MissHathawaysGreatRace

Sunday, July 2, 2023, The finally

The morning was absolutely stunning, bright blue skies with puffy white clouds, and green mountains with snow drizzling down the top of Pikes Peak. The air was crisp with a breeze. It was starting out to be a great day.

We left the Antler’s hotel in downtown Colorado Springs and headed north about a half hour. The scenery was stunning. To the east we could see a mountain with beautiful red rock formations at the top. In the distance was a butte, to the west was Pikes Peak and the mountains on either side of the peak. We were surrounded by Nature’s beauty.

We were on the watch so we had to focus and not let our surroundings distract us.

After the thirty minute drive north we headed west into the hills. We wound around the hills, there were people everywhere, but the traffics seemed to stay out of our way. We were focused on holding speed and not missing a direction.

At one point we turned into a housing tract. We climbed up a hill, and when we crested the top, the views were breathtaking. There were red rocks jetting out of the earth with greenery surrounding the rocks, and mountains behind them. The houses in the neighborhood backed up to the views. Straight below was a little lake filled with kayakers.

We took a moment to enjoy the sights, and quickly returned to the task at hand. We wanted to run a clean day!

We ran through the shortened course, and felt like we had a really clean day. Right after crossing the last check point, a truck with a hailer and flashing lights was directing us to move off the road. Three hundred or so motorcycles passed by us. That could have been disastrous, we felt so lucky to have finished just in time.

After being off the clock we were directed to The Garden of the Gods.

The traffic was crazy, the long 4th of July weekend and beautiful weather brought everyone to the Garden. Despite the crowds and traffic, it was well worth the slow speed traverse through the park.

If you know Brad you know he is good at multi-tasking. We had a little time to spare before the finish, so we went and did a little real estate investigating. We looked at a property near the finish. After a short stop at the property, we headed for the finish.

We ended the day on Tejon Street in downtown Colorado Springs. The race‘s motto is “To finish is to win”. We finished and were thrilled we made it the 2300 miles from St. Augustine to Colorado Springs in Jane. She maybe another year older, but she ran perfectly.

The endurance part of the rally is taken for granted. We spoke to several of our friends who were not as lucky. After fighting mechanical issues, 3 of our friends could not finish. We had 2 friends that were in accidents, and fortunately were not injured. We also have friend who ended up with altitude sickness, they were also forced to sit out. The race started with 123 teams and 102 racers completed the rally.

In the late afternoon we had a winners ceremony. There are 5 classes in the rally and each class has a winner, and there is an overall winner.

In the midst of the presentation, it started raining. They had announced the X-cup (College age and younger participants) division winners, and a huge wind blew the finishing gate over. The race MCs didn’t skip a beat. The blow up arch was quickly moved by racers and staff and they continued on.

Howard Sharp and his son Doug won their fourth race. They have been running for more than 20 years. They drive a 1916 Hudson Hill Climber.

We had an awards dinner and ceremony where they presented the other winners. The awards are given to 5th place in class, and 10th place over all.

Although we didn’t finish in the top 10 this year, we were thrilled to be able to compete and finish. Brad is still struggling with back issues, and sitting for 10 days in a car was a major concern.

We have mentioned our sponsors throughout the race. We are so grateful to both McCollister’s and their team, and our friends at Mustang Country. We would like to add one more person who really made this possible, our doctor. Dr. Joe Zappala, rehabilitated Brad and I for the past nine months. Brad herniated a disc in early September, and I had 3 tears in my shoulder.

Thank you Dr. Z!!! We made it through and finished feeling strong!

Thank you also to the race director Jeff Stumb and his team from Coker Tires. We have enjoyed seeing this beautiful country over the past eight years.

We also need to mention John Clausen. John lays out the course every year, and typically drives it 3 times before the race. John has had some health issues this year, but fought on, and directed his crew of 50 volunteers from behind the scenes. Thank you for the challenging and incredible rally.

Last but not least, thank you for continuing to follow us on our journey. We appreciate the comments and support. We look forward to another rally next year from Kentucky to Maine.

