Strolling Player Palaver

Submitted by: Quester #2

The Quest: The Call of the Casting.

The Challenge: Audition to be on screen.

So Tris and I agreed that we should be able to challenge each other. I mean who knows our biggest dreams and fears better than each other right? 

So Tristan, here is your quest:

Level up your charisma skills and put yourself on display!
Audition. I don’t care if it’s for a dog food commercial or a blockbuster film. But while we’re in California find something with an open call and answer it! It’ll be a great experience and hey, if you land something that’s some more road trip funds!!

I'd suggest having a shower first though...

Tristan's note: Ladies and Gentlemen, my wife, who knows me so well. I accept your challenge Zora, and shall pad my resume out with the role of corpse number #74, or some such grand title. Do I get extra experience points if I actually land a part Wombat? Extra-double-mega points if I land a part AS a Wombat?

Wombat's Ruling: This is a good one! Let's see... this is worth 600 exp (4 hours charity) if you do it and document it (to whatever extent you are able). It's worth an extra 400 experience (without any extra charity!) if you actually land the part and do it.

Survive the familial onslaught...and then feed them

Submitted by: Mother Dearest

The Quest: Rendez Vous avec la famille faim

The Challenge: 

Cook the evening meal for us parents and siblings at a place called 'Yummy Mud Puddle' near Burnsville, NC.

Tristan's note: Mum, that sounds like you are taking advantage of our concept... but a loophole is a loophole, and if it earns me experience points then I'll do it! Do you have any requests for the type of meal that you would like me to cook? The fancier it is the more xp I might get!

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: Yes mum, abuse the system for all it is worth! You can finally make him clean his room! As for experience, let's call it 600 (<1 day, Moderate difficulty) and 4 hours charity. I'll award bonus points once you upload a menu, pictures of the food, and testimonials from the guests. 

A Marathon of Matinee Marveling

Submitted by: misskarenjean

The Quest: The Battle of Bearing the Bards

The Challenge: See 30 plays in Chicago

I challenge you to see 30 plays with Dave and I while you pass through Chicago. You can do this in one night at the Neo-Futurarium! Bonus points for seeing MORE than 30 plays. MOAR THEATRE!!!

Zora's note: Yes! This is a great challenge. We will definitely try to see more than 30, and we'll see how the Wombat rules on matters of bonus points! :) 

Challenge accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: Okay, here's the rule. It's worth 600 experience (1-4 hours, tough difficulty), 4 hours charity. Why "tough"? Because you need to write a one sentence summary of each play! Muahahah! Bonus points for extra plays, or for real funny summaries. 

Their Holinesses the Tourist Traps

Submitted by: misskarenjean

The Quest: The Search for the Sacred Spaces

The Challenge: Find the homes of American Gods

This requires some prep work: read (if you haven't already) Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS (the TV show is pretty good, but read the book). Faded gods from the numerous Old Worlds of the many immigrants that people this giant land mass continue to live on in the contemporary US. Without worshipers, their powers are weakened, but they find ways to make do, in part by convening in the various tourist traps and town that still contain some spiritual residue. XPs awarded for visiting the real places named in the book, and also for finding places that COULD belong to some god (real or of your own invention) and describing the power/draw of the place for that god.

Tristan's note: This is brilliant. I freaking love American Gods. I haven't seen the show but read the book a few years back and yeah, it's a great idea, quintessential Gaiman. I will re-read it asap and begin looking for suitable places. Zora will have to read it too, so we'll try to get it on audiobook so we can do it together (otherwise I'll be on chapter two and she'll be on to her usual genre of Romance novels). We can get really creative with this one!

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: This may be my favorite quest yet! It's doubly apropos, given that Tristan is from the same benighted/nighted country as Neil Gaiman (see below)! I'm going to have to judge this one on a case by case basis for experience. Tell us about the places and why you picked them. If you do something creative (could be funny, insightful, deep, sad, whatever), be prepared for massive amounts of points. 

Meet me in...Minnie-sota sota!

Submitted by: misskarenjean

The Quest: Exploring the North

The Challenge: Meet us in Minnesota! 

If the timing is right, roll through Minnesota while Dave and I are in town. You are welcome to join us at the cabin up north (everyone has a cabin up north), where there are plenty of trees, stars, fresh air, and cold beers. We could even proceed to Minneapolis, and see the beauty of my home town!

Zora's note:Man...why does our family keep thinking we want to do things like see them in cool places? It's like they think we like them or something.

...

I think we're going to be in Minnesota sometime in August...but don't hold us to that, our timeline is all outta whack. We would love to see the cabin and the woods, and have the personal tour of Minneapolis! We love having that insider knowledge. If we don't meet up we will happily accept suggestions on where to go!

