An Angel in the Sky is Worth 3 Queens in a Saab

The first real day of driving brought mayhem, mishaps, much laughter and some serious speed during the 696-mile trek from Orlando to Baton Rouge, LA. Our day began with a our first challenge – to find the Blue Angel in the Sky somewhere on I-10 between Tallahassee and Pensacola and photograph it with our vehicle and team members. Once that was accomplished we had to make our way to Mississippi within a set period of time.
One of the biggest challenges was keeping our resident race car driver Evan from going head to head with the BMWs, Bentleys, Audis and that are taking part in the rally with us. Despite all requests not to speed, boys will be boys and the limits of the vehicles and the patience of the Highway Patrol in FL, AL, and MS were tested. We’re not sure of the final tally but it sounds like at least 6 tickets were issued and one unlucky player will be spending the remainder of the weekend in jail! Rest assured that members of Team G.L.A.M. are doing our best to remain competitive without attracting too much attention from those with badges.

We did have one interesting incident that two team members felt was a slight case of homophobia. In order to earn bonus points, we can have our picture taken with a State Trooper. The requirements state that the photo must show the Team G.L.A.M. vehicle, the State Trooper’s car, the State Trooper and one member of our team. We saw a State Patrolman on the side of the highway, pulled over and began to explain what we were trying to accomplish. Witness to the incident swear that the Patrolman was receptive to the idea until he looked at the vehicle, saw the prominent Gaywheels.com sticker on the hood and then shook his head saying “it ain’t gonna happen”. While we aren’t sure what the patrolman’s real reasons were for not being photographed with Team G.L.A.M., we were surprised at how many of our colleagues were able to get photos with State Patrolmen. Makes you wanna go “hmmmmmmm”.

We also took advantage of another bonus point builder and that resulted in the gorgeous portraits of Evan and Parker you see on these pages. The challenge involves taking a photograph of the state Welcome signs with a copy of the local paper. Sounds easy until you try to buy a newspaper for the adjacent state at a store. Doesn’t seem possible from our experience. To get the photographic evidence you see before you, we had to drive into the next state, buy a newspaper, head back to the previous state, exit and return back to the Welcome sign. It may sound fun but toward the end of a long day it was much more of a challenge that it should have been.

Tomorrow is another day and only the organizers know what lies ahead. Whatever it is, I am sure it will be challenging. We lose Parker starting tomorrow and Evan and Joe will be the last men standing until we pull across the finish line in Los Angeles one week from today. Wish us luck!

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