Day 15 - Rapid City South Dakota to Sheridan Wyoming, 423kms

I may have seen this yesterday but Peter had not so we stopped off for a few more pics as we left Rapidy City.

A great mornings drive leaving Rapidy City and taking the Needles Highway through Custer State Park,   a different route tha we took yesterday so lots of new sights to enjoy, the Park has 72,000 acres so I guess it would take some time to cover all the routes available. The needles are rock formations that are like giant stalagmites lining the route,pretty impressive with a very tight and winding road that leads you through this section of the park.

Spectacular views today as we finish our trip in South Dakota and make our way into Wyoming. Kim Bannester ( Rally Route Planner) once again has come up with the most outstanding route taking us off the main roads and leading us down wonderful gravel roads leaving the hustle of the highways behind us.

Two good regularity tests today with three timing sections in one and a start and finish on the other - we came in 3 seconds closer to Phil and Kieron in the lead car so closing the gap nicely each day, fingers crossed we have another good day tomorrow.

Day 14 - Rest Day in Rapid City

A nice leisurely breakfast and then boys worked on the cars and the girls meet in the laundry room!

I organised a big 4x4 truck for the day so a group of us could go and visit the parks and monuments in the area in comfort and cool! We had a fab day visiting Mount Rushmore, the crazy horse memorial and Custer state park. 

Peter was not able to join us as he stayed back to help Martin with his Bently after a bit of an incident during the mornings work! A bit of help from a welding shop and the Bently was back on the road again.

Tonight a gang of us went to a fantastic resturant for supper Fuji steak house and suchi bar - the food was excellent and the entertainment of the cooking show a real hoot - lots of laughter and wine as usual, not really the best plan when we have another full day back on the road tomorrow!

Day 13 - Bismarck to Rapid City South Dakota 581kms

Fantastic scenery as we left Bismarck on route to Rapid City South Dakota, very quickly we were off the Tarmac and back on gravel roads for 100kms or so before returning to Tarmac for the rest of the day.

The mornings TS  came within the first half hour of the day, a relatively simple stretch with two intermediate timing points. We got a 2/2/1 and found out later down the road that Phil and Kieron had done the same so no change to the leader board for today.

Coffee and Fuel in South Dakota in the very small town of Isabel, having been travelling on long straight roads with little to no tree cover the girls were pleased to use the facilities. This tiny little village which would have had a population of hardly 300 people was a welcome break and we were able to buy fresh coffee and homemade buns and pies in the little fuel station - the owners were very pleased to see us and said it was the most excitement they had seen in the village for some time.

Another 80 kms down long straight roads cutting through the prairie land we arrived in Faith for a TC, lunch could be purchased here but did not look that appertizing so we made the decision to press on and snack on nuts we had purchased earlier in the trip for such days. 180kms more and we would arrive in Deadwood so I was quite happy to get there and spend a little time before moving on to tonight's stop and a days stopover in Rapid City.

The long drive over these very straight roads led to navigational narcalepsey so Peter had to give me a nudge when approaching a turn to get the next instruction.

We eventually arrive in "Deadwood" where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hicock made their fame. We clocked out at the final control of the day and then were able to look around the museum and local area before making our way to Rapid City for the next two nights.

Day 12 - Grand Forks to Bismarck 437kms

Another wet and chilly start to the day this morning - and yet another appalling buffet breakfast! This has now become a bit of a pattern over the past few days and is causing a lot of upset in the competitors camp, especially when the previous nights meal was not that good!  - the U.S tourism trade is doing its self no favours here! Cold, green scrambled egg, greasy bacon and a shrivelled finger (sausage) are not the best way to start your day.

Lots more gravel roads today leading us further west, staying in the state of North Dakota for tonight's stop over in Bismarck.

We only had one regularity section to complete today, but with three timing points! this was always going to shake things up a little. Yesterday had turned out a bit of a mess with people's timings all over the shop so again a chance was given for compeditors to recalibrate once more. We were fine so no need for readjustment  to our Brantz.

The Regularity..... 

We started off really well and found ourselves arriving at the first TP - bang on (or so we thought) second TP fantastic! bang on again (or so we thought) then came the navigator Cock-Up!!!!!! - stopped the stop watch at this point so had no time to follow to the final TP some 6kms down the track - we now needed luck on our side!!!!

I was seriously peed off with myself but just had to sit back and hope that Peter could feel his way - I was now,about as much use as a cuckoo clock with out its cuckoo!

We made our way to the end of the regularity where the ideal times had been posted to find we had in fact pulled off a miracle, coming in only 2 seconds adrift on ideal time at the last TP, zeroed the one befor and lost 1 second on the first - 3 seconds in total, not too shabby.

We then had another 160 kms to travel to our over night in Bismark and a boat trip out on the Missoroi river. 

On arrival at our hotel we decided a good walk was required, sitting in the car for hours each day and not having the healthiest of diets, we needed to move. Bismarck would seem to be the medical hub of the area, as we walked around block upon block was filled with medical units for every consevable ailment from pediotary to brain injury.  

After our walk we made the joint decision not to go on the boat trip but stay and have a quiet and early night! this plan soon failed as we decided on one quick drink in the bar would be a nice idea before we retired to our room - fellow crews came and went and we finally left the bar some 4 hours later, so much for our early night!