Challenge tentatively accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: To get any points, you have to document something about this tour. Give us a top 5 list of restaurants, or beers, or nature trails (or something else), with pictures and blurbs for each. If you do that, it is worth 600 points and 4 hours of charity (<1 day, moderate difficulty). 

One of us! One of us!

Submitted by: Dale L. 

The Quest: The Quest of Sir Lotsalance 

The Challenge: Camping with Lance friends

Get together with other LOA members, share stories, laughs, and food. There are Lance gatherings and rallies on both coasts and even here in the Midwest. Check out the 2nd Annual Great Plains Gathering in my signature on any LOA posting of mine.

Zora's note: This is a great challenge! And so exciting to get a quest from someone without a previous tie to our friends or family! An independent quest setter! Unfortunately we'll be pretty far from Nebraska in September (especially sad since Nebraska is one of the state's we're a bit clueless on how to experience to its fullest), but we will be sure to hit up one of the other gatherings. We're excited to find ourselves in the company of Lance Owners of America, the community has already been helpful for us to get our new home ready to hit the road! For anyone interested here's LOA's website: http://lanceowners.hoop.la/

Challenge accepted!! 

Wombat's Ruling: Wow, this is pretty nerdy, even for you guys. I love it! There are three separate quests I'm setting:

1) Get a picture of a ridiculously modified, tricked out, or otherwise amazingly strange Lance. 300 exp, 1.5 hours of charity.

2) Get a picture with at least 5 Lances in it (a car dealer doesn't count!). Alternatively, get a picture with the owners of 5 Lances. 300 exp, 1.5 hours of charity.

3) Attend a Lance event, take pictures, and do a blog post or video about it. 500 exp, 2 hours of charity. 

Big Machines? Bucket, Why Not.

Submitted By: Phil, Purveyor of the Finest Trucks

The Quest: Observing the Vanquished Beasts

The Challenge: Get a picture in the Bucket of the LARGEST Electric Shovel or the LARGEST Dragline bucket in the world

How about a picture in the Bucket of the LARGEST Electric Shovel or the LARGEST Dragline bucket in the world They are all but memories, as they won't make them this big anymore..

Big Brutus -
converted to a Museum in KS. if it's on the way to another quest, why not get a picture.
http://www.bigbrutus.org/about.html

The other - my personal favorite and I was trying to help get it converted to a museum in 1999, was Big Muskie, Made in South Milwaukee, by Bucyrus Erie, "same as Big Brutus"
All that's left is the 230 Ton, 220 Cubic yard bucket....on display, just a few miles from it's working area Ohio.

The Big Muskie was a model 4250-W Bucyrus-Erie dragline (the only one ever built). With a 220-cubic-yard (170 m3) bucket, it was the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created and one of the world's largest mobile earth-moving machines. could pick a load, larger than 2 grey hound busses, and sit it more than a football field away.

The bucket is big, 
http://www.noblecountyohio.com/images/largebucket.jpg
Now look at the bucket, in relation to the machine
http://www.noblecountyohio.com/muskie3.html
When you look at the mere size of this machine in this pic, it really puts things in perspective on just how big the machine was - It was featured by "That's incredible" and it walked like a duck...
http://www.stripmine.org/wwwboard/stripmine/uploads/1_6487c3625ca7a0c5b26d515079c01d5e.jpg

I believe there is a campground near by
Directions:I-77 exit 25 (Caldwell). Head west on SR 78 -- a winding, hilly, two-lane road -- 16 miles to the Bucket in Miners Memorial Park.

Zora's Note: This is brilliant! Fun, accessible, and that's a great amount of detail. Seriously people, take a look at those links the machines are ridiculous.

Wombat's Ruling: Them things are huge! Okay, 300 exp, 2 hours charity (1-4 hours, Easy "Sweat Factor").

The Manateaser

Submitted by: Fire Donkey

The Quest: Voyage Through the Swamp

The Challenge: Swim with a Manatee...

Hi guys! This is based on googling stuff... HOWEVER! Why not head to the Everglades national park? (Everglades National Park protects an unparalleled landscape that provides important habitat for numerous rare and endangered species like the manatee, American crocodile, and the elusive Florida panther <-- ELUSIVE PANTHER!). 

The challenge would be to find a manatee and possibly swim with it. Or, find the Panther haha. It looks like a great place to visit and in terms of giving back to the community as there are lots of endangered species you could maybe find some kind of volunteer research based thing about. Who knows! If I find more info I'll send it on to you. 

Tristan's Note: I don't know how legal it is to go bothering the Manatee over there, plus you did also mention crocodiles... I'm going to say that we will get a photo from in front of a sign in the everglades to complete the easy part of the challenge. Wombat, how about giving us a massive bonus if we see the Manatee or the Panther?

