DAY FOUR - Baton Rouge to Shreveport, LA

Hello again!

Today was the first day of the scavenger hunt part of the Rally. We’ve been on the road from 10am until 7pm, driving all across Louisiana and Mississippi. The day started at 8am in Baton Rouge where we all met in front of the old Capitol building. The organizer of the Rally got us lined up in 2 rows, and each of us had our picture taken with our car and the Mayor of Baton Rouge. We were given a packet of clues and information, which we were instructed not to open until a horn sounded. At that point, it was “gentlemen and ladies, start your engines,” and we opened our packets.

We were lead by police escort to the highway, and were then on our own to figure out what was in the packet and what to do with it all. There was a CD and written instructions giving clues to our destination, with bonus points we could earn along the way. Each destination in turn lead to another packet with clues to the next destination, until we had gone several hundred miles cross-country and landed in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Our clues lead us from Baton Rouge, to Natchez, Mississippi, and back to Louisiana in Ferriday, Alexandria, and Shreveport, with lots of interesting stops in-between. We owe some special thanks to Cara and Steve, Susie’s daughter and son-in-law, who were wonderfully helpful with solving the “B-52” clue for the Barksdale Air Force Base. You wouldn’t believe how these clues can mess with you, especially when you tend to overthink things (which Susie and I are both very capable of doing). It’s harder than you think with clues like “someone from your team will need to dance with a B-52.” It could have been about the music group, especially since the Rally has an 80’s theme, and we even found out there are speakers named “B-52.” And the fun really starts when the computer decides to get glitchy, we’re out of range for the Air Card, or the battery runs out. Then there was the Garmin GPS that got completely flaky in Alexandria, Louisiana, and sent us to some remote dead-end trailer park, and then kept saying “recalculating” sending us in circles (sound familiar to some of you?!).

We saw some quaint little roadside attractions, like the “most haunted plantation in America,” a towering trio of Coca-Cola cans, and “Fatty Cracklins” which sells nothing but pork rinds. Usually we have to take a picture of ourselves and the car next to the attraction to prove that we were there so we can get our bonus points. We’ve heard some wild stories from last year, though, so we’re a little nervous about some of the creative requirements they may have in store for us.

We do have a safety net in case of emergency, like getting completely lost. In the packet we receive each day are red and black envelopes, but there’s a penalty if you have to use them. The red envelope gives a more specific clue, and the black envelope tells you exactly where you should be. Opening the red envelope means being penalized half the days’ points, and opening the black one means losing all of them. But I can see how that might just be preferable to being hours away in Timbuktu.

The people and places we run into briefly are great—it feels like we get to touch and experience different little pieces of the world. And whenever we arrive at our destination, the city that’s hosting us provides a lavish welcome party with dinner and entertainment, as well as an appearance by the Mayor. My understanding is that we are going to get a police escort every day, and the Mayor of each city will give us a welcome talk and wave the Start Flag. We receive wonderful treatment and are shown tremendous respect. People seem to understand that it’s not just any old car Rally—there really is a greater purpose.

We distributed a ton of posters of Jasmine today. We handed some to people directly and posted others (with permission) on the outside of businesses. The cars themselves attract a lot of attention and interest, which makes it easier to share what we’re doing for Missing Kids. Most of the participants in the Rally are great about trying to get exposure for their assigned kids. We learned that a couple of the teams that participated last year took it upon themselves personally to continue the search after the Rally. One businessman has been actively in contact with the father whose child was taken to Mexico by the non-custodial mother, including paying for a private detective to help. It’s interesting to learn the stories, and is both heartbreaking and inspirational.

We’re starting to make friends with some of the Fireballers—there are some really cool people (not to mention their really cool cars). Occasionally, we have a run-in with a little too much testosterone, but we handle it fine. And I have to tell you, Susie and I work incredibly well together as a team. Two smart women (can I say that?) with Susie’s computer savvy and my driving did pretty OK for the first scavenger hunt. With only a couple glitches and minor moments of irritation, we’re going to do great.

BTW, we’re trying to figure out how to upload some pictures so you can see some of the fun, so please bear with us. Hope everyone is doing well. Seriously, please let us know if you can be one of our phone-a-friend lifelines. We found out today that you guys will be invaluable, even if computer batteries don’t die on us. More tomorrow!

Cassandra & Susie