Road Rules 11, The Final Mission: Limping into Home

We start out this week with our final (thank God) look at the drama that is Kendal and Eric. It's so bad that Rachel doesn't even want to be around the two of them when they're together.

So let's just get to the final mission so we can all go home, shall we? The group arrives at Cal Polytechnic University and are immediately horrified by the crane they see hanging in the air. The mission mayors ask them to name their most trustworthy player and they unanimously pick Darrell. Aww. They find out that the reward for this mission is a trip around the world and everyone is thrilled. But first they have to get past the obstacle course from Hell.

The plan is, Darrell will get across first, then guide everyone else across. Everyone else is blindfolded. And oh yeah, as the group is inside the Fleetwood putting on their helmets and goggles, the Fleetwood and the obstacle course are hoisted 100 feet in the air.

Darrell makes it across and Kendal is first up for the challenge. Our cast members must climb down from the front of the Fleetwood and fall into a net. Then they have to climb up onto the course, go up a set of foam steps, work their way around some panels, tiptoe across an incline, and walk across a balance beam to Darrell's waiting arms.

Kendal does fine on the first part, but falls off the balance beam. In her defense, she is blindfolded. And there's a big cargo net attached to the beam so if someone falls they can make it back up. There's no time limit and as long as she can make it back up the net and onto the beam, she can start that part over. She crawls back up and walks sideways across the beam.

One down, four to go. Whoops, wrong show.

Rachel is next and, of course, she-woman makes it across with no problem. Raquel does fine until she gets to the beam. I think she expects Darrell to just hop over and carry her across. That's against the rules, however, so he's left with nothing to do but walk her through it. She makes it across.

Darrell is the man.

Eric is next and he doesn't have any problems. Now it's Shane's turn. The mission mayor reminds him that he has the whole group's prize in his hands. No pressure or anything.

Shane falls victim to the beam, taking a few steps across and falling. Our group isn't worried. They've seen Shane do harder things before. Darrell keeps telling him to go fast, otherwise he'll think too much and fall off. But then he falls again. Then he falls again.

"Maybe we don't have this in the bag," Rachel says.

Luckily, Darrell finally suggests Shane walk across sideways like Kendal did. He does and makes it across. The cast does a little cheer after they've all made it. Eric tears up 'cause it's the last mission.

When the Fleetwood is lowered to the ground, Kendal kisses the ground, then spends the rest of the time spitting dirt out of her mouth.

The group is treated to one last nice dinner, where they sit around and talk about how great the trip was and how much they'll miss each other. I guess they went around the room and said something nice about everyone because everyone laughs when Kendal tries to say something nice about Eric.

Then everyone pukes. Just kidding.

The next day the kids clean out the Fleetwood and prepare to go home. These kids have a lot of crap stored in that trailer. What happened to fitting everything in your backpack? Who's gonna pay for that shipping?

Finally, thanks to September 11, we miss all the touching shots of the kids hanging out in the airport before they leave. Instead they park the Fleetwood in the airport parking lot and everyone takes off, one at a time. Thanks, Osama.

Jennifer Shrader is a reporter at a community newspaper in rural North Carolina who is waiting to be discovered.

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