That was nice having sort of a vacation these past two weeks thanks to our friendly cafe waitress who supplied the full details of Ep 9. The real question is: is this for real? But it seems to read well, and pulls together much of the info we sleuths had come up with before the complete scenario was made available to us.The one fact that we did not have was the overnight stay at Green River State Park, and that it is here that the teams had to hitch up a camper/trailer to their SUV. This clarified some of the over lapping times we (I mean Chateau) had come up with.
And we did learn some interesting behind the scenes facts: like teams are instructed in some cases to leave their backpacks and personal belongings (and the car keys!) in the SUV. And it seems that production crew persons then drive the SUV to the next location.
We see that this must have happened on the Lake Powel Houseboat overnight pit stop. The teams arrive without their packs but we see at least the Linz boys with the back packs when they come ashore again at the pier at Antalope Point. (Or is this landing somewhere else?)
The Godlysisters arrived first at the pit stop and the Linz were just about 5 minutes or less behind them. The Weasels look to be about 10 minutes later and the Bransens are bringing up the rear perhaps 30 minutes behind.
So on the morning of July 24 the Godlies leave first. And it looks like it is another non-traditional sleep over since the teams seem to have arrived shortly after noon on July23. So if it were a traditional 12-hour layover, they would be leaving in the early morning hours in the dark. But this does not seem to be, so it must have been another 18 hour pit stop. Thus if they arrived around 1PM, they would be leaving at about 7:00AM
The Linzziblings arrived shortly after the G's, so the time that Chateau has for them at the pier between 7:30 and 8:00 seems to ring true. If the teams take the same outboards back to the pier that they arrived on the Godlies will have opened up a greater lead over the Linzziblings.
Now the Weasels come third followed by the Bransens. The Bransens start off at least 30 minutes behind, and maybe more and are shown to trail all day long.
So we have the three lead teams on the road together with not much time seperating them. And they have a 130 mile race to John Ford's Point in Monument Valley, Utah. Without delays this should be about a two-hour run. But who doesn't follow the map correctly? At the helicopter landing on Elephant Butte we have the Linz by themselves and the Weasels with the Godlysisters together. The CBS preview has the Linz ziblings shown first and then the other two. Is this a little CBS misdirection? Based on what comes later, I believe it is.
The Godlysisters have always done well with the map reading, and the Weasels have surprised the Linz ziblings and passed them somewhere on the road to arrive at just about the same time as the Godlies. The Linz crew is just a little behind, but first there is a twently minuted briefing, then the flight, then the time on the Elephant Butte, then after the return of the first two teams, another 20-minuite wait for the Linz team. No idea how long the flight is nor how long the time on the butte is, but this just adds to the time that the Linz are now falling behind.
From here it is a 174 mile drive to the Gemini Bridges near Moab, Utah. Without any major settlement nor traffic signals to slow them down, this should be around 3.5 hours (remember to stop for gas along the way somewhere and perhaps a potty break)
At the Detour on top of Gemini Bridge, the Weasels again have picked up time (don't ask me how, but they probably have at last learned which direction is North and East on the map!). We have the Weasels taking the mountian bikes down the trail (6 miles) which Chateau has estimated to be around 11:19 to 12:30. And as a side note, this seems that the "easier" task is the quicker task. In the past, this has not been true with the more physical being the shorter task.)
The Linz zibs and Godlysisers are shown on the rappel at about 12:30 to 1:00PM. Trouble with the Hummvee shuttle?
The Bransens are shown arriving way late (they never could figure out where they were on the map and in country that looks the same everywhere you look they probably really did get lost.) But Chateau estimates them to do the rappeling about 4:00PM. Somewhere they have lost almost 3.5 hours at this point.
Finally, the teams drive another 51 miles to Green River State Park. Here they have to find a trailer with a departure time on it. It looks like the Weasels get here first and get to hitch up their camper/trailer before the others. I'm guessing that the Linz arrive second, the Godlies third and bringing up the rear the Bransens.
The next day, July 25 the teams are off again. Lets assume that the first departure is around 7:00AM and the teams must drive 169 miles to Heber City and find Bart. This should be a drive of only 3 hours (but remember they now are pulling trailer/campers - no easy feat especially if you have never done it before!!) so it may be longer and the teams actually left around 6:30AM
The Weasels seem to be first (but we do have a scene of the Linz zibs passing them, but is this before or after Heber City? The teams will be driving on US Routes 6, 191, and 40 which I believe should be four lane highways so they could pass along this route) So it may be that the Linz zibs did arrive at Bart's before the Weasels who Chateau has down for between 10:05 and 10:45AM.
After grabbing the route clue (BLUE which we see Ma Weasel have in her hand) from the jaws of a "friendly" bear, they must drive another 25 miles to Park City and the Utah Olympic Park ski jump.
Now we have the YIELD. The question is to be or not to be - who yields whom? If the Weasels are first they will probably yield the Linz zibs. So on the ski jump we seem to have the Weasels going first between 10:40 and 11:20, then the Linz zibs between 11:35 and 12:10, then the Godlysisters at 12:51 and then the Bransens some time later.
Now we race to Salt Lake City a distance of only 26 miles on Interstate 80. Perhaps this is where the Linz girl and boys catch up and pass the Weasels. They seem to be in very high spirits at this point and seem to be gloating. So perhaps the Yield did not delay them that much and now they have a chance to pass the ones who Yielded them. According to some the route into Salt Lake City is down a steep hill, and then they have to maneuver around city streets with their camper in tow. No easy job and I can just see the Weasels panicing by now.
So the final pitstop is at the Salt Lake City Library. Who arrives first and gets that Travelocity trip? My guess is the Linz zibs or the Weasels. Let's say that the Weasels win this one, and the Linz ziblings still will be the only team to win the jackpot without winning a single freebie on the way in.
I say the Godlysisters come in third. And bringing up the rear, which they have been doing lately are once again the Bransens to become the first team in TAR history to be Philmagted twice.
And we are pretty sure that this is another NEL since there has been no advance notice on either CBS Morning Show or TES that we would have the latest castoff going through an awkward interview on Wednesday morning.
Now anyone else have any good ideas?