» Spoilers: Season 12 and earlier Options

[Miss Alli]

I am pinning this final warning to ensure that it can't possibly be missed.

If you can be shown to read this thread (that is, you post in it) and you are found going elsewhere on the boards and using spoiler information which you are trying to pass off as speculation, that is a warnable/bannable offense.

Seriously, it's really unfair to other posters, and it's also really lame, because it comes off like you're cheating and trying to make yourself look like you're just a very good guesser.

Please, please stop this. I have had more problems with this during this season than during any other, and I'm determined to get it stomped down as we get closer to the end. I don't want the show ruined for other people. Please don't continue to engage in this, if you're engaging in it now. Thanks very much to the great majority of you who are careful about this.

[AndyMoose]

Longtime lurker, first time poster here.

Hildy:

Two teams on August 12 at the Chicago Airport.

SlowHatch:

Here's a start. If anyone lives nearby, it's always better to go in person.

I happen to work within easy walking distance of the Chicago Film Office, so I stopped by during my lunch break. The woman behind the counter seemed a little hesitant to give me definate of information, but she did confirm that, as she said "The Great Race or Amazing Race or something" in fact was fliming at O'Hare Airport late last week (August 12 or 13). I asked if anything was being filmed at the Sears Tower around the same time, but she said she didn't know anything about that.

[LAXguy]

So, with 2 teams spotted in Chicago and 4 teams in Boston, we don't have any idea where the starting point is.

If the first location is, indeed, Europe, then I'm guessing that both airports were used for connecting flights, as they each should have plenty of non-stops available. The only way I see Chicago being the starting point is if the new "twist" on the pre-arranged First Leg flights is that one of the planes is non-stop, while the other one or two aren't.

[Masem]

Another possibility (in light that ONLY O'hare got the camera clearence) is that the starting point is somewhere in the mid-west or great plains that does not have a big airport for international, and that the two sets of initial airline tickets are either a connection through Chicago, or through Boston. Say, a city like Denver, or a out-of-the-way landmark in the states, such as the geographic center of the 48 lower states (in Neb. or Kan. IIRC).

[DariaG]

Saint Louis would be perfect under your scenario, masem. My parents live near there, and now that TWA has been absorbed by American Airlines and AA is no longer using StL as a hub, a lot of flights connect through Chicago with short connection times. And there are lots of flights to the two coasts, too. Since AA is the main airline in StL and since TAR usually picks AA for its first flights, that's a possibility.

[kalibean]

Say, a city like Denver, or a out-of-the-way landmark in the states, such as the geographic center of the 48 lower states (in Neb. or Kan. IIRC).

Like navigating through Aggieville after KSU beats Nebraska. That'd be awesome. Or going to the "Top of the World" in Manhattan, KS. That'd make a great clue. However, this is a spoiler fantasy in my head.

I imagine this kind of activity would be too hard to do in a smaller town, as it'd be all over the local papers and picked up by a larger publication in no time. At least in a larger city such as Chicago, there's enough going on that people probably won't care.

[ChiggyAstro]

Masem: Say, a city like Denver, or a out-of-the-way landmark in the states, such as the geographic center of the 48 lower states (in Neb. or Kan. IIRC).

The geographic center of the US is roughly 10 miles from Smith Center, KS. But it's about a 3-hour drive from the Kansas City airport (which is the closest one). I'd be very surprised if it were ever used.

Masem: (in light that ONLY O'hare got the camera clearence)

Do we know that they only got clearance to film at O'Hare, AndyMoose, or were O'Hare and the Sears Tower the only things you discussed?

LAXguy: So, with 2 teams spotted in Chicago and 4 teams in Boston, we don't have any idea where the starting point is.

If the first location is, indeed, Europe, then I'm guessing that both airports were used for connecting flights, as they each should have plenty of non-stops available. The only way I see Chicago being the starting point is if the new "twist" on the pre-arranged First Leg flights is that one of the planes is non-stop, while the other one or two aren't.

I'm not sure we know for sure that there has to be a big "twist" for Chicago to be the starting point. There may have been 7 (or 8) other teams at Logan (in Boston) which just haven't been reported yet. Also, I don't think your "twist" is that far-fetched anyway.

But I do think it's unlikely that Boston is the starting point--the teams seen in Logan were reportedly heading to Europe, and it seems unlikely that other teams would connect through Chicago on their way to Europe from Boston.

The two most likely scenarios seem to me that they started in Chicago, or that they started somewhere else in the middle of the country with some teams connecting through Chicago and some through Boston. St. Louis seems like a good candidate. But I always envision them using the arch (Gateway to the West) for TAR29, when they travel west instead of east around the globe.

[princesscub]

Another "Long time lurker, first time poster" here...

