‘At The Expense Of My Dad’ Contest - Dad's Final BB Entry

[Herfin Bigdog]

In a never-ending effort to come up with new and unique contests, I decided I would have a contest titled, “The, ‘At The Expense Of My Dad’ Contest”. I am holding this contest…at the expense of my dad. You might consider this contest a tribute of sorts to my dad because he is a cool guy.

A little background:

My dad will be 68 years old on June 29. But he may not be at home on that date due to his being involved in an athletic endeavor of the caliber that amazes many people who don’t know my dad. But for my family and me is no big deal.

My dad left on Friday April 30 to fly to Anacortes, WA. The reason for this trip is to fulfill a dream of his to bicycle across the United States. His actual departure date from Anacortes was Sunday, May 2nd. Because of this bike trip, he may not be home in time to celebrate his birthday.

The reason that this undertaking is no big deal to us members of the family is that this is not the first of the feats of this type that my dad has experienced:
- During the spring and summer of 2002, my dad hiked the entire Appalachian Trail beginning at Springer Mountain, Georgia, traveling north to the top of Mount Katahdin located in Baxter State Park in Maine. He claims that he will do this hike again in the future.

*** I sent a picture of Dad standing at the top of Mt. Katahdin to the Cigar Families quarterly newsletter, the J.C. Newman Wrapper. The picture was featured in one of the later issues.

- From the age of 49, to the present, my dad has trained for and competed in well over 100 triathlons. A couple of those years he was ranked nationally meaning he won or placed in enough of the triathlons that he participated in to warrant being rated in the top 10% percent (I believe) of triathletes nation wide for his age group. Throughout his years of competing, he qualified twice to compete at the Iron Man Triathlon held in Hawaii.
- Dad began his competitive years with 10k (6.2 miles) races eventually moving up to running in marathons. He competed in several marathons including the Boston and Marine Corps marathons.

The Washington Post interviewed my dad in late April about his competitions. If you would like to read the article, go to Google and search for ‘“triathlete "Bob Phillips"’, and select the return Triple Threats (washingtonpost.com). I can access the article through Google. But if I try to access the article by pasting the URL on the address bar that Google found, I must fill out a form to access the Washington Post site.

Enough of this fluff. ON TO THE CONTEST

It is simple enough. There are two questions to be answered, in a sense each being a separate contest. You may attempt to answer either question or both questions. A prize will be awarded for each.

Based on my dad beginning his bike trek in Anacortes, Washington on Sunday, May 2nd:

1) On what date, (month and day) will my dad complete his bike trek across the U.S., and arrive at his final destination on the East Coast?

Because of the limited number of days in a month, please choose the hour and minute that you think he will arrive. If necessary, the hour and minute will be used as a tie-breaker due to the likely possibility that many will choose the same month and day.

For example, your entry would look something like “May 22, at 3:19PM”. You may use military times, for example “May 22, 1519hrs”.

Your guess must be the closest to, without guessing past the actual date and time he arrives at his East Coast destination. If he arrived on May 22 at 3:19PM but you guessed May 22 at 3:20PM, that is AFTER the actual arrival date and time. A minute after…I know. But technically after.

2) What city and state (or landmark and state) on the East coast is my dad’s ultimate destination? You must include state. For example, there is an Ocean City in MD and NJ.

The guess of city, town or landmark (and state) that is closest to his destination will win. I will use Map Quest to determine a winner in the event that two or more guesses are so close that the winner can not be determined by visual study of a map.


The Rules

1) All members are eligible to enter.
2) One guess per day per member.
3) I reserve the right to modify the contest if it becomes apparent that this contest is too difficult or unclear. *** If I believe a contest modification is necessary, I will make every attempt to keep it equally fair to all entrants.
4) I reserve the right to adjust the rule if I feel it necessary, but again not to the detriment of the entrants.
5) The decision of the judge (Me) is final.

GOOD LUCK!!!