More than Distance

24

We claimed one of the cars in the front, threw our bags in the trunk, and slammed the doors shut. Ryan took the driver’s side. I popped open the glove compartment. Everything was happening so quickly, but all I could think of was grabbing that scavenger hunt list and getting out on the road.

Ryan started up the car. “What do we have to find?”

I scrambled to open the envelope and pull out the list. It had all the rules we already knew on the back, along with this list on the front:

Challenge Location: Las Vegas

1) Cabazon Dinosaurs

2) Bottle Tree Ranch

3) World’s Tallest Thermometer

4) Tumbleweed

5) Person with a beard riding a motorcycle

6) “Wash me” written on a vehicle

I read off all of the items while Ryan drove out of the lot. Some of them seemed pretty easy, like typical things you would find on a road trip. Tumbleweed was so common on the road to Las Vegas you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting it. We’d visited the dinosaurs once before, and I was pretty sure I’d passed a sign for the thermometer on the way to Vegas. But the rest? I wasn’t sure.

We were the third ones to leave, but the other teams were right on our tail. I took a moment to study the interior of the car we were in, which would be our home for the next few days. It had a sunroof, light gray leather seats, and that new car smell I’d always loved. Tucked away in each corner were small black cameras to capture everything we did while we are on the show, along with hidden microphones to record everything we said. The dashboard looked standard, except for the special speed logger. The show tracked the location of each car with GPS and if you went over the posted speed limit for too long, usually more than a few minutes, you would be penalized on time at the end of the day. If you did it multiple times you’d disqualified from the show. They didn’t want anyone getting into accidents or getting tickets, so while speed was a factor on the show, it wasn’t the biggest one. The teams that won did so with a combination of luck, quick thinking, and the ability to navigate a map and plot out their journey.

Ryan drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “If I remember correctly, it will take four or five hours to get to Las Vegas, depending on traffic.”

“That sounds about right. Once we get out of Los Angeles we should pick up a map. Right now we want to put as much distance as we can between us and the other teams.” I checked the scavenger hunt list again. “We should go to the Cabazon Dinosaurs first, since it’s the nearest location.”

His brow creased. “That’s not on the way to Vegas. We’ll lose too much time by going there. No, we’ll skip it and head straight for the next one.”

“But what if we can’t find the random items on the list?” I shook my head. “We need to photograph four things to finish the hunt, which means at least one location and possibly all three of them. I don’t want to have to backtrack if we don’t see any bikers with beards.”

“We won’t need to backtrack, because the other items are easy.” His voice left no room for argument and I guessed he was used to getting his way all the time. Well, too bad.

I sat up straighter and faced him down. “I know what I’m talking about. I’ve watched every single episode of Road Trip Race. The best strategy is to always go to the first location, even if it’s a little out of the way. That way you know you won’t have to backtrack to it. It’s the safest bet.”

“You can’t always play it safe in a game like this. Not if you want to win.”

“And you can’t always take stupid risks unless you want to be kicked off in the very first episode.”

He clenched his jaw, but finally nodded. “Fine. We’ll go with your plan and visit the dinosaurs. Let’s hope we don’t encounter any traffic, or this detour of yours will cost us a lot of time.”

Victory! I sat back in my seat. Except now that we’d agreed to my plan, I worried it wasn’t the correct decision. Maybe Ryan was right and we’d be better off skipping this location. Ugh, the thought of that made me even more anxious. No, playing it safe was the best bet, at least for this challenge. We didn’t need to win this one, we just needed to stay in the game.

At this time of day there shouldn’t be too much traffic on the freeway, but I had no way to check. We’d given our phones to the crew during our interview and we weren’t allowed to use any sort of technology while on the show, including computers, phones, or tablets. All we could use were directions from other people or paper maps, which we had to buy ourselves. We weren’t allowed to use our own money either. We’d been given a credit card to charge things to, and each day one hundred dollars would be added to take care of gas, food, and other necessities. Whatever we didn’t use would get carried over to the next day. I gestured up ahead. “You can get on the freeway up here.”

“I remember.”

“Do you?” I tried to keep my tone neutral. “Have you been back to the city even once since you left for college?” What I was really asking was, “Since you left me that day?”

“A few times.”

I stared out the window to avoid looking at him. Of course he’d come back. Over the years he’d visited with my brother and my parents, from what I’d heard, but not once had he even said hello to me. Another reminder that once he’d left for college everything between us—even our friendship—had ended.