Challenge kind of accepted!

Zora's Note: So I did the research on how to swim with manatees in a legal and respectful way, and it is permitted in a certain area! Here are the details: Manatee Manners

So we will definitely do our best to go see them, it would be amazing! 

Wombat's Ruling: This would be really cool! It sounds like a lot of work, though, so let's call it a whopping 800 exp, 5 hours charity (<1 day, Difficult "Sweat Factor"). Bonus points for not getting eaten.

Jewels... JEWELLLLLLSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

Submitted by: Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care

The Quest:  The Gathering of Baubles and Beads

The Challenge:  Collect jewelry and beads and spread the word to others

I volunteer for Kansas City Hospice in their resale shop, Top Drawer.  Three years ago we began a diligent effort to increase our jewelry donations.  Our customers love jewelry and we had very little to offer them when they came into the store to shop. We have been reaching out to as many people and organizations as possible to try to significantly increase our jewelry stock. 

We are looking for jewelry that is in excellent to good condition that we can immediately put out for sale.  However, if you want to add your broken jewelry, mismatched earrings, broken brooches, tarnished silver, etc. we will use that too.  

We have a jewelry making program where volunteers repair and repurpose all of the broken jewelry.  They also make new pieces from donated beads and beading supplies. We have made over 1000 original pieces for our store.  So, if you have left over beads and beading supplies from your “hobby” days you can send us those items too.

Everyone who works in Top Drawer is a volunteer and all of the proceeds go to benefit Kansas City Hospice which is a 501C3 not for profit Hospice.

There are so many people who have accumulated jewelry that they no longer like or wear. It sits in a drawer and noone gets to benefit from using it.  With our program, you can donate your jewelry, it is recycled (no landfills), and it benefits a wonderful charity like Kansas City Hospice.

All accumulated jewelry and beads can be sent to our shop:

Top Drawer, 9433 Mission Road, Leawood, KS 66206

913-642-2292

Tristan's Note: Thank you so much for your quest, we would love to take it on and spread the word about Kansas City Hospice and Palliative care. And congratulations on winning the "Heart of Hospice" award!

Also finding shinies is pretty much Zora's favorite thing in the world. We will put links on our volunteering page and also the journey map. I think we will receive xp/time based upon every medium sized box that we collect and send to you. What do you think Wombat?

Challenge Accepted!!!

Wombat's Ruling: This is a wonderful idea! You should spread the word as you travel! As for experience, let's break this into two pieces.

For each piece of nice, "ready-to-wear" jewelry you find and post a picture of, you get 100 exp, 0.5 hours charity. For each shoebox of shiny bits and bobs, let's say 400 exp, 2 hours charity. This may seem unbalanced, but I'm guessing it is easier to find a single piece of jewelry than a whole shoebox of bits.

https://www.facebook.com/kathy.corbin.334/media_set?set=a.10204222750266028.1073741829.1145525737&type=3

Doing the Truckle Shuffle

Submitted by: Nicole

The Quest: Marching in the footsteps of giants

The Challenge: Goonies adventure!

Find the location of the Fratelli's hideout/restaurant from "The Goonies" and take the 100 steps to it together like the kids in the film did. (hint: the building no longer exists).
Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach, OR
http://oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=136

Tristan's Note: This will be a fun one! I'm always up for finding film locations!

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: Okay, you two are on the honor code. If you look up the location online and just go there, this is worth 300 exp, 2 hours charity (1-4 hrs, Easy "Sweat Factor"). If you actually figure out where it is yourselves, 600 exp, 4 hours charity (<1 day, Moderate "Sweat Factor"). 

Update: 8/7/2018: It is to our deep regret that we have to inform eveyone that we missed this challenge. We were in Portland for the sour beer quest, and just didn't have time to make it out to the coast. We were looking forward to this one. We will just have to come back, or have another quester take it on.

There better be a lady in this lake...

Submitted by: Fuzzy Bear

The Quest: The Observance of the Water

The Challenge: Following in Burgoyne’s Footsteps

As you head to NS from New York, your task is to enjoy one of the better views of Lake Champlain. However, I'm not going to tell you where that is. To find out stop at Fort Ticonderoga and take the tour. The docent's might know where you should go. Here's a hint though, if you get the right information you'll be able to "defy" the odds I've stacked against you. Post a picture to prove you were successful. For extra points put the history of the path you took in the photo's caption (that's another hint as to where to go by the way).

Tristan's Note: I appreciate that we get to make this quest more difficult if we choose to! 