Championship Day

Today is a little more stressful than the previous 7 days. Championship Day means you are no longer allowed to throw out any bad legs. Every mistake sticks with your score from here on out.

The nervous energy was palpable. People were walking off their nerves as they waited for their daily instructions. Other people were flogging on their cars all morning. Changing tires, making adjustments for altitude, and some just trying to get their car running.

We were on the highway right out of the blocks and heading northwest toward Lamar, CO. We drove through the heartland with cattle and horses in abundance.

We passed through a town called Oskaloosa, Kansas. I read a sign as we passed through that said “1887 First All Women City Council”. Women were not allowed to vote in the United States until 1920. This was an anomaly.

We continued our way west, and I thought about all the people before us who passed through this harsh environment. You could see remanence of tornadoes. The piles of debris littered fields, and baron trees with no leaves or bark stood lifeless.

We reached Lamar, Colorado in the early afternoon. Their was a nice crowd of locals at the train depot. Lamar is located on the Santa Fe Trail and Arkansas River. The locals say “Lamar is the middle of everywhere”

We headed west through bronco country. The afternoon was beautiful with puffy white clouds and clear blue skies. The elevation started rising and the air drying out. We saw wild flowers in the fields and lining the roads. There were daisies and mustard. The mustard made the fields look like green velvet. The scenery was changing with mountains in the distance.

We were looking forward to the higher elevations. It is cooler and easier on the cars. Jane is set up mechanically for this type of terrain, and ran like a champ.

We ended the day in Pueblo, Colorado. Located on the Arkansas River, Pueblo has a darling downtown river walk much like San Antonio, Texas. The downtown area is charming and colorful. We finished the day in front of the train station.

We had a little further to drive after dinner. We headed north toward Colorado Springs. As we came into town, we saw the Olympic Training facility and Pike’s Peak ahead.

We finished another day, and we are grateful to our sponsors. We would not be here if it weren’t for you. McCollister’s you give us the feeling of security knowing you are following us, and that Jane is in good hands when we need you. Mustang Country, your attention to detail has allowed Jane to make it this far! Many thanks!

The morning was warm when we started, but nothing like the day before. I think most people recovered from their dehydration and over heating, and their cars were also back on the road.

Our friends and mentors JeanAnn and Gary Martin have been fighting electrical issues on their 32 Ford for the last few days, and this morning was no different. They had changed every electrical element on the car, and the only thing left was the battery. We ride with an extra battery, and gladly shared it with them. They help us everyday, and we are always trying to give back. This was our opportunity! The battery seemed to do the job.

The morning started off with traffic which makes Brad’s job navigating a little more difficult. He has a math formula he uses to calculate our speed losses and it changes when we have to start and restart in traffic. We made it through the morning commuters, and finished our run. Again, we were driving through tall fields of corn. We ran in circles around the corn fields and farms, and then headed for the Brit Spaugh Park and Zoo.

As we were driving toward the zoo, the first thing I spotted was a bird aviary. I didn’t really know where we were headed, and I told Brad I had just seen it. He said this must be where we were going.

We arrived at the zoo to a nice crowd of people. They offered us hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. We typically will pass on the food and just grab cold waters. Brad and I sustain ourselves on protein bars. We don’t want to be too full and tired in the afternoon.

Today proved that practice to be a good one. We ran at 50 miles per hour for about five hours. There were very few instructions. The only directions came when we went through small towns where we would lower our speed and then continue right back out to 50mph.

We were in west Kansas, and if you wonder where Kansas steaks come from, they are here. The end of the day we saw and smelled the lovely aroma of feed lots.

We finished the day in Garden City, KS. There was a large car show and crowd, it had a very festive feel.

The evening was cut a little short as the wind picked up and the skies darkened. Thunderstorms were heading our way. We all scurried to our cars, and quickly headed to our prospective hotels. We prepped the cars for the night and prayed we didn’t have the golf ball sized hail they were predicting.

We lucked out again, the storm went to the north of us, and our cars were protected.

