We went down to the street to see all the cars as they staged to leave from the hotel and travel .3 miles to the Alamo. It was fun to watch as some competitors get into their cars in costumes.
Sometime around 6 am an alarm started going off in the parking garage. Not a car alarm but an alarm on the side of the building. It sounded like a bank alarm. We laughed that there were plenty of Bonnie and Clyde cars around to escape in.
About 15 minutes before the scheduled start time Darrin Paul and Lisa brought the car down to the street. There was a lot of movement going on. Sam and Darrin climbed in the car with 3 minutes to go. Darrin started the engine and waited to pull out in the proper order.
And just like that they were off. We headed off to breakfast and our last little bit of time on the Riverwalk.
All the cars were lined up and the opening ceremony began with the Janet Hedke singing the Star Spagel Banner and Wade Kawasaki praying for the racers. One by one the cars headed out. 90th position out of the gate.
The start of the 2021 Great Race was incredible. The
downtown location right next to the Alamo was super cool, and we had a great
crowd of folks to cheer on the racers as they took the Green Flag. The sun and
heat was intense, but that’s to be expected here in Texas. The highlight of the
starting ceremonies in San Antonio was Great Racer Janet Hedke’s performance of
the National Anthem–it was awesome! After all the cars left the starting line,
we blazed a trail to San Marcos, Texas for our lunch stop, and were blown away
with the hospitality. The folks in San Marcos really got behind it with a car
show, great food and a very nice setting. From there, the racers prepared to go
on the clock for the first time. The route was designed to take the racers on a
scenic ride, but he also threw in several challenging maneuvers that really
kept the drivers and navigators busy. We saw twists and turns, flat lands,
empty roads and busy highways on today’s route.
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