1300 Klm and a slight touch of wind !

Sorry no blog yesterday or was it the day before.
Just taking a step back to two nights ago Team Molly won their first medal of the event :) hurrah!
A medal is awarded to crews who win a race stage in their class. A team can only win a medal once on the rally. We have had our moment of glory, well done Team Molly :)

We have just had two very very long days and they sort of roll into one another.
We started day 12 with a visit to the local race track at Esquel to run 2 sets of three timed laps, huge fun and everyone including the ' we are not competitive'  got a touch of the old ' red mist' and went flat out. Molly loved it and did very well, times of 3.22 and 3.19 putting her 11th over all.
Just to put the length of these days into perspective this race meeting was from 7.00 in the morning followed by 600+ Km of hard driving.
Stunning scenery along the way but not the route the rally was meant to take. Apparently there is a strike at the Argentina / Chile border. The organisers were very keen on us not getting stuck in Chile.
The organisers have been working flat out to re arrange the route and accommodation for a 40 + group. Looks like they have done a good job.
The first part of the new route is a 600 Km drive over some pretty bad gravel roads but we arrive at a 'quaint' lake side hotel. The hotel is very clean and tidy and they have tried very hard to look after us. It's not big enough for all so some crews have ended up in not such good surroundings. The only problem is that the hotel is not of the greatest construction and as one competitor put it ' if you try hard enough you can see through the walls' ! Anyway once the guy in the room 6 along from us had stopped snoring we all got a little sleep.
Mutterings were being heard about not having an extra rest day here and instead pushing on to a much better hotel in El Calafate only 680 Km away. 
The rally crews are split on this idea. In the end 13 crews decide to go for it, without mechanic back up.
We decided to join this group and spend an extra day glacier spotting rather than staring through walls :)
This journey is where the touch of wind comes in.
Some of the roads are fantastic. Julie and I don't count goats this time we count cars and in 6 hours we see 7 cars and a bus. We know how to have fun :)
Some of the roads were terrible, may be fine in a Toyota land cruiser but poor Molly has 
been  really struggling. Just to add insult to injury while you are battling along cart tracks there is a brand new shiny tarmac road 10 feet away just dying to be used, but it's not open, how frustrating.
We are driving under clear blue skies and across the highest part of Patagonia. Fantastic scenery again. We decide to get out of the car and take some photos. I can't open the car door. Julie is very helpful by suggesting perhaps I should unlock it. But that's not the problem, the wind is so strong I am physically not strong enough to push the door against it. The wind dies down, I open door and wish I hadn't. Unbelievably cold and strong wind still blowing, I can't hold the camera still to take any shots.
It's the first time we have driven in wind of this force. Imagine a dead straight road, no traffic and the fastest Molly can go is just touch over 80 Km (50mph) flat out in 3 gear. 
This is a 680 Km day on rough roads and 130 Km (80mph) winds, a little tiring but very satisfying when you stop. The winds were so strong the airport here was closed.
The remaining rally crews have this journey to do today. The wind is still blowing. We wish them the very best of luck.
When they arrive the rally will all be back together and the organisers can stop trying to herd cats!
All the remaining cars seem to be running well.
Tomorrow we have our extra rest day and we are going to go to the glacier. This should be one of the highlights off the rally.