We want to wish Anna Hardcastle a Happy Birthday!🎈🎉🎂

Last but not least, thank you to our sponsors, McCollister’s for your continued support of our team and The Great Race. Mustang Country, Jane will need you when we return, but she is hanging tough through the heat. Thank you for your support!

It is hard to believe we have completed 5 days. They are all different, but also start running together.

We started the morning in Russellville, and headed Northwest toward Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We were on the interstate for our speedometer calibration, and then before we could blink, we were in the Ozark’s National Forest.

We weaved around the mountain roads, and the morning started off with fun driving, and the need for strong navigational skills. We continued across the mountains and ended up in Eureka Springs.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is such an interesting little town. It is in the Ozark Mountains, and built around a spring. The buildings are built in the Victorian style, the town is like nothing we have seen before. Many of the buildings look like they were built straight into the mountain. The town was best known for the springs, but now has lots to offer visitors and residents. There is an eclectic and artistic feel to the colorful downtown area. The town was founded in 1879, and quickly grew to a population of 10,000. Today it remains a popular tourist destination.

We stopped for lunch, and noticed an unusual noise coming from Jane. She was running great, but just at idol she was making a clicking noise. We still aren’t sure what it is, but she kept running perfectly the rest of the afternoon.

We had more hilly, curvy roads, and worked our way toward Joplin, MO. Joplin is no stranger to the Great Race or Brad and me. We have done several rallies here, and the Great Race has come through here several times. It is nice to be in a town where you know where you are, and how to navigate the roads.

After a long hard day, our scores were not so pretty. However, we keep it in perspective. We are here enjoying ourselves and doing something we love.

We were also excited our friend Mallory Henderson and her boyfriend Jack won the day with an incredible score of 3 seconds.

Thank you McCollister’s for following the race. We appreciate knowing you are behind us!!!

Thank you Mustang Country, Jane keeps on moving down the road.

Great Race Day 3 was from Birmingham to Memphis. We started the day in downtown Birmingham, and quickly were on the interstate heading towards Tupelo, Mississippi.

We drove around the farmlands and back roads of Alabama and Mississippi. The lush green countryside is still a sight of beauty. Corn and peanuts fill the fields, tractors, farm implements and trucks are occasionally spotted on the roads. As well as a speeding rally car that may have missed a turn.

Tupelo, Mississippi is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. We headed there for our lunch break. Before going to the lunch stop, we toured around the the home he grew up in.

We had lunch in Tupelo at an aquatic center outside of town, and then headed toward Memphis. We are not only on The Great Race, but a little Southern college tour. We have touched on several cities and towns with major universities. Today we drove through Oxford, Mississippi, home of Ole Miss.

We ended the day at Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee. We drove down Elvis Presley Boulevard and saw The LisaMarie, Elvis’s airplane sitting across the street from Graceland.

When we arrived our friends Jane and Sherald Buras greeted us at the finish. We met Jane and Sherald on our first Great Race, and they have stopped participating in the rally, but have met us several times over the past 8 years. We spent the evening catching up and watching baseball.

Thank you Jane and Sherald! We appreciate you making the effort and drive to see us.

Great Race Day 4 Memphis, Tennessee to Russellville, Arkansas: We wake up early every morning to make sure we were prepared for the day. We have a ritual we go through which includes packing the car, making sure the air pressure in the tires are correct, and if we did not fuel up the night before, fill the gas tank. This morning was no different.

After our preparation, we wait for the daily course instructions. We are given an exact time to pick up the packet, and part of Brad’s navigation duties are to pick up the instructions. We make sure the packet is complete, and jump on the road.

This morning we headed up Elvis Presley Blvd. toward the interstate. We drove West toward Arkansas and crossed the Mississippi River. We continued on, and crossed the Arkansas River. As we drove deeper into Arkansas, we were out of the cities and towns, and driving the back roads. We came upon wooded marshes and bogs. We were heading to North Little Rock for lunch.

