“Rain rain go away, big boys want to play (with cars)”
We awake to typically Northwet weather: light rain and solid overcast skies. Thankfully the buffet breakfast is excellent and puts me in a good mood, though my back does not relish being folded into the cramped cockpit of the E-type all day, despite the promise of a short one. I head down to the garage while Chris takes his time getting packed up to go. I check the car’s fluids and vital running bits, and head up to the front of the lodge for the checkout for the first stage.
It is very wet, and I park the 65E off to the side and pull out my telephoto for some shots of cars leaving the checkout.
Christopher finally emerges from the Lodge and we’re one of the last cars out. The segment is very straightforward, north towards Eureka, MT, then down Lake Koocanusa on the famed “Better Than Sex Highway” along the lake towards Libby. The segment ends at the boat launch parking lot at the south end of the lake. I’ve driven this road many times, almost always in conjunction with the Going To The Sun Rally, so Chris doesn’t really have to do any navigational work, so he just chills out on his iPod, keeps an eye on the clock, and tries to stay warm and dry.
This time the highway issn’t all the great, and nowhere near “better than sex”, as the rain combined with my tires make for dull driving. I run on some Pirellis that are fine on dry pavement, but frankly lousy in the wet. Spirited driving is off the menu until the water stops falling from the sky. So instead of roaring along this road enjoying Sir William’s Sixth Symphony reverberating off the rock walls we’re crammed into our leaky compartment like twin baby turtles still in the egg, and moving about as fast southbound on MT 37.
We arrive at the stand-off for the second-to-last checkpoint of the rally and it is an odd one. It stands at the bottom of a large campground complex at the south end of the lake. The start cone sits in an odd choke-point and the route snakes around a stand of trees and back behind to the final cone & checkpoint. It is really hard to judge the distance and estimate a run-time because you can not see the whole thing from any perspective… least of all out the small side window of an E-type with the top up!
Chris & I are able to watch a few cars go through the final run at different times, so we calculate a 45 second run and go for it when our time came. Chris provides a perfect countdown for me and we once again zero.
The boat launch and bait store has high-octane, ethanol-free gas available for sale (The reason I suspect that Rich Taylor picked this sport for a checkpoint!) so we take advantage and fill up the tank. The Jag does indeed run better on the 98 Octane stuff! No pinging at all.
We get our checkout time and commence the final timed stage of the rally with a run through Libby Montana, to Hope, Idaho. This one takes me on the only other road I have yet to travel, Montana Highway 56. It is a north-south cut-off between US 2 and Montana Highway 200 that roughly parallels the Idaho border, but first, we follow US 2 through Libby with our Ferrari escort:
The navigation is pretty simple, but as we’re on the last inning of a perfect game so to speak, Chris is serious about getting it right.
We arrive at Montana Highway 200 take a right, soon find ourselves at the Idaho border, and take a quick roadside “bio-break” and photo-op.
The checkpoint is out of a peninsula of Lake Pend Orielle a bit beyond the town of Hope, Idaho at a restaurant named “Beyond Hope” (get it? Idaho is just filled with jokers!) Chris guides me there with good directions and we arrive at the standoff with plenty of time to spare. The scenery would be awesome if it weren’t for the low clouds and rain.
Not long after we arrive we get to watch my folks go through the final checkpoint.
Our time comes and once again Chris guides me in with a well-executed countdown and we zero the final checkpoint. A perfect rally! I park the car and grab my cameras for some parking lots shots of many of the cars I haven’t had much chance to capture until now. Being at the back of the pack has meant many of them I’ve only caught glimpses of…
From lunch we have a simple transit stage to Coeur d’Alene, the spot where we started just a few days ago. Chris checks into our room while I tend to the car. I’m really proud of this car. It has performed near flawlessly this whole event, and has represented the Jaguar marque very well! Chris sends me a text to let me know the room number, and I amble over. This time we’re on the 14th floor with an even better view than before!
All that’s left is the final dinner, and drive home…