"The Rebelle Rally is the first women’s off-road navigation rally raid in the United States. Blending the love of driving with the ultimate challenge of precise navigation, the Rebelle tests your skills over 7 days of competition. It is not a race for speed, but a unique and demanding event based on the elements of headings, hidden checkpoints, time, and distance using maps, compass, and roadbook." - Rebelle Rally
It's been 2 months
since Holly Freeman (@thewildyolo) and I competed together in her 2001 Jeep
Wrangler TJ named Miss Tina as Team Wild and Free (Team 132) in the 2016
Inaugural Rebelle Rally. Since returning
home I've tried to write about the experience a few times but each time I tried
I realized that I hadn't parsed through all of the crazy emotions well enough to put them in
to words.
Holly and I did not
know each other before the rally. We
knew of one another on social media but we didn't meet in person until October
11; two days before check-in and tech inspection. Holly became interested in the Rally first
and worked tirelessly on sponsorship deals to help cover her costs for the
rally. Once her spot in the rally was
reserved she set out in search of a co-driver/navigator. She has such an adventurous spirit and is
always happy and cheerful so, I wasn't surprised to learn that she had a number
of ladies interested in joining her.
Unfortunately both the time investment and the costs to compete were
steep and time was running out. That's
where I come in. Holly posted on
Instagram that she was in need of a teammate.
I talked it over with my husband and was leaning towards "sounds
fun, but no" but he talked me in to
it. A few days later, Holly and I had a
very long phone conversation and determined that we could do this! A couple weeks later I juggled some finances around and managed to come up with the funds to pay my registration fee. That was it, I was in!
We had an epic amount of prep work to get done between the time that I signed up and the day we arrived in Lake Tahoe for check-in. I spent many weeks learning and practicing navigation. I had to arrange travel to and from the rally and buy the gear that was needed for 7 nights of camping. We had to buy safety equipment and Holly had to purchase upgrades and repairs for her Jeep. We also had to procure helmets, a rally computer, recovery gear, emergency supplies and more. I bought something new on Amazon almost every day for several weeks and Holly worked tirelessly to raise money through online raffles to cover as much of these additional costs as possible. We were tired before we even got to the rally!
Practicing Navigation Before The Rally |
October 13, 2016: we
arrived at Valhalla in Lake Tahoe for check-in and tech inspection. During inspection we received our vests that
we would be wearing every day for the next 10 days without being able to wash them. Yuck!
We also received a satellite phone which was to be used only for
emergencies. The Jeep was fitted with two tracking devices aka the yellow
brick. One was mounted to the Jeep and would be used by rally staff to monitor our whereabouts and the other was stuck on the windshield with a piece of VELCRO that would
completely cease to function by the end of the 10 days because sand and VELCRO are not friends. The second tracking device is what we would use to check in at the checkpoints during the rally. Tech inspection also included a vehicle
check, team numbers applied to the vehicle, and verifying that we had all of
the required recovery, safety and emergency gear. A huge sigh of relief washed over us as we
successfully passed inspection. This may
have been the first time either of us were relaxed for many weeks leading up to
the rally.
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Technical Inspection in Lake Tahoe |
October 14,
2016: We got up bright and early so we
could report to "Rally School."
At Rally School, all participants were instructed on how to behave if we
should happen across a rare and protected desert tortoise. If we saw a tortoise, we'd have to give the
tortoise the right of way and a very wide berth. We were not to drive too close to the
tortoise and we were definitely not allowed to move it or even get close enough
to touch it. Apparently tortoises will relieve themselves of fluids when nervous or scared and this is deadly to the desert tortoises since water is so scarce. So what would happen if we
were to run in to one of these rare and mystical beasts? Well, sit and wait for
it to move was the answer. They said, if
we happened across a tortoise, it would definitely be bad for our scores but in
exchange for losing points we'd preserve this precious wildlife and our ability
to return next year which is its own kind of win. The odds of seeing one of these was slim but
they promised BLM that they would educate us in order to get the permits for
that section of the desert. It should be fine!
At Rally School they
also reviewed the basics of navigation and this is where we heard the term TSD
(time, speed, distance) for the first time.
I'm not sure if this is something the other competitors learned about in
the navigation classes earlier in the year but Holly and I were dumbfounded and
judging by the facial expressions of the ladies around us, we were not the only
ones that were surprised by this new term.
