Scheduled for: Saturday, March 13, 2010

Equipment required for the rally: 1. Miata, 2. Pen (none provided at the event), suggest something to support your writing on the paper, like a magazine or tablet., 3. full tank of gas, (there are service stations along the route). 4. Sunscreen (hopefully will be needed)

Rally Starting Point: Southwest parking area of Joe's Dreyfus Store Restaurant located at 2731 Maringouin Road West, Livonia LA 225-637-2625 (1/8th mile South of the intersection of US Hwy 190 and LA Hwy 77.

Rally Start Time: 12:15 to 12:30 PM (depends on how long lunch takes)

Lunch starts at 11AM.

General Directions:

From BR, it is probably shorter going west on US190, then south on LA 77.  If you are coming down I-10 West, take Exit 139 at Grosse Tete, cross the bayou, then turn North onto LA77. Continue on LA 77 through the Town of Maringouin and continue North to the restaurant.

From Lafayette, it is about 45 minutes from the Visitors center on the Thruway. Take Exit 135 at Ramah on I-10 eastbound and head North on Hwy 3000, Hwy 76, and Hwy 77 to the restaurant.

General info:

 There are many ways to conduct road rallies, from the super technical event to the fun event.

Ours will be the latter, with a winner decided through a points system that will be explained at the event. There will be questions about landmarks and other items thrown in that should break any ties, but if not, then we will have co-winners.

The only requirement for a fun road rally experience is the ability to follow a set of instructions designed to navigate you through some fun filled back roads from the starting point to the final stop. It is NOT a timed event and ALL traffic laws must be obeyed. You will have time for a leisurely drive along an enjoyable route.

By the way, this route has been specifically designed to lose speeders. You Speed, You Lose, and will probably end up LOST!!

To help prepare you for the road rally, listed below are some, if not all, of the definitions / terms that will be used:

* Dead ends, gravel or dirt roads, and private roads DO NOT exist…..if you find yourself on one of these, you are in the wrong place. DO NOT count these roads , ignore them completely.

* A "STOP sign" is a conventional octagonal red sign with the word STOP in white lettering. The STOP signs in this road rally will be located on the right side of the road - facing you - and are intended to control traffic upon the road you are traveling. A STOP sign is NOT an electronic traffic signal.

* A "Traffic Signal" is a conventional red, yellow and green traffic control signal light, used to regulate movement of traffic.

* Opportunity -- a paved public road onto which you can make a legal turn-- remember the first instruction.

*First opportunity -- the first public road you encounter.

*Second opportunity -- the second public road you encounter.

*Third opportunity -- you get the picture.

A typical instruction will appear as follows:

1.Turn right at the STOP sign

2. Turn left onto the First Opportunity ( so, from your last instruction, you would be looking for the very first "public road" on your left onto which you can make a legal turn, and you would take that road)

In the proposed road rally, we should have around 25 such instructions, thus it helps to have a "navigator who will read the instructions and write down answers to any questions. No navigator, no problem, just takes a little longer and you have no one to argue with :) .

So, mark your calendars, check out mardigrasmiata.net for the latest info, and remember to bring a full tank of gas and a Louisiana map (just in case you get lost).