Stage 2:
Silvercreek City to Hollenburg
Temperature at mid-day: 0°C
Night-time Low: -5°C
Weather Conditions: In continuation from yesterday, the winds remain largely unchanged, with mild to moderate strength and few gusts. There is no snow- or rainfall for the entire day.
Camp Challenge: Stopping Distance from 62 MPH / 100 km/h.
After yesterday’s brutal climb over the mountain pass, spirits brighten perhaps a little when it’s mentioned that today, we’re taking Highway Route 1 to the next location.
While leaving Silvercreek City was slow, the 55 MPH / 90 km/h speed signs and generally decent conditions on the highway mean we’re able to travel at a decent pace. At least one thing is certain: there is plenty of room for passing, thanks to it being four lanes of divided highway (two lanes for each direction of travel.) Those way out in the front occasionally saw a police car parked near the signs, covering the 75 MPH speed limit with a bright orange “Reduced Speed 55 MPH / 90 km/h” sign instead. The road weaves in and around the mountain, occasionally passing through a small tunnel, for the most part maintaining a speed around 55 MPH, but occasionally dipping down to 35 for some corners, and on a couple of long, straight, well-salted sections of the highway, allowing us to make up a little lost time at 75, before having to return to reality for the next section of less-than-ideal highway.
For those who can’t manage the brisk pace on this run, however, it becomes far more obvious that it’s going to be a long drive. Not just will they have to contend with a slower overall time, but also being the first people to deal with traffic. The mid-to-late 1930’s style cars are certainly stylish, and surprisingly quick, but it’s also abundantly clear that our vehicles outmatch theirs in almost every way.
For those who are pushing their luck, every so often, there’s a car painted up in black and white sitting in the hard shoulder, just waiting to catch a glimpse of someone they know is speeding, their red-and-blue snow-globe-style lights turned on and spinning slowly, warning people of their presence.
As we leave the highway and make it to the city of Hollenburg, it’s more obvious now that Silvercreek was small. Easily fitting 400,000 people within it, we’re forced to deal with the consequences: Traffic. There’s not a huge amount of cars, though clearly some people have their own personal motor vehicles, but there’s a surprising amount of trucks, a handful of primitive buses, three tram lines, and a whole hell of a lot of bicycles.
Thanks to the size of our group, the only place Hollenburg has to offer is the Hollenburg Campground. It’s not a popular place thanks to its nearest neighbor: the cemetery.
Next Stage Expected Conditions:
Road Speed: moderate
Road Condition: poor
Traffic: high
Police: low
Notes: Being stopped by police is always a 15 minute delay for a warning, a 30 minute delay for a ticket, and a 12 hour and 15 minute delay for an arrest.
A change has been made which substantially streamlines the stage calculation process on our end while (hopefully) also making it easier to read for you. As such, the data associated with the challenge is now to be found in the link below, leading to a non-interactive spreadsheet containing the aforementioned data.
(Link removed because we made an oops. Corrections are being made for the future…)
Team Shift Happens
Unofficial Camp Challenge longest distance: HD-GV Home Unit - 134.3m
Things were going smoothly until flashing lights and a loud siren ended up pulling in behind Takaraya in the Home Unit. After a brief warning about keeping his truck in his lane, and not driving in both lanes, Takaraya and Kasiya returned to the long drive ahead of them, with Kasiya grumbling quietly about the traffic and Takaraya trying to keep quite a lot of truck in the lane.
VS Mobil Generator AB
After the customary slow railing-up process, the train of Diones quickly reached the line speed, taking a slightly more scenic route to Hollenburg. Val at least gets to enjoy some more mountain scenery while cruising on smooth, sleek rails.
Team M.A.D.
With the team splitting up, the end result is that the Walkenhorst half of the crew cruises ahead while the Sakura is busy paying back the favor from the previous stage by dragging a certain badly-misfiring Frankencar out of several ditches.
