As expected, the the clouds were thick and low early this morning behind Mac's Hardware in Winnipeg.
The usual round of re-checking yesterday's problems kept a few S&T folks busy so the rest of the Miners, who had become so practiced at the daily loading plan, took some time for jump rope fun.

Meanwhile Solar Miners' brain trust distributed the day's route changes, but sometimes when you have a late change of plans not everyone gets the message.

S&T didn't expect to go very far or fast today because of rain, heavy cloud cover, and their low battery power, but they certainly didn't expect to get lost (stupid route changes!). About 25 miles north of WInnipeg slow-moving SMVI missed a turn and lost about seven miles one way. By the time they figured it out and got back on course it was pretty much time to load the car in the trailer and haul it the rest of the 225+ miles to Manitoba's capitol city.
The Miners weren't at all happy with the course of events because this was the first time since 1999 that the car had to be trailered on a race, but it did get them far enough north to find some clearer skies and get several good hours of charging under their belts. This writer is not sure of SMVI's power status, but there is at least another day of cloudy weather ahead so no matter who wins this race the 2005 race record is probably safe.

Tomorrow starts the second-to-last stage start of the big race. We'll leave Red River College at 9, and head west until we hit the Rockies some 600 miles later. It's tough to tell the standings right now, but a lot of teams trailered into town today, and we don't know when the trailer penalties will be announced.