Rambling on Leg 5
First, I missed about 25 minutes of the show due to technical difficulties. :evil: I came in when Rob and Amber were getting to the Fast Forward and Ray & Deana were already there. So, if someone can fill in with any pertinent info, we'll have us a complete discussion. I'm not going to go through step by step of the leg. Rather, I am going to take it like Meredith & Gretchen are running their race: I'm just going to ramble along and stumble my way through it and hope I don't get Pikaliminated! :shock: So Ray & Deana finished the Fast Forward and cruised easily into first place. They had a pretty good leg, and didn't fight much, and won two 2005 Toyota RAV4's! :smile: Woohoo! Is it obvious that TAR is getting more popular? They've never had these kinds of sponsor prizes before! :shock: At the Detour, I think it is interesting that 5 teams chose to do the Caves and two did the Tribes--arch-enemies Lynn/Alex and Rob/Amber! I think they are more similar than either would admit. In the Caves, both Ron/Kelly and Gretchen/Meredith missed the clues inside the cave and had to re-enter the caves to find them. It didn't really hurt Ron/Kelly much, but Meredith/Gretchen came in last by 1 hour and 31 minutes, and I wonder how much sooner they would have finished had they not had to re-enter the cave and then deal with Gretchen's fall? And for the record, I would have been totally claustrophobic in parts of that freaking cave! :shock: At the Roadblock, teams went to a market place and gathered items for a children's home, where they got their next clue. Everyone pretty much breezed through this one, except Amber. Fortunately for her, an "angel in heels and a skirt" named Solinda (?) recognized her and offered to help. This lady was great for them, as she seemed to be in a bigger hurry than Rob and Amber themselves! When the race first started I thought Rob and Amber would be at a disadvantage because of their widespread recognition. As I expected, the other teams seemed to be against them from the start. However, their fame has also benefited them in the form of people like Solinda, who have helped them with directions and or tasks along the way. Of course, Rob's personality helps make friends even when people don't recognize them, as he is always shaking hands or giving away a Red Sox cap or just carrying on a friendly conversation with the locals. Oh yeah, and at the children's home, there was Rob playing soccer with some kids, even while they were running behind in the race! :smile: I'm not going to comment on every team in this leg, but I have to say I'm impressed with Meredith and Gretchen. After getting popped in the head and scraping her face, Gretchen was still all about the race, telling Meredith to go find the clue while the medics tended to her injuries. They also don't get all mopey like Patrick. Even though they knew they were likely going to finish last, they were intent to finish. I'm glad it was a non-elimination leg and they get to stick around. The usual penalty of losing all your cash was made more of a challenge by the additional removal of their other possesions! They will start leg 6 with only their passports and the clothes on their backs! They finished in 7th place for the fourth time in a row this leg; can they finish above that and stay in the race after leg 6? If you don't already know, you'll just have to wait 'til I get the leg 6 summary done! :wink: Quotables Brian at the caves: "Spelunking. I just like saying it." Gretchen at the market: "I couldn't get too many deals." Gretchen, you're in a race, dear. Just get the stuff and get a move on, girl! There were others, especially Gretchen, but I didn't get them all written down. Placings for this leg were: 1. Ray/Deana @ 10:41 am 2. Ron/Kelly @ 12:39 pm 3. Brian/Greg @ 1:03 pm 4. Lynn/Alex @ 1:24 pm 5. Rob/Amber @ 1:33 pm 6. Uchenna/Joyce @ 2:20 pm 7. Meredith/Gretchen @ 3:51 pm
First, I missed about 25 minutes of the show due to technical difficulties. :evil: I came in when Rob and Amber were getting to the Fast Forward and Ray & Deana were already there. So, if someone can fill in with any pertinent info, we'll have us a complete discussion. I'm not going to go through step by step of the leg. Rather, I am going to take it like Meredith & Gretchen are running their race: I'm just going to ramble along and stumble my way through it and hope I don't get Pikaliminated! :shock: So Ray & Deana finished the Fast Forward and cruised easily into first place. They had a pretty good leg, and didn't fight much, and won two 2005 Toyota RAV4's! :smile: Woohoo! Is it obvious that TAR is getting more popular? They've never had these kinds of sponsor prizes before! :shock: At the Detour, I think it is interesting that 5 teams chose to do the Caves and two did the Tribes--arch-enemies Lynn/Alex and Rob/Amber! I think they are more similar than either would admit. In the Caves, both Ron/Kelly and Gretchen/Meredith missed the clues inside the cave and had to re-enter the caves to find them. It didn't really hurt Ron/Kelly much, but Meredith/Gretchen came in last by 1 hour and 31 minutes, and I wonder how much sooner they would have finished had they not had to re-enter the cave and then deal with Gretchen's fall? And for the record, I would have been totally claustrophobic in parts of that freaking cave! :shock: At the Roadblock, teams went to a market place and gathered items for a children's home, where they got their next clue. Everyone pretty much breezed through this one, except Amber. Fortunately for her, an "angel in heels and a skirt" named Solinda (?) recognized her and offered to help. This lady was great for them, as she seemed to be in a bigger hurry than Rob and Amber themselves! When the race first started I thought Rob and Amber would be at a disadvantage because of their widespread recognition. As I expected, the other teams seemed to be against them from the start. However, their fame has also benefited them in the form of people like Solinda, who have helped them with directions and or tasks along the way. Of course, Rob's personality helps make friends even when people don't recognize them, as he is always shaking hands or giving away a Red Sox cap or just carrying on a friendly conversation with the locals. Oh yeah, and at the children's home, there was Rob playing soccer with some kids, even while they were running behind in the race! :smile: I'm not going to comment on every team in this leg, but I have to say I'm impressed with Meredith and Gretchen. After getting popped in the head and scraping her face, Gretchen was still all about the race, telling Meredith to go find the clue while the medics tended to her injuries. They also don't get all mopey like Patrick. Even though they knew they were likely going to finish last, they were intent to finish. I'm glad it was a non-elimination leg and they get to stick around. The usual penalty of losing all your cash was made more of a challenge by the additional removal of their other possesions! They will start leg 6 with only their passports and the clothes on their backs! They finished in 7th place for the fourth time in a row this leg; can they finish above that and stay in the race after leg 6? If you don't already know, you'll just have to wait 'til I get the leg 6 summary done! :wink: Quotables Brian at the caves: "Spelunking. I just like saying it." Gretchen at the market: "I couldn't get too many deals." Gretchen, you're in a race, dear. Just get the stuff and get a move on, girl! There were others, especially Gretchen, but I didn't get them all written down. Placings for this leg were: 1. Ray/Deana @ 10:41 am 2. Ron/Kelly @ 12:39 pm 3. Brian/Greg @ 1:03 pm 4. Lynn/Alex @ 1:24 pm 5. Rob/Amber @ 1:33 pm 6. Uchenna/Joyce @ 2:20 pm 7. Meredith/Gretchen @ 3:51 pm