Sunday Cedar Rapids to Moline

Today is the last day of competition.

Scott, Mallory and Ashley rode in the car today.  No need to worry about time penalty's. Today would be all about having some fun.

Darrin and I had 5 hrs to make the 1 hour and 15 minute trip.  We stopped at the I-80 truck stop and toured the museum.  It was pretty cool.  There were some very cool trucks and some very unusual trucks too.  We also walked around the store and looked at all kinds of crazy souvenir items.


On this trip we have enjoyed many National Parks and a lot of museums.

We got to the hotel and the B team was at the desk.  This hotel decided to not let us check in for two reasons. First the rooms were not ready and second they would only let Travis and Scott have the rooms.  Problem was soon solved.

Randy came down to meet us and we hung out most of the afternoon.  We so cool to see so many family members on this cross country race.

I watched as the cars come across the finish line and they announced what their place was in the race.  The winners of each class had confetti shot over them.  Nice touch.

The cars parked along the street.  The local cars came out to park with the Great Race cars.

At 6 pm we went to a reception and a dinner before the award ceremony. It was fun to hang out with all our new friends one last night.  The banquet was nice.  The food was good.

At the award ceremony Scott won the best friend award from Toshi and team Japan.

Saturday Sioux Falls to Cedar Rapids

The day started with great expectations.  The car was running great.  The girls got plenty of sleep.  Navigating a rally you have to be sharp and on point.

The girls set their stop watches and Mallory marked up the instructions.  It was an exciting morning for all of us.

Today would be Scott and Mallory in the car.

Ashley, Darrin and I drove pretty much straight to the hotel, stopping only for gas and food.

We traveled out of South Dakota into Michigan and down into Iowa.  We arrived in town and went to the hotel and got everything in the rooms.

We headed down to the finish line and waited for the cars to come in.

Cars came by and several people said that things are not good.  Peter came and said it was a fuel pump.  We waited and waited.  Every car came in but ours. 

I went and talked to scoring and they said that our car was on the road.  They were an hour behind.

It was a big disappointment.  Mallory and Scott had car troubles.  The fuel pump had gone out. A local person took Scott to a parts store so he could get a new fuel pump.  Peter stopped to help as long as he could.

The worst part was that there had been a fuel pump in the car but Scott was cleaning out the car before we left Mobile and put the pump in the excursion.

Scott and Mallory got the car going but Scott had gotten over heated so he had to sit for 20 minutes before going.

This caused them to be past their window to finish for the day and also cost them the race.  It was a championship day that had to be finished in order to be given a score. 

The team ended the day with a DNF.  

Friday Trip to Sioux Falls

We had an early start time.  The girls went and set their stop watched and get the instructions for the day.

It was Ashley's turn to navigate.  Mallory helped Ashley mark up the instructions and the two went over everything.

We saw them off and then loaded the truck. We headed out for the long trip. It is a long boring ride across South Dakota.  Not much to look at but a tree here and there.

Just after leaving the Black Hills and heading toward Sioux Falls you come across the Badlands and Wall Drug.  The Badlands National Park is know for the fossils.

It has been rumored to have been the place that the lunar landing on the moon was filmed.  It has a very moon like landscape.

Near the Badlands we started to see the cars again.

About half way across the state we stopped at the Corn Palace.  We walked to the front of the Palace. The tribute to rock and roll on the building was nicely done.

We arrived at the hotel and took a much needed rest.  The trailer parking area was in the park where the falls for Sioux Falls were.  We took a moment to go see them.

The longest day came to an end for the drivers as they came across the finish line. 

Sioux Falls fed us an awesome dinner and gave us all a T-shirt. There was a big crowd for the car display.

Miss South Dakota greeted the cars as they came in.  After The team was parked she came over and took a photo with the team.

There was a democratic convention going on at our hotel.  I know this would be funny with Scott.

We went over to the hotel that Tag and MaryBeth were staying at and hung out with them for a while.

When we came back over to our hotel there were a bunch of Great Racers in the bar.  Not long after we arrived Brad from Hagerties came in dressed in a bee costume.

The team came in 35th for the day and 30th place overall with a time of 19:40.

Thursday Cheyenne to Rapid City

We left early to try to get to Rapid City early.  Mallory and Scott were in the car for the day.

Several times during our travel to Rapid we saw cars.  It was cool to see the cars in the wide open space and I was able to take some awesome photos.

The landscape became more and more familiar.  The high desert has its own distinct look to it.

The trip was a 5 hour trip up Wyoming and then over into South Dakota.  We passed by Crazy Horse and stopped long enough to take a photo.