Challenge accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: I haven't been to Fort Ticonderoga since I was a kid! It'll be great. Anyway. 300 exp, 2 hours charity for just the picture (1-4 hours, Easy "Sweat Factor"), or 400 exp, 3 hours charity (1-4 hours, Moderate "Sweat Factor") with the caption too. Lots of bonus points for doing a post/video/something about the important history of Fort Ticonderoga. (I'll award the bonus points once I see the result). 

Our waistlines will Morph Carolina

Submitted by: Fuzzy Bear

The Quest: The Vanquishing of the Appetites

The Challenge: Good Eating in NC

Since you're swinging through North Carolina, you might as well do so on a full stomach. A really full stomach. Your challenge is to hit up some of the best places to eat along your route. They are: Bull City Burger and Brewery (Durham, NC), Backyard BBQ Pit (Durham, NC), Wimpy's Grill (Durham, NC), Crafted (Greensboro, NC) extra points there if you can suss out the new location without using their website to cheat, 5Church (Charlotte, NC, and SkyBAR (Asheville, NC). Prove you made it to each location by sharing photos, or dirty napkins. Your choice.

Zora's Note: Our friends are clearly trying to sabotage our arteries...Challenge accepted!!

Wombat's Ruling: I'm getting jealous just thinking about this! To earn any experience, you need to give us a review of your favorite restaurant in NC once you leave. It can be a blog post or a video. Answer the question "If I can only go to one restaurant in all of NC, which should it be, and why?"

Including the video, this is < 1 day, Easy "Sweat Factor", so 400 exp, 3 hours charity. 

Birding the US

Submitted by: SJ

The Quest: The Charting of the Chickens

The Challenge: Find and document (photo, note, etc) a bird in each state you visit - no repeats. I'll start you off - in Missouri, look for Eastern Bluebird.

Zora's Note: I love it! We will put our ornithological skills to the test and come up with an eagle or something. Would running into with the truck and stuffing it count as documenting?

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: This sounds like fun! As an additional service, you need to give us a few fun/interesting facts about each bird. Try to educate us a little about America's birds.

Drawing on my ruling for "Proof you have left!" let's say that it's 200 experience per bird, and 0.5 hour charity. Bonus 300 exp and 0 hours charity for each 10 birds you do. Bonus 1000 exp and 0 hours charity if you do all 48! (The seemingly low charity hours actually add up - if you do all 48 states, that's 24 hours of charity!). 

Update 1: Missouri

Well we failed a little bit at the initial bird challenge, but we made up for it by giving you two birds! (also see Update 3) Most of our traveling in Missouri was in the Missouri Ozarks (which are distinct from the Arkansas Ozarks). If you've ever watched the show Ozarks (we enjoyed it, but it's not for the squeamish) you'll know that turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) feature in it. And it's no surprise because they were EVERYWHERE. We also saw some black vultures (Coragyps atratus) but unless you see them side by side to compare wingspans (turkey vultures are much larger) or get a good look at the underside of the wings (turkey vultures have a silvery underside for the whole length, black vultures it limited to the tips) it's a bit hard to tell them apart. 

We saw the turkey vultures do just about everything, from soaring around on thermals, to creepily hanging around in the trees around one of our campsites making a lot of tree branch noise, to rather graphically ripping apart a roadkill raccoon (but hey! they are super important parts of the ecosystem for doing so!). We were pretty fascinated. The hard part of this challenge is that though we bought a nice camera for TGQ we didn't have enough funds for a zoom lens, so we're stuck with longer distance shots and fuzzy zoomed in iPhone photos. But here are our best attempts:

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Wombat's Comment: That's actually really cool. Vultures get a bad rap, but they're important.

Update 2: Illinois 

We haven't actually spent much time in Illinois (at least not since TGQ officially hit the road), but we spent our first night there and walked around Horseshoe Lake the next morning. That is where Tristan saw his first bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)! I saw it as well, but was sadly looking the wrong way when it took a dive and tried to snag a fish out of the lake (the fish got away), he was seriously excited. Bald eagles are primarily piscivores but will also eat carrion and are kind of famous in Alaska for swarming dumps...a less than glorious image of America's national bird.

And Tris managed to get a photo of it looking pretty cool:

Bald Eagle

Wombat's Comment: AMERICA MOTHERTRUCKERS!

Update 3: Arkansas

The start off challenge for this quest was to find and document the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) in Missouri, because, well, it is the state bird. We saw zero. Not even a glimpse of a blue color bird that wasn't clearly a jay that we could pretend was an eastern bluebird! However, Arkansas was very gracious in providing a mated pair (the female having duller coloring than the male) flitting around our camper while we stayed on the grounds of Headwaters School. They played the game of stay very still until I raised the camera and then flying further away with me which was frustrating. That is, until the male discovered our rear view mirrors. Apparently this little guy has been wreaking havoc on all mirrors and ledges of the school attendees cars, he loves landing on them and pooping everywhere!! Ours were no exception. The little dude also liked attacking his own reflection in our mirrors which were probably a bit larger than he was accustomed to. Hopefully they lay some eggs in the school's box, the eggs are as pretty a shade of blue as their feathers!

