TODAY’S HEADLINES

How to get a Caddie rental car when there are no cars available…….details in “The Strategy.”

 

When I can’t travel by air or car, it’s time to hop on a boat…….details in “The Trip.”

 

What’s a fun tourist activity to do in Seattle?………details in “Trackchasing Tourist Attraction.” 

GREETINGS FROM BREMERTON, WASHINGTON

AND THE READERS RESPOND

 

Rather than identifying my readers by name in the “And The Readers Respond” section, I will identify them by their geographical region.  This note comes from a long time reader from Texas.  Yes, Texas is a geographical region.

 

“Okay, Randy, now you have to explain why the lead guitarist from REO Speedwagon would attend a biddy basketball banquet.  I’m sure all of your other readers would like to know too.  Please clue us in.”

 

This reader was referring to this reference posted in a recent Trackchaser Report,

“The announcer came across with this comment, “Drivers, you can go down and buy your trophies tonight.  If you finished first, second or third, go down to the trophy shack.  The trophies are huge and you’ll like them a lot.”

 

Randy:  Buy your trophies?  I have never heard of such a thing.  I’ve won my share of trophies.  Almost all were based upon some level of performance.  The first metal trophy I ever received was for longevity.  I received a nice basketball trophy for playing five years (grades 2-6) in the Biddy Basketball program sponsored by the Salvation Army (still my favorite charity.)  Trivia Question:  Who went with me to the Biddy Basketball banquet besides my mother when I accepted this trophy?  Answer at the bottom of this report.  If I gave you a million guesses, you would never get this one.

 

Trivia question answer:  Gary Richrath attended that banquet with me.  He was more excited to hold that trophy than I was.  Don’t recognize the name “Gary Richrath?”  Gary was the lead guitarist for REO Speedwagon from their inception through most of their existence.”

 

The simplest way to put it is that the RANLAY rolls with the best of them!  I can see how someone reading this might have thought that as a 5’ 6” sixth grader I had somehow convinced the adult lead guitarist of REO Speedwagon to attend my basketball banquet.

 

In point of fact, Gary Richrath was also a sixth grader on the night we attended this banquet.  Gary lived just a block over in a yellow house, just like the color of the house I grew up in.  If you drive by 411 Doering in East Peoria, Illinois, my house, or drive over on Randolph Street, Gary’s house (322 I believe), you will see that those houses are still yellow some 45-50 years later.  Gary and I used to stay overnight at each other’s houses.  I have not seen him in a very long time.  Readers, consider yourselves clued in.

 

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

 

Yes!  See below.

IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO READ THIS TRACKCHASER REPORT DIRECTLY FROM WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM AND SEE THE PICTURES FROM THIS TRIP SIMPLY CLICK ON THIS LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IT IN YOUR BROWSER:

http://www.ranlayracing.com/may24282007.htm

I WOKE UP IN ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS.  THEN CAROL AND I WENT TO SLEEP IN SUMAS, WASHINGTON, JUST A MILE SOUTH OF THE CANADIAN BORDER.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy                                                                                    

 

One of my basic retirement strategies is to travel the country and the world trying to see as many different racetracks as I possibly can.  Thursday I was in North Carolina.  Friday, I was in Wisconsin.  Today, Saturday, I am in Washington with Trackchasing’s First Mother.  How am I doing against my retirement strategy?

The Trip

 

You wouldn’t even want to know about the time and effort that goes into planning a trip like this.  Trust me, you wouldn’t.  The bottom bottom line had Carol flying from Orange County, California to Seattle.  She was traveling on a ZED fare.  Someday, when we both have more time I’ll tell you what that is.  I was pleased to hear that she was able to fly first class.  For the men reading this, again trust me, first class keeps them in a better mood!

 

My travel was not quite as luxury based.  I awoke on Saturday morning to a driving rainstorm in my Illinois based Motel 6.  I had to fill up my rental car at $3.72 per gallon at 5 a.m. Central time (3 a.m. San Clemente time.)  I then boarded a flight from Chicago to Salt Lake.  Fortunately, I was also seated in first class.

