It's a Team's Life
20 mph 3000 miles RAAM Day 5
The crew gets a 24-hour break to sleep in a non-moving vehicle and as our car was leaving for our break we had several things go wrong. The team quickly pulled it together and we solved the problem. This put us behind on our break in Flagstaff but we still made the most of it. Everyone has net bags they put their dirty clothes in and the crew that has the time off throws the bag of clothes in the washer. This has worked perfect!
We have two four man teams with four in the RV and with four in chase vehicle. We have had two riders on the course at a time and then when the going is tough they will only have one rider on the course at a time. During the daytime we leap frog, which means we will pull ahead about a mile let them catch us and go past, wait a bit and then catch back up. At night, which starts at 7 pm till 7 am is mandatory follow. The riders are always in our headlights and when we do rider changes the current rider cannot start riding until we have the other rider has his bike in the rack and we are ready to ride.
We then caught back up with the team in Cortez, CO and we were off and running. All of us had been anticipating Wolf Creek Pass and the vicious climb. The riders decided to switch every mile and they flew up the mountain! This sounds easier then it was as it is a lot of work to switch riders and the navigator, which was Dr. Jeremy. As the riders passed each other one took off the other got off of his bike and Dr. Jeremy and the rider would latch it into the bike rack.
Everyone would then run to get back in the vehicle and I would take off as fast as I could so I could get ahead of the current rider. As soon as I could safely get off of the road I would come to a sliding stop and the next rider and Jeremy would jump out and take a bike out of the rack and get that rider mounted and ready to head out. Then the process started again. We kept this up for almost four hours as the riders climbed from Cortez to the peak of Wolf Creak Pass.
One the summit was reached all of the guys jumped out to get their picture with the summit sign and then Brian mounted his bike and flew down the mountain. At times he was going fifty miles per hour. At the bottom of the hill we met up with the RV once again and switched out teams as people in the chase vehicle. I am not on my eight-hour break.
We stopped in Monte Vista, CO at a friend of Scott Garcher’s who had prepared large pans of enchiladas for the team. Scott’s mother met us in Prescott Valley, AZ and brought fruit and also some cooked meals that she had separated out into Baggies. There are a few more people lined up across the United States who will bring food to the RV for the crew and the riders.
Bob & Linda Caffee
Leased to: FedEx Custom Critical 

TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO
Expediters 7 years been out here on the road 12 years
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle; 

Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;

Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;

Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.