Team Sinesian Rejects
The crew in the Imbe were hardly surprised when Ianis took off in the Itan ute again, leaving them cruising slowly along until someone’s loud music got switched on, leading to the startled driver promptly ending up in the ditch. Due to the engine’s constant pinging, there’s not quite enough power to get the car back on the road, leading to one of the crew flagging down the Sakura Citrine for a little much-needed help. Unfortunately, due to the crash, the crash-damaged front suspension now tends to pull to the right, which, when combined with obnoxious passengers, every time the driver’s hands leave the wheel, the Imbe ends up in the ditch, and the Sakura dutifully drags the car back onto the road. Meanwhile, Ianis got his first real look at Nehmenweld’s police force when his speedy driving sent him off the road, and after an hour of trying to get the ute back on the road, the cops caught back up to him. Having shotguns aimed at you, told to get down on the ground now, and realizing that “K-9 unit” in Nehmenweld means being chased down by something bigger than Kasiya, and nowhere near as nice, Ianis surrenders and accepts his fate. Many, many hours later, he’s grateful when Jayde turns up to bail out the three teams that had screwed up.
Team Not-So-Slow
It’s another comfortable stage in the luxury car. However, it’s just long enough for worry to start creeping in. Didn’t it happen last year, after all, that the car ran great for several stages and then started to fall apart?
The Ambassadors
The choice to split up really only ends up making a difference courtesy of the Mayland’s thirstier engine needing an additional fuel stop. Through it all, the two cars keep well within radio range of one another.
The Knockouts
After victory in the previous stage, the crushing jaws of defeat grabbed Kate this round. An ill-timed sneeze at full speed sends the 1325 Facelift off of the highway, where it quickly ends up stuck in a snow-drift. As she’s ordered out by a Nehmenweld police officer holding back a snarling, 11-foot-tall werewolf with a heavy chain, then promptly placed in handcuffs, she gets an ironic glimpse at the cruising Papillona making its way past.
Team Mravolinski-Chitco
It’s all fun and games until someone does a drive-shaft pole-vault on the highway. Luckily, the Kontir Cunningham is tough enough to take the sudden rear-axle abuse without any further issue, but a highway-side driveshaft repair is not fun.
Team HETS
Another comfortable, if slightly-briskly-paced drive for the two elderly ladies and their much younger family members wraps up the highway stage. Mopey gets a couple extra lumps after laughing at teams being arrested.
Team Flaming Gallahs
It is really bad luck that got all of you this time. See, the police were trying to stop a speeding car that darted around you. The end result, however, was that they accidentally got you with the spike strips, leaving Priscilla II with multiple flat tires. Luckily, you were only stuck waiting for a few hours while the police came back with a couple of mystics to un-pop and re-inflate your blown tires.
Team Friendship! 
The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round, all down the road.
Team Hillbilly Rollers
After yesterday’s beer fiasco, the solution this time was to pack all the alcohol into the IP Rugger and leave Marie plenty of water in the Wolverine. It seemed to work as she stayed sober this time.
Team Sane Insanity
Nearly 5 hours were lost to diagnosing a misfiring midship sports car. After being concerned that it was bad fuel, bad plugs, or a bad fuel injector, the real problem was found: The engine had a rat-chewed ignition coil wire that caused intermittent misfires. After copious amounts of electrical tape were wrapped around the high-voltage line, the engine seems to run well enough to continue the stage.
Faolan Industries
The fender skirts on the 11/2 are beautiful, but they suck to remove when a tire has popped. The end result is nearly 3 hours of lost time courtesy of removing and replacing the skirts twice thanks to some road debris.
Team Taciturn
The aliens have no issues on this stage, making a very clean run.
Team ReUnity
With the crappy conditions in your favor, the crossover sprints to the finish line first. Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before lighting arrives in camp.
