Epilogue – Lloyd’s view

Looking back on our Peking to Paris adventure, a few specific thoughts come to mind. Obviously, the spectacular scenery which rolled by one kilometer at a time far outweighed the aggravation of border crossings, suspension eating roads, and the not insignificant dangers that we encountered. Persevering through one country at a time gave us a unique perspective on the social and economic forces at work in each as well as the prospect of oil and gas revenues and the presence or absence of water. However, given my particular fascination with things mechanical, I also saw the whole trip as a constant battle of our machines for survival. The goal of driving into the Place Vendome under our own power pulled us unrelentingly onward. I was particularly fascinated by the problems some machines had while others made seemingly effortless progress. Some cars failed early, even before the start, others spent a large percentage of the 14,000 kilometers on flat bed trucks, and still others limped in, or were towed into camp and hotel parking lots, only to be hammered upon and made semi-operable by their crews and, more often by the incredible support mechanics. Finally, there were a few cars that required only semi-routine maintenance, leaving their drivers and co-drivers time for restorative beers, showers and blissful rest. I came to wonder whether we might compile statistics for each car on the percentage of time spent “on the hook”, or disassembled and then reassembled at the end of the day. Could each car’s “break down index” present clues as to the stoutness of its design, its level of preparation, or perhaps just plain good luck or poor luck? Also, were there some problems that could be minimized by being caught early, or were there also ticking time bombs just waiting to explode, either in Mongolia, or further along on the smooth roads of Iran and Turkey or Greece? This, for me, is food for thought and perhaps worthy of study by future rallyists.

 

In our case, our car kept rolling along by what seemed, to me, to be a combination of original design and fortunate preparation. Even though the choice of our Cadillac sitting in the parking lot of the Hotel Shangri-La in Beijing may have appeared to have been a poor one, its 7 inch thick frame nonetheless allowed all of its tender bits and pieces such as the muffler to be tucked up out of harm’s way. The Cadillac’s suspension was simple and of the same robust design used on other much heavier Cadillac models that year. The overhead valve V-8 engine, new that year, was truly under-stressed as demonstrated by the fact that later in the 1950′s, Cadillac extracted nearly double the horsepower from essentially the same engine design. However, there were some things we just had to live with: principally the car’s weight, and its overall size, as well as drum brakes that faded at the end of most timed sections. As for preparation, we need to thank Mike the Spring Guru of Eaton Detroit Spring, who got the ride height and spring rates spot on as well as assuring me that we wouldn’t break a spring no matter how hard we tried. Also, there is Jim Reid of Reid’s Automotive Racing Engines who worked on our motor for more than six months to cure it from eating its valve rockers. I had my doubts, but Jim’s experience told him that he had found the problem and solved it. Steve, of Lee Myles Transmissions, got the Hydromatic transmission in our car right on the first rebuild. He assured me that if it could survive service in a battle tank during World War II, then it would get us through Mongolia and up the slippery slopes of Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Charlie Beck, with his experience in preparing cars for the Carrera Pan America breathed on our suspension and made the Cadillac handle like dancing with my mother’s best friend Marion: light and amazingly maneuverable despite her considerable girth. And let’s not forget Bob Moran and his amazing welding, and Dale of J P Carroll who built a radiator that never needed a drop of water. Above all, I have to rank the choice of tires and wheels as the top contributor to our performance. I must thank Co-driver Chuck. Before he signed on, I had purchased 15 inch brand X tires and felt well-prepared. But Chuck did his research. Talking with previous Peking to Paris participants and the folks at Tire Rack, he discovered that 16 inch Michelin LTX A/T 2 tires had survived previous Peking to Paris rallies unscathed. Fortunately, 16 inch tires were offered on the heavier 1949 Cadillac models. So they were within the rally regulations. Chuck also found some stout 16 inch steel wheels and had them painted regulation Cadillac red. We made it all the way to Paris on one set of tires and never touched the spares. Best of all, on that muddy, greasy mountain “road” in Turkey, they marched right up on our very first try, clawing all the way. I suspect that my original choice of tires would have left us mired at the bottom.

 

Finally, I need to acknowledge that we had our full share of good luck. We narrowly missed some potholes that could have swallowed us whole, and the sheep did only superficial damage. Also, we could have easily squashed any number of Kamikaze motorbikes that swarmed around us in Turkmenistan, Iran, and Turkey. And who knows what else could have gone wrong? In the end, with the help of many and some good luck, we made it.