Perched on the mirror, doing his worst

Admiring his smeary handywork and laughing at us

Wombat's Comment: He clearly doesn't like you.

Update 3: Louisiana

It was pretty difficult just choosing one bird for Louisiana. We saw so many! From all sorts of swamp birds to brown pelicans on the Gulf, we were spoiled for choice. So we've gone with the one we got the best photo of! Tris had a lot of luck stalking this pretty unconcerned yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea). We got a great look at it! Apparently they only grow those long white feathers in their crest during mating season, so I think we got lucky! In one of the photos it looks like there may be an egg? But it could also just be a rock. 

Wombat's Judgement: Very cool! Very pretty and exotic. Full points.

Update 4: Texas

This episode of choose that state bird actually comes from Tristan. He completely fell in love with these guys. It's also one of our silliest. We snuck up on these guys who were sitting on the roof of the nature blind. When they saw us and flew away they made the silliest squeaky noises! They also have very bright bills. Zora searched for squeaky orange billed ducks with long necks and...

             Not helpful.

Right. That is not the duck. 

Let's try again:

These ducks, Google. What are these ducks? Turns out they are black-bellied whistling ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis)! They are pretty much the cutest, and Tristan may just have a new favorite bird. Check out what they sound like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rgyCbntEAQ

Wombat's ruling: Very cute!

All things sour are not spoiled

Submitted by: Bromogida

The Quest: Braving The Bitter Brew

The Challenge: Drink sour beer!

To be specific, drink sour beer in Portland, OR at Cascade Brewery... changed our lives! If you have no clue, don't worry, the staff will make excellent recommendations to try. Most of their beers you can't get anywhere but in their brewery, so enjoy!

Tristan's Note: Luckily neither of us have ever had a sour beer that we liked, so this will legitimately be a challenge. Mind you if anyone out there wants to challenge us to drink more beer we could do that too. Great quest, we will provide photographic evidence once the challenge is complete!

Challenge Accepted!!!

Wombat's Ruling: Like all marsupials, I adore sour beer, and I think that getting drunk at a high-end brewery barely counts as a challenge. You must try at least a few different sour beers (I don't know what size they come in, so let's say 3 to start with - I don't want to be the cause of alcohol poisoning), and then take pictures of your faces as you drink them AND write brief descriptions of each so we know which ones are the best. This is 300 exp, 2 hours charity (< 1 hr, and I'm being generous by giving this a Moderate "Sweat Factor"). 

Update 8/1/18:

We went, we saw, we tasted... And I have to say we weren't wild about any of it. Tristan and I just aren't sour beer folks. On the upside you get to enjoy our tasting faces!

There was also an exciting development, we had our first guest quester! Everyone welcome Eric! He'll be getting his own character on the website soon. This too can be your fate if you accept any of the quests (either with us or without us!)!

So after looking at the pretty extensive menu (see photo for descriptions), we selected three samples of Cascade's finest. 

1. Midnight Bramble -Tristan

2. Peche Fume 2016 -Eric

3. Vanilla Bourbon Peach -Zora

Ok, first round, drinking our own picks. Note the trepidation on my face.

Ok, a bit of a shock to the system the first sip of sour beer. Maybe it gets better?

Bottoms up! Round 2:

Oof. Maybe not. Third times a charm?

Oooh, that's a no. Looks like you're having a hard time swallowing there, Tris. 

Sooooo yeahhhhh.... No real winners there, but here are our conclusions: While we aren't 100% sure our waitress gave me the vanilla peach and Eric the Peche to start with, whatever they were were both pretty bad. However, my pick, the vanilla bourbon peach, was basically bile. No better way to put that unfortunately. You can track its progression down the line by whomever looks the most ill. The Peche was only mildly less toxic. 

Tristan's however, wasn't all that bad. Since it was red and very raspberry flavored, the sourness made more sense. In a small dose like that, we'd even venture to say it was good...ish. We agreed it would have made a better cider minus the sour. 

We'll keep on believing people who tell us that there are good sour beers out there, but we definitely aren't converts yet. Thanks for the quest Bromogida, it certainly was a challenge!

Wombat's Judgement: That's too bad, wombats think sour beers are fantastic... oh well. Zora's face in the first picture seems to say it all. Full points!