So, we frantically took notes and hoped we could figure it out during
our drive to Basecamp 1. When Rally
School was over we were handed a road book with tulip notes and driving
instructions to Basecamp 1. We were to
arrive at Basecamp 1 no sooner than 3pm but no later than 5pm. It was raining and cold when we left Lake
Tahoe.
At 5pm we arrived at Basecamp 1 somewhere in the Nevada desert. We waited in line to get checked in. Upon checking we turned off and sealed our GPS enabled electronic devices and would begin 7 days of zero contact with the outside world. We got the Jeep fueled up and checked in to impound and turned the keys in for the night. We weren't allowed to have any contact with the vehicle throughout the night. We lugged all of our gear quite a long distance from impound to the community campsite and began setting up camp. This would be home for the next 2 nights. After setting up camp we scurried off to the main tent for dinner and the driver's meeting where we received the maps we'd be using for the majority of the rally. Prior to signing up for this event I didn't care about paper maps at all. I had GPS in my vehicles and on my phone and that was good enough for me. That said, after spending 6 weeks working with maps in preparation for this event I found myself in awe as I looked over these maps. They were beautiful! Holly and I pored over the maps for about an hour and then headed back to camp so we would be well rested for the official start of the rally.
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Waiting in Line at Base Camp 1 |
October 15,
2016: We woke up around 4:30; thirty
minutes before the morning wakeup bell rang, which happened to be a cowbell. We got up so early because the list of checkpoints for the day would become available to us at 5am and we wanted as much time as possible to plot our course for the day. We quickly got ready, headed over to the main tent where we received
they keys to the Jeep and a sheet of paper that contained all of the
checkpoints for that day. We
set to work, plotting as many checkpoints as we could until it was time to load
up and hit the starting line. Leaving
the starting line was an exhilarating feeling.
We were about to test ourselves, or skills, our mental fortitude and
were making history at the same time. This was a good
day. We hit all of the green and blue
checkpoints. We tried for some of the
more difficult black checkpoints but we didn't do very well on those. Black checkpoints were much more difficult than green or blue checkpoints because they were not marked and we had to be within a specified range to get credit for them. Our scoring for the day was good. We were not in the top 10 but the point gap
was not too large and we felt confident that we could do better tomorrow.
A Green Checkpoint |
October 16,
2016: Day 2 started at 4:15 instead of
4:30. We realized we needed a little
more time for plotting in the morning so we woke ourselves up a little earlier
than normal. Like the day before we
plotted as many checkpoints as we could before reporting to the start line but
on this day we also had to break camp and load all of our gear back in to the
Jeep. We'd be going to Basecamp 2
tonight.
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Navigating in The Jeep |
October 17,
2016: We started this day out cheerful
despite our performance the day before.
We felt confident that we had learned from our mistakes and that we
could improve our score. This day would
be a bit different than those that came before.
Upon completing our checkpoints for the day we would arrive at Dumont
Dunes where we would camp like savages!
No showers, no toilets and no award-winning chef dinners. This day proved to be very challenging for us
too. We decided to trust our instincts
rather than our compass and got way off course.
It took us nearly an hour to recover from this mistake but once we
recovered we got the remaining blue and green checkpoints and began our
journey to Dumont Dunes where there would be a few more checkpoints to pick
up. Upon arriving at Dumont Dunes we
struggled with a variety of things but the largest struggle was determining our
actual location; the landscape around us didn't look like the map. After much discussion and banging our heads on
things we finally got it figured out and NAILED a black checkpoint. We went on to collect an additional black
checkpoint but we were 4 minutes late to the final green checkpoint because we once again followed a competitor vehicle and they were going the wrong way. As a result we did
not get the last points of the day.
Takeaways for the day: trust your
tools, and our second lesson in not following other competitors. We already had our maps and checkpoints for
the following day so rather than partying with the other ladies we sat in our
tent and did all of our plotting.
A Blue Checkpoint |
October 18,
2016: We got an early start on this day, but unfortunately, it took us forever to find our first checkpoint - a blue
checkpoint. Once we did find it, we
found all the remaining checkpoints in the area with a precision that I am very
proud of. We navigated the dunes without
incident and excitedly began our journey to Johnson Valley. This was a really long drive along a power
line road. At times I was doubtful that
we were on the right path but the scenery was amazing. I'd never been to Johnson Valley before. Of all the places we would visit, this was
the place I was most enthusiastic about seeing.
Upon arriving at Johnson Valley we picked up a blue checkpoint and
spent some time looking for another but with time running short we had to
abandon our search and head to basecamp.
