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Jodi has been doing episode recaps in the form of Myspace bulletins. I only friended her in time to catch the last 3. Lots of inside scoop about their final leg, and earlier about drunks in Siberia. I think Jodi is a TAR superfan.

Mar 11, 2009 11:19 PM
Subject: Episode 4 recap

Episode 4 Recap

Well, first thing you didn't see because it would be very boring is that it took us over 30 hours to get to Siberia. They also glossed over the fact that 5 teams missed their flights in Moscow. Getting through customs there was a nightmare. We took the flight through Istanbul because it allowed for maximum connection time in Moscow. We knew if everyone made their connection that all the teams would be on the same last flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk. The other 2 teams that made it connected through Sofia, Bulgaria and all the teams that connected through Germany had about an hour and � connection time which wasn't enough.


Also, when we stop at the Internet cafe to research flights we were there for a long time, over an hour. We looked at every possible connection and it wasn't our cab drivers idea to take us to one. We asked him if he knew of anything open with computer access and he said he could take us to the Internet cafe. It was the middle of the night and we weren't sure one would be open. I hate that CBS makes it sound like we were handed a gift from our cab driver and never use our brains.
What can you do?

So, I am often asked how long the wood pile took to build and I really don't know. I would guess 1-2 hours. You never really look at your watch when you race. It was a lot of wood. We built a 5ft by 10ft stack and the ends had to be stacked a specific way. We had to use every single piece of wood.


All the Russians at the wood pile were VERY friendly, they were also drunk. The red headed lady that showed came up and kissed us both on the cheek and her skin felt like it was 150 degrees. We encountered many drunk people in Russia and often very early in the day. The guy at the end who hugged me tried for about 5 minutes to invite us to a party now that we were done building. They had no clue we were racing around the world. It was comical to try and explain why we couldn't go to his party because he could not understand us.


We chose not to use the U-turn because we didn't have the heart to make someone complete both of those tasks. We also didn't want to be directly responsible for sending someone home when we didn't need it to save ourselves. We also knew someone in the bottom 5 would end up using it. I have read things where people say who cares if you make a target on your back, it isn't Survivor and no one can vote you out. True no one can vote you out but teams definitely benefit from working together and there are U-turns that people can choose to make personal instead of strategic. Almost everyone was being nice to each other so we didn't want to be the ones to start the drama.


Amanda makes a comment about the U-turn and calls us untrustworthy blond's. In her defense we had met Amanda and Kris one time the first night and we hadn't raced with them sense. She was going off some information passes on by another team where someone said we didn't want to race with the group but were going out on our own. People chose to think that since we were racing on our own that must make us sneaky. I for one never really under stood why you would want to race in one big pack. We felt if every leg came down to a foot race we could lose. Ironic since so far we have been in 3 foot races to the mat. Anyway, the challenge in running the race for me was to be self reliant and see if I could figure it out with my partner. I didn't want to rely on a bunch of other people especially people we only met a few days prior. That being said I really liked the cast. They are great people and I wanted to get to know them and we did team up with one other team here and there when it was beneficial for both of us. Actually at one time 4 teams go in search of Internet together so there are pieces where we work together but Christie and I knew we would find flights that no one else would probably find. One thing that is very hard that you don't see is that teams are often very close together especially in airports and it makes keeping information to yourself very difficult. At airports when you are on the computer any teams can come right in and look at the screen to see what you are doing.


On to the bobsled. I was really jealous I didn't get to do that. It was Christie's turn and she wanted to do it so it was only fair. It did look like fun though didn't it? The only not fun part is that it was freezing and probably colder up at the top and coming down would be windy as well as cold. I know I was freezing with Jennifer at the bottom while we waited. Christie did do the run twice. The first time she went slow to get the letters. That is when I said she didn't have a shot of making it this time. Thanks to the editing it makes it look like I said that when she did make it. UGH! Anyway, the first time she was over by 1:40 and told her she was over by 2 minutes and she couldn't use the break at all and the second time she hit it right on the nose. She did a great job finding all the letters. Keisha went down the bobsled 3 times, she was fast but kept missing the last letter. It was just before the bobsled ended when they thought they were done. Keisha got the puzzle first, Christie about 10 minutes later and we ran to the cab and kept running until the finish line. We were so surprised we were in first because Jen/Keisha had a lead on us. The only thing we remember about the type of motorcycles is that they were Yamaha, on the show they said 650's. Not sure why the brand name was cut in editing. Strange.


