There's gold in them thar hills

You know it's probably not going to be a bad day when you wake up with that under the door. Some of my new friends took off extra early, but left a nice little message for Nikki and I.

Today was all driving, all the time. This was more like Arctic MINIs of old, just covering vast stretches of land and chatting on the radio. Most of us left the hotel at 6:30am, faced with 733 miles of driving to get to Whitehorse. It was snowing when we left and the roads were a bit slick, plus the sun wasn't up so visibility was extra low. We traveled in a pack and called out whatever obstacles and mile markers they were at to warn anyone around. Eventually, Bob and I caught up with the car we traveled with all of yesterday, so we had a good time hanging out with them again. We even spent a good stretch driving with the remaining MINI :)

Once the sun was up, it didn't take long to enter into mind-blowing scenery. We were running parallel to the Boundary Range, aptly named as it forms the boundary between Alaska and British Columbia. At one point we were about 40 miles from the border. You didn't know where to look, you were surrounded by beauty. Massive peaks shrouded in the clouds, just one after another on both sides of the road. We followed this range all day, and eventually crossed the Continental Divide. You don't mind driving for 13.5 hours when you're looking at this the entire time:

 

The other MINI, Car 1, as in they won the event last time.

 

Car 16 (we're car 15), the leavers of the note.

 

Car 13, always ahead of us on the rallies.

My new buddy, one of the many Steve's at this event.

I wish I could write more, but I'm exhausted and there isn't much more to say. We drove, we got gas, we drove some more. There were moose and caribou, including a fun encounter where one jumped next to Steve's car. The roads were mostly ice, and when you stepped on them you just slipped around. But the car was rock solid and we progressed at a good speed. Tomorrow is two rallies off the bat, then transit to the bright lights of Dawson City. See you there!