We miscalculated our time and once again, did not make it to basecamp on
time costing us 10 points but we had so much fun driving in that we didn't
really care.
October 19.
2016: On this day, instead of each
vehicle leaving from a start line, all vehicles were lined up on the lake
bed. Unlike previous days where we
received our checkpoints during breakfast, on this day we received them after
all the vehicles were lined up. Upon
receiving them I sat in the Jeep plotting for about 30 minutes while Holly
aired down and inspected the Jeep to make sure everything was in order.
The
first checkpoint of the day was a blue checkpoint and once again, we spent way
more time looking for it than we should have.
We never found it. We were told later that it was cleverly hidden in the dunes and was not visible from the road. We finally
gave up and headed toward the first green checkpoint of the day. The green checkpoint was at the top of a hill
and while there was a road available to get to it, we decided to take a more
fun approach - climbing up a steep sandy hill.
About halfway up the hill the Jeep stalled and would not start up
again. I hopped out to inspect the Jeep
and found antifreeze in the wheel wells.
Neither of us knew anything about fixing radiators so we decided that
all we could do was hike up the hill and ask the rally staff to call the
mechanics to come help us out. While we
were explaining to the Rally staff what had gone wrong Team JPFreek told us
that there was a 50 point penalty for receiving field assistance and offered to
tow us back to basecamp. Holly and I
both encouraged them to leave us with our fate and to continue point collecting
but they refused. It was more important
to them to help us than to get points.
So, Julie (from Team JPFreek) helped us get a diaper on the radiator (a garbage bag and duct tape) so
we wouldn't leak fluid on the beautiful desert terrain. Then we hooked up a tow strap to her Jeep
Scrambler (the oldest vehicle in the rally - Julie would be heartbroken if I didn't
mention that) and towed us back to basecamp.
Lined Up On the Lake Bed |
Team JPFreek Preparing to Tow us Back to Basecamp |
While the mechanics
looked over the Jeep the scoring judge came to talk to us. She presented us with a very hard decision: If we received mechanic help and went back out to continue we would receive a
50 point penalty. If we stayed at camp,
we could not collect any more points for the day but we wouldn't lose any
either. Holly was immediately excited to
get back out. I was concerned that we would not be able to make up the 50
points and potentially find ourselves with fewer points than we started the day
with. I didn't mind going back out but
not if it meant ending the day with negative points. So, I was seriously entertaining the idea of
staying at camp and sneaking in a shower and taking a nap. After reviewing the number of points
available for the day and getting some instruction from the mechanics, we
decided to go back out. This would be
our single best day of points gathering during the rally. Not only did we make up the 50 points that we
lost we gained an additional 70(ish) points for the day and we had a blast
doing it. This was the first time that
finding checkpoints did not feel stressful to us. We simply had fun and enjoyed the amazing
scenery in Johnson Valley. It was this
day that set our vibe for the remainder of the rally. We were no longer stressed and were able to
focus better as a result and frankly, have more fun. We knew there was no chance of winning since
we were in something like 29th place, so our new goal was to raise our standing
as much as possible over the next two days while improving our skills for next
year.
Ms. Tina at the Mechanic |
October 20,
2016: This day was supposed to be one of
the easier days. We were traveling on
mostly paved roads, and as a result the checkpoints were reasonably easy to
find. We traveled through Joshua Tree
National forest which was oddly devoid of Joshua trees but had some amazing
plant life. It was a breathtaking drive. It was also the day that we would run in to
this mystical desert tortoise and yes, it was in the road. In case you were wondering, it had no
interest in sharing the road or moving off of it. The rumors are true, tortoises are slow! There were approximately 20 rally participants lined up on the side of the road waiting for the tortoise to move. We waited about an hour before it had finally
moved far enough for us to start moving again.
The long wait for the tortoise was unfortunate because we really wanted to make up some lost
points but as we were told during rally school, if we happened upon a tortoise
it would be bad for points collecting.
Now we were faced with another difficult decision; do we do the 3.5 hour TSD at 18 MPH, risking not doing it
right and getting no points or do we abandon it, drive 20MPH (the fastest we
were allowed to go in tortoise country) and get to the remaining checkpoints
while everyone else was tied up in the TSD.
We elected to abandon the TSD and go for the checkpoints. Admittedly we probably drove about 23MPH but
it was enough time to hit all of the checkpoints that were remaining and still
a much slower pace than the BLM Jeep and several competitor vehicles that went
cruising past us. We were a bit surprised later when Emily (the rally
coordinator) announced that everyone got credit for the final checkpoint
regardless of timing because of the tortoise.