 

Epilogue – Chuck’s views

Before departing for the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge 2010, I was asked many times “why are you doing this?”. My answers included; “a once in a lifetime opportunity”, “a fantastic challenge”, “an amazing adventure”.

Shortly after crossing the Gobi Desert, passing through Russia and entering the “Stans”, it became clear to me that the real opportunity presented by this event was to visit places I would never visit otherwise and to see these countries from the back roads where real people live. This allowed us to see firsthand how the people there survive on a daily basis. This was a very humbling experience and made me acutely aware of how fortunate all of us are in our comfortable surroundings here at home.

I’m sure those of you who followed along with our trip will readily agree that our 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe performed flawlessly. This was no accident as great effort had gone into the preparation of the vehicle – see the section at the beginning of this blog entitled “The Preparation”. The folks involved in this project were identified there so repeating all the names would be redundant (and I might miss someone), therefore, I will limit this to a sincere THANK YOU ALL FOR JOBS WELL DONE.

One of the high points of the trip has to be the competitors who accompanied us in this challenge. My only regret is that I didn’t get to meet everyone. The daily departures were done by category allowing the oldest cars to leave first – as a consequence we were always last to leave. Last to leave meant we were also the last to arrive because, although some of the cars were very old, very few were slow. Therefore, it is no surprise that we knew those in the classic category best as we got to see those folks daily while waiting for our assigned departure time. I can’t help but name some of these special people, Greg and Liz Newton in their Holden who we chased for the entire event and with whom shared some interesting accommodations, Ahmet and Erdal driving the famous Anadol – our Turkish buddies and Adrian and Andrew our British friends driving the Aston Martin (Lloyd and I shared a room for six with these guys one night in Iran – what fun), David and Joanna Roberts who we chased and then chased us after they had problems with their differential in their Sunbeam, Steven Harris and Hayden Burvill who drove that beautiful Porsche, Steven Fitzgerald and Paddy Judge who managed to convince that Mercedes 280 Se to make it to the finish, Frank and Ross with their Holden (they broke an axel 15 kms. from Paris and managed to fix it without being late), Dany and Joel Rollinger in their speed handicapped Alpha Jeep (they made it anyway), Dave Staples and Gernold Nisius (who provided more than a few laughs with his balcony escapade) in the Beatle, Dave’s son Garrick Staples and his navigator Robert McClements in the VW Cabriolet and last (but actually first) the amazing partnership of Gerry Crown and Matt Bryson who drove the same Holden Gerry and matt’s dad John drove in the 1997 Peking to Paris event – the winners of the entire event – CONGRATULATIONS. My friend Jim Taylor who participated in the 2007 event did give me a reason to meet several very interesting individuals who he wished to be remembered to – thanks Jim for providing the introduction to Daniel Ward and his mechanic David who drove the Lancia and Alastair Caldwell who drove the Alpha. I can’t forget our fellow Americans Rick and Lang with whom we spent a very pleasant night in a Ger in Mongolia (little did we know then how comfortable the Ger was compared to what was to come) and Arthur and Roger who I met in Chicago on the way to Beijing. I wish I hadn’t started this but I can’t not mention David and Karen Ayre who drove the Itala, Tim Scott on his motorcycle (this was a very determined man), Bruce and Ben Washington whose Chrysler didn’t make it but drove other cars for folks who needed help, Jeff Robinson and Rob Blake in their 1926 Dodge Tourer which didn’t make it but didn’t stop them from getting to the finish and it goes without saying that the trip would not have been the same for many people without the “Girls Team” of Rachael Vestey and Suzy Harvey with their Chrysler Plymouth Sloper (whatever that is). My sincere apologies to all those whom I missed – you all made it a fabulous experience.

Speaking of high points – the kids we saw all along the way were an unexpected and most welcome surprise. I will always remember those smiling faces peering in the window at one of the time controls and doing high-fives with those happy kids. It was interesting to note that the spectator enthusiasm was highest in the eastern countries and waned as we moved west – not surprising as I’m sure we were a real spectacle in China, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran – probably few if any Italas, Bentleys, Lancias and assorted British, Australian and American cars had visited their neighborhoods recently.

