Daewhoopteedoo: Day 2- “I don't like when people shoot at my mule.”

Today was costume day. The outfit? Clint Eastwood in “For a Few Dollars More.” This was a particular challenge to get together, because of the number of pieces necessary to have the complete costume. The list includes...

Cowboy Hat
sheep skin Vest
Chambray Shirt
Dark Jeans
The Poncho
cigar
boots w/ spurs
belts with holsters
a pocket watch
a saddle bag
a wrist brace
guns (in our case water guns)
and NO underwear

Once we were all dolled up, we started the day with a 60+ person water gun fight. It was a ball. I have a few pictures from when the gun ran out of water (no reloading allowed).

After we cooled down the horn was sounded and we were off. Today's challenge?

To get 5 flash mob pictures including at least 10 other people and us dressed as “the man with no name.” We jumped right in on this challenge like we did the first one. We got pictures at 2 different rest stops, a zoo, the natural bridge gift shop (by far the easiest) and Dairy Queen. (Most obvious choice for those of you who know that I could live off an “Ice cream Drip.”)

We made some additional stops to see sights of utmost importance to history. “Foam Henge” we just happened to pass it, but could not pass it up ( Actually I made Chris go back.) It was built by “4-5 Mexicans and one crazy white guy.” It's a life sized replica of Stone Henge. Cool, but obscure a great reason to stretch your legs.

We've actually run across a few fellow competitors today. We have one of the flash mob photos with “Foolswagon” and “the 2 Horsemen of the Carpocalypse” It's a lot of fun making our way along this adventure with like mined individuals. (Definition according to Chris “It's not an adventure unless there's a real possibility of death.) Maybe we should avoid those Carpocalypse guys?

So the rules for the flash mob pictures state that we must have at least 10 people in the picture, law enforcement officers count as two. Traveling down the highway, we passed this 15 passenger van with 8 convicts(?) and a sheriff on board. They all waved... too bad this pic didn't come out so well. You can imagine how I tried to take it.

Nearing the end of the day, it was evident we had a braking issue in the rear. It was making a terrible grinding sound and dragging. And we were headed into the twisty turns and steep hills of the smokies. And we had another unexplained 'check engine' light. We found a NAPA at one of the towns we were passing through. They did not have the new rear pads we needed, but apparently we looked desperate, and the parts counter guy called all of his own local competitors until he found the part at a local O'Reily's and gave us directions to there. We picked up the parts and limped the car the next 100 miles to the stage finish using low gears for the mountain descents. Sure enough, rear brakes (strangely on only one side) were shot. we replaced them in the hotel parking lot and reset the ECU codes.