Quesnel, BC – August 20, 2018
Aug 29th, 2018 by rallyadmin
The rally does a ceremonial start at the portico of the Totem Lake Hotel. The real start of the rally is the first TSD which starts about 60 miles north of Kirkland in a rest area on I-5. This is where the first mistakes of the rally are made.
There’s a lot of tension and excitement in the parking lot and that results, occasionally, in some monumental errors. In 2008, we started our first stage a minute early because we weren’t paying attention to rally protocol.
A TSD rally stage has a mythical car zero that starts at time zero. So in order to find your start time (cars start in one minute intervals), you add your car number to the start time of car zero. For example, if the start time for car zero is 9 AM, 9:00:00, and you car number is number 1, your start time is 9:01:00 and so on through the entire field. It’a a fairly common rookie error to forget that the is a car zero and start on the wrong minute.
On this TSD stage, Colin and I aren’t assigned a checkpoint to time cars. We’re assigned to be sweep. The sweep picks up the dean and dying (“Bring out your dead. Bring out your dead.”). Actually we make sure that we aren’t leaving anyone behind and assist those who mike actually be having problems. We’ve got to keep this circus together and moving.
Of course, that only works if we don’t get lost. Colin and I have done this first stage many, many times so we don’t even look at the route book when we leave the rest area. Out of the rest area, up I-5, get off the interstate At the next exit, take a right at the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp. Get out the route instructions and realize that none of the route makers in the route book match the route that we are following.
Surprise! Jerry has a new first stage. It’s not a right at the stop sign. The route clearly says left at the stop sign and 2 tenths of a mile there’s another left. Turn around and back track to the exit stop sign. Follow the instructions and get right with the route book. On any given day, anyone can be the rookie.
It’s a very scenic stage that runs out to the coast and north along the coast til turning inland to cross the Canadian border at our usual border crossing in a small town rather than the monster crossing on I-5. We do that because the I-5 crossing is very congested and it would take a long time to get the entire rally through customs. So we cross at this smaller inland crossing that usually has no traffic at all.
Unfortunately, not this year. We get into line and just creep along. I have no idea what the problem is but there are only 2 vehicle lanes open and every car is taking 5 minutes or more to get through. Eventually, they do a shift change, I guess, and open 2 more lanes and things start to move along. But by the time we get into Canada, we’ve lost more than an hour.
We head east and then north into Frasier Canyon, our first hint at the beauty that is western Canada. We’re following the Frasier River and the farther north we go, the more spectacular the canyon becomes. I’ve been up this road many times and I still marvel at the rugged scenery.
The fires that have been plaguing British Columbia have cast a smokey haze over western Washington and BC. As we go farther north the smoke becomes thicker until it’s no longer haze. The smell of newly burned forest starts to permeate the air.
By the time we reach Quesnel, our stop for the night, the smioke looks like a cloud overcast after the sun sets. We’ve been racing along because we’ve heard that the bar and restaurant at our hotel closes at 9:00 and we’ve wasted some much time at customs that we’re afraid we’ll miss dinner and, more importantly, beers.
We check in and find that the info we had received was wrong. The restaurant and bar are open until 10:00. Disaster averted. Tomorrow’s a big day. Time for bed.
Obi-wan