1 Northlander November 2009 - North Country Region

FALL GIMMICK RALLY
Eugene Kievit
Fall Gimmick Rally
(aka Robin Hood Rally)
Saturday Oct 3, 09
The weather gods were not in our corner
for this rally. On this cold, damp, and
overcast day we met at the Mickey D’s
on Epsom circle. The weather was so
uninspiring , that only three of us out
of some 16 cars brought their Porsches.
This writer was one of the three! My
friend Ron and I arrived just before 9am.
This would be Ron’s first rally ever. After
the drivers meeting, I added one more
instruction: “Don’t even THINK about
following me, as I’m always lost!”
Jim and Deb Gratton’s efforts (along with
some help from Ellen Beck) designing
the rally course helped to brighten the
day for us. The three hour rally took us
through the backroads and a couple of
highways in the seacoast area. We would
end up winding through some nice little
preserved towns and around Bow lake
before we were done.
The theme of the rally, and of the
questions we had to answer along the
way was the adventures of Robin Hood.
We even passed through the town of
Nottingham. Congrats again to the course
designers for the ingenious questions
relating to Robin Hood that we were to
answer along the way.
“Friar Tuck’s stoutness got him into
trouble when his wagon wheel broke.
Where could he get a new one?”
38 Northlander
We ultimately passed through Deerfield,
Alton, Strafford, Lee, Northwood, and
many others along some of my personal
favorite backroads like Rt 107, 126, 155
and Bow Lake road.
Our final destination was Newick’s
Restaurant in Newington for lunch. This
restaurant, a favorite among its many fans
for their seafood, has a commanding view
of the Great Bay.
At the restaurant we heard all the answers
to all the questions about the merry deeds
of Robin Hood amidst the groans from
the participants. When all scores were
tallied up Mike and Tim Platt were the
winners followed up by, Mike and Bif
Bratton, and in 3rd Place Ivy Leonard and
Hank Cowles.
I was happy to have finished without
getting lost, and answering about a third
of the questions right. My detail minded
friend Ron, the accountant, couldn’t
figure out how we missed so many
questions. I kept on trying to tell him, its
about the journey.
November 2009