I had not seen Crazy Horse for at least 15 years. It still looked the same.  One of our first dates was on the Crazy Horse Volksmarch.  We climbed up the backside of the mountain and got to stand on the arm right under the nose.

We headed straight to Mount Rushmore.  I got another stamp in my National Park book.  Ashley enjoyed it but like everybody says  "it was smaller than she thought it would be.". We toured the museum and shortly headed out. 

When we arrived at the hotel we unloaded the trailer and headed to Taco Johns. It was as good as I remembered.

We went back to the hotel and checked in.  Then we were off to see friends.  We went and visited Kerry first then Rusty.

Wasn't long and it was time to go downtown.  Crowds were gathering early.  Every Thursday night the town of Rapid City has their Summer Nights with two outdoor stages and food vendors. At 6 pm the band's started.  By the time half the cars were parked there was well over 6000 people there.  It was unreal!

So many of Darrin's family and our friends showed up! The crowd easily topped 10,000 by the end of the night.

The team showed up and they had a great day.  The team got their first ace.  But as Mallory noticed one of their scores was way off so she went to argue with the time keepers.  Not long after that Mallory came back with her second ace.

The girls were off to enjoy the music and their friends.  We hung out at the car and enjoyed the little time we had with our friends.

Darrin's parents came up from Nashville and met us on St. Joe street and we all went to dinner.  Got to spend a little bit of time with Kerry and Mary.

The team came in 32nd place overall and 15th place for the day with a time of 11.64 seconds.

Mallory said that she enjoyed seeing the buffalo and seeing the Black Hills.  The air went out on the convertible today.  That just sounds funny to me, they are in a convertible The trick is they would put wet towels on their knees and the air blowing on that would keep them cool.

Wednesday Evanston to Cheyenne

We saw the team off and, packed everything into the excursion traveled across the state of Wyoming.  As you can see by the hotel cart this is a feet to accomplish.  3 adults and two teenage girls sure can bring a lot of stuff with them.

We crossed the Continental Divide.  We made a steady climb in elevations that really effected our ears.  We saw cars running parallel to the interstate.  Made for some very interesting and cool photos. We tried to use a rest area but it was full of racers so we kept going.

When we got to the hotel in Cheyenne we unloaded. It took two trips cause the cart was small to fit in the elevator.  The hotel was built in 1910. 

While we unloaded the truck and got the suitcases to the rooms the bell man went across the street and stood in a parking spot for us.  It was awesome to have the spot right across the street.

One of the many cool features of the hotel was the elevator.  It was small so that a cowboy could not take his horse with him to his room.  He would have to leave his horse at the livery stable.

The hotel had great views of the sunset and the sunrise.  There were so many very cool things to look at in the historic Plans Hotel.  The mosaic at the front door.  The open entry with the wrap around balcony on the second floor.

Downtown Cheyenne was defiantly a old cowboy town.  The train station across the street from the hotel had been restored and housed a museum and a few little shops.

The finish line was right across the street from the hotel.
Darrin and I walked around a little bit. We then saw the Troubadour's arriving into town so we went over to where we were to park.  the problem was that the city had forgot to block off the parking lot that morning.

They took two or three tries at getting the big bus and trailer into the parking lot.

Then we sat in front of the hotel and ate cookies and watched people pull into town.  Was nice to rest a little.

About 5:30 we headed over to watch the cars arrive.  Ashley, Darrin and I went to over to the finish line. One by one the cars arrived. They parked and people came out to see the cars.

Cheyenne had a large crowd, the largest so far. It was fun to see all the people and to talk to them.  The town feed us dinner inside the depot.

Ashley and Scott were pleased with the day when they arrived.  They had a 29 second day and they were in 2nd place in the X-Cup division.



Ashley said that she had enjoyed a snowball fight in the mountains of Wyoming.   Scott said the car still gave them problems with what acted like a vapor lock.

The team is in 37th place over all and in 2nd place in the X-Cup division with a 29:10 second day.

Tuesday Elko to Evanston, WY

Morning came too quick! Breakfast was rushed. The team hurried to get across the street to get their instructions for the day.

Mallory drew a 98 for the order of leaving for Wednesday.

As a normal routine the girls clean the car and check under the hood.

They also go get instructions 30 minutes before the race and mark them up for the day.

Before we knew it they were off.  Shortly after as we were loading the luggage from the rooms Darrin got a phone call from Scott.  We rushed to the side of the interstate to fix a wire that had come loose on the speedo.

It was a long drive across the state of Nevada.

We drove through 47 miles of the Bonneville Salt Flats. I pulled over on the side of the interstate so Ashley and I could walk on the salt flats.

