Drive 4 Stage IV

	Date	Cities From/To	Distance	Itinerary for the day
Day 1	Sunday, May 27, 2018	Charlestown, SC to Charlotte, NC	438 km / 272 m	The Dewberry Charleston hotel is the venue selected as the start hotel of this iconic drive. It has a great location and there's lots of parking for the pre-event scrutineering and fettling... A visit to the spectacular NASCAR Hall of Fame will mark the end of the day's motoring in Charlotte before we make tracks to our hotel for the night.
Day 2	Monday, May 28, 2018	Charlotte, NC to Highlands, NC	365 km / 227 m	Today will be mainly... tremendous, getting ready for the fabulous rally roads that await. Carrying on the "tremendous" theme, our lunch halt will not disappoint. Organized in a quirky venue in Asheville, it's the sort of place made for Endurance Rally Association events. We will head onwards through more mountain roads to the fabulous hotel we will be staying in, located in Highlands, North Carolina.
Day 3	Tuesday, May 29, 2018	Highlands, NC to Nashville, TN	377 km / 234 m	We will backtrack and take an alternative pass, the Cherohala Scenic Skyway that climbs to 1500 m / 5000 ft, with plentiful twists and turns, before another riverside regularity on smooth asphalt which is sure to keep us entertained! The afternoon's route takes us into the flat lands and then onto a couple of dirt oval race circuits so we can kick up our wheels and get dusty. The final regularity is laced with a potentially tricky final timing point that should make for lively discussions in the bar of the hotel in Nashville tonight!
Day 4	Wednesday, May 30, 2018	Nashville - Rest Day		The first rest day of the event will give us all the chance to kick back in the home of country music. There's loads to do in this interesting city - not all of it involving guitars! Soak up the atmosphere and take a load off.
Day 5	Thursday, May 31, 2018	Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN	494 km / 307 m	The afternoon's challenge comes courtesy of a few more regularity tests before an easy arrival into Memphis and the Mississippi River. Our overnight halt will be the Peabody Hotel; the grand old lady of Memphis. With a bit of luck, we'll get there early enough for one of us to be crowned "The Duck Master" during the curious late afternoon ceremony held at the hotel. Yep, it's quackers.
Day 6	Friday, June 1, 2018	Memphis, TN to Jackson, MS	478 km / 297 m	The little town of Tunica's Town Clerk, Chief of Police and Deputy Mayor all agreed we should have a morning stop in their town. We will then go to the banks of the Mississippi and drive along a levee, leaving the great river behind us. We will travel through some of the more remote areas of the South before coming across the Native America equivalent of Stonehenge, where there is a curious museum. Perfect for an outdoor lunch! Acres of farmland, some gravel roads and a basic afternoon "grocery" stop make up the afternoon's route before the final gravel regularity of the day and a really easy route into our hotel for the night in Jackson, Mississippi.
Day 7	Saturday, June 2, 2018	Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA	421 km / 262 m	We'll have a very easy exit from Jackson, using the splendid Natchez Trace Parkway we encountered on day five. Minor roads then take us cross-country to our lunch halt in an art gallery / coffee shop, which will kindly open especially for us today! Rested and reloaded, we head to Lake Pontchartrain, crossing the longest over-water road bridge in the world; a staggering 42 km / 26 mi long! We motor onwards into New Orleans and our overnight hotel, which is situated in the heart of the French Quarter and has a decidedly colonial-era feel to it. Turn left out of the hotel and you're on Bourbon Street, which is host to loads of bars, lights, music and a great party atmosphere. Turn right out of the hotel and head one street parallel and you're on Royale, which, with its galleries, antique shops and fine restaurants, caters to those looking for a quieter experience.
Day 8	Sunday, June 3, 2018	New Orleans - Rest Day		Today we will embrace the city's unofficial motto and "let the good times roll".
Day 9	Monday, June 4, 2018	New Orleans, LA to Galveston, TX	524 km / 326 m	Today, we follow the Gulf of Mexico coast through swampland where there are lots of deserted roads and, unsurprisingly, lots of swamps! They see alligators here every day. Note: the first person to utter a "make it snappy"; pun will be severely penalized... We'll likely partake of a picnic lunch in a national park overlooking the Gulf before following the coastline and hopping on a couple of ferries (dolphins can be seen following the ships) to Galveston, a pleasant seaside resort with a grand Art Deco hotel which will host our overnight halt.
Day 10	Tuesday, June 5, 2018	Galveston, TX to Austin, TX	519 km / 322 m	Today, we follow the coast for nearly 60 km / 37 mi along the Gulf of Mexico before heading north-west. We have planned three regularities during the day; "Texas Flats", "Texas Ranch", and "Texas Vines", and the roads get progressively more interesting as the Texas Hills approach. We are negotiating a visit to an asphalt test venue before ending the day at a grand, hillside hotel on the outskirts of Austin.
Day 11	Wednesday, June 6, 2018	Austin, TX to Wichita Falls, TX	603 km / 375 m	Today, the hills continue and we will be almost spoilt for choice with gravel roads. During the recce, we will have a pleasant lunch stop in a German café before we enter the flat, fairly unremarkable part of the USA that is encountered on any trans-continental trip. The good news is that there will only be two of these on the rally and the second part has some great entertainment along the way.
Day 12	Thursday, June 7, 2018	Wichita Falls, TX to Amarillo, TX	614 km / 382 m	Today includes some straight roads to start with before we get to a small, isolated mountain chain featuring herds of roaming buffalo! We then enter a park where we'll visit the impressive Quartz Mountain resort which offers breath-taking scenery and a great lunch venue. After a short regularity test in the afternoon, we head on to the town of Turkey which is home to the famous "Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys". Their 1950's tour bus sits in a restored fuel station across the way from a fine little café. Western music memorabilia lines the walls. Our hotel and a great steakhouse will be most welcome after a long day of driving.
