Esmeralda Rally X -- Fall, 1997 If you're following along closely, you'll notice that we skipped a year.  Time pressure at work and the Olympics caused us to miss organizing the Esmeralda Rally in 1996.  But we were planning to be back again strong in 1997. But -- a sad thing happened on the way to the 1997 Esmeralda Rally. On April 8th, the Esmeralda Inn burned to the ground! This icon of rustic hospitality was a total loss.  In addition to our sadness and sympathy for JoAnne and Ackie (they had little or no insurance), we would not be able to run the Esmeralda Rally to the Esmeralda Inn for some time. We scrambled around during the summer of 1997 and found an alternative location for the tenth Esmeralda Rally.  The Rally was held on October 18, 1997 and ran for just over four hours to the Old Clayton Inn, Clayton, GA. The Old Clayton Inn has more rooms (each with (yay!) a private bathroom).  Plenty of room for our group which was the largest we'd ever had.  Even so, we were forced to raise the fee to $175.00 per couple (progress). Since the finish line was only 90 minutes from Atlanta, we started the Rally at the Rest Area just before I985 breaks off I85 north of Suwanee. Most reports indicate that we made this year's course too easy; we'll correct that neatly next year! The winners of the 1997 Esmeralda Rally were Bill and Ruth Donovan.  If you've been reading all of this, you'll recognize that Bill and Ruth won last in 1970.  This makes them the second double-winners in Esmeralda Rally history. Back to the Esmeralda Rally...