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We had thirteen cars with participants from Switzerland, England, Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Arizona, California and Utah. There were eleven Jaguars with a D-type driven by Dennis Varni and navigated by Dick DeLuna, two XK 150’s, one driven by Wayne & Linda Phears and Mike & Suzie Ksiazek, an XK 120 driven by Don and Lacey Breidenbach, an XK 140 driven by Randy and Debbie Aagaard, and six E-types, Christian Jenny & Hans Kuny, Philip and Francoise Reyns, Wayne & Kay Wagner, Paul Abadjian and navigated by his sister Jane Abadjian, Jerry Bensinger & navigated by Carol Moore and Tom & Daria Durham. Mister Jaguar himself, Terry Larson, of course showed up in a Ferrari Daytona, which he took much ribbing for because of it. He told me afterwards his XK 120 probably would have been more fun.
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This year in contrast to much rain last year, we had no rain during the Rallye and were able to keep our tops down with the exception of Terry and Darlene Larson in their Ferrari Coupe!
Other than a little fiddling with a few cars we had no breakdowns even with the hard driving we did. Many of the participants drove from Salt Lake City, Utah to the start of the Rallye in Springdale, Utah, putting over 1800 miles on their car. The Wagner’s drove from Iowa to the Western States Jaguar Meet in Park City, Utah, joined us in Salt Lake to Springdale, did the rally, and then drove back home to Iowa. The Durham’s drove back home to St. Louis. This shows the amazing reliability of well cared for 40 to 50 year old Jaguars!
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We proceeded from Zion’s on to Bryce National Park, where many hiked among the gorgeous formations in the canyon. While most made it back up the rather steep incline without too much trouble, Jerry Bensinger and Carol Moore from the flatlands and low altitude of Ohio (I had to give them an excuse) had a particularly hard time making it back up. The altitude at Bryce is over 7,500 feet. We almost figured we needed to send a rescue party, but there they were, a speck in our view! Wheezing and gasping for breath, they were using the rocks at their sides to help keep them standing! At the top a grand reception awaited their arrival. We made an arch with our arms and sang the “Rocky” song as they finished their final ascent, giving them a hero’s reception. Jerry has assured me he will go into training for next years Rallye. After that workout we all deserved the great lunch waiting for us at the Bryce Lodge.
We left Bryce Canyon feeling invigorated and victorious for many reasons and drove through some of the most unusual and spectacular scenery on the rally. We had roads with cliffs on both sides, roads with views for miles, roads with the desert red rock, and high mountain passes with the changing of season in the trees and alpine scenery.
The final reward of the day is when we pull up to “The Lodge at Red River”. With it’s Ponderosa like appearance, this is our favorite spot and we started immediately making ourselves right at home. This beautiful log lodge draws you into it’s magic with it’s large 3 story tall lobby, large rock fireplace, overstuffed chairs, masterpieces of art and antiques all around you. We rent the whole lodge, being the only ones there, besides staff, and thus develop a great sense of comradery.
In the morning we took our time departing from this magnificent edifice and spent the time exploring Capitol Reef National Park. We lunched in the town of Torrey and took our leave for Lake Powell. A new stopping spot for the night was Defiance House at Bull Frog Resort. We arrived fairly early and had time to rest and relax.
The next morning we did something we have not done on the Rallye before. We were shuttled off to Bull Frog Marina on Lake Powell for a wonderful daylong excursion where we rented a tour boat that took us to Rainbow Bridge, the world’s largest natural bridge. The weather was absolutely wonderful and many enjoyed the deck of the boat in the sunshine. Lake Powell is a huge lake made from the damning of the Colorado River, and because of all the little side canyons has more coastline than California. Because of the drought the water level has dropped the past few years by over 130 feet, so instead of being able to boat right up to the bridge as in the past, we had to walk a mile and a half. The walk is well worth it as the bridge is awe-inspiring.
The plan for the next morning was to take the ferry across Lake Powell to Hall’s Crossing as we have done for years now, but with the declining water level, the angle of the exit ramp was too extreme for many of the exhaust systems on our cars. We instead drove around to the bridge at the north end of the lake and were very pleased because the scenery was wonderful and the roads were mostly wide open and all enjoyed a chance to accelerate and see what their car was made of! We stopped at the top of the Moki Dugway and enjoyed the view of hundreds of miles and then took the switchbacks down the cliff with a drop in elevation from 6,400 ft. to 4,900 ft. in less than 2 miles.
We lunched in Bluff and proceeded on to Moab, where on the way we took the LaSal Mountain loop. At the top, on one side we came close to the snow capped peaks, fresh from a recent storm and on the other side looked out to the beautiful view of red rock country below.
Our last two nights were at Red Cliffs Lodge, on the banks of the Colorado River. The land that the lodge sits on and the surrounding area was the scene of many big Western Movies in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s and is still used in many movies today. The red rock mountains tower all around you and the rooms are spacious and elegant.
The day in Moab is spent seeing the sites in Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands National Park. Many chose to do some shopping in the town of Moab. We encouraged all the rookies (those who had not been on the rally before) to hike to Delicate Arch. This arch is used on our logo. All those who hiked, lost their rookie status and were presented with special badges at the closing dinner. They included Philip and Francoise Reyns, Christian Jenny, Hans Kuny, Don and Lacey Breidenbach, Tom and Daria Durham, and Wayne and Kay Wagner.
Each driving day of the rally there is a quiz. A prize is given for the best results at the end of the day and an accumulative score is kept and a best overall prize is given the last evening of the rally. Prizes this year included English leisure blankets for daily winners and for the overall winner an English Picnic Basket was given. Mike and Suzie Ksiazek from Illinois were the overall winners this year.
We had an especially congenial group this year and with the small size of the rally everybody had the opportunity to get to know one another. There was a lot of good- natured fun, such as: Dennis Varney and Dick Deluna (in Dennis’ D-type) were from the San Francisco area. One night their car was decorated (by some delinquents) with “Just Married” and streamers with empty cans flowing from the back. (Next year they are bringing their wives). Jerry and Carol got the “arch” everywhere they went – they always seemed to arrive last, wherever! And then the mascot of the trip was our little grandson, Nathan, who came with his parents as backup and security for the rally, who was nicknamed “Pork chop”.
As organizers of the rally, it has been especially gratifying this year with all the thanks and appreciation we have received. This makes putting on the rally worth the effort to have people enjoy it so much. We enjoy sharing this beautiful country with others.
It is now on to next years rally, which will start on September 25, 2005 and continue through to October 1, 2005. We have been limited in the past years by the number of rooms at The Lodge at Red River, but they are adding extra rooms and in anticipation of that, we are going to have 20 spaces available. Previous participants will be given first chance, and some are already spoken for, but we should have room for a few new faces. Cars must be 1974 or older. Happy Rallying!
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