No summary of this event would be complete without some comments on the organization and execution of the event itself. Personally, I think few people would have any understanding of the complexities involved in producing as challenging and extensive event as the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. We visited eleven countries, most with their own political structure and issues – we crossed eight borders each having their own processes and procedures– there were over one hundred competitive cars and almost twenty organization vehicles – two hundred plus competitors (all with Type A personalities) and almost fifty organization staff – spent seven days camping on the Gobi Desert and stayed in a variety of hotels (some quite luxurious and others, well who could forget the sanatorium in Turkmenistan) – destroyed some cars, trucked others and gained replacements from multiple sources – somehow, everyone was accounted for when we reached Paris. Anyone who thinks this was easy just wasn’t there or wasn’t paying attention. Phillip Young deserves full credit for negotiating with the bureaucrats of these countries to gain access for the event. While he credits the book “The Mad Motorists” for the idea of reenacting this historic event, it took plenty of imagination and tenacity to actually carry it off. I would not want to trade jobs with Heidi Winterbourne for love nor money – from hotels not having rooms that were reserved months previously to trying to meet the individual needs of well over two hundred people unaccustomed to traveling in the challenging conditions we occasionally encountered – I give her great credit for helping make this the trip of a lifetime. Then there is Kim Banister who created a turn by turn route covering over 14,000 kilometers / 9,000 miles with so few errors I cannot even remember one of them – try giving directions to an out of the way place to someone unfamiliar with the area. Then there are the mechanics (I will never forget everyone’s favorite mechanic Peter Banham and his wife Betty) and staff (Chris Bruce, Lee and Susan Vincent, Kim’s wife Niki, our doctor John-Paul Carpenter and his new wife Caroline and all the others who were so much a part of our daily life for six weeks) who saw it to be their job to get us to Paris no matter what it might take. I salute you all for a job extremely well done.

A special thanks to all who made a contribution to the Scleroderma Foundation as a result of our adventure. I hope a treatment and cure will be available to those who suffer from this disease in the future. Thanks you all for your generosity.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife and family for supporting me in the process of getting ready for and then attending this great challenge of men and machines. I’m certain there were times they would have liked to kill me if I mentioned Peking to Paris one more time. I have to also thank Lloyd for being such a great partner, driver and for putting up with me giving him directions from Peking to Paris – oh, I forgot, that was my job as navigator.

Day 37 Troyes to Paris

Well, this is it – the last day of our 9000 mile, 14,000 kilometer odyssey across two continents. I bet there were many who thought we would never make it this far including most of the organizers. I’m pleased and proud to say that we fooled them all. Of course as the saying goes, “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” but I can hear her warming up in the background.

It’s raining this morning in Troyes – not an auspicious start for the final day of this marathon but we’ll hope for the best.

What a shame – on the last day to have to ride, Peter Banham our chief mechanic told me as we pushed this car up on the trailer that they had blown the transmission but he hoped there was enough left for it to go 100 meters across the finish line on its own. I’m sure if that is remotely possible, Peter will make sure it happens – what a man.

Speaking of the Banhams, they were in charge of the Main Time Control for our departure today (actually Betty was in charge as Peter has enough to do keeping everyone running) – they are two of the nicest people you could ever want to meet and he is an incredible mechanic. Meeting them and getting to know them a little has been one of the high points of the trip from my prospective.

As the morning progressed we got a little blue sky but that was about it. The countryside here is flat and huge tracts are plowed in very neat rows. I have no idea what is growing here but it sure is green.

This is a war memorial at a road junction in the little town of Bonval. Per our usual modus operando, we did not stop to determine which war.

Just a pretty house on a corner in Diant …

Think we stuck to the back roads ??? They certainly were beautiful. This was taken on the road to Fontainebleau.

The route book identified this as an aquaduct (although Word doesn’t like this spelling) – I certainly can’t disagree on what it is.

Our route took us past the Palace of Fontainebleau which is 55 kilometers from the center of Paris. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs beginning with an early 16^th century structure of Francis I and is one of the largest French Royal chateaux. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards. The Forest of Fontainebleau located nearby is a former royal hunting park.

Fontainebleau is a very busy tourist stop with lots of busses and traffic – a far cry from the Gobi desert.