We each collected a little bit of the salt and clay from the flats.  We didn't have any plastic bags to put it in so we used the wrappers from the chocolate chip cookies the hotel had given us.

We saw the Great Salt Lake and drove through Salt Lake City.

We arrived in Evanston just a few hours before the team. 

Darrin got the excursion washed and I did laundry.  Ashley took a nap.

We headed to the finish line to wait for the car to come in.  Ashley and I went to get something to eat from the train depots Machine shop where they had food for us.

We stood by the fence for a long time waiting for the team to come in.  When you start in 98th position you are near the end to arrive.  Watching the last 30 or so cars to arrive in the sun felt good.
 
Finally the arrived.  They had broke down on the last leg. Cost them 2 minutes.  The way the scoring works that they throw away the worst leg of each day except the second to last day.

Scott found a survey flag and fabricated to jump the distributor. He was inspired by the story of the Thomas Flyer on the New York to Paris trip where they fabricated a bearing from melted tin and cast in sand.

Scott parked the car and Darrin went to work on it.  It was almost time to leave and Darrin and Peter needed to go get parts. 

I went to check out the round house and see if I could still ride the turn table.  It was exciting to get to drive it.  It took a few tries, but I eventually got the tracks to line up.

Mallory and Ashley enjoyed running the turn table.  Mallory got the tracks to line up on the first try.  They said that they would hire her on the spot back in the day.

Scott had a turn at the turn table as well.

The team had a time of 2:08.04 and came in 81st for the day and dropped to 38th place over all.  After the adjusting of the time they ended the day with 12:.12 second day.

Monday Trip to Elko, Nevada

The morning is just a rush.  Getting stuff together is hectic. We had breakfast. Rushing at the last minute to get all the stuff together seamed to be a theme.

At the last minute I jumped in the car.   Getting out of the parking lot is the hardest part. The directions were not clear.  You have to pay attention to where you came in the night before to know where to go to get out of the parking lot. Started of with calibration run.

The clock and speedo were very close so Scott and Ashley choose not to change anything.

We headed up the interstate for many intervals.
Scott and Ashley seemed pleased with the results.

There were a few difficulties with the starts.  At the roundabout start there was construction going on that made it difficult to get where they needed to be.

 After a fueling stop Scott pulled out of the gas station and headed to the start point going a little to fast and was pulled over and warned.

And at another start an over sized tractor trailer pulled up just as it was the teams turn to start.
Just before the lunch stop the car began to act up.  It spit and sputtered and lost speed.  I watched the panic hit both Scott and Ashley. They fell a spot and a half behind.

It became difficult for the car. Scott was turning off everything he could and pumping the gas. We were all praying that the car would make it to the top of the hill.  It did and the car started to run better as we went down hill.  It was amazing how quick the kicked into gear and started to figure out how to make up time lost.

The views from the little town of Austin, Nevada were stunning.  The hospitality was amazing.  The town showed up with smokers and girl scout cookies.

After leaving Austin it was clear why this route is called the lonleyest highway.  For miles upon miles you would not see another car.

One of the instructions said to change speed at a sign that said Elko 37.  We reached a mile sign and it read Elko 68. All our hearts sank because we were done with sitting in a car.

Finally arriving at the finish line was exciting.  Unfolding from the car was another story.

The team came in 72nd for the day because of a false start.  Their time was 1:40.88 today placing them at 35th place overall.

Sunday Sacramento to Reno

The team left at 9:38 am and arrived back at the finish line around 5:20 pm. We drove over Donner Pass. Crossing the mountains of northern California were breath taking.  We were very close to Lake Tahoe but didn't take the time to drive around it.

We pulled over to the side near the summit and took some pictures.


When we arrived at the hotel in Reno we got everything into the rooms and headed out to get parts for Tag and MaryBeth.  They were having some car troubles.

We decided to head to the finish line early and check out the National Automobile Museum.  We had a chance to walk around and see most of the cars before the teams started arriving.  

One car in particular caught my attention was the 1950 Porsche.  Reminded me of my childhood.  My parents would rally with that car and 5 of us in the back seat.

It was getting close to arrival time so we went outside to watch our team arrive.  Wasn't long and they were back. 

The Museum hosted dinner and drinks.  We ate among the cars in Galley 4.  That is the permanent home of the Thomas Flyer.  

We got to witness the unveiling of the Thomas Flyer.  A special treat for us because the great grandson of George Schuster, the driver of the historic race, Jeff Mahl was with us.

The Thomas Flyer is the 12th car to be inducted into the National Historic Automotive Registry. 

