I was riding with Steve in the car as part of the Advance Team. We were really in our element. Racing around the city, trying to decipher clues and trying to stay ahead of our team and stay with the other teams. This was a total adrenaline rush. There were a few manic times but all in all it was a blast.

We did a few very good things and we had a few learning opportunities. I won’t post what we did well or how we learned from our mistakes here because of the public nature of this website. Let’s just say that the teams next year will have to be a darn sight better than the ones we faced this year if they are going to beat us.

We did have a lucky break. Starting out with checkpoint 2 was fortuitous. It allowed the Ground Team to make efficient use of their time and not get sidetracked on one clue (checkpoint 1 was our skip and was in the opposite direction of the other clues and would have added about 10-15 minutes to our time if Jeff and Sally hadn’t got a picture of the skip guy).

Checkpoint 2 – Jeff and Sally know where this is so Steve and I get in the car and race (anyone who knows Steve knows if his adrenaline gets going he can’t come close to abiding by the driving laws, let alone some of the laws of physics) to Checkpoint 3.

Checkpoint 3 – We have information that it is one way and we find the opposite statue so we circle the City/County building to find the other statue.
I make a mental note that some of the contestants we saw leaving the race headquarters are at the first statue we saw. We find the other statue and I call Jeff to tell him where it is – I get a call from the Command Post saying to change our direction because our information was inaccurate so I call Jeff back and tell him the correct statue to go to. That was a rush – both phones in my ear, a last minute change of plans to avert a close call wasting minutes and all this at 40 mph in a flame red Mustang. You would have thought we were filming a remake of Hawaii 5-0. In fact I did hear the bongo drums in the background.
The benefit of the mental note about the other contestants – trust your gut feeling. If they are going there, there must be a good reason.
Jeff called and said he and Sally had taken a picture with the Skip guy so we should skip checkpoint 1. This turned out to be one of the best decisions we made.

Checkpoint 4 – Steve knew right where Gilgal Gardens were so we headed up there (something about a hazy 70’s party place, Steve must have heard about it). Steve and I walked around and found the statue and we called Jeff to tell him where it was. This is the point we started to notice other people doing the same thing we were doing, other teams had advance people just like we did. That really got my competitive instincts going.

Checkpoint 5 - Danny had figured this one out and had relayed it to Marijke so we called Jeff and told him to go to Ft. Douglas. They hopped Traxx and were on their way.
This bought us enough time to go to Steve’s house ( we did it in record time – in fact I commented that if we kept this up we would probably draw the attention of the local constabulary, Steve just said “There ain’t no Cops here” and boosted his foot to the floor. It is amazing what a teacher will do for a little excitement.
Steve scanned the clues and put them on a page on his website that he had put together the night before so everyone in our team could have the clues and could be working on solutions to later checkpoints. This was brilliant. We blasted out of Steve’s driveway like the Bat mobile out of the Bat cave and we were off to Checkpoint 6.

Checkpoint 6 – Danny called in the “Fez-wearin’, parade-lovin’” reference as the Shriners and we headed that way. Along the way we come to a red light and Steve says “we are doing this the “Pizza” way – before I could ask him what this meant he dives for the right lane and without a hint of a stop he boots the car around the turn. He made my “East High Quick Stop” look like a granny maneuver in Ft. Lauderdale on a Sunday afternoon. We were at the Shriner’s Hospital in no time flat. When we reached this Checkpoint we noticed something funny, some of the same advance people were there and one guy got back in his car. We were still onto them, and it gave us the confidence that we were in the right area, we spotted the statue and relayed the location to Jeff.

Checkpoint 7 – Marijke told us where the park in this clue was and we bolted for the park. When we got there the same guys were there doing the same thing as us. The Checkpoint was hard to find but we found it in enough time to relay its location to Jeff. He and Sally had been running for more than an hour with only the respite on Traxx, I was beat because of the little running we did around the checkpoints so far, they must be getting really hammered.

Checkpoint 8 – This is where it got fun. Steve was doing the math, Danny and Marijke were on the phone and I was frantically looking for the right number and all we could see was LDS hospital. Steve and I got out of the car and wandered around. We figured out the math must be off so Steve sat down to figure it out. I leaned against the car and noticed a race team going by. I watched them and they stopped up at a house about a half block away. Then they took off. I watched as another race team approached the same house. I took out my binoculars and saw them taking a picture at the front entry to the same house. We had our spot. I relayed it to Jeff. Steve had another brainiac thought of taking the number of the house and working the equation backwards to make sure - it worked. (Danny did the reverse working of the number)

Checkpoint 9 – Jeff called me and said he knew exactly where this one was (Sally had actually lived in the house at Checkpoint 8) and she had been in Memory Grove enough to know where the replica of the Liberty Bell was.

Checkpoint 10 – This was the fun one and the one we learned the most on. It was fun to see all the advance teams crawling around trying to figure things out and see if we were figuring things out too. This checkpoint was trouble for more than just us. It must have been bewildering for the tourists to these gardens see a number of advance teams descend onto this tranquil spot and rush around like maniacs. I’m sure there were more than a few people that were looking for the film cameras who thought we were filming Wil Smith’s latest blockbuster I, Missionary.

Checkpoint 11 – By this time our crack team of clue breakers had come up with the address for this Checkpoint and Checkpoint 12. We gave Jeff the address for 11 and headed for 12.

Checkpoint 12 – Steve and I get there and it takes us a while to see that the clues have led us to a basement establishment. Steve flips a Uy (in fine Streets of San Francisco fashion – Ah how would it have been to have his convertible LTD at this moment) and I see Jeff and Sally coming down the street, I point to the sign and they take the picture.

Steve and I blast back to the hotel where the race was headquartered. I thought Steve was going to slide into the parking space like Ace Ventura, but we were able to obtain a parking space without damaging his car or any other cars.

What a rush. Then we find out that we came in 5th and if we had picked up 2+ minutes somewhere we would have won. We immediately start planning for the national race in Miami in November and how to split the $50K we have won, or will win, or could win. It took me about a half hour to come down off the buzz from this rush. Thanks Jeff and Sally for letting us help.

Return