Since this 3-state, 700 mile rally was just a weekend, I'll try to keep my part of the thread short. I didn't take many photos and hope that Brian (Coaster) and Chandler (Robochan) contribute their stories and photos. My apologies for the low-resolution pics.
The rally started and ended in Dayton with an overnight in Buckhannon, WV. Saturday morning 50 teams staged in front of the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Ohio HQ in downtown Dayton:
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/lineup_zps12124c41.jpg
Rally North America rallies are timed road rallies with a scavenger hunt type of theme. When your team's time starts, you're handed a route card with clues to 8 or so checkpoints between your starting line and the finish point. The clue might be just a photo. It may be a description such as "the world's largest horseshoe crab"
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/crabshell_zps5cdda1a2.jpg
or something a little more vague, such as the bed and breakfast with the "best front porch view in Ohio." When you find the checkpoint, you need photo evidence that you and your co-driver were both there.
Chandler at Hillbilly Hotdogs in Lasage, West Virginia:
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/hillbillyhotdog_zps6dea5921.jpg
Mothman statue attacking me (Point Pleasant, WV):
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/mothmanattacks_zps68d83fdb.jpg
Some of the checkpoints are tricky. One description spoke of an Indian massacre, General Anthony Wayne, the Treaty of Greeneville, and a 12 foot marble obelisk. Unfortunately, those clues tend to point you towards Fort Recovery (not the checkpoint). The real checkpoint was in the Big Bottom Memorial State Park, where the actual obelisk was neither 12 foot tall and did not match the picture "clue."
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/obelisk_zps8f777017.jpg
When our internet address brought us close but not to the right location, I figured we could just ask townspeople on the street of Stockport, Ohio, where the obelisk was. Unfortunately no one we could find knew anything about the memorial, nor were they familiar with the term "obelisk." I felt that I was among a tribe of humans who did not speak my language. Also, you often don't have cell phone signal, internet access, or assorted other navigational failures. At some points, paper maps were our best friends.
We were on some great roads and saw some beautiful fall colors. After dinner in Buckhannon, we went to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum which was operated from 1864 until the feds shuttered it in 1964. It is the largest stone building in the U.S.
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/Weston_State_Hospital_zps0f451abd.jpg
The only larger hand-cut sandstone structure in the world is the Kremlin. At its peak, it housed 2600 mentally ill patients. Pretty scary how the mentally ill were abused in the past.
There were ghost tours, flashlight tours, and paintball. It is quite the place to see, and I recommend it if you're in the area.
Day 2 was the same general schedule as Day 1, but with different roads through West Virginia, Hocking Hills and southcentral Ohio. We had finished in the top 10 Day 1, but improved on that Day 2, but still not in the top 3. Shortly after crossing the finish line in Dayton, another driver pointed out to me that I had a tire going flat. It was a puncture on the inside sidewall, and of course no tires close to my size could be found in Dayton on Sunday afternoon. We brought the car back to Columbus Sunday night on a roll back and the great folks at Wheel Medic replaced the tire and had me on my way early Monday morning.
Besides the "timed" awards, there are awards for best costume, best decal job, longest traveled, hard luck, and so forth. I'm hoping the other contributors to the thread have some photos showing those. There were themes including Smokey & The Bandit, Wayne's World, and this one which had something to do with champagne and drivers dressed as priests (I never quite got the whole thing straight in my mind):
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r445/martyr65/2014%20Ohio%20Valley%20Rall/champagnecar_zps816e350d.jpg
The monopoly crew dressed as monopoly board characters and got photos of the monopoly property streets they encountered during the rally (e.g., Baltic Avenue, Park Place, and so forth).
These rallies are very inexpensive compared to the Bull Run, Gumball Rally, and such, and teams come from all over the U.S. and Canada to compete. This year, over $100k has been raised for charity by Rally North America.
For information on the 2015 rallies (The Smoky Mountain Rally and the Ohio Valley Rally), go to the website here: http://www.rallynorthamerica.com/
Smoky Mountain Rally registration for rally veterans will open in a few weeks, November 1st. Registration for the general public will open December 1st.
The 2014 summer rally (The Route 50 Rally) is recounted by Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire in a two-part video available here: http://www.rallynorthamerica.com/node/9
His videos give a very good feel of the rally. If you're interested in knowing more about the rally, feel free to contact me. CR members interested in participating in the 2015 rallies will be meeting informally sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Many thanks to those who donated for our team, thanks to our business sponsor, Wheel Medic, and thanks to teammate Robochan who was an excellent navigator and probably one of the best drivers in the rally.