Everyone was really surprised Kris and Amanda were U-turned and it took awhile before it came out that it was Margie and Luke. It was easy to know who didn't use it because it wasn't used when the first 3 teams got there. People swore it wasn't them and then Margie and Luke confessed to someone and it was all out except Kris and Amanda were already gone and they don't find out until they get to sequester and the next team arrives to tell them.


Well, I think that is all I have. Siberia was extremely cold, makes sense why people there drink. It was more big city than I expected, not just barren cold land. Not a lot of happy smiling people until they are drinking that is. I had sushi that night at the hotel, I believe. One of the best meals we had the whole month. We could even order desert and a drink if we bought it with our leg money which some people were hesitant to do. The money you get for the leg is just sufficient to get you through. We had a little left over here and there but we would use it for things like Internet research. It's a weird feeling to be traveling without any real money, kinda scary. We do have credit card use but only for flights. I suppose in a true emergency we could use it but the rules are only for flights. One day I spent $13,000 American just on flights for that day.
Gulp!

We didn't know about the conversation between Mark/Mike and Jamie/Cara where Cara pretends to be an airline representative until we saw it Sunday. It was all new to us.


Mar 19, 2009 9:32 PM
Subject: Episode 5 recap

Body: UGH! So we finally have a first place finish only to have a 10 hour wait in the train station for the Trans-Siberian train ride. That make the second time we have had a first place lead only to have everyone back on an even playing field the next morning. We won the wrong leg.

What can I say..... Siberia is cold and we were miserably lost. We couldn't find our way around that place to save our lives. We often stopped for directions only to get circles and lines on a piece of paper. No street names, distances etc. It was frustrating. The drunk guys DID get us to our bride. Those were the only good directions we had all day. Not the best situation to be in however. The guy who drove us to the very pretty but WRONG church led us a good 20-30 minutes in the wrong direction, so not only did that waste time but we had to also get back. Our bride was freezing cold and we felt horrible for her. I was not having as much trouble as others with the stick shift or ice but we couldn't understand anyone and we weren't supposed to pay anyone to take us. We could only do that after we got the next clue and it did not forbid us from hiring the cab.


Also, we originally chose the snowplows. We stopped for directions at a gas station (which apparently people don't do in Russia) and no one knew what we were talking about. We switched to the bride task because the address was written in Russian and we thought we might have better luck.


When we got to the race starting point we did not know what the task would be. We could only see a tent. The clue said who has no shame and we had agreed earlier that Christie would do the embarassing things as she enjoys them and I just get embarassed. I think we were both expecting something like season 13 when they dressed up in wresting outfits. Christie really wanted to do that. Nudity was a complete surprise and frankly at the time I was pretty mad about it. It seemed like a shameless way to attract viewers and an attempt at complete humiliation. I have been asked several times if I'm glad it wasn't me who had to run and my answer is YES. Mostly because I think my daughter would have died. Not cool to see your mom running around on TV in a thong. I think Christie pulled it off rather well however and those boots many were wearing were REALLY heavy, warm but heavy.


I am happy to say my finger is fine. It was bleeding pretty good at the time and the show made me go to medical twice just to make sure. I was worried they wouldn't get done before Christie came in and I didn't want to delay us. I have a cute little scar on my pinky to remember the leg by. I have to say that leg was one of our most miserable, with leg 2 in a close second. I just hate being lost. It is such a frustrating and helpless feeling.


That's all I've got this time. I hope I've answered your questions and if not send me a note and I'll try to answer them next time.

jodi


Date: Mar 25, 2009 8:25 PM
Subject: Episode 6 recap
Body: Episode 6 recap-

Episode 6 recap-

Well, this is one episode where there is a lot that you didn't see. Some of it for the better like the fact that I spent my first hour in India throwing up. I think I must have gotten some food poisoning on my flight in or I picked up a bacteria some where along the way. Either way I was pretty miserable and once I got everything out of my system I was doing better. All of this happened 9 hours before we landed in Jaipur and we needed to really make up time on our tasks.


Our biggest obstacle that day however was our cab driver. We had to wait in a line to get a cab driver and then they were assigned. We were second to the cabs but our driver insisted on taking us toward Pushkar (a place where a local religious ceremony was being held. Tourists had been going there all week and he assumed we also wanted to go there) despite our constant request of Dhula Village. We had never heard of Pushkar but after constant questions about Dhula village we passed the airport we started at going in a different direction. This detour cost us 30 minutes and of course after all that driving we then later have to stop for gas. That was just icing on the cake.


