Day 9, Stage 9 (Don't forget to check out Day 10, below, as we have our "day off" in Westminster.)
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Hotel: Westin
Weather: AM cool and mostly cloudy with scattered showers; PM warmer and mostly sunny but with scattered thunderstorms and hail.

This was our longest day so far, covering more than 430 miles. We had four very long legs and our score was a somewhat disappointing 32 seconds, disappointing because of problems we had on the last leg. We began with 7 seconds on the first leg, followed by a 3-second leg, then 1 second on the third leg. The fourth leg was going very well until we noticed this large mass in the road ahead of us. As we got closer, we realized it was two massive farm combines that stretched completely across the road. We had to nearly stop, and then wait while they maneuvered off the road enough to allow us to pass. My navigator was keeping track of time lost and when we finally got past the combines, we elected to make up the lost time rather than request a time delay. So we did - made up about 28 seconds which Dawn thought we had lost. Trouble was that the actual delay must have been much less than that because we were 21 seconds early on that leg. So the 32 seconds cost us a little more ground. We dropped one place in ranking overall to 36th.

Day 10, Off-day
Monday, July 4, 2005
Hotel: Westin
Weather: Beautiful, sunny, in the 80s

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!

This hotel is very grand and is located in a gorgeous setting. It is nestled at the foothills of the Rockies and the view of the mountains from our room is magnificent. We are all very happy to be spending an extra day here.

This day off is very, very welcome to allow us to give the cars some much needed TLC and for us to recover physically. However, most of the crews are still very busy, servicing the cars and taking care of personal items such as laundry. Darin and I spent most of the day on the car while Dawn took care of the laundry. The photos show an overview of the maintenance area as well as some typical shots of crews in action.

Darin helped me with the work we needed to do on our racer. We changed spark plugs, points and condenser and reset dwell and timing. Hopefully, this will solve the misfiring problem we have been having. In addition, we removed and replaced the exhaust manifold to replace the gasket which had blown out and was causing a lot of extra noise. This work pretty much took care of most of our holiday

The maintenance area as seen from our hotel

This evening, the Great Race entourage gathered for a buffet dinner and a good time of impromptu entertainment that was very enjoyable. Among other things, certain staff and competitors were grabbed at random for a can-can contest. Although I tried to hide under the table, they managed to drag me up as part of the team of race contestants. We competed against a team of X-cuppers (the high school teams) and a team composed of Great Race staff. I am happy to report that the team I was on won. Our prize was an award of zero extra seconds on our score tomorrow as well as the designation of "Champion Can-Can Dancing Team for Great Race 2005". Dawn managed to catch the action by cell phone image which she delighted in sending to family. Later in the program, a special tribute was made to all the veterans in the group.

The Championship Can-Can Team!!!

After it was dark, we were treated to a fantastic fireworks display from the park immediately adjacent to the hotel.

Tomorrow, it is back to the race as we head into the Rockies and the most challenging portion of the route. Hopefully, we will avoid the snow, sleet and hail we have seen on past trips through this area.

Tommy's "Sweep Truck" trailer with his latest haul!!!