 

Once in Salt Lake City, I had a couple of choices.  I could try to get on a Delta non-stop to Seattle.  However, my pre-planning told me that flight was overbooked.  It was.  It was time for plan B.

 

Plan B was going to be different because I was contractually obligated to meet Carol in Seattle.  Had I been traveling by myself, I would have had more options.  I’m not complaining, just explaining.

 

Because I knew the Delta flight (my airline sponsor) was going to be full, I ended up buying a fully refundable ticket on Southwest Airlines non-stopper to Seattle.  Had the Delta flight suddenly cleared up I could have cancelled the Southwest flight without penalty.  As it was, I happily boarded with the “C” group of sick, lame and lazy passengers who had not figured out the system well enough to board earlier.

 

The next challenge came with our National rental car at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport.  Check out the “Rental Car Update – Seattle car” to see what happened there.

 

We use our portable GPS system, “Dusty” exclusively now while traveling in the U.S.  No paper maps for us.  Dusty would be taking us to the Thunderbird Stadium in nearby Bremerton.  Dusty didn’t tell us until the very last minute about a surprise she had in store for us.  We would be taking the rental car on a ferryboat ride!

 

Yes, we boarded the 4:40 p.m.  Fauntieroy-Southworth ferry.  I’m just a “hick from the sticks” of East Peoria, Illinois.  I still get excited about riding on a ferryboat.  We were one of the very last cars to make the boat.  I would guess we were about 100^th in line.  Had we missed this ferry, we could have driven the long way, but this was more fun.

 

It did cost us $16.35 to make the trip.  The entire ride was 45 minutes long.  We made an interim stop in Vashon.  Most folks on the boat seemed to know the drill (pun intended.)  We didn’t realize we would be making an extra stop, but we acted like we did.

 

This was a large ferry.  The had their own café, lounge area and even Wi-Fi internet service for $6.95 per day.  Check out www.ranlayracing.com for photos of this experience.

 

 

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

 

Seeing an area’s local attractions is very important to me when I go trackchasing.  It’s adds a degree of zest to the myriad of racetracks that I see.  Carol and I were in Seattle today.  We had the entire afternoon for sightseeing.  What did we choose to see?  Pike Place Market.

 

Pike Place Market is internationally recognized as America’s premier farmers market.  The place began back in 1906-07.  In those times, the cost of onions had increased tenfold.  Consumers were fed up with paying a middleman.  They convinced local politicians to create a street market where farmers could sell their goods directly to the public.

 

There are now 200 commercial businesses, nearly 200 craftsman and more than 100 farmers who rent table space by the day.  The fresh seafood is unreal.  The produce and flowers are diverse, plentiful and beautiful.  The place is packed on weekends.  We have been here a couple of other times, so we didn’t have to give it the 100% inspection that some first visitors might. 

 

We enjoyed a great lunch, walked through the market and then relaxed while overlooking the water.  Seattle, on a clear day, is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen.  You can check out my photos of Pike Place Market at www.ranlayracing.com or go to www.pikeplacemarket.org to learn more about this unusual and fun place.

 

 

 

The People

 

Trackchasing’s First Mother has joined me.  I’ve already gotten some of the tough travel out of the way (North Carolina and Wisconsin.)  Now she can enjoy the last four days of the trip with not too much driving (relatively speaking), not too much flying and not too many time zone changes.  I find if I can keep her happy, I can keep me happy.

 

 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

THUNDERBIRD STADIUM (FIGURE 8), BREMERTON, WASHINSTON – TRACK #1,193

 

THUNDERBIRD STADIUM (OVAL), BREMERTON, WASHINSTON – TRACK #1,194

 

These were my 17^th and 18^th lifetime tracks to see in the Evergreen state.  As far as I can tell, Carol and I were the first trackchasers ever to visit the Thunderbird Stadium.  I am now tied for first place here with Allan Brown.  These were Carol’s fourth and fifth Washington tracks.  She moves up from a tie for 14^th place in the state to a tie for 9^th place.  Congrats to Carol for breaking into the top 10!