After a quick lunch break, we headed toward Russellville. The sky started turning a dark gray. We were concerned because it is hard to see and challenging to brake hard when the roads are wet and slick.

We had a little luck today, it didn’t rain too hard. The afternoon was full of speed changes as we drove through the Petit Jean mountains.

We stopped at The Classic Car Museum in the middle of the mountains. We stopped and asked one of the volunteers how the museum ended up in the middle of the mountains. He told us that Rockefeller loved the Petit Jean Mountains, and purchased much of the mountain.

Rockefeller was a car guy, and built the building in 1964 to store his cars. After he died, the building was given to the state and the museum was started.

After our brief visit to the museum we headed back down the mountain. It was a twisting and turning drive at speeds of 15 and 20 miles per hour. The brakes were surely tested on automatic transmission cars.

Janes held up great, and we finished the rally in Russellville, Arkansas. Russellville is a city of about 30,000 people. We had a nice turn out for a Tuesday night.

We receive our daily scores at the end of everyday. Today we were thrilled with our scores. We had 7 seconds for the day with 6 check points. We knew it was a great score for us.

We mulled around the town for a while and headed to dinner. We were finishing dinner when Brad received a phone call.

The race director, Jeff Stumb, asked Brad to come to our car. We skipped out on dinner, and headed back to Jane.

Our scores were the best of the field, and we won the day.

Thank you to Mustang Country, Jane is running like a champ. We couldn’t do this well without a smooth running car.

Thank you McCollister’s we appreciate your sponsorship and support!

We started the morning in Tifton, Georgia, the air was warm and the skies mostly sunny. We were looking forward to covering more county, and seeing more of the South. The trees continued to line the roads. Some are full of blossoms including the magnolias, and the huge oaks with Spanish Moss and pine trees are everywhere.

We love the small towns we drive through. The patriotism in these towns stands out. The houses all fly American flags, but one town really stood out. The flags lined the roads for miles. The little tow is called Sylvester, Georgia really stood out. I didn’t have a chance to take a picture, but it really made an impression on me

We continued to make our way to Auburn. We were all given Auburn stickers for our technical inspection completion. We were told by the director of the rally we all needed them on our windshield. There were a few competitors who thought that was a bad idea, but acquiesced. Jeff Stumb the race director is an alumni of Auburn. There are also two of our friends who are participating in the rally who graduated from Auburn, Mallory Henderson and her boyfriend and driver Jack.

After sharing a slice of pizza, Brad and I headed outside to walk around a little. As we were heading back to the car, we saw the Auburn Eagle, “Tiger”. We took our picture with Tiger, and then we were back on the road.

After lunch we continued North West toward Birmingham. The day warmed up as did the humidity. We were hearing buzz about a big storm coming our way, but fortunately it passed below us. We made our way across the hills through winding two lane roads with pine trees sky rocketing up on either side.

We crossed over Lake Martin, in Coosa County, Alabama. We watched boaters motoring around the lake. We could see big beautiful houses lining the lake’s edge. The lake has 750 miles of shoreline and goes through three counties. It is reminiscent of Lake of the Ozark’s.

We came into Birmingham late in the day. There was a football game being played in the stadium in downtown where we were finishing. We parked directly in front of the stadium and fireworks went off as they finished the National Anthem.

People were mulling around enjoying the cars and festivities from the football game. We came across a character who had a mischievous macaw parrot. The birds name is King Skittles. He sat on my shoulder, and immediately decided he wanted my earring. We had a little fun with the bird and his owner.

It was a long day, and we finished strong. It is only day two, and we have many more miles to cover. The adventure continues on, and Jane keeps us rolling.

Thank you McCollister’s for following along and supporting our hobby. Thank you Mustang Country for keeping Jane in tip top shape.

Last but not least Happy Birthday to our friends Calli Knowles and Kevin Campbell🎂🎈🎂🎈🎂🎈🎂

Today, Saturday, June 24th, 2023 we started our 8th Great Race in St. Augustine, Florida. We started early at the resort at the World Golf Hall of Fame. The 127 cars caravanned down through old town St. Augustine to Francis Field. The field was full of locals and race teams anxiously awaiting the official start.

