What Happened on the Frist LeMONS Winter Rally Anyway?
Its over. I guess I'd better post an update. Lets make it a mock interview
Q: What happened?
A: They made us drive for 12 hours a day.
Q: How was it?
A: Awesome. We ate, slept, and drove.
Q: Did you meet the guys from Roadkill?
A: Nope. I saw them, but they always had a film crew entourage and there was no official meet and greet.
Q: How was The Tail of the Dragon?
A: Meh, not bad, I guess I can say I've driven it now. Might be more fun on a motorcycle. Definitely a thrill ride if you are into that sort of thing. It was kind of a bummer that Killboy takes winters off so I didn't get any photos of my car carving the corners.
Q: What was it like to drive the whole Rally alone?
A: It was at times relaxing but at other times it was exciting because I had to be the driver, the navigator, the radio operator and the social media coordinator. The CB radio really enhanced the whole experience. From meeting people in lemons around you, to coordinating convoys, to finding checkpoints, to just chatting; the CB radio was tonnes of fun and kept me connected to the vehicles and people around me.
Q: Social media coordinator?
A: We earned points by uploading checkpoints and other photos and videos to the Lemons Rally Facebook page. Between Facebook and navigating I spent at least two hours online each day trying to find routes and score points on top of the 12 hours of driving.
Q: Sounds brutal.
A: Brutally awesome.
Q: What was your favorite part?
A: The Waffle House challenge really did a number on me. We had to visit six different Waffle Houses and purchase two waffles at each one. We were told we would need the waffles for two separate challenges at the end of the day.
The best part of 56 cars with LeMONS Rally stickers on them visiting 6 out of 60 Waffle Houses in one day along one single stretch of highway was that we became celebrities. We would pull into a Waffle House and the staff would know who you were and what you wanted. That was really cool.
I figured that one of the challenges would have to be "throwing for distance" so I spent 30 minutes rigging up, testing, and uploading the video this incredible
Anti-Gravity Waffle Device:
At one point late in the afternoon, when I had just one more Waffle House to Visit, with ten waffles spread across my dashboard, something strange happened: I started laughing. I laughed out loud by myself in the car until I started crying. Then I pulled myself together (I was doing 70 mph) and kept driving. I had to make to that last waffle house then to Memphis for 8pm.
Unfortunately I was 20 minutes late for the contest - missing it completely. Later I heard that the winning waffle "caught the air just perfectly and sailed the furthest" which is exactly what ALL of my waffles would have done because they were perfectly dried to a crisp on the outside, perfectly flat, and perfectly moist and dense on the inside. I was very annoyed at myself for failing to realize that I was supposed to park at the hotel and walk to the meeting place in downtown Memphis where the waffle throwing contest was taking place. It was rough day, I was hungry and confused driving around with a dozen giant waffles on my dashboard looking for a parking place in a very busy downtown. It was ridiculous.
My other favorite part was when I was deputized by a police investigator outside of a cemetery just after dark.
Also, we got to drive two laps in our own cars at Barber Motor Sports park. That was awesome. I'm still waiting for pictures or videos from that.
Q: How did you do on points anyway?
A: I came in 23rd and I am very happy with that. I hit every checkpoint - which was extremely important for those of us in cars which didn't get big points on initial inspection. It was a tight race for the "unexceptional" cars. The cars that scored high on initial inspection deserved all those extra points.
Q: Was there any media coverage?
A: Not really, just on Roadkill's website:
Day 0: http://www.roadkill.com/lemons-rally-early-arrivals/
Day 1: http://www.roadkill.com/lemons-retreat-from-moscow-rally-day-1/
Day 2: http://www.roadkill.com/lemons-wint...moscow-day-2-and-unofficial-points-standings/
Day 3: http://www.roadkill.com/lemons-winter-rally-2017-retreat-from-moscow-day-3-fail-of-the-dragon/
Day 4: http://www.roadkill.com/lemons-winter-rally-retreat-moscow/
They only took one photo of my car, but it was a good one: