Dan and I were heading west out of Whitehorse last evening when a message popped up on our Kenwood radio that said "Welcome Back!" It was from Eric and Steve miles away in Haines Junction. They had seen APRS* packets from Car 11 showing that we were once again underway....
... it just goes to show that sometimes all of that technology can have its warm and fuzzy side, too. Dan and I were touched. We started sobbing....then weeping....
OK, OK, none of that sobbing and weeping but we *were* touched.
Fantastic drive today up the Alaska Highway with the St. Elias Range on our left and with Denali ultimately looming ahead (I hope weather is good in AM as we pass!). Along the way we got to sample a great halibut burger at Fast Eddie's in Tok Junction (boy, did they crank out a bunch of burgers in quick time) and we got to gander the occasional moose.
Once in Fairbanks I got to meet Doug, a well-known Internet acquaintance ("tanstaafl" from the Empeg BBS) and got a taste of what may be the nicest-sounding car stereo in the world. Later I bumped into chief of scoring Pete Soper in the hallway and he waved a scoresheet at me that suggested that all of Dan's hard-fought AM battles with multiplication and division had been worth the effort. Boy, if we kept after this we could become half decent!.
Internet access has been sketchy for the past few days. What other random bits to say? Sisters, my call to the Captain (Our Father Who Art in Hyannis) was a bit scratchy as it came from Alcan organizer Jerry Hines' Iridium satellite phone. (Apparently the satellites have period bouts of depression related to sub-orbital self-esteem issues and the voice quality drops temporarily.) I just gave him lat and lon so that he's have his "Where's Waldo"-type navigation puzzle of the day. But yes I was standiing in Tuk, yes my right hand was freezing as I tried to keep from dropping the phone and yes (I swear!) there was a guy standing way out on the Beaufort ice with a Russian hat!
Jim
*APRS = Automatic Position Reporting System - a way to use radios (like our ham radio sets) in conjunction with GPS to send and receive position update messages.
Day 8 is the home stretch to the finish of the Alcan Winter Rally. There were only two timed sections today and there will be two tomorrow. Compared with the early days of the rally there is little opportunity to regain losses. But the chance still exists to make your score way worse.
At this point, going in to day 9, TeamD stands as follows: Eric and Steve in BMW 325iX #7 are 2nd in class I and 5th overall. Jim and Dan in their Subaru WRX are 3rd in class I and 8th overall. Rob and Nick driving the Mazda 323 GTX are 3rd in class III and 9th overall. Wish us luck on Day 9, the final day of the Alcan Winter Rally.
Full scores and a little more discussion follows...
There is tight contention between car #1 and car #3 for first overall. For third through sixth places it is still very, very tight--those cars are spread over four points.
1. Car #1 Ahearns, Schneider, Webb (class II) with 34.6 points 2. Car #3 Carlson, Joy, Kraushaar (class II) with 41 points 3. Car #4 Eklund, Rounds, Reid, (class III) 67.2 points 4. Car #10 Wallace, Hightower, Carozza, (class I) 68.3 points 5. Car #7 Horst, Willey (class I) with 72.4 points 6. Car #2 Kraushaar, Engstrom, Richardson, (class II) 72.7 points 7. Car #8 Bornhop, Kott, (class III) 209 points 8. Car #11 Hogan, Comden with (class I) 372.1 points 9. Car #6 Dunn, Marcuse, (class III) 234.5 points 10. Car #9 Wright, Fuhrman, (class II) 688 points 11. Car #16 Brown, Morris, (class I) 372.1 points 12. Car #12 Miller, Duchene, Wood (class II) with 926 points 13. Car #14 Weaver, Weaver, (class III) 945.3 points 14. Car #5 Elder, Elder, (class III) 1053 points 15. Car #13 Gilland, Boyd (class II) with 1392 points 16. Car #15 von Richthofen, Touring Class
Car #12 was damaged and then damaged worse by a tow truck operator leaving it unreparable in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Car #13 rolled over off the road and returned to the road briefly before having it's engine seize up due to complications from the roll. It is going to stay in Carmacks, Yukon until summer when Gilland and Boyd make another vacation of coming up to repair and drive it home.
Today we are in Fairbanks. Though we didn't cover as many miles as previous days, we had two TSD sections. Most of the TeamD cars think they did well. We should get scores later tonight.
During today's drive I put together a gallery of photos I've taken so far. Too much trouble to get them onto the site. You can find them at this place
Nighty night from the Captain Bartlett Inn located in brisk Fairbanks, AK!
Three cars happy and safe at the Captain Bartlett in Fairbanks.
We hav phones in the rooms tonight (yes, that's a luxury) so hopefully you'll see more updates. but just incase we all spend the whole evenign in the bar i thought i'd send the quick update that after a great day with a TSD, a DIY TSD, a lovely soak in the Chena Hot Springs, and a visit to the coolest ice hotel ever; we're happy and safe throwing our peanut shtell at each other in the Dog Sled Saloon here on the fair banks of Fairbanks.
cheers,
steve