For the last ten years or so, I’ve competed in a large-scale motorcycle scavenger hunt sponsored annually by Team Strange Airheads. This is a Twin Cities-based organization that got its start as a bowling team that evolved into a BMW motorcycle club that now primarily sanctions a variety of short and longer-term motorcycle events.
This year’s even runs from April into November and is called “Wheels on Walls Grand Tour.” To get required 20 points, I need collect photos of my motorcycle and rally flag taken in front of outdoor murals. The primary goal is to get photos of murals featuring wheeled vehicles, for which I get two points for each. I can also collect up to ten that don’t feature wheels in them for one points apiece. Finally, there are several “special” locations around the world – primarily in the US, Canada and Australia, that I could visit for larger numbers of points.
The winner of this year’s grand tour will get a lovely plaque and bragging rights for the year, and everyone who finishes will get an enameled pin. So as you can see, it’s all really about finding fun places to ride your motorcycle to.
Mary Jane Skala, an excellent reporter for our local newspaper, wrote a great story about my involvement over the years with Team Strange Grand Tours:
Every year, UNK professor Ralph Hanson hops onto his motorcycle, hits the road and searches for quirky objects on an annual nationwide scavenger hunt. https://t.co/LCKpXMvnwa
— Kearney Hub (@KearneyHub) June 3, 2023
So, here are my initial photos collected so far this year. Many left to come:
May 6th – My first bonus location for the 2023 Team Strange Wheels on Walls Grand Tour. This roof mural honors the Southwest High School Rough Riders of Bartley, NE. (No-wheels photo #1)
May 25th – Taken in Shelton, NE on my way up north to the Twin Cities. (No-wheels #2)
May 25 – A great railroad-themed mural from Central City, NE. Lots of wheels here.
May 27 – This series of three overhead door murals is part of an incredible collection of murals in a south St. Paul industrial and arts district. These three depict scenes in the history of the area and are on one of the buildings of the Can Can Wonderland entertainment complex.
May 27 – Another mural on a separate building that’s part of the Can Can Wonderland complex in St. Paul, MN.
The rules of the Wheels on Walls only allow two murals per city, and since I already have two for St. Paul, I’m just posting this mural by Claudia Valentino and Dani Bianchini because it is so exciting and vibrant.
May 27 – Tree of Life on the New Brighton, MN civic building and county library. The way I see it, those “pinwheels” are delivering tree seeds out to the world. No one living around maple trees this spring could doubt that… (Will be interesting to see how TeamStrange Airheads refs judge it…) So, I hope this counts as a wheel post.