Things fell apart at checkpoint #2. Or, rather, just prior to checkpoint #2, when we reached the police blockade. It turns out that checkpoint #2 was blocked off for their annual fireworks display. No problem—we parked the car and I ran to the lobby of the hotel with the card we wanted to switch.

However, there was nobody manning the checkpoint. Also, the staff at the hotel knew nothing about any Alfa rally. I called the cell phone number (nice touch!) of the person who was supposed to be manning the checkpoint—no answer (nice touch, if you answer!). I tried calling checkpoint #3; she told me she’d be right over.

NO! Stay there! If you come to checkpoint #2, then nobody will be manning checkpoint #3! Whatever, she was on her way. I ran back to my car, and told the driver of the car that had just pulled in behind me that it was extremely important for them to walk or run to the hotel and get their card stamped, and I was on my way, trying to navigate our way back on course.

We eventually made it to checkpoint #3, and, you guessed it—there was nobody there! And again, the people at the checkpoint (this time a restaurant) knew nothing about any Alfa rally. I called Ms. Checkpoint #3 back, and she told me she was on her way, and I should just relax. Well, we’re in the middle of running a road rally at a national convention, and we’ve just hit the second unmanned checkpoint in the event—how can I relax!?!

There was a bunch of other drivers at this point wandering around, confused, but eventually Ms. #3 showed up. We all asked to draw a card; she seemed to think we should all go in to the bar and have a drink or two, enjoy the view, that kind of stuff. We finally talked her into a card, and proceeded to the finish line. This was marginally better, although there was yet again nobody manning it. At least the owner of the restaurant knew we were coming.

We quickly figured out that our poker hand was worthless. While we might have been able to draw for a full house had some of the checkpoints been manned, others had taken to trading with each other, so there were a number of straight flushes, and at least one hand with five aces in it. We gave our hand to Gene and Judy Durso to make the best of it, and we went to dinner and fireworks. (Curiously, back at the same hotel that had been blockaded earlier, a cousin of mine was house-sitting a mansion that adjoined the property!).

On Saturday, the Detroit chapter ran the autocross, and it was very professionally run. The course was excellent too. I’m glad we have these guys helping is in 2004; this is one event I won’t have to worry about (assuming we can secure a good location). There were two rain delays; after the first one, I helped sweep the course dry. That and the hot sun got it dry pretty quickly. Just as I lined up for my runs, it started raining again; after all that sweeping, I deserved better!

I got it. The rain stopped, they ran some fun runs to help dry the course, and I was able to get my runs in while the course was nice and dry.

Saturday evening was the banquet. Unfortunately, they had 50% more people register for this on the last day and, in their valiant struggle to try to accommodate everybody, it took a while to get fed.  Still, it was a good time. We got to listen to Gene and Judy describe their close encounter with a divorce attorney during the rally. Judy actually appreciated the wild goose chase I sent her on, as a few more minutes with Gene at that point may have resulted in a manslaughter charge…

Sunday was the concourse. This event took place at a very nice location, and there were a lot of great cars there, although nothing truly stupendous. The overall winner was a 1950’s Berlina—106 points, I think, and driven to the event from Michigan! The Berlina had a snake in the back with a bulge in its stomach; it turns out that the bulge was a model BMW. I like that attention to detail.

Overall, this convention was a lot of fun, in spite of some of the confusion. There was a lot to complain about, but I believe that, if you want to have fun, you’ll have it; if you want to have a bad time you’ll always find plenty to complain about. My thanks go out to the Florida chapter, and particularly Marc Mosko, for all the hard work they put into this.

But I know we can do better!

After the convention, we spent a week in Orlando. We did end up at some of the theme parks but also had some non-theme park fun too. I had some automotive complications, but that’s a story for another day.