Editor’s note: This is the first of 19 posts on each of the Great Race cities on the 2016 route from San Rafael, California to Moline, Illinois.

San Rafael, California will be the start of the 2016 Great Race on Saturday, June 18, but for participants it will be much more than that. More than 450 drivers, navigators, support crews and staff will descend on San Rafael starting on Monday, June 13. Activities throughout the week have been planned and include everything from movies at the historic Rafael Theater, to private car collections to a dinner cruise on the San Francisco Bay.

San Rafael is in Marin County and it located on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. All teams will have an opportunity to have a keepsake photograph made of their vehicle in front of the bridge as well. Track time at Sonoma Raceway has also been arranged, making this year’s start one of the most active ever.

San Rafael was the finish city in 2006 on the Great Race, which started in Philadelphia. The start in 2016 will take place on Fourth Street at the exact location where the ’06 race finished with Dave Reeder and Sawyer Stone winning the Grand Championship.

The start will mark the first time in almost 20 years that the Great Race has started in California and headed east. The first lunch stop will be in Vacaville, California and the first overnight will be in Old Sacramento, California.