DAY SIX – Jackson, MS to Tuscalousa, AL

Hi from Tuscalousa!

If you guys have been following this blog faithfully, you may now consider yourselves honorary Fireballers!

BTW, we found out that some of the Fireballers on the Rally have discovered this blog. My first reaction was complete surprise, my second was “oh, dear, what have I been saying about everyone?” and my third was “wonder if I’ve been giving away any of our brilliant discoveries or secrets to clue-solving.” Our whole strategy may now have to change, both in the blog and on the road. As you will soon read, the other Fireballers should feel really intimidated by Team 33 Corvette.

It’s been another great day of Rallying, meaning an evolving adventure with lots of twists and turns. The day started with the usual rolling out of bed at a ridiculous hour, snarfing breakfast, checking in to register for the day, checking out of the hotel, rushing bags to the car, frantic car-washing, the car line-up, a speech from the Mayor or other VIP, opening the Mission clue envelope, a police escort out of town, finishing with an immediate stop at a gas station. It tends to feel like “hurry up and wait” or “all dressed up with nowhere to go” (apologies for the clichés).

We were a little surprised to run into some actual gas shortages and had to stop at several before we found some. We didn’t have too far to go, though, and did some strategizing with our buddies that we keep running into—Team 11, the white Lamborghini. We’ve worked well helping each other out, once they got past thinking we were trying to sabotage them. I wish I could figure out a way for Joe to tell you how suspicious he was of us initially—he tells the best stories and gets everyone rolling.

Actually, I have to say how incredibly impressed we are by how the Rally runs. There’s an unbelievable amount of planning and coordination that the organizers (J.J., Martin & Natalie, along with some others) have done, and it rolls with incredible precision. We Fireballers tend to be the ones to mess things up and hand them problems they have to figure out how to solve (maybe that’s how we even the score for some of the dastardly clues and Missions they give us). But seriously, I can’t fathom how they do all this.

The morning Mission was to find the college where Jimmy Buffett was kicked out. Of course, the clues aren’t written out nearly as clearly as this. This was way harder than you might think, and we made good use of our phone-a-friend lifelines today. When we couldn’t find volunteers to help, we just drafted people—thanks everyone, you were extremely helpful! We ended up at the right place, Southern Mississippi University in Hattiesburg, where Jimmy Buffet did actually end up graduating. We’re still not sure if the “kicked out” part was a decoy clue to make things harder (they do that sometimes).

We ended up having lunch at one of the original Coca Cola bottling plants in Hattiesburg. It was an incredible reception, with tons of people and lots of news media. We met the Mayor of Hattiesburg, picked up our afternoon Mission Envelopes, and were off again. We officially hooked up with the white Lamborghini and our new buddies, Joe and Gary.

So here’s where the real fun began today. We solved the clue that we were to look for the “Black Warrior,” which is actually a translation of the word “Tuscalousa.” Simple enough, until an hour into the drive when it started to dawn on everyone that we probably shouldn’t be heading back to Jackson. So the red Corvette and white Lamborghini with four very smart, successful people end up going 2 hours out of their way, blowing the Mission for the afternoon and getting a solid “O” points for that leg of the Rally. Your learn really fast on this Rally not to spend time looking for who or what messed up because we all get humbled pretty quickly—if it wasn’t us this time, it will be the next.

We high-tailed it to the BF Goodrich plant in Tuscalousa, and made it in time to participate in the Autocross. For those of you who don’t know what that is, think orange street cones placed every-which-way that you drive around and try not to knock down. They threw a nasty curve at us just as we were getting in position—we had to put on what they called “drunk goggles” that completely distorted our vision. I managed to knock down 1 cone, blow past a figure-8, try to back up, bag it, back up part-way through another circle, knock down another cone, and get stopped without running anyone over. I felt proud to make it through (and maybe a little dizzy).

Once we all survived the Autocross, we had a police escort to downtown Tuscalousa and met with the Mayor. One of the afternoon Missions was for Fireballers to stop to buy some Children’s books to donate for one of the Mayor’s causes. We had to do a little scrambling to get some books since we had missed the instructions from the afternoon. Some teams really went all out. And everyone is doing a great job passing out flyers and explaining our “Real” Mission.

We were then escorted to a parking area for the City’s Reception, and the Mayor joined us again. It was incredible to see the number of police officers who helped, and we feel secure in knowing our cars are extremely well protected. At the reception, it was wonderful to chat with more of the Fireballers. We’re meeting some really neat people and making some good friends. And get this, I found out I placed 11th on the Autocross! Go figure, now I know I can be the designated driver whether I’m drinking or not!

We are planning on getting a 3-car Team going tomorrow, with the Back-to-the-Future car joining our little group. They are a couple of really cool guys, too. I did, however, have to insist on one rule: The red Corvette must always be in the middle between the white Lamborghini & the movie car. Picture what happens when people come over to look at the cars. I figure they at least have to walk past the ‘vette on their way to admire the other cool car! Both Teams were kind enough to agree.

As my final comment for today, I want to say that I’m pretty sure that any other Fireballers reading this blog will get a true sense for just how much of a threat we can be!

Cassandra & Susie