The Rental Car Rally was RIDICULOUS! There are a million and one outrageous stories and details about this RCR, but in the interest of this being a travel blog, I'll keep the focus on our interesting adventure through the desert of southern California.
The rally started at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale around 9pm. There were about 50 cars/teams competing in the rally and we all got acquainted at the pre-party!
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| Meeting lots of new friends in crazy costumes! |
Around 11:45pm it was time to hit the road, but first we got to drive around the NSCAR Speedway!
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| Driving on the speedway! |
We had 10 checkpoints to hit on our way to Vegas.
Checkpoint 1: Old LA Zoo
Our first stop was at the Old LA Zoo. A lot of teams reached the first checkpoint around the same time and Zoo security was not to thrilled about our arrival. It didn't help that people were trying to jump fences. We took our required checkpoint photo and RAN back to the car for a quick getaway. (And now that I am looking up the Old LA Zoo, I'm not sure we were at the right place for this checkpoint...oops).
Checkpoint 2: Snow Crest Ski Resort
Checkpoint 3: Rock Faces in Victorville
Down the mountain we went on our way to Victorville. Our task was to find rock faces (click the link to see what we were supposed to be looking for), based on some longitude and latitude coordinates. The rock faces are faces carved into the granite rocks. This proved to be the biggest challenge. We took a lot of wrong turns and went down some random dirt roads on the hunt for rock faces. We eventually ended up along a dirt road with a lot of parked rally cars and got out to see if anyone had found the rock faces. No one could find the rock faces and everyone was getting frustrated. Eventually we gave up and hit the road for our next checkpoint. Maybe it would have been easier in the daylight.
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| Pretending to be Rock Faces |
Checkpoint 4: Desert Christ Park, Yucca Valley
Our next stop was Yucca Valley, which was one of the longest drives between checkpoints. The sun started coming up as we were driving. We found our way to Desert Christ Park. At the park there were a lot of large Jesus statues. It was nice to get out of the car and breathe some fresh air since we were all starting to get a bit antsy in the car. The wee hours of the morning were the most difficult to stay awake through.
Our next stop was Yucca Valley, which was one of the longest drives between checkpoints. The sun started coming up as we were driving. We found our way to Desert Christ Park. At the park there were a lot of large Jesus statues. It was nice to get out of the car and breathe some fresh air since we were all starting to get a bit antsy in the car. The wee hours of the morning were the most difficult to stay awake through.
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| 80s Superheros helping JC out |
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| Jump for Jesus |
Checkpoint 5: Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum
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| Welcome to the Crazy Art Museum |
Checkpoint 6: Chloride Fields, Amboy
Amboy is a nearly abandoned town with the exception of Calcium Chloride fields. There are long channels of chloride along the side of National Trails Highway. After seeing more than my fair share of desert scenery, it was interesting to see the stark white chloride channels, some of which were filled with water. It was a very unqiue sight to see!
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| Artistic Photo of the Day |
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| Chloride Channel |
Checkpoint 7: Kelso, CA
Kelso is a ghost town and former railroad depot in the Mojave National Reserve. A lot of ralliers were at this stop and it was fun to mingle for a bit and take some silly pictures in the decaying buildings.
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| Ghost Town |
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| Peek-a-boo |
Checkpoint 8: Baker, CA
Baker was the first sight of real civilization we had seen in a long, long time. We stopped at Big Boy for some lunch and to complete our eighth checkpoint task, to eat a fudge cake. We also got to see the world's tallest thermometer. Our car got sabotaged by another team while we were inside eating. Luckily we found a very nice mechanic who helped us wash the car off. If you ever breakdown near Baker, please visit Dan the mechanic!
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Fudge Cake Fun |
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| World's Tallest Thermometer |
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| Dan the Mechanic, aka our savior |
Checkpoint 9: Hot Springs, Tecopa, CA
Vegas was getting closer and closer, but we still had 2 checkpoints to hit. Next up was the hot springs in Topeca. Unfortunately they were closed when we got there. We tried driving down a few roads to find them, but no luck, so we just had to take our picture by the sign.
Checkpoint 10: Chicken Ranch and Bar, Pahrump, NV
The final checkpoint was in Pahrump, NV. We heard that the restaurant was closed for renovations and in our eagerness to get to Vegas, we skipped this checkpoint. We later found out that this checkpoint was also home to a brothel and I was disappointed we didn't stop. Can't say I've ever seen a brothel before. Some of the male teams got some pretty good pictures with the ladies.
Checkpoint 10b: Rumors Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
Our final stop was at Rumors Hotel in Vegas! Here we checked in with the RCR organizers to report our odometer reading. We celebrated our arrival with a quick drink at Rumors before heading to our hotel, the Monte Carlo.
Our journey took us a grand total of 16.5 hours! We arrived in Vegas around 4:15pm on Saturday after staying awake all night. It was an amazing journey filled with interesting sights, lots of laughs, and fun times with great people.
I made this cool map that gives an overview of the run-around we were on to get to Vegas (I'm not sure if these are the roads we took, but it gives a general idea):
View Rental Car Rally Route: LA to Vegas in a larger map
More to come on the Vegas part of the trip...
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| 80s Cartoon Mash Up! 6th Place Overall 5th Place Rallier Favorite |
I made this cool map that gives an overview of the run-around we were on to get to Vegas (I'm not sure if these are the roads we took, but it gives a general idea):
View Rental Car Rally Route: LA to Vegas in a larger map
More to come on the Vegas part of the trip...
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