Dad's Fave Philly

Submitted by: Bromogida

The Quest: The Conquest of the Bovine 

The Challenge: Ro's dad challenges you to go to White House in Atlantic City, and order a "Whopper". Get some laughs then have the best Philly Cheese Steak dad has ever had. Post a picture to commemorate the moment.

Tristan's Note: We will starve ourselves in preparation, because I'm pretty sure that something called  a "Whopper" is not going to be small.

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: You guys are so lucky. This is 100 exp, 1 hr charity (<1 hr, Trivial "Sweat Factor" - all you have to do is have lunch!). 

The mark of the dragon

Submitted by: Rania & Jon

The Quest: Carving The Flesh of the Wyrm

The Challenge: Pumpkin Carving in New Hampshire. Attend the world's largest pumpkin carving festival in Keene NH, which takes place in mid October, and carve a welsh dragon on a pumpkin.

Tristan's Note: Excellent suggestion, however this may not fit with our timeline. However what we will do is go to Keene, and carve a Welsh Dragon into SOMETHING whilst we are there. We will also attend the biggest pumpkin festival available to us in mid October and carve the dragon into a pumpkin.

Challenge accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: This is a 2 part quest.

Part 1 is carve something in Keene - 200 exp, 2 hrs charity (< 1 hr, Easy "Sweat Factor).

Part 2 is carve dragon into a very large pumpkin in October - 300 exp, 2 hrs charity (1-4 hrs - I'm including time spent finding a huge pumpkin, Easy "Sweat Factor). PLUS 200 exp bonus (with no charity requirement) if they carve a good Trogdor into a second pumpkin (what's the point of being the arbiter of the rules if you can't abuse your power?). 

For whom the mountain tolls

Submitted by: Kirstie

The Quest: The Sonorous Ascent of Stone Hitting 

The Challenge: Climb to the top of bell rock.

Become members of 'The Top of Bell Rock Club' in Sedona and say Hi to Peter from us. He helps you climb to the top of Bell Rock and it is physically challenging and lots of fun. 

Tristan's note: This is straightforward, challenging, and place specific, I like it! Thanks Kirstie.

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: This is < 1 day, Difficult "Sweat Factor" = 800 exp, 5 hours charity.

Tristan's Update: 6/9/18

I am very pleased to announce that both Zora and I are official members (2753 & 2754) of the TOP OF BELL ROCK CLUB! What an amazing experience it was, I don't think there would have been many others that Zora would have been glad at being dragged out of bed at 5:30 am for on her birthday.

We met Peter, the Vortex Jumper, and the rest of our group at 7 am and followed around to the West side of the rock. We climbed in shadow up the center, winged on either side by the flaring outcrops of sandstone. Our route was a near vertical ascent using cracks and crevices for footholds and treading a path worn smooth by other members of the club.

The challenge of the climb was absolutely worth it when we reached the top, a plateau towering 600 ft over the valley below. It was stunning. I think everyone experienced a profound sense of awe. I certainly did.

We made the most of our time at the top by taking photos, answering riddles, signing the guestbook, and getting ready for the route back down again.

Thank you Kirstie and Reid for questing us, and Peter for dragging us along. It was brilliant!

Wombat's Judgement: Stunning pictures, and a nice story! Also, Tris, your hat is adorably dorky (and presumably quite practical). Full points!

Doggos of America

Submitted by: Monty the Royal Corgi

The Quest: The Charting of the Hounds

The Challenge: Doggos of America

Whenever you see a dog, say "dog" out loud. Each dog sighting counts as one point. The person who has the most dog sightings by the end of the trip wins. You must say dog one time for each dog because every dog is special and unique.

Tristan's note: Playing us off against each other is kind of risky I think. It might lead to arguments... But either way:

Challenge Accepted!!!

Wombat's Ruling: This is another tricky one! How about this - when the trip is halfway finished (maybe when you switch coasts?), the person who is behind has to do 4 hours EXTRA charity, and the person ahead gets to spend 4 hours doing something incredibly relaxing. IF you do this, then this is worth 300 exp, 2 hours charity (1-4 hours, Easy "Sweat Factor" - it's easy for one of you at least!). 

Tristan's Response: I'm not sure I like this. Zora has got far superior eyesight than I do. How about she has to drive more to make up for the advantage so I am free to look for doggies?

4/24/2018 - An Update!

We have been going with the dog spotting for 2 weeks now and it is pretty much as I predicted, Zora is doing very well, and I am constantly struggling to keep up. Currently the count is Zora: 63, Tris: 45. Womp Womp.

We had a whole long stretch going through the Ozarks where we barely saw any dogs at all, just turkey vultures and road kill! However we are down into what feels like more densely suburban parts of Arkansas now so the pace is increasing. Yay dogs!