Day 13	Friday, June 8, 2018	Amarillo, TX to Sante Fe, NM	461 km / 286 m	The road out of town follows the route of the old Route 66. Along the way, we will see lots of interesting / slightly weird sights, including the strange Cadillac Ranch and lots of eerie deserted hotels and gas stations! Further along, we will see a superb, 1960's-style diner which we'll visit for an early lunch and an authentic milkshake. After lunch, the route winds gradually upwards with a (fairly) grand canyon along the way before we hit the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The local vintage car club are looking forward to meeting us!
Day 14	Saturday, June 9, 2018	Santa Fe - Rest Day		Being the oldest capital city in North America, we're sure you'll agree that Santa Fe is the perfect location for the rally's third rest day. The city is brimming with history, culture and architecture, plenty of good shops, all kinds of bars and restaurants and lots of green, open spaces. Enjoy!
Day 15	Sunday, June 10, 2018	Sante Fe, NM to Colorado Springs, CO	659 km / 409 m	An interesting mountain route will take us up to Taos where we've identified a fabulous hotel for the all-important morning coffee stop. The scenery remains spectacular as we follow "The Highway of Legends" with a couple of passes around the 3000 m / 9843 ft mark. Then, we will take in a couple of gravel regularities before reaching Colorado Springs and our fine hotel for the night, which features an impressive mountain backdrop.
Day 16	Monday, June 11, 2018	Colorado Springs, CO to Aspen, CO	358 km / 222 m	Very soon after leaving the hotel, we will pass a few of Colorado's legal marijuana stores before arriving at the mighty Pike's Peak. This one-way, asphalt road twists its way to over 4300 m / 14,108 ft! On your way up, try to fathom exactly how Sébastien Loeb drove 19.99 kilometres in a time of 8m 13.8s to average 140 kph through the 156 corners. Yes, it's worth reading those statistics again... When the weather cooperates, the views from the top are extraordinary. We will then loop south to the fascinating town of Cripple Creek where we've built half an hour into the schedule to allow for a smidgeon of exploring. Afterwards, we climb the Independence Pass and the Continental Divide before a narrow descent into the elegant ski town of Aspen. Our hotel is top class, and the good news is that tomorrow is a rest day so we will have plenty of time to thoroughly enjoy our stay.
Day 17	Tuesday, June 12, 2018	Aspen - Rest Day		This final rest day of the rally will give us a chance to explore Aspen and dine at one of its many great restaurants. This town is full of attractions, including a fabulous bookshop café.
Day 18	Wednesday, June 13, 2018	Aspen, CO to Park City, UT	599 km / 372 m	Fully refreshed, we head north and into Utah's Dinosaur Country... anyone who spots a live one wins the event! A simple lunch stop is followed by a pair of regularities before we arrive in Park City, host to the 2002 Winter Olympics for nearby Salt Lake City.
Day 19	Thursday, June 14, 2018	Park City, UT to Boise, ID	796 km / 494 m	On the recce we bypass the morning traffic by wiggling up some Alpine-style mountain roads before descending into Salt Lake City and its fast-flowing ring road. We visit a splendid motor sports complex and negotiate a couple of tests before we head west. We'll have a time control at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats, where Captain George Eyston broke the World Land Speed Record three times in 1937 and 1938. ERA's HQ is located within the grounds of the Eyston family seat in East Hendred – indeed, our offices are the Old School House where the great man learned to read and write, so we couldn't not go to this location! Eyston left the record at a 357.5 mph (575.3 kph); a brave man indeed. We'll have lunch at the Salt Flats Café where lots of great speed record memorabilia plasters the walls. This place offers authentic Mexican cuisine and if time allows, you may be able to visit any of the many establishments along the Utah / Nevada frontier. A simple run north will take us to Boise; a great little city in the agricultural lands of Idaho.
Day 20	Friday, June 15, 2018	Boise, ID to Bend, OR	575 km / 357 m	Out of Boise and we're straight into fruit country where a huge challenge awaits; namely, which is the best fruit pie? Both the morning coffee stop and the lunch halt offer up worthy contenders so you'll have a tough time making your choice! Make sure your research includes the Marion Berry / Rhubarb pie which is only available locally. The ERA will award a competitor-voted, "Pie of the Rally" Trophy which will be posted to the deserving recipient afterwards. In the afternoon, we will traverse the rally's final, long, smooth gravel sections through the Ochoco Forest and then, on our way to Bend we will discover a time-warp general store in the middle of nowhere. A stop is obligatory. Our hotel in Bend is set just above the regenerated riverside area with restaurants and shops galore. We have arranged for our hosts to provide drinks and canapés by the cars so we can all make our own choice of dinner venue.
Day 21	Saturday, June 16, 2018	Bend, OR to Newburg, OR	362 km / 225 m	A couple of long, asphalt mountain passes are on the menu today. The scenery is spectacular, just as we like it! After a coffee stop at a very welcoming biker pub, we will experience the event's final regularity on a quiet, twisty mountain road. Just before the day ends we hope to be part of a classic drag race meeting with the chance to discover our car's Standing Quarter Mile abilities. Then, we will make tracks to our fabulous night halt amongst Oregon's vineyards. Cheers!
Day 22	Sunday, June 17, 2018	Newburg, OR to Seattle, WA	268 km / 167 m	Today features a lovely route through forests up to the state border and a spectacular Meccano-style bridge. Small spanners at the ready! Then it's highway to Seattle and our prize-giving gala dinner in the downtown Fairmont. Be proud of your achievement, whatever the leader-board may say, tonight is for celebration! Our vintage cars have made it, from sea to shining sea.