Day 5

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No one was motivated to write anything from the road today, so, we are relying on Steve's memory.

Day 5 started in Glennallen, AK, which is about 2 hours from Anchorage but for us four days away.  About this time Kim was somewhere in Anchorage, a clear case of, 'so close, yet so far away.'

On the way out of the hotel parking lot we were handed revised route instructions.  The original schedule had us doing two TSDs  with a 150 mile each way trip to Valdez, AK.  The change removed the trip to Valdez which was cancelled due to weather conditions and accumulated fatigue.  After a breakfast bar and a very-recently-thawed juice we started out to the beginning of the TSD section

lining-up and waiting.  that's what's left of a balloon on the hood of our car.

Provided you've allowed enough time there is a break before each TSD section.  The cars will line-up in roughly car number order.  Some people will stand and gab, some will try to gather their wits for the task ahead, many will pee.  The days two TSDs were run back-to-back on the same road with the same route.

We had missed an odo-check and ran the first leg with a bad odometer factor.  The 2nd TSD started off with an even worse factor and started to see the car behind us rapidly catching-up.  After inputting the correct factor we made some adjustments and were on our way. 

After the two TSDs we had a nice breakfast and were headed towards Fairbanks for a restful afternoon.  The sun was warm and the troubles of this morning's TSDs were behind us.  The afternoon in Fairbanks gave us a chance for a media interview and preparing for the trip up the Dalton Highway.

rally bad-ass

The Captain Bartlett Hotel in Fairbanks has a certain Alaskan charm.  From the underwear on the wall at the bar to 90degree plus temperatures in some of the rooms.  During the rally i never felt so sick as i did looking at the wall-paper in our bathroom.

I'm not sure what the mileage is but it felt good to hav a short day.  We added a gas can that would ride with with the sweep truck on the Dalton Highway.  It was mostly insurance. 

We soaked in the civility of Fairbanks (what there was to be found at the Captain Bartlett) in preparation of our trip the end of the road.  We also soaked in the beer in preparation for our trip to the dry town at the end of the road.