The 1997 Road Rally in Austin heralded a number of outstanding and creative innovations that helped build the bulwark of the RR concept that has continued on. First, and foremost, was a unifying theme, the Knights of the Round Table, where each team represented one of the famous Arthurian disciples on a mission to find the Holy Grail. The teams shared certain clue points and sometimes converged upon their paths. They wore long tunics which was the first time teams wore costumes, which in the 90 degree Texas heat was challenging. Ultimately, the last clue was sewn into the seams of the tunics. It was the first time there was a race to the host door; my team , Lancelot, came in just seconds in front of Percival, taking Second Place.  Kudos were also in store for the fantastic graphics that were employed to tell the legend of King Arthur, using beautifully rendered characterizations of knights and small ornately designed clue cards which set the bar high for the "look" of the race. The threshold was set  for  production values that were now a far cry from the hand written chicken scratch clue sheets of old. All teams had a mandatory lunch doing a mandatory crossword puzzle and still managed to come in before sunset to the house set on the picturesque  edge of the Guadalupe River.