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Great American Road Trip

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2old4tech:
Good recap apskip


--- Quote from: apskip on July 29, 2009, 06:00:56 PM ---
The End of the Road Challenge was near the top of Meteor Crater in Winslow AZ. Teams were lying on chaise lounges and spotting "UFOs" as they flew over. These were:

1. Telephone set
2. Lawn Mower
3. Bowling Ball
4. Football
5. Golf Bag
6. Computer Monitor
7. Grill
8. ?   white teddy bear in wooden chair
9. 3 things tied together pinata that fell apart in the air
10. Kid's bike <---------double kitchen sink was launched between bike and irons
11. 3 irons tied together
They briefly showed the filled in board as Reno was describing what they had to do after all launches.  Kudos that you ID'd all you did.

--- End quote ---

I always like your posts over in the TAR threads.  Your transportation research is something I look for.
I was disappointed you couldn't finish with Expedition Africa.  The four explorers were great in the finale.

OT - Have you caught the new show on Discovery Channel; The Colony.  10 people abandoned in a post apocalyptic world.  Abandoned warehouse type bldg near downtown Los Angeles.  They must "survive" by their skills and wits.  No eliminations.  A bit contrived, but I like it.  http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/colony/colony.html

I'm not a big poster (always read the TAR and Survivor threads, though); I don't have much to add and am not into "post count" for its own sake.  I've thought about adding a Colony thread, but I'm not sure I could keep it up.  Since no-one else has mentioned the show, there's probably not much interest anyway.

Big coincidence:  The opening sequences were shot in the same spot as the TAR 15 startline.

apskip:
It's the final 4. From the Flagstaff AZ area (where I believe the caravan would have spent the night after the End of the Road Challenge at Meteor Crater) it's an easy early-morning 2 hour drive to Sedona and Slide Rock State park, where swimming provided the opportunity for fun sliding down chutes of water with singificant rocks to navigate.

The King of the Road Challenge is at the Red Rocks, which are all around Sedona. Reno claims that Sedona is known for the swirling vortex energy(I think he's nuts and Sedona is known for its unique Red Rock formations). Teams will be their own special vortex. Each family has 8 minutes to spin a wheel with a board and a strap to hold the occupant down. The most spins in 8 minutes wins. The winning family gets a private helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon.

The Cootes put daughter Cassidy on the wheel and I think she was the lightest of all "occupants". The results are:
Montgomerys 259
Pollards 307
Cootes 331
DiSalvatores 210

The Cootes win again. The Pollards, Montgomerys and DiSalvatores alll have to compete in the End of the Road Challenge. The Pollards are in the bottom 3 for the first time as they always place second. All teams get to sleep at the Best Western-Sedona.

Next is the Grand Canyon East Rim Drive. The East Rim Drive covers 26 miles between Grand Canyon Village and the Desert View overlook at the East Gate of the park. The sheer beauty of the Grand Canyon impresses everyone. A squirrel makes contact with Amie Pollard and freaks her out temporarily. The Cootes' helicopter ride was superb. It appears to me that the only campground along the East Rim Drive is the Desert View Campground, so that is where teams stayed for the night.

Teams now have to travel to get onto a stationary train on the Grand Canyon Railway terminal in downtown Williams AZ (the first city west of Flagstaff). It is the site of the End of the Road Challenge, a relay race to communicate by listening to and speaking numbers that are combinations to 3 safes on each end of the train with two cars in between.  The Great American Train Robbery involves team members relaying a 6 digit safe combination from an individual in one car to the individual in the 2nd car who will race the length of the car to relay it to the individual in the 3rd car, who will race the length of the car to relay it to the final individual, who will race to the end of the car and open a safe. then the flow is reversed and the combination flows back to the individual in the 1st car, who uses it to open a safe. This is then repeated 2 times before you get the final safe open in car #1. The highest time to complete loses the challenge and is eliminated.

The DiSalvatores go first. Dad Salvatore forgot one digit and it took 2 tries for Blake Disalvatore to open her safe. However, they finished in 7 minutes 2 seconds. Ainslie Pollard screwed up a number by reversing two sets of two digits. They finished in 8 minutes 55 seconds. The Montgomerys younger son screws up the first combination. Dad Montgomery states that he has photographic memory then he immediately screwed up. Those two mistakes made it impossible for them to get a time below the other two teams, who made fewer mistakes. The time for the Montgomerys was 10 minutes 32 seconds.

The Montgomerys go home. Next week is Las Vegas, where the dads apparently disappear in an illusion act. Amie Pollard makes the statement "don't take a redneck to Las Vegas." We'll find out what she means next week, but the Pollards are the only southerners in this competition.

apskip:
I add that as a travelogue this program is superior to the Amazing Race. The contestants have time to enjoy where they visit instead of being continually pressed to move forward. It's taking a little time to smell the roses. The competitive factor between teams on the Great American Road Trip is not as finely developed as a result. Remaining teams are genuinely sorry to see the bottom performing team leave (although they would still be pleased to see some of their contuing competition disappear).

apskip:
This was the 5th episode of this RV odyssey, with two more to go. I continue to be impressed by the entertainment value of Great American Road Trip. It's not for everyone, a bit hokey at times, but the intra- and inter-family interaction is very interesting to watch. I know that some RFF readers see it as bratty children having tantrums, and there is some of that, but on the whole I find the children to be more interesting than the adults.

