The 2016 Great Race is only four months away, and the route from San Rafael, California to Moline, Illinois will be the most varied scenery and terrain the participants have seen in more than 15 years. The route starts in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific coastline and travels through the Wine Country, over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, across the ruggedly beautiful middle of Nevada, along the Great Salt Flats, over the Rocky Mountains, through the Black Hills of South Dakota, by Mount Rushmore and into the Badlands before crossing the Mississippi River.

And it will look familiar to several Great Racers who were in the Great Race 22 years ago. This summer’s event will mirror Days 3 through 7 of the 1994 Great Race, which started in Huntington Beach, California and finished in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The 2016 race will pass through Gardnerville, Reno, Austin and Elko in Nevada; Wendover in Utah; Evanston, Rawlins and Cheyenne in Wyoming; and Mount Rushmore, Rapid City, the Badlands and Sioux Falls in South Dakota; just as it did in 1994.

On the Great Race’s Youtube channel, you can watch videos of old events, including the 1994 race. In it you will see a young Wayne Bell; Bobby Hadskey, G.R. Pike, Curtis Graf, John Classen, Steve Atkinson, Vickie Atkinson and Jeff Stumb (my first race!) – all of whom will be on this year’s race.

There are some times where the screen goes black due to some graphics that didn’t transfer correctly, but be patient and the video will come back on in less than 10 seconds. Check out the video and see some of the same wonderful scenery will be witness this summer: