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More than forty years ago, Gael and I created a time/speed/distance automobile rally we christened "The Esmeralda Rally". A dozen couples would rally from Atlanta up to The Esmeralda Inn, a rustic inn in Bat Cave NC. We'd eat, pick & grin, party, spend the night and motor on home the next day. You can read all about the Esmeralda Rally by choosing the "History" menu tab above.
Auto rallies are a lot of fun and a lot of work to put together; we did it four times from 1969 to 1971 and stopped when our friends all began having babies, giving up their two-seaters, buying big sedans or station wagons and losing the ability to get away for a weekend.
The Esmeralda Rally lay dormant for years until friend Wally White browbeat us into restarting the rally twenty years later in 1991. We ran the Esmeralda Rally nearly every year through 2004 (though we had to change the finish line when the Esmeralda Inn burned to the ground in 1996) and finally ended the string with a non-overnight Poker Run in 2005.
As enthusiasm for the Esmeralda Rally waned, Kristyn and Matt started their own rally series, first in Dallas and later in Santa Rosa, CA. They took things to a higher level in California, naming their rally The Cali Rally and attracting thirty or more couples (gluttons for punishment, I guess). The Cali Rally got more and more elaborate as the years went by and finally exhausted the RallyMasters; they needed a break. You can read all about The Cali Rally by choosing the "History" menu tab above.
What happened at Christmas 2011?
When we asked Matt and Kristyn about this year's Cali Rally, we learned they were taking a (well-earned) year off. They encouraged us to host a Rally in Atlanta. Okay, maybe "challenged" us is more like it... I understood fully and said something like "I guess you two just don't have what it takes to persevere. Why, when I was your age..."
They challenged us to hold a rally in Atlanta where their friends would fly in, rent cars and whip our (much older) friends' butts. A generation-gap challenge? We agreed -- if they would actually run in the Rally instead of laughing mockingly as their friends struggled with the instructions. They accepted; Matt and Kristyn will be competing!
So.....this site is dedicated to an all-new rally effort: The Peach State Rally!
Check out the menu tabs above and Register!
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