 

Today’s track supports my primary trackchasing strategy of trying to become the #1 ranked trackchaser is all 13 Western states by 2009 (except California).  Now that I lead in Washington, I sit atop the standings in five Western states.  At the bottom of this report, you can see where I rank in each of these states as of today. 

 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

THUNDERBIRD STADIUM (FIGURE 8), BREMERTON, WASHINSTON – TRACK #1,193

 

THUNDERBIRD STADIUM (OVAL), BREMERTON, WASHINSTON – TRACK #1,194

 

I’m fond of saying, “information is king.”  However, I had a difficult time getting accurate information on this track.  The website, http://www.kitsapdestructionderby.com/, was somewhat vague.  I couldn’t tell if they ran on a both an oval and a figure 8 track.  Some of their events were demolition derbies.  I didn’t know if they ran countable racing events on the days they ran derbies.  The website did not provide a phone number of any kind.  Net, the website left something to be desired.

 

I checked the National Speedway Directory.  It only referred to figure 8 racing.  I checked www.trackchaser.net.  It mentioned both figure 8 and oval racing.  I was getting a good deal of conflicting and less than definitive trackchasing information. 

 

We entered the track at 6:03 p.m.  The track website told me things got underway at 6 p.m.  We stood in a long concession line waiting for some garlic topped pizza bread, along with a cup of peanuts, some water and coffee.  My order of a Diet Pepsi went unfilled due to an equipment malfunction.  More on that later.

 

We could hear the announcer describing the details of a “roll-over contest” while we waited in line.  We hurried to our seats.  There was seating on both of the long sides of a rectangular rodeo arena.  The flat rodeo grounds floor had a dirt surface.  The were four large tractor tires that marked the course.  Had the four tires been connected by a rope, they would have formed an “inner rectangle” some 25% smaller than the full rodeo arena rectangle.

 

The first event we saw was a small pickup truck demolition derby for six trucks.  That event was not trackchaser countable.  I was minorly concerned that we might be attending a demo only show without any countable trackchasing events whatsoever.  That would have been bad.

 

However, I pretty much knew they had figure 8 racing.  I was much less sure about whether they had oval racing.  Soon, they came forward with their next event.  This was a demo derby for large pickup trucks.  My fellow spectators could probably see me begin to squirm.  In addition, during this time I was having diet cola withdrawal symptoms. 

 

There were some four concession areas at tonight’s tracks.  Each one had a line of 10-20 people.  Folks were ordering cook to order burgers, etc.  The lines moved at a snail’s pace.  I never was able to get a Diet Coke the entire night!

 

They had now completed two demo derbies and a rollover contest.  Then, about 12 cars rolled out in rows of two.  They circled the four tires just like they were about to begin an oval-like race around the tires.  I was happy.  Then just at the very last moment, the announcer told the crowd, “The cars will be diving across the infield to begin the big car figure 8 race.”  Well, it wasn’t an oval race, but at least we would be seeing countable trackchasing tonight.

 

They followed the big car figure 8 with a small car figure 8 race.  Would they also be having an oval race?  Yes, they would!  The next event out was a big car oval race.  That was followed by a small car oval race.  All of these races were short.  I didn’t count the laps, but they were probably about six circuits long.

 

The announcer gave me a very nice trackchaser mention.  It sounded just about like I wrote it!  The P.A. system was good and the announcer solid.  The pit area was located beyond the covered grandstand that paralled the front straight.  We found we could see better sitting in the aluminum grandstand, which was not covered, on the back straight.

 

The fans were a local and somewhat rough looking breed.  One of the races was sponsored by the local tattoo and body piercing parlor.  Nevertheless, it takes all kinds to run a railroad and I wouldn’t mind sharing a foxhole with a heavily tattooed and body pierced person as long as they could shoot straight and they showed up for work on time.