In the parking lot of the hotel many of the teams were fixing cars.  As the days go by more and more repair is needed on the cars.

The team came in with 21st place for the day with a time of 25.22 seconds and a solid second place in the X-Cup division.  Happy Fathers Day!

Saturday Great Race Start

The Great Race starts on Saturday in San Rafael's downtown.  This would be the first day of competition.  Getting the cooler ready and getting everything in the car that need to be in the car went well.

Darrin and I headed down to the start line ahead of the team. We watched as the cars arrived and were parked on the road.  The team had pictures taken with the X-Cup mentor, Jeff Mahl. 

It was an amazing site to see all the cars lined up over seven city blocks.  The amount of people that came out to see the cars off was cool.

The Sharps won the race last year so they were the first to leave.  Mallory got to draw a couple of days ago for the starting position.  They would start in that position for both the Trophy Run and the Race Start.

The team received their instructions the night before so they had plenty of time to mark them up.

Scott and Mallory went out alone the first day.
Ashley rode with us to our first stop in Old Sacramento.  We arrived early so we went to Old Sacramento and walked around the city. 
We stopped in for ice cream inn one of the little stores on the boardwalk.

We then walked a mile to the California Automobile Museum. They were closed for a private party but still let us in. Ashley and I had our picture taken in one of the cars.  Most of the cars in the collection were Fords.

It was cool to see a collection of cars.  There was a Quinceanera going on at the musuem.  It was cute to see all the little kids all dressed up in their formals.

After touring the cars we walked back to the finish line and waited for the team to arrive.

The first cars were due to arrive at 5:35 pm.  The team arrived with smiles on their faces. They felt as if it was a good day.  When they got their times they were pleased.

With a score of 25.22 and placing 21st for the day.

After each day the teams are required to leave their cars parked till 8 pm for the locals to view them.  We never really left the vicinity of our car until time to go.

Some teams stay with their cars and some go get dinner. 

Tuesday and Wednesday pre race

The last two days have been such a blur of activity.

Darrin had to fix the bearings and seals on the trailer.  Before leaving on the trip to California Darrin replaced the axles on the trailer, but his supervisor Mark would not let him replace the seals.  Didn't take long for them to start leaking.

So many of the teams are arriving.  We met Toshi from the Japan Team.  Scott made fun of Toshi's Mohawk.  Toshi is in his 70s and he told Scott that when Toshi gets excited his hair stand on end.  We would come to know Toshi well.

As vehicles were unloaded from the Reliable trucks it would be the first time to get to see the Leslie Special and the Hanibal 8 for me.  It was cool to get that close to them and to get to know the owners of them as well

The host hotel had a reception and that was fun. We hung out with several of the drivers at the hotel.  Joe the Plummer and Corky Coker were at the reception.  Joe is part of the Wondering Troubadours of Finland.  The WTF guys.

Tuesday evening Mallory and I went to get Ashley at the airport.  When we got to the airport I tried to park in the parking garage but the excursion was to tall.  I had to drive over the sidewalk to get out of the garage and drive completely out of the airport and back in to where the departing parking was in order to park.  When I got to where I needed to be i ask the Valet guy for help and he asked me if I was driving the titanic.


On the way back we saw someone run a red light and the camera flash went off.

Mallory said you know you ran a red light.  Yep I sure did.

Wednesday we met Jeff Mahl and took some photos.  Jeff was excited about all the X-Cup teams.  He invited us to the x-cup rookie meeting and said we didn't need to stay but wanted us to meet the other teams.

Wednesday we went to Muir Woods National Monument. The drive up to the top of the mountains was amazing.  Darrin and I rode in the 64 and half and Mallory and Ashley drove in the Excursion.  The roads were very winding and a lot of switch backs.  I thought to myself, These roads have to be freaking Mallory out in that great big truck.

 We walked up the trail about a mile.  We had a limited amount of time to tour today.  The redwoods were amazing and very tall.  The quietness of the forest in the middle of noisy California was striking to me.

After seeing the redwoods we headed back to the hotel and to get something quick to eat.

We all got ready to go and waited in the hotel lobby for the bus to come to take us downtown for the movie.

Tonight we had the special treat of watching the movie "The Great Race" starring Toni Curtis, Jack Lemon and Natalie Wood.  The move had be filmed in 1965 and this was the 50th Anniversary.  It was awesome to get to watch the movie in the historic San Rafael Theater.

Before the show the Leslie Special and the Hanibal 8 were parked out front.  There were costumed characters playing the parts of Leslie and the professor..

The movie was so funny but I was so tired that I could not keep my eyes open.  So when intermission came we never went back into the theater.