We are getting close – that is the River Seine and we were very happy to see it. Right after crossing the bridge, we proceeded to get lost for a few minutes at what was labeled “difficult junction” – certainly was …

Finally the last Time Control which was supposed to be 7 kilometers from our final destination. Unfortunately, the “early departers” all arrived at about the same time and wanted to cut in line causing a big traffic jam and the location had to be moved further down the street leaving the later arrivers wondering what was going on. Fortunately the crew manning to control scurried around and put up Peking to Paris orange arrows to point the way – these arrows have been very helpful all along our journey – they must have quite a supply of these things – wonder what they will do with the rest of them now. We got sent off in groups of about 10 at a time to negotiate Paris traffic and the final stop. We were assisted by young folks on roller blades waving checkered flags – very good idea.

Bet you can guess this one – right the Arc de Triomphe – never thought I would be this glad to see it.

Then down the Champs Elysees …

Then moving smartly through traffic into Place de la Concorde.

And then into Place Vendome …

Not much to add to this one – it is self-explanatory and a very welcome sight.

I looked up and there was cousin Art and “the boys” who came down from Holland to see the car show and meet us at the finish – what a wonderful surprise.

And they brought us flowers – how nice. I decided to give them to Lloyd’s wife to enjoy as they were staying several days in Paris with friends so they could be enjoyed during their stay.

Lloyd’s son and daughter-in-law came to greet him along with their two boys (who rode the last several blocks with us in the car and then totally enjoyed putting it to good use as a slide – it was very cute.

The Itala made it to the finish under its own power – pretty remarkable for a 1907 automobile. Congratulations to Karen and David Ayre for a remarkable effort – they passed us as we came around the Arc de Triumph – wonder where they had been as they should have been the first ones to the finish. I hope Karen doesn’t fall out of this car ever again – they were a lot of fun to be with.

Having come all the way from Holland, we had to have a beer to celebrate – well, ok, we had more than one but these poor guys had to drive back home tonight.

This little girl was at the table next to us when we stopped for a beer and was both cute and curious – must be fun to be that age …

And of course this is Gerry Crown, the winner of the entire rally. He is a true gentleman and it has been a pleasure participating in this event with him and his co-driver Matt Bryson. Gerry is 78 years young and I hope to be just like him if I reach that age – well done Gerry!

And Dave Staples whose daughter (left) and her friend came to meet him. Of course they also came to meet his son Garrick who never lost his sense of humor despite some major problems with his car.

The big banquet at the end of the journey where some of the thousands of pictures taken by the professional photographers who accompanied us were shown and awards were presented – we did get a trophy as we finished 2^nd in our class thanks to Lloyd’s excellent driving skills. Most of the pictures were taken in Mongolia where the scenery was spectacular and the cars were alone running in the desert – fabulous.

Finally, I have to thank Jim Taylor for my “Old Guys Rule” hat. I wore it every day and based on how the car performed (flawlessly) I decided it was a lucky piece. Good thing the picture doesn’t show all the dirt – it was worn hard but it hasn’t been put away yet.

The Intercontinental Hotel here in Paris is a beautiful old hotel providing truly first class accommodations. Lloyd would have been upset as the room had a king size bed – not the best for two guys. Fortunately, he was staying with friends in Paris so I could luxuriate in the room by myself – seemed a little strange after sharing all sorts of rooms for over a month.

Over the next couple of days I will try to organize my thoughts and attempt to summarize my feelings about this trip. There are many emotions involved so we’ll just have to see what I come up with. Please check back with the blog in a few days and that’s for all your interest.

I would also like to thank all of you who have made contributions to the Scleroderma Foundation – it is a very worthy cause but of course, I’m prejudiced.

Day 36 Aix les Bains to Troyes

We continue to pay for having 26 straight days of cloudless skies as today was grey and foggy but no rain – we should be thankful for the small things at this point.

Before we departed in the morning, Lloyd was in his usual position greasing the chassis and adjusting the brakes – I think he has little conversations with the car while he is here – I hope the car does not reply.

Even in the fog, the scenery was just beautiful …

We got about 10 minutes of sun in the morning which was spoiled when we came upon the scene of a (hopefully) minor fender bender which involved at least one of our cars. If you look closely, that is a hole in the back of the grey car in the middle and the rear lights were broken – what a shame on the next to last day before getting to Paris.

The comment in the route book read “! Narrow bridge” – well I guess so. These arches were actually part of the supports for a stone aqueduct which ran 100 feet overhead – no telling how long ago it was built. It was a good thing the car wasn’t repainted before we came as it might not have fit.

