We got in to Big Sky on Friday to start our journey at Primal Quest….Brian drove his RV across the country and picked up Shari and Mary in Colorado.  The Winabago of power then picked up the 4th team mate Keith.  With Keith, Joy and Bob, our support crew, were on the same plane as they flew into Bozeman airport.  Race leg one started…..buying all the stuff we forgot or needed to pick up in town like groceries etc for this 10 day race.

 

Saturday - check in started promptly at 7.  We were one of the first teams in line to start the check in process which can take up to 7 hours.  Check in consists of a skills test for climbing, kayaking and making sure each team has all their mandatory gear.  The mandatory gear list was very extensive because the temperature swings from the high 80’s to the low 30’s.  It looks like our packs will weigh up to 30 lbs.  The climbing test consisted of ascending a 100 foot rope to the top of a ski chair pole, then rappelling down.  The water test consisted of swimming across a lake and flipping your kayaks and doing a self rescue to make sure if we got in trouble on the course, we could save ourselves.  Basically this meant we were in 40 degree water for 45 minutes.  Nice and chilly.  They told us this was warm, considering the water we would be in was going to be as cold as 35 degrees…….

We were the third team to finish at less than 5 hours, so after day one, Team Towanda is in third place….

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