On tonight's show the caravan left Williams AZ and went to Seligman AZ, a historic Route 66 throwback town. They were dining for lunch at the RoadKill Cafe. Now I distinctly heard Amie Pollard order quail. That is not road kill. You have to have armadillo or possum or something like that to qualify. I think the producers really let them off the hook. It would be edible and maybe even tasty to eat real roadkill, but eating quail is in a different dimension. I eat quail when available, usually at fancy restaurants for relatively high prices!

Next stop is Hoover Dam as the RVs crossed from Arizona into Nevada. Their instruction book directed them to the Observation Deck and who should appear but Reno Collier. He told them it was time for a King of the Road Challenge to mimic the power generation facilities of Hoover Dam on a smaller scale. There was a large box of pipe and fittings to connect it. It had to be threaded through specific holes in pillars on a concrete surface. When connected to reach a mini-turbine, the water flow would generate enough air to blow up an inflatable connected to the turbine. Quickest time to finish wins this challenge.

The Pollards go first and generally do a good job, helped by Ron being a building contractor. They finish in 20 minutes 33 seconds. The DiSalvatores are next and they had to redo some piping but did OK at 27 minutes 34 seconds. The running joke of this competition is that the Cootes always win the KOTR challenge and the Pollards always finish second. Keith Coote has his wife and kids as plumber's assitants. He got it done in 19 minutes 7 seconds and they win a 5th straight KOTR challenge. The bottom 2 teams are threatened with a potential End of the Road challenge, but Reno does not want to lose a team this episode, so there is none and no team will be eliminated this week.

The top 2 teams are told they will have a special challenge in Las Vegas and the winner will get a night in a huge suite at a resort hotel. The loser family will spend the night in their RV in the parking lot along with the DiSalvatores. Those teams are sent to the Theatre of the Rio Hotel and Reno shows them the "Disapperaing Rabbit" trick which he has been "practicing for 8 minutes". He does it well and then introduces the very famous Penn Jillette. A magic illusion is set up on the stage and Ron Pollard and Keith Coote are asked by Penn (who obviously has been briefed well) to come into the magic cage. They do and in 2 seconds the cage door is opened and out comes Teller. Ron and Keith have disappeared, off on a jaunt with Reno. Their families will have to find them. Clues will direct them to selected Las Vegas hotels until they find their dad. First family to do that will receive that bonus reward.

The families are given a postcad for Circus Circus and run to a waiting limo that takes them there. They see 2 clowns with balloons and they decide to pop the balloons and see what happens. What happens is the letter hidden in some balloons are available to put onto a tray. When you orgainze them properly, it spells the next hotel which is Exacalibur. Jennifer Coote and her kids have never been to Las Vegas before but they figured that out quickly. Amie Pollard and her kids had also never been to Las Vegas (nor had their husbands) and she had trouble deducing Excalibur. The Coote limo got stuck in heavy traffic that miraculouslky disappeared by the time the Pollards came through minutes later. At the Exaclibur, the families had to pull swords and save the ones with letters on them, which spell the name of the next hotel. It took minimal time for the Cootes to deduce Mandalay Bay, but when they left the Pollards were arriving. How could this be? Camera tricks? Or maybe producers who had rigged this for the Pollards to win it for a change. The Pollards were primed for Mandalay Bay, which they had just passed on the way to the Excalibur. They pulled even to the Coote limo on the way there. That would not happen in real life, so I assume it was more producer tricks. So both teams arrive at Mandalay Bay at the same time. My goodness, have we morphed into Hell's Kitchen for a stage managed finish? Yes, I think so. The Cootes and Pollards are shown searching the 25th floor for room 25001. I guess that floor was so huge that the correct path there was not obvious. Who should arrive first? You know it will be the Pollards for their first (and maybe last) win over the Cootes. The Cootes faked taking the loss hard. The Pollards are magnanimous in victory and offer for the other families to stay with them in the palatial suite(it may have been big enough for 12 people plus a few cameramen). The Cootes reject their offer and the DiSalvatores accept it. They join the Pollards for champagne, wine, who knows what else and a fine meal that was set up. The Pollards are also given $500 cash spending money.

I liked this episode better than any other so far. On interesting fact about route 66 is that it never went into Nevada at all. It followed I40 west until intersecting with I15 in Barstow. It then follows I15 to I215 to I210 and then out to the Will Rogers Monument in Santa Monica off I10. One potential detour for the next episode is Death Valley National Park, which is a bit north of that route but probably the most interesting thing anywhere near it.

TexasLady:

--- Quote from: apskip on August 04, 2009, 10:32:36 AM ---I add that as a travelogue this program is superior to the Amazing Race. The contestants have time to enjoy where they visit instead of being continually pressed to move forward. It's taking a little time to smell the roses. The competitive factor between teams on the Great American Road Trip is not as finely developed as a result. Remaining teams are genuinely sorry to see the bottom performing team leave (although they would still be pleased to see some of their contuing competition disappear).

--- End quote ---

I agree with you about the show letting them enjoy the various stops and the scenery. I just love this show. I also think they have the perfect host for it with Reno Collier.

I was wondering when they ordered the road kill if it really was anything icky, or just different options for lunch.

I thought it was telling as people, the Cootes who have won so much displayed such bad sportsmanship when they lost the luxury challenge. (You think it was staged apskip?)

I loved this episode, I think it is my favorite one so far.

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