The little towns along the way were very interesting– of course we had no time to stop which is the story of the rally. Of course if we had stopped at every interesting sight it would have taken years to get to Paris. This approach to travel, while the scenery just flies by, has one advantage to the usual guided tours – you get to see parts of these countries which you would never see otherwise – the small towns and villages on back roads are just not on any regular tours. This was the town of Ciel in case you might want to visit in the future.

This is Semur with its medieval castle complete with turrets right in the middle of town. Note also the cobblestone streets which were beautiful but not much fun to drive on. Perhaps we have reached our limits of bouncing around – actually, I think that limit was reached back in Mongolia. Seriously, the Cadillac has given us a wonderful ride under all conditions but I do feel for the folks in the older cars with much less in the line of a suspension and in many cases, no top and no heat.

I don’t even know the names of these towns but the houses and streets were so neat I just had to get a picture. The flowers down the median and up on the poles were beautiful – too bad the day was so grey as the color just got washed out in the pictures.

 

Then we came upon the numerous canals in the region – unfortunately, there seemed to be no canal traffic today. At one of the passage controls, we did meet an American woman who was just watching some of the cars check in. Apparently she, her two daughters and her husband were spending a year touring the area (her daughter was studying medieval French history) and they were traveling by barge – what a way to learn.

 

Now for some rally news. Today the one Time Trial was conducted at a real race track – Circuit de Bresse. Lloyd was within a second or two of the overall rally leaders amazing considering they are driving sports cars or specially prepared rally cars and not a 2 ½ ton Cadillac. Guess we should tank Charlie and Chuck for the fabulous job preparing the suspension. I can remember Charlie Beck saying at the time they were working on the car that if it didn’t make it the problem would not be the suspension – guess he was right.

Tomorrow we arrive in Paris – something we have not previously focused on as you have to take these events one day at a time. We understand the route into the city has been changed due to large demonstrations (they want to raise the retirement age to 62 – not a popular idea) expected where we were due to travel. There is also a gas shortage as workers are also on strike – fortunately, we have full tanks and will not have a problem but the competitors who planned to drive their cars home may well experience difficulties. Finally, the strikes are also effecting air travel but we understand as of not only domestic flights are involved – hope it stays that way.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll be able t get more pictures.

 

Day 35 Viareggio to Aix les Bains

Well this day was a real challenge – 606 kms., four Time Trials, four Time Controls, one Passage Control all in addition to the Main Time Controls at the start and end of the day. And we were beginning to think this was almost over – total fools.

We actually began the day with clear skies and sun – just perfect for northern Italy and the Alps – of course we had to drive some to get there but everything has its price. I can only say the mountains are just spectacular and leave it there.

This was our first Time Control at Passo del Bocco– being new to this game we didn’t realize how important to was to race out of here as there was no time to spare doing the four Time Trials then getting to the next Time Control. Once again Lloyd did a great job with the Time Trials (and we didn’t wreck the car). Only the specially prepared rally cars like the Holdens and the Anadol could meet the Target Times but we did real well. Fortunately, all this occurred in the morning so we had the afternoon to drive the other 300 kms up through the Alps and across the border to France Igood news, there is no customs there any longer).

I’m pretty exhausted so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Yet another mountaintop village …

Somewhere in Italy on the way to Torino …

On the road still in Tuscany – yep, that’s the Anadol trying to get around the truck …

Just beautiful scenery – I’ll leave the pictures full size so you can enjoy them …

And the pictures do not do the area real justice – you had to be there …

You don’t want to drive off the road – there is no guard rail …

And a little house on the hill … Note the haze, apparently there were fires burning in these hills – what a shame.

Time Trials completed, we are now on our way to the Passage Control at Mt. Cenis. This was quite a ways off the direct route and they put these “PC’s” in to make sure you do the entire route – if you skip them there are time penalties.

And the haze is gone …

Every turn held another spectacular vista …

All those little white dots are the posts for the guard rails – gives you some idea of how steep the ascent is to get there …

What can I possibly add …

Just after the Passage Control at the top of Mt. Cenis which was just after the French border where we were at 2100 meters (6800 feet).

I’ll bet you thought we never stopped – you would have been right as this was a rare exception. This was such an amazing view that we couldn’t help it (and we were a little ahead of time).

This is ski country – snow even in autumn.

This was Lanslerbourg, a lovely ski resort even at this time of year … We made a wrong turn here but got back on course quickly.