There is always pomp and circumstance the first day including a prayer for the participants and singing of the national anthem.

We were fortunate to have a beautiful morning with a nice breeze at the start. We visited with spectators and friends, and enjoyed the morning.

Curtis Graff is a friend and participant in the Great Race. He has participated in every Great Race since 1984. He is a great driver and competitor. Robert Dinges in the photo above is his navigator. Curtis has won the rally several times in the past. He is not only a fierce competitor, but a friend to everyone on the rally.

Esther and her husband Roger Shacket have participated over the past 15 years. They competed for many years, but now are the only team who are in the touring class. They drive their 1957 Chevy Bel Air, and are very much a part of the rally, but no longer compete.

Each day we calibrate our speedometers. We do this by driving a set speed and running a stopwatch as we drive. We are given certain signs and times to be at each point. After running about 25 miles we figure out how much to adjust our speedometers.

Today, we hit traffic as we started our calibration run. We were unable to do a portion of it, but were fortunate to have traffic lighten up, and still have enough data to calibrate the speedometer. This is important in keeping time on long stretches of driving at higher speeds. If you are not calibrated correctly, you can gain or lose time over long periods of driving.

We drove for miles today at 45 and 50 miles per hour. We were flanked by groves of pine trees and other thick forested areas. The roads were straight and you could see for miles. Horse farms, cattle ranches and other agricultural farms were also on the terrain we covered.

When we finished the day we were in Tifton, Georgia. A small agricultural town of about 17,000 people in the southern central part of the state. We were here six years ago, and they greeted us with the same enthusiasm. They had a live band and a delicious dinner of Chicken, pork chops. We also indulged in a little birthday cake.

We are so grateful to Susan Stone who has given Brad a Birthday cake every year. We love celebrating with Sawyer and your entire family!

Sawyer, Happy 30th Birthday! Twenty one years of celebrating your birthday on the Great Race is an incredible accomplishment. We hope to celebrate many more with you.

Thank you again to our sponsors McCollister’s. Not only do they deliver our cars safely, but they have a sweeper truck for those of us who are not so lucky. Billy and Ronnie run at the end of the race daily, and will pick up any car that has an issue.

We also want to thank Mustang Country, Jane had another great day and so did we!

Here we are again, starting another adventure in our 1966 Ford Mustang. As many of you know we call our Mustang Jane. Jane was given her name from the secretary on the TV series, the Beverly Hill Billies.

This year we are starting the Great Race in St Augustine, Florida. We arrived here on Monday to give ourselves a little time to acclimate to the time. Arriving early also gave us the opportunity to see what the oldest city in the United States had to offer.

Before exploring this beautiful golf Mecca, and vacation paradise, we met up with Jane and the crew from McCollister’s Global Shipping. We were excited to see they had made it. Jane sat in a museum in Auburn, Indiana for the past month. The McCollister’s team is fantastic, they were not only in touch with us regularly, they sent pictures of Jane to let us know all was good. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to thank our sponsors, and for a picture with the team that delivered most of the 130 cars participating in this year’s rally.

Thank you McCollister’s for being a sponsor of our team and the Great. You can follow McCollister’s at #mccollistersglobalshipping and Casper #AdventuresofCasperandWendy

After taking care of a few administrative tasks, we ventured into the old part of St. Augustine with our dear friend JeanAnn and Gary. Jean Ann and Gary may have been in every city in the US. Everywhere we go on the Great Race, they know the city, and share the highlights. They gave us the tour of the historic sites in St. Augustine.

Aside from a very interesting and historical past, St Augustine has miles of beautiful beaches. St. Augustine is located on Anastasia island in the Northeastern part of the state. The area like so many southern states is seeing an explosion of development, but still holds on to its Spanish history and roots.

It is maybe best known as the oldest city, but also known for “The Fountain of Youth”. Pounce De Leon was not here for long, but long enough to find the healing powers of the local spring waters. There is a state park where you can still go and drink from the springs.