 

Overall, considering how far we had traveled, it was an ultra-successful day highlighted by our “same facility trackchasing double.”  Actually, we had both countable tracks in the books by 7:11 p.m.  Not a bad effort at all.

CAROL’S COMMENTS

 

All the cars are clunkers.  They’re so beat up and dirty.  The track is fairly efficient and the tow trucks are bottomed up.  The announcer did a nice job with Randy’s trackchaser announcement (this could not come from a more unbiased source.)  They don’t use yellow flags here.  That’s great.  They do use red flags but only for flips.  I hope they check with the driver to make sure he doesn’t have a broken neck or back before they flip his car back on its wheels.  I like “non-yellow flag racing.  Just leave the dead cars in the turn.”  I find this more entertaining than most of the races we see.  I hope the good fairy gets us back to the ferry boat on time. 

 

Editor’s note:  Not to worry.  GPS rocks.

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

The weather was cloudy, but hey this is the Northwest.  Temps were in the mid-60s.  Overall, it was a very comfortable evening.

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE

Seattle car – Saturday/Sunday/Monday

 

When I showed up at the Executive Selection lot area of National Rental Car, all they had were SUVs.  We were going to be putting some miles on our rental car and I didn’t want to accept SUV gas mileage at today’s higher than normal gas prices.  I also wanted a car with XM radio.

 

I explained my plight to the local National Car attendant.  He was very helpful.  He offered to let me choose any Alamo rental car that was in inventory at the airport.  National Rental Car and Alamo Rental Car are owned by the same folks.  Nevertheless, I’ve never see such a reciprocal agreement as was being offered to me today.

 

Just as I was pouring over the guy’s computer screen, an attendant came screeching up in a recently washed Chevy Impala with 25,000 miles on it.  Before the sound of the screeching tires stopped, I had located a car I wanted from the Alamo inventory on the computer screen.

 

Right there among all of those Chevies, SUVs and Grand Prixs was a Cadillac DTS.  No, this car would not give me outstanding fuel mileage.  However, it did have only 2,000 miles on it and an XM radio.  I convinced my somewhat inexperienced rental agent that was the car for me.  The rental agent wanted to please and the car was mine.

 

The really great thing about getting this premium car was it was nearly free for the two days!  When I rent cars in one location  and plan to drop them off in another, I use “free day” coupons.  This was going to be a one-way rental.  I was picking it up in Seattle and planed to drop it in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  I would only have to pay the tax, about $21. 

 

I had entered the rental car parking lot only to find a number of undesirable cars, none of them with XM radio.  I ended up driving away in a nearly brand new Cadillac with the fresh smell of brand new leather.  Yes, life is good.

 

Saturday total driving miles – 141

 

 

Chicago car – Friday/Saturday

 

Friday (and early Saturday morning) total driving miles – 255

 

I drove this car 255 miles.  I paid an average price of $3.72 per gallon.  This may have been my highest ever U.S. average fuel charge.  The Pontiac Grand Prix gave me 24.5 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at a very high average cost of 15.2 cents per mile.  The car cost 11.9 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. 

 

 

Atlanta car – Wednesday/Thursday/Friday

 

Wednesday total driving miles – 131

Thursday (and early Friday morning) total driving miles – 422

 

My rental car wasn’t the cleanest one I’ve ever rented.  I had to move two other cars so I could get to one that had XM radio, but it was worth it.  This will likely be the first of four rental cars on this trip.

 

I drove the car 553 miles.  I paid an average price of $2.99 per gallon.  The Chevy Impala Prix gave me 28.2 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 10.6 cents per mile.  The car cost 17.7 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,194

 

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,106 (-88)*

 

7.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 1,005 (-189)**

 

* Warning, you are within 50 tracks of being removed from this list. 

