From late last night and again this morning we debated what to do about the wounded Jeep Patriot we rented for the Rental Car Rally race from San Francisco to Yuma, Arizona. As I said Saturday, we limped into the finish line after a couple of engine lights popped on during the vast wilderness 40 miles or so from the California border to Yuma.

Mona and I looked over the rental agreement and realized the policy prohibited taking the car out of state. And we were sure the agency wouldn’t care that it was just a couple of miles over the border, so calling for roadside assistance was out of the question. I was sure, though, that I could get the car that couple of miles over the border to a travel center where we could take it easy waiting for a tow truck from the rental car company.

Or if it started and we got it on the freeway should we just keep going until it quits? Sounded good in theory but I figured that would be a bummer if we had no phone service in a dead zone. So I decided we’d just go to the travel center in California and wait for a tow truck.

But it never came to that. When I started the car the engine lights were not on and it ran just fine. I had no idea how it “Lazarused” itself to a miraculous recovery, but we jammed in that Jeep all the way home while Kobe and the Lakers brought home the championship. Later, after we gassed it up to return and I was driving down Fairview I noticed it was revving high again (without a warning from the engine lights), and it occurred to me the Patriot’s transmission stick is a bit sensitive and was a little out of whack. A little jiggle put it back right. It may be why we experienced the malfunction on the way to Yuma. Whatever the case, I was just glad we got home in one piece.

So now I’d like to just post some pictures of the various checkpoints we had to document with a few comments about them from me and Mona. Later, I’ll tell you about the founders of the Rental Car Rally and what they have planned for their next races and I’ll post more pictures with our commentary.

Paul: Teammate Janet took this picture of us at the start of the race as we all checked in at Golden Gate Park. I don’t know who these guys are, but they were nice and they said they picked the Spidey theme because of the color of their car. As one of the Peter Parkers said, “We didn’t have a theme, but we had a red car and we thought, what else is red? Spider-Man is red.” They bought the costumes at some costume shop in San Francisco where they live.

Mona: How did I know this would be the first photo Paulie would post? The guy is obsessed with Spider-Man (hyphenated, NOT one word, as I learned early in our relationship). To be honest, I felt bad for these guys – their costumes left very little to the imagination – but I saw Paulie’s eyes light up, so I threw my iPhone to Janet and orchestrated a photo.

Paul: Our first checkpoint. It’s somewhere in the coastal Redwood forest in Santa Cruz. I don’t know much about it — it remains a mystery to me and quite frankly I just wanted to get out of there to our next checkpoint. I made the mistake of sipping some of the Amp energy drink the rally organizers gave us and I felt like Clark Griswold experimenting with crack. Right after we got there the Spider-Men arrived and climbed up on a nearby tree (see picture below).

Mona: Even without a drop of Amp in me, I was stoked to have made it to the first checkpoint! Overcome with joy, I cheered while Paulie snapped a pic as proof of our accomplishment. Unfortunately, the Mystery Spot remains a mystery to us, but there’s always Google, if you must know. Personally, my mind is still in a “race-to-the-finish” fog.

That’s it for now. I’ll publish some more pictures with the Mystery Science Theater commentary later.

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