Team Spy Kids
It was all fun and games until the Reekayns threw a rod. 7 hours and 32 minutes later, the engine is now “running” with a missing cylinder. This produced a smoke machine that very quickly resulted in getting a warning that “we don’t appreciate the smoke, so get it cleaned up.” Spare parts are used in camp to return the engine to fully-functioning condition, following the very pleasant experience of an unbalanced paint-shaker of an engine. Meanwhile, the Mocabey spent roughly 4-and-a-quarter hours going the wrong way and then had to turn around and go the right way.
Team J3
Camp Challenge winner (shortest stopping distance): Tiharris Summer V6 J3 - 33.5m
It’s a smooth and quiet cruise for team J3 this time. No failures, only a basic traffic stop because the Rhien Willow was all over the road.
Team Aeromad
Camp Challenge winner (longest stopping distance): Juggernaut 862 Custom Aeromad - 77.7m
If there’s one certainty about having RWD and an airplane engine, it’s that you learn really fast what the definition of “too much power” is. With the Torrento spending a bit over 8.5 hours off the road needing a tug after someone’s heavy right foot put it in the ditch, it’s very clear that this car is “too powerful” for its own good.
@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet
Team Black Rabbit Disavowed
Other than getting a warning for the Seikatsu’s width causing their extended flatbed to flick the aerials of every police car nearby, it was smooth sailing for the crews involved.
Sheriff Scott’s Posse
Another crew with some really nasty tire trouble. First, you hit the spike strip meant for someone else, and then you slid right into the ditch and buried the car in a snow-drift. Then, with spare tires, patches, and chewing gum in the holes, you did it again just for good measure. This time, you asked a local policeman if they could possibly get you tires in your measurements. They returned… With several inner-tubes to fill your tortured tires with so you could limp it to camp.
Team “486”
Luck was on your side this time. No breakdowns while both cars were flat out, one drafting the other, sirens screaming the whole way behind you. Turns out, the Nehmenweld Highway Patrol takes the Highway part of their name very seriously, as their failed attempt to describe your vehicles as they left the highway means you got away clean… This time.
Team Magdelena
With the Baumhauer spending 5 hours and 41 minutes on the side of the road dealing with a mysterious ticking noise and the Hinode getting pulled over for a speeding ticket, it’s not exactly an uneventful voyage today.
Team Machinas Con Passione
Other than Alessio getting a warning for his driving pace in the Blue Wonder, it’s a smooth experience here.
Cunning Stunts
Both crews were bored on this trip, as it was a long, long stretch of highway driving with nothing really going on other than the occasional car parked on the side of the road to look at.
Team Till D End
When the dry-rotted tires on the camper’s rear axle exploded, it created one interesting setback for Team Till D End. Fortunately, after 4 hours of waiting, a few policemen were able to retrofit some tube tires and their respective treads onto the rear dually axle of your truck. It feels a little strange to drive a “ten wheeler” into camp, courtesy of the eight tires, two per rim, crammed under the camper bed.
@LS_Swapped_RX7
Basedworks
It turns out, driving the edgiest car around doesn’t go over well when you’re driving like an idiot drafting the camper in front of you. Luckily, when the MCMOTD came to a shuddering halt courtesy of something fouling up the fuel system, the cops were only interested in arresting the driver of it. That said, being confronted by Nehmenweld’s version of “K-9” units in the form of giant freaking werewolves, plus the cops who started by aiming sawn-off shotguns at you, that was a guarantee for cooperation.
Team Gunship
Spending 10 hours and 34 minutes diagnosing an intermittent fault causing the engine to completely shut off on the highway is a nightmare. Especially when it just keeps happening, racking up 20 minutes here, an hour there, 12 minutes over there, and so on. Eventually, the problem is solved, and the crew is able to scream into camp in their open-cockpit roadster.
4 Dicks in a Truck
18 wheels of PAIN. Running over a discarded spike strip and puncturing all 18 wheels sucked. Sure, patching them all up was easy enough, but 18 wheels needing work wasn’t fun. Neither were the 100 lug-nuts all put on by the 800 pound gorilla in the shop the last time the rig was worked on. After nearly 11 hours of back-breaking work, you’re on the road again.