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This is how the Independence Day Fireworks works:
 As soon as we hear from you, we'll send you the book of instructions and the giant Rand McNally Road Atlas,
upon which the course wends its way northward the length of North America (in odd-numbered years it's southward).
The entry deadine is July 31. The completion deadine is August 8.
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Note: Entries for the 2022 Independence Day Fireworks closed on July 31.
Our next map rally will be the 60th St. Valentine's Day Massacre, starting on New Year's.
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By following the instructions, on your porch, the kitchen table, or wherever is cooler, spending an hour or so (or however long the orange juice lasts) at a time, you travel on a continuous half-regular-St.-Valentine's-Day-Massacre-length course, from page to page in the Atlas.
Each year we explore an odd-numbered U.S. highway, in alternating years north-to-south or south-to-north.
This past summer it was northbound U.S. 75, from Texas through Dallas and Tulsa and Topeka and Omaha to northern Minnesota. Then onward to the Canadian North.
In 2021 it was southbound U.S. 287, from Montana through Yellowstone and Fort Collins and Amarillo to the Gulf of Mexico. Then onward to Honduras.
In 2020 it was northbound U.S. 83, from the southern tip of Texas through Abilene, North Platte, and Pierre to North Dakota's border with Manitoba.
Then onward to the Canadian North.
In 2019 it was southbound U.S. 81, from northeastern North Dakota past Fargo, Wichita, and Oklahoma City to Fort Worth. Then onward to Honduras.
In 2018 it was northbound U.S. 231,
from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, going from the Florida Gulf Coast through Dothan (in Alabama),
Murfreesboro (in Tennessee), Bowling Green (in Kentucky), and Klondike (in Indiana). Then northward to Qausuittuq in Canada's farthest-north reaches.
In 2017 it was southbound U.S. 65, from the upper midwest down to Louisiana,
through such marvelous metropoles as Minneapolis, Des Moines, and Tallulah. Then we continued southward to Central America.
Along the way, we ask you questions to see if you're on the correct course. Here are two instructions from this past summer's event, somewhere in Kansas, and the question between them.
5. Go north on U.S. 75.
 Question: Do you see Soldier and Dragoon rivers?
6. On the Topeka map, go west on highway whose number’s last or sole digit is 4.
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You will have until August 8 to send in your answers.
Following scoring, custom-designed awards go to the top competitors, and local champion certificates to the best of them from each state, province, and country.
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Google Street View
Fireworks rallyists will notice that occasionally during the rally we provide a link to a Google Street View photo taken along the course.
These photos [along this past summer's course] don’t affect the Fireworks course or questions in any way and may safely be ignored if you aren’t interested in them.
But click on any of these if you are interested in seeing what's 'really' there [and -- this is remarkable -- after clicking on an image you can look around or travel along the road, as with any Google Street View photo].
As for us, we're enjoying the scenery, especially the clouds.
in Leg 1:
Rodeo
in Durango
in Leg 1:
Notrees
in Texas
in Leg 2:
Frio Draw
in New Mexico
in Leg 2:
Red River
in Leg 3:
Muddy Boggy Cr.
in Oklahoma
in Leg 3:
other road west of U.S. 169
in Kansas
in Leg 4:
Sylvan Grove
in Kansas
in Leg 5:
Kansas 31
in Leg 6:
Logan Cr.
in Nebraska
in Leg 6:
Homer
in Nebraska
in Leg 6:
Mallard
in Iowa
in Leg 6:
Graceville
in Minnesota
in Leg 7:
N. Br. Twos
in Minnesota
in Leg 8:
Eagle Cr.
in Saskatchewan
in Leg 8:
Fort Vermilion
in Alberta
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