7/19/2018- Halfway Mark

We’ve made it back to St. Louis for appointments and repairs so we’re calling it the halfway mark. The results are in….Tristan comes from behind and TAKES THE LEAD!! Zora was winning forever, but then we hit Southern California. California is apparently the holy place for dogs. They are everywhere. With Tris driving and paying lots of attention in the madness that is traffic around LA and Zora paying attention to navigating on the phone, Tris positively cleaned up. The total: Tristan: 342.5 dogs, Zora: 310.5. The half dogs are ones we tied on. So according to the Wombat, Zora must now do 4 extra hours of volunteer work while Tristan kicks back. Woof.

Wombat’s Interim Judgement: Wow, what a Cinderella story! Tristan has earned his 4 hours of relaxation! Now for the ultimate prize. Reset your doggo counters to 0, and the winner at the end gets 8 hours of relaxation!

Proof you have left!

Submitted by: Helen

The Quest: The Trove of Truck Travelling Trophies

The Challenge:  Take a photo with each 'Welcome to' state sign.

I have wanted to do this on our (smaller) road trips, but I end up being too busy napping: take a photo with each Welcome to State sign. So I challenge you to take a picture next to a state sign for each state that you visit, and strongly suggest you try and find something appropriate for Hawaii before you leave! https://tinyurl.com/yct5swn6

Tristan's Note: This is an excellent challenge! Unfortunately didn't take a suitable photo before we left Hawaii, I guess you just kind of know when you get there because you are either no longer flying or no longer drowning... However we do have a photo of Zora standing in front of a volcano, so maybe this will suffice:

We will treat this like 48 separate challenges I think, so we can earn the volunteer hours and xp with each state we go through, and maybe if we get all 48 we can have a bonus pay out at the end. Sound Good?

Challenge Accepted!

Wombat's Ruling: This is kind of an odd one. Let's say that it's 100 experience per road sign, and 0.5 hour charity. Bonus 300 exp and 0 hours charity for each 10 road signs they do. Bonus 1000 exp and 0 hours charity if they do all 48! (The seemingly low charity hours actually add up - if they do all 48 states, that's 24 hours of charity!). 

04/24/18 - An Update

Well we have so far crossed two state lines, the one from MO - IL wasn't really anything, plus we hadn't planned on going to IL so early and we don't have a photo, so that may not count. However our crossing from MO - AR was documented! Bear in mind that that we crossed on a tiny little lettered highway so there wasn't a grand banner or anything, but check out the photos:

05/10/18 - An Update!

We have so far crossed two more state lines! We crossed from AR to LA and we landed the missing Welcome to AR sign and also got nailed by a few fire ants. Owww! We also noted the distinct line between road qualities, little did we know how much worse they would get...

And just a few days ago we crossed LA to TX! This time we managed to cross on big enough roads to merit welcome signs. Here you go Helen!

Wombat's commentary (5-15-18): So far that's 3 signs, so 300 exp and 1.5 hours charity. I'm going to throw in 50 bonus exp for the thoughtful documentation of the state-by-state variation of road quality (suck it LA!).  

Update: 05/27/18

We got a bit stalled in Texas (the state is huge!!), but we've made a lot of miles all the same. We have now crossed through New Mexico and into Arizona. Here's the evidence! Also, New Mexico, what is up with that font?? You might as well have used Comic Sans. We almost missed the sign entirely because of the faint writing, we were so confused we took pictures with some sort of Energy Plant's sign, thinking that must be all that was there. Also, while we did our best to look enchanted (and most of the rest of the state genuinely was) the border crossing had a landfill on one side of the road, and smelly oil drilling in the midst of scrubby plants on the other. 

??

So amazing! Wow!

We didn't have a lot of road options for crossing into AZ, so unfortunately were stuck on I-10 with construction and lots of other vehicles, so we couldn't safely pull over to be in the picture with the sign. 

Wombat's Ruling: Really, New Mexico? That's the font you went with? Really? As for the Arizona sign, safety first. Full points (200 exp, 2 hours charity)!

Update: 07/7/18

Goodness, it's been ages since we cashed in our sign xp! Here's where we've been!

First: Utah! We definitely didn't get to spend enough time here, but between it being tourist season in the National Parks here, and it also being HOT, we just had to love it and leave it. What we saw was beautiful. Lots of good rocks, Utah. A+

Next up: Nevada!

Ok folks, not going to lie here. We didn't really like Nevada. To be fair we only saw a tiny part of Nevada mostly because we were sprinting through it because it was HELLISHLY HOT. A hot like I've never known before. 110-116F hot. With 30mph winds that just drove the hot deeper into your skin instead of cooling you off. Awful. Also this heat almost killed our rats even though we were driving pretty fast (luckily Leaky lost some trim on the highway and we realized just how hot it was). So forever grudge Nevada, no one messes with the fuzzballs. We were very glad to leave, see below.

