Edward Teach
Blackbeard
offline
Registered: Feb 2003
Local time: 06:47 PM
Location: The Seven Seas or the Outer Banks.
Posts: 6052
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Cairo, Egypt
Departing the Pit Stop at Catherine's Palace in first place on a snowy morning at 9:11am, married parents Chip & Kim opened their clue to discover they must travel 20 miles by train to St. Petersburg and find the Hermitage, one of the world's largest and most famous museums. Once inside, a curator would follow as Teams searched the nearly 3 million works on exhibit to find one painting, "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Rembrandt, to receive their next clue. On their current standing, Chip commented, "We feel awesome because we're finally number one. We want to keep it that way."
Leaving 31 minutes later, Colin & Christie found a taxi to take them to the train station...
They received their next clue instructing them to fly over 2000 miles to Cairo, Egypt and proceed to the Tower of Cairo, a 600-foot observation tower overlooking the city.
Chip & Kim hailed a taxi and headed to the airport, while Colin & Christie, also having found the painting, decided to go to a travel agency. At the airport, Chip & Kim were told that the earliest available flight would land in Cairo at 3:15pm, so they booked that flight. At the travel agency, Colin & Christie discovered a flight getting them into Cairo at 2:25pm, which they booked before arriving at the airport. Also arriving at the airport, Marshall & Lance, Charla & Mirna and Brandon & Nicole also secured places on the 3:15 flight, which assured Colin & Christie a 50-minute lead in Egypt.
Determination paid off for two Teams, who gained an advantage by finding better flights. In Paris, Colin & Christie found a flight that would land in Cairo at 2:35am versus 2:25pm, creating nearly a 13-hour lead over the other Teams. In Frankfurt, Charla & Mirna secretly found a flight that would land at 2:25pm instead of 3:15pm with the other five Teams. The cousins slinked off during the night when their competitors had fallen asleep.
Landing in Cairo, Colin & Christie took a taxi to the Tower of Cairo to discover it was closed until 9am. Still, they had a nine-hour lead. After a restful night under the stars in Cairo, the dating couple climbed the tower steps in the morning and opened their clue to find the first of two Fast Forwards on the Race. In this Fast Forward, Teams had to make their way to the Pharaonic Village. Once there, they needed to find a sarcophagus and transport it by ferry to a temple and deliver it to the priest inside to receive the Fast Forward reward.
Opting to do this, the dating couple began looking for the village, but disagreed on where to find the sarcophagus. Over Christie's objections, Colin directed the pair to the wrong area. Christie then took over and found the ancient coffin, which they carried into the ferry. Chastising Colin, Christie said, "You know what? You never trust me. And, I said the sarcophagus was on the other side." Colin defended himself as the pair squabbled while carrying the sarcophagus to the priest in the temple.
Upon receiving their Fast Forward reward, the dating couple learned they could proceed directly to the next Pit Stop, the Sphinx. Arriving at the Pyramids, Colin marveled, "We are at one the most incredible places on the planet Earth."
Arriving in Cairo in second place at 2:25pm, Charla & Mirna sped off to the Tower of Cairo and found a Route Marker instructing them to travel 14 miles to the Giza Plateau, home of the three Great Pyramids. Once there, they had to follow yellow rocks to their next clue
In the cab race to the tower, the brothers took an early lead, but were passed by Brandon & Nicole, who arrived first. A concerned Kami & Karli arrived in last place, but passed Linda & Karen on the drive to the Giza Plateau.
In this Roadblock, one Team member had to climb down a series of ladders to the base of Osiris Shaft, 140 feet below the surface. Next, they needed to search a watery tomb for a satchel, bring it back to the surface and present it to an Egyptologist, who would give them their next clue.
Teams needed to use this map along with the puzzle pieces in the satchel to plot their course. By assembling the puzzle on top of the map, they would see a hole in the puzzle that marked where they would find their next clue.
The bowling moms received a setback when Linda fell in the sand and twisted her ankle. When Brandon & Nicole and Marshall & Lance arrived at the shaft for the Roadblock, cousins Charla & Mirna found the location designated on their map and discovered a Detour. In this Detour, Teams had to choose either "Rock & Roll" or "Hump & Ride." Teams opting for Rock & Roll had to use ancient tools to transport 600 pounds of rock across an area of sand the size of a football field. While physically demanding, the task could be finished quickly if Teams could master the ancient system used to build the Pyramids. Teams choosing Hump & Ride must pick a pair of horses to lead camels laden with carpets along a one-mile path through the desert. Once they delivered the camels and cargo to a carpet merchant, Teams would receive their next clue. While not physically demanding, the speed of the task was determined by the camels, so it could take a long time. Hoping to do Hump & Ride before it closed at 5:30pm, the cousins raced across the sand, just barely catching the Egyptian men and horses in time.
With Marshall & Lance struggling but completing the Detour for a fifth-place finish, Kami & Karli began the arduous task of hauling the concrete. Having completed the Osiris Shaft puzzle, Linda & Karen were still battling to avoid elimination, desperately hoping to catch up. In the end, twins Kami & Karli finished the Detour and arrived at the Pit Stop in sixth place, and the bowling moms stepped on the mat in last place. Phil delivered some good and bad news to Linda & Karen. The good news was that they were not eliminated, as this was the first of four pre-determined non-elimination points in the Race. The bad news was a new twist, which stripped the bowling moms of all their money. In addition, they would not receive any money at the start of the next leg. On their predicament, plucky Linda commented, "We have no money. We're in Egypt, where everybody's poor. It's going to be hard, but we're not going to give up."
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08-05-2004 08:01 PM
