TeamD Adventures

Well the 2010 Trail of the GNU is over and I’ve recovered enough to think about a post (translation, I’m now only physically exhausted not both physically and mentally exhausted). As Marinus mentioned the other day (The Road to Rocky Mountain House) we ended up in Alberta because neither of us blinked. And not flinching turned out to be a pretty good approach to the rally too. Made easier by getting car #1. Usually a somewhat dubious honor, it allowed us to be unaffected by the chaos and drama on the route behind us: 6 extractions, several stuck cars (cleared by competitors), and multiple mechanical issues. On the downside there were no tracks to follow, although that means there were no ruts to deal with except when the course looped over subsections. And we got to scare off a lot of wildlife, at least 3 dozen white tailed deer during the day. Fortunately none of them attempted to run across the road to get away from the red demon bearing down on them. GNU appears to be relatively heavy on the Calc class cars. 3 of the 6 registered Unlimited cars had mechanical difficulties the week before the event (including last year’s winners Peter and Geoff Hill) leaving a small field of class competitors. Both Calculator cars, Ryan Oliver & Jack Bensley won the tie (in a vintage 1970 Volvo) edging out Shane McAssey & Mark Geusebroek. I had a ton of fun at the event, very glad we made the long haul out. I’m still a bit stunned we actually completed the trip. Will we be doing it again next year? … Perhaps. It’s a big long commitment and maybe once was enough.