Courtesy of a fellow Rallyer’s countdown-timer signature on the BABE Rally Forum, Crash and Burn noted with great anticipation (and not a bit of hesitation) that the madness that is the 2010 BABE Rally will begin in a mere 20 days. While that may seem like a long time, recent developments and the remaining items on the “to do” list will make that period speed by faster than aRTy can consume an entire bottle of power steering fluid (which is pretty darned fast!).
A few new developments:
- Due to the Rally’s starting-point of the past four years – The Staten Island Hotel – going into receivership, closing its doors and cancelling all future reservations a mere four weeks before the start date of the Rally, this year’s “Big Apple2Big Easy” will acually be “Brotherly Affection2Big Easy.” Ever try to find an affordable New York metro area hotel able (and willing) to offer a group rate to fifty nutty teams and their equally nutty cars on less than 30 days notice? Just doesn’t happen. So, the City of Brotherly Love (aka Philadelphia) has stepped up and become the new (for this year, anyway) starting point for the Rally. Good for Philadelphia and the teams local to there, bad for Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse who now have to traverse an extra 250 miles to get to the start line with aRTy flatlining on the way.
- Due to a rockslide (act of [insert favorite diety here]) and squabbling between the states of North Carolina and Tennessee (act of politicians) a portion of Deal’s Gap — a centerpiece on the journey of the damned (or the just stubborn) on Day 3 of the Rally — has been been closed until further notice. While teams will still enjoy the 311 hair-raising, suspension-wracking and occasionally car-wrecking turns on the first part of the route, a fairly major detour has been introduced since the teams now actually “can’t get there from here” until some major repairs (to state roads and interstate relations) are made some time… maybe…
- The BABE Rally’s organizer, or one of his U.S. marshals (that’s Rally marhsals, not U.S. Marshals — we’re not in that much trouble… yet) traditionally provides a community service and makes a buck or two designing, manufacturing and selling the official rally decals with team names, the Rally logo (a Check Engine light, what else?!) and team numbers ready for application on Night 0 of the Rally. This valuable service usually is announced about six weeks before the Rally begins and the order deadline usually is two weeks before the Rally. Well, this year, perhaps in part due to the above hotel and route difficulties, no such announcement has been forthcoming. The Horsemen are preparing their Plan B — a can of white spray paint — just in case it proves necessary to get all MacGyver and spoil aRTy’s good looks with even more amateurish artwork than Crash and Burn already have bestowed upon him.
Undeterred by these piddling problems, Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse continue to make ready for the adventure of a lifetime (perhaps literally — Crash and Burn have come to blows in far less stressful situations and a homicide is not beyond the realm of possibility) and to solicit pledges for donations to their selected charities — Ameican Diabetes Association and March of Dimes.
As the clock counts down and blood pressures rise, stay tuned here for the very latest updates. Don’t forget to start following Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse on Twitter for real-time updates on the preparations and progress once the rally is underway!
Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse 
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