 

** Special exemption.

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

 

2007 (current thru 5/14/07)**

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 6.82

2. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 7.12

3. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 7.55

 

 

**Until the end of the year, NGD rankings are unofficial.  Rankings are affected not only by the leader’s activities but also by other trackchasers impact on the leader’s position in each state. 

  

 

 

 

Other notables

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.

 

31.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 317

 

There are no trackchasers within 10 tracks (either above or below) of Carol’s current total. 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 56

 

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 40

 

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium - 22

 

3.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 22

 

5.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 23

 

6.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 15

 

7.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 12

 

8.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 11

 

9.  Rick Young, Maxville, Ontario, Canada - 10

 

10.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 9

 

10.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 9

 

Tracks have been reported by 34 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

Washington’s #1 Trackchaser

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Orange County, CA – Salt Lake City, UT – 588 miles

Salt Lake City, UT – Atlanta, GA – 1,589 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR - ATLANTA

 

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – trip begins

Concord, NC - 273

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – 553 miles - trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Atlanta, GA – Chicago, IL – 606 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR - CHICAGO

 

Chicago O’Hare International Airport – trip begins

Oregon, WI – 123 miles

Chicago O’Hare International Airport – 255 miles - trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Chicago, IL – Salt Lake City, UT - 1,247 miles

Salt Lake City, UT – Seattle, WA - 690 miles

 

RENTAL CAR - SEATTLE

 

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – trip begins

Bremerton, WA – 54 miles

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Lowe’s Motor Speedway - $20

Wisconsin International Speedway - $8

Thunderbird Stadium - $8 (senior discount)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past trackchasing reports are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

 

 

Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:

www.trackchaser.net

 

 

Some of the data in this report comes from www.trackchaser.net

and my Garmin GPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

 

Now that I’ve been to the East Coast (North Carolina) on day one of this trip, to the Midwest (Wisconsin) on day two of this trip and to the West Coast (Washington) on day three of this trip, what’s next?  How about a foreign country!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

 

1,139.  Meremere Dirt Track Club, Meremere, New Zealand - January 1

 

1,140.  Meeanee Speedway, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand - January 1

 

1,141.  Top of the South Speedway, Richmond, New Zealand - January 2

 

1,142.  Woodford Glen Speedway, Christchurch, New Zealand - January 3

 

1,143.  Robertson Holden International Speedway, Palmerston North, New Zealand - January 5

 

1,144.  Taupo Motorsports Park, Taupo, North, New Zealand - January 6

 

1,145.  Waikaraka Park International Speedway, Auckland, New Zealand - January 6

 

1,146.  Angels Stadium of Anaheim (inner oval), Anaheim, California - January 13

 

1,147.  Angels Stadium of Anaheim (outer oval), Anaheim, California - January 13

 

1,148.  West Valley Speedway, Surprise, Arizona - January 14

 

1,149. Sandia Motorsports Park (road course), Albuquerque, New Mexico - January 28

 

1,150. Grand Prix De Lanaudiere, Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada – February 3

 

1,151. Ste-Eulalie Ice Track, Eulalie, Quebec, Canada – February 4

 

1,152. St Guillaume, St Guillaume, Quebec, Canada – February 4

 

1,153. Caldwell Rodeo Arena, Caldwell, Idaho – February 10

 

1,154. Balsam Lake Ice Track, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin – February 18

 

1,155. Northeast Pond Ice Track, Milton, New Hampshire – February 24

 

1,156. Lee Pond Ice Track, Moultonborough, New Hampshire – February 25

 

1,157. New Hendry Country Speedway, Clewiston, Florida – March 3

 

1,158. Florida Sports Park, Naples, Florida – March 4

 

1,159. Honeoye Lake Ice Track – Road Course, Honeoye, New York – March 10

 

1,160. Houston Raceway Park, Baytown, Texas – March 16

 

1,161. Houston Motorsports Park, Houston, Texas – March 16

 

1,162. Dawgwood Speedway, Chatsworth, Georgia – March 17

 

1,163. Toccoa Speedway, Toccoa, Georgia – March 17

 

