Today was a good day. Fun events, great people, and some awesome cars. Even though we've been at it since six o'clock this morning (it's closing in on 11 p.m. local as I write) we're looking forward to doing it all over again tomorrow. But instead of heading out to a track, we'll be hitting up our first day of missions.
Today's track and autocross competitions were right in our wheelhouse. This is stuff we're familiar with. But the mission competition, that's a whole different ball game.
We'll be handed an envelope shortly after the green flag ceremony in Henderson that outlines our goals for the day. They'll be specific to each team, so we won't be able to crib notes or follow each other to the waypoints before we make our destination for the night in Williams, Arizona. We don't know exactly what we'll be doing, but we do know we'll have to document it with digital photos to get credit for completion, and the all-important points accumulation.
To top it all of, the finish order also plays into the day's points tally. Take too long trying to solve your puzzle, and you may give up more points than you earn by coming in at the back of the pack. Arrive too early, and you may not get any points at all. There's a two-hour window to complete the travel and the missions. Miss it, and you're out of luck: no points for the day's efforts.
As we go along the way, both the missions and our activities will be geared toward helping to find missing children. The little girl Team High Gear Media is looking for, Jade Flores, has been missing since 2008. We'll be handing out flyers, hoping to spread Jade's picture and hopefully reach someone who has seen her.
Beyond that, we simply don't know what the day will bring. To follow along and find out with us, be sure to hit TheCarConnection's Fireball Run hub, which ties in our coverage with our photo stream and our Twitter activity. You'll also find a link to our Facebook page where we'll have more on the rally.
Wish us luck. We're going to need it.