So after our 30 time delay we are finally headed into Dhula village. There is one very long road in and only one road out. We passed most of the teams leaving as we were coming in. We were still approximately 30 minutes behind the other teams. We arrived at the tree and completed that task in less than 5 minutes. During that time village people told our cab driver we were in a race and he was responsible for us being in last place. He felt very bad and tried to make up time after that BUT he got lost in the one road town and we were having to turn around in people's driveways to find the way out.


On to the camel challenge. We were still 25 minutes minimum behind the other teams. At the camel challenge we made up a lot of time and left about 5 minutes behind Mike and Mark. A couple of things happened at the camel challenge that also cost us in the end. In an attempt to make up as much time as possible I filled 2 buckets full of water and carried them back to my camel station. When I arrived I was told I could only dump 1 bucket. The distance from the filling station to my camels was approx. 100 yards so it took extra time to carry 2 and it was extremely heavy. The clue said use local tools to feed and water the camels. It did not say you could only dump one at a time. At that point arguing about it would have just cost more time so I set one bucket down and went back for another. We lost 5-10 minutes with that issue alone. The reason I was given is that it was designed so that you would have to go back and forth which I did several times. Later I was told they had heard about the issue and it was technically another teams bucket and I couldn't use another teams items. However, the buckets were not assigned and the straw baskets were in a big pile to our left. Secondly, I was the first to notice Mel had a straw basket and I saw them off to the left. I then walked over and picked one up and began to use that as well. Shortly after I started Cara yelled to Jamie that I had a basket and she should get one. That alerted the other teams and soon everyone abandoned their buckets for baskets to transport the straw. There went my other advantage. I do not blame Cara for alerting Jamie as they were doing their best to win, however in the past we were told that once one team member elected to do a task the other team member was not allowed to help in any way. I do wish the rules were not enforced randomly. You could be encouraging but could not help do the task. Just a little thing, but frustrating when you are fighting to survive. I thought the point of the race is to use your brain with in the rules to find ways to get ahead. The final thing you don't realize when watching on TV is that the people who got there first had camel stations much closer to the supply station. Since we arrived last my station was about 20 feet further than the other teams and each time I went back and forth I had to go further.


So we leave camels about 5 minutes behind and we have to do our speed bump. We painted the elephant which took only about 10 minutes however getting to and from the elephants took 10-15 minutes each way as traffic in India was horrible.


We completed the �rupees� challenge in about 20 minutes and we were extremely touched by the people's willing to give. Their living conditions were so poor and they did not have much to give but they were having fun and they gave willingly. We actually finished before Mark and Mike but their task was 1.5 miles closer to the pit stop and with India's traffic we were unable to catch them. We arrived 2 minutes after the guys and were eliminated from the race.


During the show Mark/Mike mention that there are 3 girls teams that are close to 6 feet tall. I want to assure those of you who know me that I have not taken massive doses of human growth hormone. I am still 5'3 and Christie is 5'4� The other 2 girls teams are very tall. Christie and I were the second shortest team in the race next to Mike and Mark.


I have learned so much from being in the race. I love to compete and I hate to lose but in this case what I gained from being a part of the race is worth so much more than money. We ended on a good note. We had a great day in India, we made up time on tasks and truly enjoyed the cultural experience. It was a close one! Tough to watch. Riley (my daughter) and I watched the final episode together. At the end she was hugging me and crying and I was doing the same. She wasn't sad, just emotional because I was talking about her and I was crying on T.V. All it all, it has been a great experience for both of us even if it was incredibly hard being apart for so long. I think we will both remember this time as long as we live. I am really lucky to be her mom.


One other note, Christie�s uncle passed away during the filming of the show. She was extremely close to him and very worried about leaving. We did not find out until we were in the sequester house in Thailand. Christie is really disappointed he was never mentioned. She talked about him our last day on the mat and at that time he had already passed but we were unaware.


One last question we have been asked several times is if our experience as flight attendants helped us. Actually, it did. We did seem to get better flights. In Moscow we were one of only 3 teams to make our connection as customs took forever. On this last leg, the flight are completely full in economy . We asked the airlines to call their corporate offices to reclassify some seats to economy so that we could buy them. Without their help we would have extended our stay in Russia with no hope of catching up. Our knowledge of the industry and calm patience paid off to allow that to happen.


Unfortunately, this will be my last recap unless something interesting happens on elimination station. Tune in and watch what the sequester house was like at CBS.com under videos and elimination station.