About 80 of us were to gather at the Montgomery School in Chester Springs but with the cloudy weather only about 1/2 of the registered showed. The other 1/2 probably stayed in bed and dreamt about driving Ferraris on only pristine days. Roy our rally master and his new rally master assistant, Owen, had a brief drivers' meeting where he promised very easy turn-by-turn directions and no dirt roads, however he did state there were two tricky spots on the directions that were created by Google. Then Roy and Owen lined up the cars, gave them their directions, and every two minutes a Porsche was released back into the wild of curvy back-roads.

But it was a rally after all, and you just can't give turn-by-turn directions without some sort of hiccup in order to determine a winner. Just before each car left the start, the driver and navigator were told....add the white, subtract the yellow. Meaning every white speed limit sign you see, add them, then every yellow speed limit signs you see, you know around curves and whatnot, you subtract that from the total. Sounds easy enough right...I mean it's basic math you learned in second grade. 35 + 35 - 20 = 50. It could not have been more easy. Then at the end you calculate your total. Again, easy right?

Ha! First up, remember Roy did state there were two tricky spots in the google directions. Well not everyone remembered that little tidbit and were caught off guard in a little neighborhood. The directions stated to turn Right on Windgate Drive and in 400 feet turn left onto Lexington. And that's what everyone did, they turned right on Windgate but the next left was not in 400 feet and was not Lexington. Then all hell broke loose as many Porsches were backing into driveways and turning around and then getting lost in this quaint little neighborhood. Some people thought the directions were wrong and decided to make a left on Windgate instead. Looking at the map, Google was correct, you do make a right onto Windgate....just not at the first Windgate sign. Windgate is sort of shaped like a "U" and Fairmont Drive actually crosses it twice...those tricky people at google. Then in 400 feet you make a left onto Lexington.

Farther on up the road this exact same scenario played out and caused yet another slight deviation to the route and the speed limit total. Oh and remember when we said there were no dirt roads this time.....well due to overwriting of spreadsheets between Roy and myself, one did appear in the final directions....and it was one hell of a dirt road that made the Grand Canyon look like a small divot. Roy and I first went down that road during our recon mission and barely made it out alive and immediately scratched it from the drive. Yet it appeared in the final directions and we apology deeply for that. Those who lost parts of their cars, there is a pile of plastic pieces that the neighbors kindly placed by the last mailbox waiting for their retrieval.

Eventually everyone did find their way to the end point of Stoudt's in Adamstown, they were given turn-by-turn directions after all. It was funny to see the navigators and drivers pouring over their numbers and tallying everything together....they looked like they were back in high school taking a test. Not everyone passed and we had to grade on a curve and a few s curves as well. 4th place winner was Adam Keech and his mother the navigator. 3rd and 2nd were actually determined by tie-breakers. How many route 401 signs did you pass? 4 How many stop signs did you (should have) stopped at? 31, How many traffic lights did you go through? 2 Third place winners were the Krauses and second place went to the John and Lori Soghomonians or Sogs for short. First place winners with a perfect tally of the speed limits (2475) was the Macris of Malvern. Each winner received an antique beer stein, the taller they were, the better they placed, and a 6 pack of Stoudt's Oktoberfest. Now Owen O'Brien, rally assistance, was the navigator for his father, he ended up with a score of 11850 or more than 4 times the actual total. He received a beer stein in the shape of an outhouse for the worst performance of the rally. He stated, "i think I had a decimal in the wrong place." Too funny, but his enthusiasm and good-natured attitude will come in handy when planning the next rally with Roy.

The remainder of the day was spent with old and new friends partaking in the German foods, beer and music....the cloudy, overcast, not one drop of rain day could not have been better. "Ein Prosit!"