Checking the notice board before bed we were pleased to have closed our gap on the leaders and now are only 16 seconds behind.

Day 11 - Duluth Minnesota to Grand Forks North Dakota 591kms

A wet start to the day but this soon cleared up and although cloudy the sun did manage to peep through, eventually!

We travelled approximately 329km to our lunch stop in Park Rapids - driving in the main on graded gravel and dirt roads in an area know as Land O'Lakes Forest, having seen no wild life up until now I really had hoped today would be a little different but other than the occasional large deer, there was nothing. Where are all these moose we are warned of?

Still the scenery was lovely and it was nice to be travelling off the beaten track, passing lots of small lakes and down beautiful leafy lanes. Five passage controls manned and unmanned marked our route just to be sure no one tried to take a short cut - penalties would be given if so.

Lunch stop - West Forty in Park Rapids, a quirky little road house filled with tractor memorabilia.

After lunch we had two regularities in close succession the first we think we zeroed but the second showed we were 5 seconds late!!! We did not agree with this so will need to talk to the marshals tonight to question the results, we have been no more than 2 seconds out since recalibration on day two so feel there has to have been an error somewhere.

A marshal avoiding the Mosquitos 

Leaving the gravel tracks and trees behind us after the regularities we found our selves out in wide open farm land which for a short time had lovely undulating curves with fantastic sweeping roads carved through the middle, this very quickly returned to the wide open plans with few trees and with the occasional heard of very healthy looking cattle grazing in the sunshine.

The rest of the trip to Grand Forks was pretty uneventful and arriving at the hotel we could see things were not about to change so after a few drinks in the bar with friends we decided to eat alone and have an early night.

Checking the board before we retired - still holding 2nd place but having given a second back to Car 27, well done boys you are holding us at arms length.

Tomorrow is another day, let's see what can be done.

Big Sky!!!!!

Day 10 - St Ignace Michigan to Duluth Minnesota 711kms

JA very exciting first stage only 20 mins into the day a 12 k run with two timing points meaning you need to stop and get your card stamped at a mid point then try and make up time to the last point all very exciting! We knew we arrived at the last point 1 second late but had no idea of the ideal time at the mid way point so we needed to wait until the luch stop to find out!!!!

Another beautiful day today driving along side of lakes and in amongst the trees - some people are now finding the trees and water a bit of a bore, but I love it! Not that I get to much time to enjoy the views when my head is in my lap looking for most of the day looking at route amendments,timings and tulips as well as writing notes for the blog on route! A navigators work is never ending.

The second and final TS of the day came just before our lunch stop at Sydney's Restaurant Munising.

Wow!  ERA have really come up trumps today with two cracking regularities to add a bit of excitement to our very long days driving. The second regularity - Creighton Truck Trail - the best! 

Even before the start, all the cars had to navigate a deep mud filled hole which lead to much hilarity and heroics not only from the cars and their passengers but also our intrepid field photographer Gerard Brown.

Like the first regularity this too had an intermediate timing point and pretty rough sand to negotiate which made the second party really tricky to make up,the time! We should have done better but none the less were chuffed with our results - 1 second late  & 3 seconds early.

At the lunch stop there was a real buzz from the mornings activities and having checked out the results from our  lead competition Phil and Kieron Car 27, it looks like we may have had a result!!!  But we won't know for sure until the board is checked  later tonight - our feeling is that we have made a big inpacked on their 23 second lead!!!!

The rest of the day has been quiet in comparison - very long endless roads leading us to our stop over in Duluth, driving along the southern side of Lake Superior.

Some interesting facts...... 

Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world and holds 10% of the worlds fresh water.

The Results.....

After all the excitement and the boys in Car 27 playing their best poker face, we only managed to gain 3 second on their lead - now running 20 seconds behind them.

Day 9 - Bay City to St Ignace 429kms

We woke to a much better day than yesterday, the sun was shining and the tempature warm. A packed day ahead of us with 3 test sections to complete. 

Three pages of amendments handed out at the start of the day so pencil cases out atthe breakfast table to adjust today's route book where required!

Last nights monster party went down well and everyone was in high spirits this morning recalling the amazing effort people went to with their costumes - masks off to Jo and David Roberts Car 17 for winning best costume prize, it amazing what can be achieved with a roll of electrical tape a pair of stockings and a high viz waist coat!

First part of today took us along a net work of Tarmac and slushy sand tracks  in and around the Au Sable State Forest to find two passage controls we then entered the Huron National Forest for the first timed section of the day at Liberty Road. Every thing looks so much better when the sunshines! and after yesterday's wash out it was just what was needed.

We then had a rather long lunch stop in Atlanta, giving the crews time to drive ahead and set up the next few tests of the day - two more regularities in Mackinaw State Forest and then a fun two laps of a speedway circuit to end the days test.

We have been nice and close on the regularities today only dropping a second on each test so really pleased with that and it look like we had fastest time on the speedway - Phil and Keiron Car 27 are still holding us at bay and it looks like we may still be 22 seconds behind - we will see tonight once results are in. We are however putting a bit more distance between us and the cars behind.

After the speedway track at Onaway we make our way to the banks of Lake Huron on our way to tonight's hotel Harbourpoint Hotel St Ignace over looking the lake. To do this we first have to cross the Mackinaw Bridge which separates Lake Huron and Lake Michigan