More of the medieval towns built at the top of the hill …

A closer shot so you have a better idea of what the building actually look like …

And one final shot of a street in a town I forgot to get the name of (can’t imagine how that happened).

We arrived in Aix les Bains on time amazingly enough and parked right in the central square. Lots of people showed to look at the cars but I wasn’t focusing on more pictures (probably thought I was out of film). Unfortunately, our hotel was about a half mile from the headquarters hotel and parking for the cars so we had to carry our stuff down the hill then go back to the main hotel for dinner and finally back down the hill. It was probably good exercise which we all needed as we have sat in a car for far too long a period of time.

Tomorrow we have to hike back up the hill to start the last serious day of the rally – seems impossible to believe it’s almost over.

Scleroderma Reminder

Scleroderma

We embarked on this event to raise awareness of Scleroderma, a disease which afflicts Chuck’s daughter, Elaine. We have payed all expenses associated with this endeavor and, as such, all donations will go directly to research and treatment of this disease. If you wish to make a donation, please click on the following link: www.firstgiving.com/PekingtoParisDriveforScleroderma
and thanks for helping fight Scleroderma.

Day 34 Ancona to Viareggio

The ferry trip was a great change of pace and calm seas made it enjoyable for everyone. Unfortunately the sunrise was hampered by heavy overcast. I just got this picture before sunrise and the adage “red in the morning, sailors take warning” held true as the weather worsened as the day progressed.

These boats must fish all night – hope they are catching something …

The ferry was late and getting off was not easy as we were parked all the way in the bow – hence the last ones to leave. To add insult to injury, a serious accident along what was to be our route caused us to detour and created an additional delay in getting started. The Main Time Control (MTC) had already been changed due to the late arrival of the ferry and the detour only made matters worse. Oh yes, we had 434 kms. scheduled to be traveled in now what was less than a half day.

But our problems were small compared to some others. This is the “wingless” Lagonda you saw only a couple of days ago now being relegated to the back of a truck – what a shame.

And I guess we should be thankful that we have a roof over our heads – not everyone is so lucky – but it only gets wet when you stop. Remember the traffic jam mentioned above … the umbrella is such a nice touch.

Even in the rain there were people out to see the cars – sorry about the rain spots on the windows …

Pretty dramatic mountains which we couldn’t see ourselves no less get a picture, but look to the left of the sign and there is the shoulder of a mountain which goes almost vertically into the clouds – very impressive even if we couldn’t see the whole thing.

The revised starting point for the day and the Time Trials was located in Birra – oddly enough at a brewery …

We were late arriving based on our starting position in the bow of the boat but the folks at the brewery provided lunches for everyone. Lloyd took the opportunity to adjust the brakes again and we reset the tire pressures for the Time Trials only to learn that all timing for the day had been canceled – good thing as that would allow those still following the route to arrive not long after dark.

In Anghiari, a walled city dominates the approach to the town – this must have been there for centuries but is well preserved.

Tuscany has many beautiful roads like this one, however, they are much more enjoyable when it is not raining.

And of course there are the vineyards which at this time of year are quite barren of grapes as the harvest is already in. They would look better if we weren’t moving so fast.

And finally one of the little towns along the way – all very nicely kept.

In order to save time we resorted to using the Autostrada which saved us both time and mileage – good thing we had maps to help create a new route. We arrived at the hotel in Viareggio shortly before 8 pm – not many cars in our parking lot – either some have not yet arrived or they have skipped on to another location closer to Paris.

A Rally Short Story – Back in Silvri (just west of Istanbul), Gernold Nisius from Maine stepped out on his balcony around 11 pm with a cigar and his cell phone. While chatting with a friend in Germany, he closed the door to the room to prevent smoke from entering. Having completed his call, Gernold discovered that he could not open the door and was trapped on the balcony with only his cell phone and his Rally ID which we all wear hanging around our necks. After a couple minutes thought, Gernold decided to call the doctor J.P. Carpenter (key rally contacts numbers are printed on the back of the IDs) reasoning that a doctor would always answer the phone without regard to the time whereas the mechanics would not be so inclined. Having woken J.P., Gernold asked him to contact the hotel and explain his predicament. A few minutes later, J.P. and a couple of security men arrived and attempted to open the door from the inside – no luck. A maintentance man was summoned next and arrived with a complete tool box – good thing as he had to remove the entire door from the frame. The good news was that Gernold had plenty of time to finish his cigar and a funny story and a funny story to boot.