1,164. Tazewell Speedway, Tazewell, Tennessee – March 18

 

1,165. Malden Speedway, Malden, Missouri, Tennessee – March 23

 

1,166. Dacosa Speedway, Byhalia, Mississippi – March 24

 

1,167. Swinging Bridge Raceway, Byram, Mississippi – March 24

 

1,168. Florence Motor Speedway, Florence, South Carolina – March 25

 

1,169. Foothills Raceway, Easley, South Carolina – March 30

 

1,170. Mileback Speedway, Gray Court, South Carolina – March 30

 

1,171. Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida – April 1

 

1,172. Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas, Nevada – April 8

 

1,173. Huntsville Speedway, Huntsville, Alabama – April 13

 

1,174. Low Country Kartway, Aynor, South Carolina – April 14

 

1,175. Dillon Motor Speedway, Dillon, South Carolina – April 14

 

1,176. Valley Dirt Riders, Berthoud, Colorado – April 15

 

1,177. Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Lancaster, California – April 22

 

1,178. Sertoma Speedway, Tularosa, New Mexico – April 27

 

1,179. Sandia Motorsports Park (outer oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28

 

1,180. Sandia Motorsports Park (inner oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28

 

1,181. Hollywood Hills Speedway, San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico – April 29

 

1,182. Meridian Speedway, Meridian, Idaho – May 11

 

1,183. Diamond Mountain Speedway, Vernal, Utah, Idaho – May 12

 

1,184. Rocky Mountain Raceways (oval), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12  

 

1,185. Rocky Mountain Raceways (figure 8), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12

 

1,186. Modoc Speedway, Modoc, South Carolina – May 18

 

1,187. Possum Kingdom Super Speedway, Belton, South Carolina – May 19

 

1,188. Laurens County Speedway, Laurens, South Carolina – May 19

 

1,189. Fairplex at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, Pomona, California – May 20

 

1,190. Lowes Motor Speedway (inner oval), Concord, North Carolina – May 24

 

1,191. Lowes Motor Speedway (road course), Concord, North Carolina – May 24

 

1,192. Madison International Speedway (inner oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25

 

** Madison International Speedway (outer oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25

 

1,193. Thunderbird Stadium (figure 8), Bremerton, Washington – May 26

 

1,194. Thunderbird Stadium (oval), Bremerton, Washington – May 26

 

 

 

In the business world, the U.S. is often divided up into geographic areas that are referred to as East, Central and the “eleven Western states plus Alaska and Hawaii.”  No, I don’t know why they don’t just say the “thirteen western states.”  Those states include  Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming and, of course, Alaska and Hawaii.

 

The far west probably has the most beautiful scenery per square mile anywhere in the United States.  This got me to thinking.  Over the next 2-3 years, I’d like to put a “full-court” press on these far west states for trackchasing purposes.  I want to establish a goal of becoming the number one trackchaser in each of these states except California by the end of 2009.  Becoming #1 in California is not a realistic goal at this time. 

 

Below is a listing of these thirteen Far Western states.  The state’s name is followed by my current rank and how many tracks I need to see to gain at least a tie for 1^st place.  As an example, I’m currently in ninth place in Alaska and trail first place by three tracks.  I’m looking forward to spending more time than usual is the Far West, a great part of our country.

 

Alaska – 9^th by 3

 

Arizona – 1^st

 

California – 2^nd by 48

 

Colorado – 2nd by 1

 

Hawaii – 3^rd by 1

 

Idaho – 2nd by 1

 

Montana – 2^nd by 1

 

Nevada – 2^nd by 2

 

New Mexico – 1st

 

Oregon – 1^st

 

Utah – 1st

 

Washington – 1st

 

Wyoming – 2^nd by 2

 

As you can see I don’t have far to go in most states.  However, if I have to get most of these tracks on a one track per trip basis, it could take some time.  Each time I see a Far Western U.S. track, I will keep you posted on my progress.  We’ll see how it goes.