Running out of Nevada, and into California. Oh California, we didn't want to like you as much as we did. You have too many people and too much traffic. Much of our rig spontaneously combusted within your borders. But goodness, your nature! We begrudgingly add you to places we could see ourselves living one day...

And now, suddenly (well sort of), we find ourselves in Oregon for what will unfortunately be a flying visit. But still, so far, so good! Nice trees! Also, this is our 10th state! Crazy.

Wombat's Judgement (7-24-18): Okay, that's 400 exp and 4 hours charity (reflecting new charity rules). Yay California!

Update: 8/3/18

Well, since we just had to blitz back to St. Louis from Washington, we have a lot of state signs to upload all in a rush! Let's start with Washington:

Google Maps has started welcoming us into a place now, so that's cool I guess?

After our super fast WA visits, we began the long distance 5 day sprint back to St. Louis beginning with a quick scoot through the skinny part of Idaho. We enjoyed it and its trains.

Next up was Montana. Montana made it as difficult as possible by placing their sign up on an overpass where you could not pose with it. However we caught on to this deviousness in time so we could take the exit before and get it in the background from an embankment. So there Montana! Shots from driving underneath it to prove it is the same sign in both photos. You can also admire the numerous bugs smashed on our windshield, and the fact the Montana rather grimly demarcates every single road death with a cross.  

Wyoming was next, and also pretty sneaky (read: boring) with their 'welcome' sign. We crossed into Wyoming initially while driving through Yellowstone. We couldn't pull over on that particular bit of road and the sign was entirely missable. Small, green, and all it said was "Entering Wyoming." We vowed to catch it on the exit, and we did, and the sign was equally uninspiring. 

Surprisingly Nebraska, for being the most boring state we've driven through thus far, had a pretty good welcome sign. Who knew they were the ones to found Arbor Day? Tristan was excited, and pulled his best tree impression (I'd give it a 6/10, can do better). There was also a funny little abandoned gas station that straddled the state line. The highway we crossed on used to be the main road between the two, but now there's a big interstate running parallel and is probably what killed business. 

The last state before crossing back into home territory was Iowa. I think we spent about 15 minutes here before being back in Missouri. There were A LOT of bugs. And we felt like we were going to get eaten by snakes and we were slightly delirious after doing a 700 mile day. But Iowa, here we were. And that's all for now! Next leg of the trip takes us north and east and into Canada!

Wombat's Ongoing Judgement: Good work! I don't have something clever to say about each state, but I think you've hit 15 states so far? But you've certainly hit 10 states, so bonus 300 exp for you guys!

Will Sail For Food

Submitted by: Westie Family

The Quest: The Nautical Excursion of Nibbliness

The Challenge: Find the gig, sail, and pillage for snacks.

It has been 12 years since Genoa... Verite misses you and wishes you would come pull an oar. There are always snacks involved! Your Westie Family misses you and will provide many more challenges and quests when you visit the Pacific North West!!!

Zora's note: This is great! We can't wait to get back out on the gig! And to eat all your snacks. Challenge accepted! 

Wombat's Ruling: This sounds like too much fun to be worth experience! I think Zora and Tristan should bring some snacks of their own. Some really, really cool snacks. Something exotic (Hawaiian?)! If they do that, and post some pictures (maybe a testimonial from a fellow snack-eater?), then this is worth 400 exp, 3 hours charity (1-4 hour length, Moderate "Sweat Factor"). 

Update 7/31/18:

We had a wonderful (if all too short!) visit with the crew and Verite. Thank you so much for taking us out Westies!! AC love never dies (it seriously doesn't, we got to see so many crewmates before we even made it to the gig)! So while we did end up bringing our own snacks they were only Costco chips (so nothing special) and we were so busy having fun and rowing/sailing that we didn't eat them while we were out. However there was some communal snackage once the gig was put to bed. It was so lovely to be back out on the water and it reminded us both how much we miss Atlantic Challenge, how much better life would be with a gig in it (and our crew!), and how jealous we were of the crews doing AC '18 in Antrim (pretty much simultaneously). We had serious boat glow for the rest of the day despite it being the first leg of our 5 day 2,200 mile slog back to St. Louis. We also had some serious blisters!! Our time on the road has left us with some soft hands. So Wombat, you'll have to determine how many expectations we met on this one. 

Seriously, we can't wait to do this again. Excited to meet up with you and Louyaute, Easties!

Some Photos!

Wombat's Judgement: You had too much fun for this to possibly be worth the full points! Plus, your snackage was lacking. 300 exp, 3 hours charity.