of Mike, Julie and Melanie Gottlieb with friend ?????? The Gottliebs were the only team other than Linda and Jim to make it to the finish on time. They had a respectable showing in most categories but struggled a bit with the Regular and Special Questions which drove up their score.

Vincent Fumo and Heather Warren took 5^th and were the only other team besides the 3 medal winners to spot every Post Office. But in the end their score was crippled by a 50 minute time penalty and a nasty pile of points for missing a railroad crossing.

6^th place went to the team of Dave Goodland and the father and son duo of Joe and Griffin Kemp. Again, time played a factor as they were forced to make the difficult decision of taking a detour near the end of the rallye causing them to miss a string of 12 Regulars, a railroad crossing, some Weight Limit signs and a few Specials yet they still tied our winners in missing only 2 Lions.

Michael and Dorothy Clark rounded out the field but suffered a whopping 72 minute time penalty and struggled with some rule concepts causing them to miss 24 Regulars and 6 Specials yet they did spot all but the last of those nasty Post Offices, every railroad crossing, and all but 3 Lions.

For you rallyers and non-rallyers alike, here is a recap of some of the trickier spots along the route that fooled the most teams.

When asked if 6 different bird species were mentioned, only 3 of the 7 teams spotted them all. Asked which of a series of houses in Ivyland was oldest, 3 teams answered wrong by naming a house that was not valid because it was a look-back (the question was not yet active when the house was passed).

3 teams failed to spot the tiny “Official Fuel of NASCAR” sticker on the speed limit sign and 2 teams incorrectly answered the question about the head of the American “Army” when, in fact, Pulaski was the head of the “Cavalry.”

3 teams took the bait and looped the wrong way around the block at “Foxwood” and “Turkey Trot.” Since the words were in quotes, the turn should have been made at the 2^nd corner where the quoted words could be read.

In another course following trick, 5 teams missed the question about the bridge just after Wycombe Pub and Grill. The correct answer was n/a because the question was inactive since the pub had already been passed (turn at stop AFTER Wycombe Pub and Grill) when the bridge was encountered.

In another turning trick, 4 teams answered wrong when told to turn right then immediately left. Since questions don’t activate until the full instruction is completed, the SR 230 answer was actually n/a.

The covered bridge confounded everyone nullifying the question. The sign on the bridge clearly said that it was built in 1873. But before that sign, a plaque indicated that it was constructed in 1875. Since the first answer is the correct answer, 1875 was correct (the word -built- was not quoted so -constructed- is a valid synonym). Everyone missed it so no one lost out.

Only one team spotted Oscar the Grouch holding the I Love Trash sign thanks to robust vegetation but since 1 team did spot it, nice job rallyemaster! On the same road, 3 teams failed to spot the tiny warning sign about the attack alligator.

Again 3 teams missed the pink Biker Babes Parking Only sign tucked away on the front of a garage and 4 teams missed the tiny Circa 1844 sign across from the school that had no School Bus Blank Blank signs - yes the school bus question was merely a distraction.

Only 1 team answered wrong on the church that was “built” in 1844 but “rebuilt” in 1852. Those quotes are terribly important.

The thing hanging from the basketball net was a bird feeder. It would only be seen by teams who failed to go straight at a questionable intersection. No one took the bait, so no one saw the feeder. Since many other nets confused things, the question was thrown out.

The number of No Parking signs confounded nearly everyone including the rallyemaster. The correct answer was 10 (or 11 after one team pointed out yet another) - only 2 teams got that right.

6 of 7 fell for yet another deactivated question when told to turn right at the 2^nd traffic light. Everything after the first traffic light is inactive since you’ve begun executing the instruction.

5 teams got the Police blank question wrong. The obvious “Station” sign followed a harder to see “administration” sign. Only 1 team spotted the “We do it all” sign although our winners managed to get that question right by bragging about their own abilities on their answer sheet. Indeed it would seem that they do do it all, at least when it comes to Road Rallyes.

2 teams failed to notice that Arabian Road came before Arabian Court and only 2 teams managed to see all 10 American Flags. And yes - all 10 were there before the rallye and they were still there after the rallye. In fact, they’ve all been there for the past 3 months.

No one spotted the Red Bird Café bird feeder in the rallyemaster’s yard in time to get the Special Question right although two teams spotted it after they turned in their answer sheet.

Only 1 team saw all 4 picture questions. The face was on a small plaque on creek road. The cat was just before Sugar Bottom Road. The boy drinking was in front of a house just before the rallye finish and everyone saw Scooby Doo.

2 teams saw that Country Kennels was the Best of Bucks Mont although the rallymaster spelled Bucks incorrectly as Bux.

3 teams missed the Hidden Valley Farm sign which was neatly tucked away across the street from the Indian with the bow and arrow who was serving as a distraction to keep the rallyer’s eyes to the skies.

No one saw the Sea Otter Crossing sign - probably because everyone was busy counting the 8 train cars which serving as another distraction.

Chempump, a Division of Teikoku USA was only visible for about 30 feet as you passed Dynamic Carpets. First a hill blocked the view, then a tree got in the way. But two teams saw it nonetheless.

Nearly everyone tallied the 7 railroad crossings correctly although a detour cost one team that question.

Only 2 teams spotted all 53 tons of weight limit signs.

The lions that posed the biggest problem were 1^st two (of three) in Ivyland, and a baby one near the end of the rallye on Stony Road.

And lastly, there were 6 post offices, many of which were tucked away on corners making them tough to spot. It didn’t help that several were located in 100+ year old buildings that would have more easily passed as inns or vintage stores.

And for anyone still wondering “Where‘s the beef?”, it’s sold at Sunneyslope Farms.