The buildings downtown show the history of the city with some dating back 455 years. The center piece of the town is the Flagler University in its castle like Spanish architecture. A few blocks away is The Mission Nombre de Dios, the mission was built in 1565. The missionaries were the first to bring Christianity to the new world. On the ocean front still stands Castillo de San Marcos, built in 1695. The fort was originally built of wood and later refortified. The towns people would all stay in the fort, at one point as many as 1500 people.

The World Golf Hall of Fame is located in St. Augustine, and brings people from all over the world who love golf. We happen to be staying at the resort on the campus for the World Hall of Fame. It is a little warm and wet for golf this time of year, but I imagine this place is packed the rest of the year.

Lastly, a few new entries that caught my eye.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the people who helped us arrive here. Thank you again McCollister’s. We also send a huge thank you to the team at Mustang Country. We appreciate you working on Jane down to the last minute.

One final note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRAD!

It rained, thundered, and lightning struck for half the night, but by 7am the storm had mostly passed and turned to a light drizzle.

Saturday and Sunday are important days to do well. Every other day you can throw out your worst leg’s score, but not these two days. You have to keep all of your scores. To win it is imperatito run as flawless as possible.

We were running on wet roads, and safety is our first priority. When we are rallying, we will slam on the brakes to split speeds at signs or as we come into stop signs. Driving on wet roads makes that style of driving a little more dicey. We tried to continue to be careful while being as aggressive as possible. We kept our cool to make it through.

We stopped for lunch at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, MN. It was still lightly raining. The track was full of people. They were watching a drifting exhibition, and the entries in The Great Race coming into the track. When we stepped out of the car, we watched Nissan sports cars sliding around the track as they did a short course of drifting.

We quickly left the lunch stop and headed to our next starting point. The rain continued to lighten up, and the skies turned blue with white fluffy clouds.

Once again we were on country roads heading toward Detroit Lakes, MN. The last two days the rally master (person who designs the course) steps it up by making the course more difficult. He will create mazes, or make participants cross each other’s paths at intersections with the intention of creating confusion and chaos. Staying calm is very much apart of this crazy game.

We came into Detroit Lakes along the lake side. There were children playing on the lake’s edge and people in lawn chairs awaiting our arrival. The weather was cool by our standards, but clearly not to the people of Detroit Lakes.

We finished the day strong with a total score of 6 seconds. We were pleased with our score. We had the lowest raw score, but unfortunately without a factor, we came in second for the day to a father daughter team in their 1939 Ford Pickup.

We headed to a local pizza joint and joined friends and other racers for an early dinner.

After dinner we hopped back in our cars and made the hour drive West to Fargo, North Dakota. We spent the night in Fargo and prepared for the last day.

Unlike the 8th day, the 9th day is a short but busy day. The course is full of mazes and speed changes.

The morning was cool and the winds were strong. At one point we were traveling in the same direction as the wind at 50mph. A cloud was right over our head and we could see it’s shadow traveling with us. We adjusted our speeds for the winds when we were traveling in different directions.

Fargo is a mostly rural with a nice downtown area. North Dakota State University is on the edge of downtown. The people were warm and welcoming. The city was so excited to be the last city and last state on the Great Race. Since the first Great Race, North Dakota and Rhode Island were the only two states the race had never visited. Fargo is known for being the last state most people visit when trying to hit the 50 states. Like most people, it was also our last state to visit.

The race provides mentors for each rookie team. Each year we are given one or two rookie teams to help. Christian and Brandon adopted us as their mentors. We met them two years ago in Delaware, and we were proud to see them win the Sportsman Division yesterday afternoon.

We have another team, Ken Kylie and Mike Roberts. They just finished their second year on the race, and they finished 5th in the Sportsman Division. We are so proud of their great finish.

Last but not least, we (mostly Brad) are mentoring a third team. Ahna Holder and Della Smith are the mother daughter team from Seattle. Della is 17 years old going into her Senior year. This is her second Great Race, and they finished with 8 seconds the last day. Everyday Della would work with Brad and soak up new information. We are hoping for a spot on the podium next year. We are beyond impressed with Della’s abilities to pick up on the navigation techniques.