This was contrary to what we were told during rally school which is what
caused us to make the decision to sacrifice the TSD points. In hindsight, we should have challenged the
decision to give everyone points for the missed checkpoint so that future rallies
would have more consistent rules or at least better communication about what to
expect if a mystical, magical tortoise fails to cross the road in the middle of
the rally. We arrived at basecamp in
Glamis Dunes.
A Desert Tortoise in no Particular Hurry |
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This is a Joshua Tree but it wasn't in the Joshua Tree National Forest |
Miss Tina in Glamis Dunes |
Oct 22, 2016: We woke up when we felt like it. I have no idea what time it was. It was time
to drive to San Diego and prepare for the gala and awards ceremony. We convoyed with Kendra Miller and Bailey
Campbell and made a pit stop at some crazy alien museum. It was a beautiful and scenic drive back but
I spent a good portion of my time getting reacquainted with Instagram and
Facebook and texting with my husband who was about to board a flight to San
Diego. We got checked in to the hotel.
I'm not sure what Holly did during this time but I took a really long
shower and then had a nap until my husband arrived.
We got all gussied
up and around 5pm we met Holly and Yeti (her boyfriend) in the lobby, took a
few photos then hopped on a shuttle to the gala. It was a bit surreal. Everyone was dressed up and had makeup
on. It didn't even seem like these were
the same ladies I had just spent the last 10 days with. The gala was a beautiful event and while this
was where the awards were presented to the winners, we all felt like
winners. We had done it. 7 days of off-road driving, camping and
navigating with just women. What an
amazing and unforgettable event.
Dressed up for the Gala |
Holly:
Holly is an amazing, cheerful, giving and kind person. I am thankful for the opportunity to have
participated with her. We spent a total
of 12 days (288 hours) together. Through
all of our driving, navigational and mechanical difficulties we managed to laugh a ton and also be
kind to one another 99.9% of the time.
There were two cases where one of us was upset and thankfully during
those times the other was calm enough to see us through with patience and
without a fight. In addition, I am an MS
sufferer and at times when I should have been thinking about myself and my
health but wasn't, Holly remembered and made sure I was doing what I needed to
be doing to stay healthy. There is no
doubt that Holly and I will be friends the rest of our lives.
The Women of the Rally: Our days were busy from sun up to nightfall
so we only had a few hours each day to socialize. Every single person I met was positive,
cheerful, excited to be there and genuinely wanted to see everyone do
well. I have never been around so many
women that encourage and uplift one another.
Talk to any Rebelle and ask them what the other ladies were like and
they'll tell you the same thing.
Absolutely awesome!
The Rally Staff: There are far too many staff
to list by name so I won't even try.
Every one of them were so encouraging and kind. They wanted us all to do well and they wanted
us all to finish. They were an amazing
group of people and I appreciate them all and have so much respect for the
immense amount of work that each one of them contributed to making the Rally a
success.
The Significant Others: Yeti and Rico poured so
much of their own emotion and physical energy into making sure we got there and
supported us along the way. Thanks
guys! Support from loved ones is so important
and I love and appreciate you both for all that you contributed to making this
such an amazing experience.
Being Disconnected: What an odd thing, in this
day and age, to not have internet, phone or any connection to the rest of the
world. I found it surprisingly soothing
- though I missed talking to Rico each day.
You don't realize how much pressure you face from social media, your
friends and your family until you turn it all off and have nothing to focus on
but you, your teammate and the world around you. It teaches you to appreciate the beauty
around you and how unimportant so many of the things we deal with on a daily
basis actually are.
Social Media Supporters: Holly and I had
tremendous support from our social media followers. It was so great to have perfect strangers
emotionally tapped in with us. This
meant the world to me. I hope someday to
meet everyone that donated, bought raffles tickets, or that followed along and
cheered us on.
More articles about the Rebelle Rally:
Fall issue ofJPFreek Magazine
Your strength and determination never cease to amaze me and I admire your sense of adventure. You should be proud of the performance considering there were many competitors (fully sponsored) with many years of this type of experience. Outstanding accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Paul. Life would not be complete without amazing friends like you.
DeleteWhat an amazing adventure!
ReplyDeleteIt sure was! I hope you get an opportunity to go sometime. Thanks for taking the time to read! <3
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