DAY FIVE - Shreveport, LA to Jackson, MS

Hello once again! Hope you don’t mind the long blogs—there’s just so much to share, and today is no different. So here goes …

The day started with a wake-up call at 5:30am. For those of you who know me, that’s just painful. I generally don’t function much before 9. But I didn’t grumble too much, especially since they pretty much say “be there at 7am to line up the cars” or just go straight to the final destination and skip the day’s fun. If they continue with this up-at-5:30 thing, I might just have to seriously consider not being in line on time one morning. OK, I’ll stop the grumbling.

Today was considered to be our one “lighter” day, and everyone appreciated it since we’re all beat-with-a-stick tired. Side note: now that I look at it, that’s really an awful expression. I‘d ask Susie to look up the origin on the computer, but I’m sure that’s the last thing she wants to do since that’s what she does all day that makes her beat-with-a-stick tired. (Not necessary to lifeline this one, guys).

We learned our lesson from the chaos yesterday, and got a lot more focused, efficient and strategic with deciphering our clues. We found that the best way to start the day is to pull off, park and really study the CD with the clues before just hauling off in some direction.

The more relaxed day gave us a chance to spend more time with and get to know the other drivers. Our first clue took us to Gibsland, Louisiana, to find the place where Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed. It’s a stone Marker on the side of Hwy 154. We drove down the wrong back road and it took an hour to find the Marker. In the meantime, we met with the semi truck that’s participating in the Rally (for real) who couldn’t make it to the Marker because of a vehicle weight limit. So I offered to take him to the site in the ‘vette while Susie stayed behind in his semi so we could both get our pictures with the Marker as proof that we were there. It turned out well for everyone, and we made a new friend and CB buddy.

At the next stop, we met up and spent the rest of the day traveling with the Lamborghini. Yes, the same one that I passed on the timed laps at the track. Now there’s a guy who doesn’t let his ego get in the way because he “got beat by a girl.” They’re a blast to drive with and also very good at solving clues. But I have to say that a white Lamborghini tends to get more attention than a red Corvette—it’s just more exotic since people rarely see them. That’s OK, I’m pretty pleased with how our car is looking and performing, and even I love looking at the Lamborghini.

Some of the other places we visited were: 1) a bronze statue of Medgar Evers, 2) a Civil War monument at the Vicksburg National Military Park (where we were chewed out for leaving the Lambo’s engine running and for distributing literature without a permit), and 3) part of the bow of the U.S.S. Mississippi in front of the Jackson State Capital. We made it to the Finish Line check-in point with literally 5 minutes to spare within the window of time where we would still earn points for the day. We’ve gone to some really neat places, and I only wish we had more time to enjoy some of them.

The good news: tons of Missing Child posters have been distributed and nobody has gotten any tickets. It’s fun seeing all the Missing Child posters along the way when other Fireballers have gotten somewhere before we did. We’ve also gotten alot of media attention, which is fun for us and awesome for the Missing Children. We’ll have to start checking news stories in the cities we’ve traveled through.

At 7pm we went to the Jackson, Mississippi, welcome reception. We all enjoyed recapping the day, and I got to relive a special moment. One of the drivers had videotaped the laps around the track and brought his computer specifically to show me how I did. As we sat there, a big group of guys came around to watch, and I got lots of compliments and “atta-girls” from them. It was pretty cool.

This is the first night we get to go to bed early enough to get a full night’s sleep, so we’re taking full advantage. Wish us well tomorrow—it’s supposed to be a tough day, finishing with a timed Autocross challenge at the BF Goodrich Plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Thanks for all the offers to be phone lifelines—it sounds like we’re going to really need some help tomorrow. We really appreciate how supportive you have all been!

Cassandra & Susie