A day of recon … and unloading the Jeep

What a great idea and how lucky we are to have someone on the team that is responsible for our happiness. Yep, no kidding … having someone who is making you breakfast and having it ready for you in the morning is brilliant. Brooke’s not a “motorhead”, but he signed on to come to Mexico and cook for all of us … wow … excellent and this is awesome … so, our morning starts with a nice, hot breakfast … and the entire team sitting around together … another great idea. This is no “cereal” breakfast, but eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc …

After breakfast, we decide to make the run back out to Borrego, you remember, 3 hrs there, 3 hrs back … to a part of the desert, that looks like all other parts of the desert. Tim, Mark, Dennis and myself load into our Ford rental … we call that Chase 3 (I’m hoping to get a cool nickname out of this trip … hopefully not … the electronics guy … which really wouldn’t be cool … and is nothing more that geekboy in racer speak <g>) … anyways … we all load into Chase 3 and head out. Oh yeah, Brooke has made lunch for us to carry.

It is becoming more apparent to me that this type of racing is about planning and managing logistics. For the race, Tim and Sheila (his wife, navigator … and dance mom) will start the race. At RM80 (Race Mile 80 – that’s 80 miles down the race course from the start), we will meet them and switch Sheila with Tom. They will then run until RM201, which is Borrego Pits, where Mark will take over driving duties and Dennis will navigate. They then will run the Jeep until RM400, which again is Borrego Pits (the course is like a figure 8), where Tim and Tom will get back in the Jeep. They run until RM530, and hand over the Jeep to Mark and I. We take it until RM650 and Tim and Tom will take it the rest of the way to the finish line, RM671.

So … today we want to see the places where we need to meet up with the race Jeep to swap drivers … hence the run to Borrego. We expect to average about 25-30mph on the race course, which means that it’ll take about 3hrs from race start to our first switch and another 6-7hrs for the next stop. We will likely start around noon on Friday … the first motorcycle leaves at 630A, then another one, every 30 seconds … there is a 3 hr wait between the last motorcycle and the first truck (figure 1030A), then a vehicle leaves every 30 seconds … fastest class first … so … we’re near the end of the starting sequence.

Our first switch will likely be around 3P and the next one between 9 and 10P … so seeing where things are is very important … Ok … so back on the road and out “Routa 3” … we stop to see RM80 (a place where the race course crosses the main road … then on to Borrego … which is a good thing, as what I thought was Borrego from the run on Sunday … was about 5 miles off … good thing … we figure out how to get to RM200 and recon how we’d get down there with our trailer.

Now … we did have a moment there … which put in question our entire chances … as we stop, and look around at what we first though was Borrego … and we eat lunch, chicken sandwiches, tomato salad with mozzarella and basil … did I mention Brooke is a great cook and personally responsible for our happiness … ok, back on track … I step away to take some pictures … and come back to Chase 3 … our 2 drivers and one of our navigators are in heated conversation … about … which way is West … hmmm.

After a few minutes of East, West, North and South … I cannot help myself and engage … now we have 2 drivers and 2 navigators in heated conversation about where West is … we do have 2 compasses which point out where West is … yet, this is not convincing enough for us … we draw in the sand, we put a stick in the middle of a circle and look at it’s shadow, but after about a minute, which feels like an hour, we conclude that this technique will tell us nothing … we try to find the mossy side of a rock (doesn’t work in the desert) … we stare into the sun, also not telling … in the end, we end up conceding that the compass might be right and accept what it tells us … This should be a good experience.

We talk to some racers and they help direct us to the actual Borrego Pits … we look around, make notes and head home. When we arrive Tom (navigator) and his son Brandon (videographer) have arrived with Chase 2 … our rented 4WD Jeep (for rescue … if needed). A few minutes later we are at the trailer ready to unload our racer from it’s transport …. crowds  gather, flashes go off, the mayor shows up, fireworks are shot and the Mexican Airforce flies formation overhead … Ok … we open the door and drive it out.

As we unload, I break one of the 6 lights on the Jeep … not a good start … and the team rallies to repair it … 5 racers later and 1 hour later … our illumination is back to 100% … Nascar teams have nothing on us … first mechanical challenge, no problem, oh yeah … we’re in race mode.

A crowd of other racers gather … Ok, 1 guy came to see us … his comment .. “Old School” and a knowing glance … we’re in … respect.

As it gets dark, we move the Race Jeep into our pit area (car port) and head over for dinner … did I mention we have 3 full, proper and excellent meals a day … dinner is pork tenderloin and rice … we walk past “big money” teams, they’ve got hotdogs … Oh yeah … we rock! We formulate plans for the next day … tech inspection, BFG Pit meeting, Registration, confirm fuel service. We are now 9 present here … tomorrow Sheila and Michelle arrive to complete the team.