somewhat AMAZING RACE

Each month our lifegroup (AKA Sunday School class) gets together for a social night. There is childcare at the church for the kids and the adults get to go out and do something fun together.

The thing we love about our class is that everyone is very fun-loving and ready for a new adventure. We've done it all... from 80's night, BUNCO, bowling, to KICKBALL.....

But this night was a new one and we did the Amazing Race.....

A friend of mine gave me some ideas on ways to make clues using puzzles, Sudoku, Jumbles, and Crosswords. Then you had to figure out the answers to the puzzles to lead you to local places for more questions. So, I put together the race and 30 of us headed out on a Friday night to race around town.
There were 2 challenges along the way. Where you had to stop, complete and task and then be given your next clue. I enlisted some other church members and they agreed to facilitate the games.

The funniest thing is the competitive nature of these people. At one point I decided that if we had said, "you must climb up on the roof and jump off " I'm convinced they would have said, "Where's the ladder"

So many funny things happened this night and every team had a story to tell. One group went to the wrong house and thought they were either going to get shot or have the police called on them.

Most husbands and wives were split into separate teams. The idea in all of this really is to build bonds and get to know one another.

On one team, the husband couldn't figure out how to use his wife's installed GPS. He called her to ask a question about it. She said, " MY team doesn't want me to tell you how to do that, so no. But I love you, Bye"

I decided early on that I wanted to be able to be a part of the race, so I just rode with one of the teams. I thought I could hold in my comments and not give a team an unfair advantage. And I did.... that wasn't the hard part. What I did not expect was the SHEER PANIC and GUT WRENCHING stress I went through when the people in my car couldn't figure out the FIRST clue..... They pulled out the Sudoku, stared at it for a while, then after about 5 minutes someone said... "OH I think this is a Sudoku and in a matter of minutes it was worked and we were on to our next destination" I wanted to run for the hills... I kept thinking. "what if no one else knows what this is? What if this really flops?" PANIC, PANIC, PANIC

But once we reached our first challenge and 3 of the 6 teams had arrived I began to relax and the night got more enjoyable. Of course any feeling other than the one where you're about to loose your lunch has to be more enjoyable.

After completing all the clues, the teams raced back to the church and rushed to the orange bath mat we had set out. Zane and I were there waiting, Where Zane said, "Welcome to HAFBC"

The last clue sent people to a local well to find the name of a type of water discovered in the area. Then the team had to write this name on a SONIC cup and turn it in.

The most surprising thing was the last team that strolled up to the mat.

They all had Sonic cups and were chatting casually and enjoying their beverages. I was urging them to get on the mat so I could record their time. At which point one guy says, "OH, this was a RACE?" "We've been done for 1/2 hour but we've been waiting in the car" Clearly the RACE part of the game had not been emphasized enough.

Anyway, It was a great night. And everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. The stories will go on and on and that's always a good sign of a fun evening.

Here's the winning team with their "Garden (travelocity)Nome" trophy......

Yes, David was on the winning team and he had no part in the clues or making the race. I'm firmly convinced it was his driving skills that got them to the winners circle. (And almost got another team on the side of the road in a ditch....but maybe we shouldn't go there)