We came into the day with no expectations. We drive a modern car with no factor, it would be tough to come in the top.

We surprised ourselves by having the second best raw score overall, 1 minute and 2 seconds for 9 days of rallying. We ended up in 3rd place in the Expert Division and 6th place over all. The biggest surprise was we tied for the most perfect legs (Aces). We ended up winning the tie because our score was the better score. Aside from having some trophies to hang on our walls, we walked away feeling good about our execution. We feel even better about the teams we have mentored and their achievements!

Once again, thank you Barry Jason for being a great mentor. We love passing it on to younger generations. We can’t thank you enough for all of your effort and patience.

Thank you to Mustang Country for a flawless 2300 mile journey with zero breakdowns!!!

Thank you to our friends at Southern Auto Auctions for your electrical assistance. Our hazard lights worked perfectly after your late night fix.

Thank you to McCollister’s Auto Transportation Group Inc, we couldn’t do this without you. Thank you for the sponsorship and all of your support!!!

We can’t thank our friends and family enough for all of your messages and support. We love sharing our journey. Thank you for following along!

We woke up to many Birthday wishes for Brad, and buttons saying “Brad is 60”. Our friend and mentor JeanAnn Martin made buttons for many of our friends and fellow racers.

We headed toward Duluth, Minnesota. The environment around us reminded me of being in the mountains in Southern California only we were at about 1200 feet in elevation. We started with evergreens lining the narrow roads and then we headed out to the highway. The road followed the river winding back and forth, and then we were back in the farm lands again.

We transited toward Chippewa Falls, and ended up on some very back roads that showed the winters they experience in the North. The roads were rough, and we managed to keep our teeth in our mouth. Our speedometer was not as lucky. We were on one road that was not paved, and as we focused on the road ahead the speedometer ended up in my lap. Below is a picture of where the speedo normally sits on our dash.

When we cleared the unpaved road we headed to lunch in Chippewa Falls. There we met a young lady named Leah and her dad Jon. Leah works for Northern Chill Water. She is a sports enthusiast and a great marketer for Northern Chill #NorthernChillWater.

There was a nice turnout for lunchtime on a Friday. The town was full of people and we stopped for a quick lunch and a few photos.

One of the best parts of The Great Race is meeting people around the country. Aside from the many race friends we have made from all over, we meet the nicest people at the lunch and dinner stops. People want to share their car stories, and show their interest in the event.

We drove into Duluth, Minnesota and we could see fog sitting on Lake Superior. Brad started singing The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. We were aw struck by the size of the ships on the water. They spanned 750 feet to 1000 feet. The lake is massive and has crazy weather.

The racers who drive Chitty Chitty Bang Bang are from the Duluth area and explained how crazy the lake can be. There is a draw bridge that is about 350 feet high, and the waves will crash over portions of it.

We finished the day in a park on the lake. We parked are car and sorted out some scoring issues. After having our score card corrected. We ended up with a total of 4 seconds for the day. A great score for Brad’s Birthday.

Brad has celebrated 7 of the his last 9 Birthdays with our friend Sawyer Stone. Sawyer races with his grandfather and has been racing since he was 9 years old.

Every year Sawyer’s mom Susan has organized a Birthday celebration for Sawyer and Brad. This year we were able to organize the celebration, and fun was had by all.

Thanks to everyone for all the Birthday wishes. Thank you JeanAnn for the decorations and pins. Thank you Esther and Roger for running errands for us. Thank you Jimmy for picking up the cakes!!!

Thank you again to McCollister’s Auto Transportation for the merchandise. You kept us warm and dry in Duluth!

Thank you Mustang Country, we finished the 7th Day with great numbers and a car that ran perfectly.

One last “thank you”, Barry Jason our mentor, we appreciate all of your guidance. We would not have any of these scores without your time, patience and efforts. Thanks to you and Buddy for making our race Great.