Day 4 TSD Hell, well, Heck anyway.

I had a good breakfast of brown toast, eggs and sausage this morning at the Yukon Inn in Whitehorse. Class act that they are, the Keatleys picked up the tab for both Doug and I this morning. I think that was so when they thouroughly trounced us at both the days TSD and at the Ice Race, that we'd still have to be nice to them! Also, they are truly two great guys.

The entire rally was granted a late checkout from the Yukon Inn, which allowed the uber-competitive teams to leave all of their excess gear in the hotel so it wouldn't weigh them down for the ice race. In contrast, we pulled out our cooler, so it wouldn't slide back and forth.

The TSD today was a dead-turn around. Early on the first half, we missed a turn, and Doug had to scramble to get the car back on course. I estimated that we'd been off course for .2 miles, and had to add that to all of the subsequent time hacks in the excel sheet. Doug's spirited driving got us back on course, though our scores on the way end suffered from the odo being off to our time, giving us 42 points on the first half. After the turn around, and re-zeroing our odometer, we only picked up 5 points on the way out, including our first zero!!! Letting the wind out of our sails was car #26, Keatley/Keatly, who netted 5 zeros, and only picked up 5 points total on the remaining 3 controls!

After the TSD, we transited to the Ice Race, which Doug will post about. I will however, insert this gratuitous picture of yours truly going for the gold. Many thanks to Jeff Z. of Team Mitsubishi for taking some absolutely kick-ass photos of us at the Ice Race!!!!1



After leaving the Ice Race, we headed back to the hotel to pick up the rest of our gear and check out. We hit the car wash, (though you can hardly tell now!) We picked up some food to go and headed out on the Alcan Highway. Soon we turned onto the Klondike Highway, and headed for Dawson City.


We stopped at the Pelly River Bridge so Stevan and Kristin could refuel, but there was no premium available for their WRX, so we pressed on to Stewart Crossing. I was convinced we'd seen the last of premium until we got back to Whitehorse. I was wrong, and the gas station was damn proud of their premium gas: $5.70 a gallon. While they were fueling up, I noticed something familiar in the snow by the pumps...


Lots of Western Star, Sterlings and Freightliners running around up here. I've even run across a couple Trimac Trans trucks. Didn't get a chance to see if they had a 478 module or not.

Tomorrow, from South to North on the Dempster Highway: Eagle Plains (mile 256,) The Arctic Circle (mile 280,) and Inuvik (mile 486,) the largest Canadian town above the Arctic Circle at 3500. No TSDs or Ice Races, just an easy 500 miles...

-Bill