A girlfriend of mine lives in Iceland and sent me this last week (August 14th):

Ok so guess what happened to me this morning?!?! I went to the airport to pick up my Dad and when I was driving in a car passed me in the opposite direction with a flag hanging from the rearview mirror that was yellow with a red stripe down the middle and I thought to myself that looks like the Amazing Race flags.

So anyways I get to the terminal and walk in and I'm waiting for my Dad to come out when out comes a video camera followed by two people with backpacks!! It WAS the Amazing Race!!!!! How cool is that!

I saw several of the people come out and look for the cars they were taking. It was so exciting! Maybe I will be on TV in one of the shots! It just started yesterday and they said it will begin airing in Sept! I couldn't believe it is that quick! The guy said that they are already editing the footage from yesterday for the show!

There was also some guy there from a CBS morning show, I think his name was Harry Smith. He was really nice I talked with him for a while. He is here to participate in this leg of the Amazing Race but he won't actually start until the other teams finish so he doesn't effect the outcome.

I can't wait for it to air here so I can be like that's where I live! LOL So if you want to see what Iceland looks like then watching the first episode of the next Amazing Race.

I'll see if I can get some detailed information from her, re: # of teams, etc.

This post has been edited by princesscub: Aug 20, 2004 @ 2:52 pm.

[Rabrab]

Hee. Hee heee.

It sounds like a start in Chicago is possible. The nice man I just talked to at the Film office said that the permit was for August 13th, and covered O'Hare airport and Buckingham Fountain. Andy Moose since you're local, you want to file an Open Records request for the paperwork and see exactly what it says? He said that they'd release it that way, but he thought it required a written request to the Department of Transportation.

The Boston one also makes sense, even with a Chicago start--a lot of the flights from Chicago to Europe (or Iceland) connect on the East Coast.

This post has been edited by Rabrab: Aug 20, 2004 @ 3:49 pm.

[ChiggyAstro]

I just checked orbitz. Next Friday, there are two flights from the northeast to Reykjavik, both on Icelandair. One leaves Boston at 9:30 pm and the other leaves BWI at 8:45. The BWI flight arrives in Iceland 5 minutes earlier (6:25am vs 6:30am). The best connections to Boston and DC are on American and United, which makes sense. The flights leave the East Coast late enough in the evening that they may have actually started midday in Chicago. Traffic last Friday was brutal, btw.

ETA: Icelandair also has flights through Orlando (arr. 6:10 am) and Minneapolis (arr. 6:20 am), although the Orlando flight doesn't appear to be coming up where I search for Friday flights.

This post has been edited by ChiggyAstro: Aug 20, 2004 @ 3:47 pm.

[Lancer]

Does anyone know what time of day people were seen in Chicago? Buckingham Fountain would be a great backdrop (as in it's use in the Married with Children opening credits) for a start to TAR, but it is also a pretty conjested area, especially in the summer. With Columbus and Lake Shore Drive both having great views of the fountain area, there certainly is not alot of ability to hide from the general public.

I also work in the Sears Tower and didn't see any indication of anything ususual going on, although given whatever time they were here and whether they were just passing by or doing some kind of task, it might have been easy to miss. I do doubt that they were doing anything inside the tower, mostly due to the heavy security they would need to pass through to get into the building.

[Rabrab]

Here's a map showing the relative position of Grant Park (the tiny yellow blotch on the lakefront) and O'Hare (the big red blotch in the upp left corner). It's about 18 miles, and it's mostly navigating out to I-90 and then going the right way on the Interstate. (Here's directions from O'Hare to a hotel directly acroos from the Fountain: Take I-90 to I-94 Congress Parkway East. Follow Congress Parkway to South Michigan Avenue, turn right.)

The start doesn't usually involve any tasks beyond getting to the airport; TPTB seem to want the Racers on planes headed out of the country as fast as possible. Could the "I saw them running down Adams St, towards the Sears tower," simply have been the dash for vehicles? I'm fuzzy on my intra-Chicago locations.

This post has been edited by Rabrab: Aug 20, 2004 @ 4:02 pm.

[ChiggyAstro]

Rabrab: Could the "I saw them running down Adams St, towards the Sears tower," simply have been the dash for vehicles?

Possibly. There's not really an above-ground parking lot in Grant Park. There are plenty of underground lots in the area, most of them to the West (the lake is right there to the East), in the general direction of the Sears Tower. And Buckingham fountain is just about as far north/south as the Sears Tower. So, if they were running towards the parking garages to the West of the fountain, it could have been interpreted as them running towards the Sears Tower.

[Lancer]

The Sears Tower is close to a mile away from Buckingham Fountain. I doubt that they would be running that far to get to their vehicles. There are plenty of room in Grant Park itself to put 11-12 cars. Even if they were to use public transportation, they wouldn't have to go anywhere near Sears to get to a train or catch a cab. If they were seen here at the tower, it had to be an intermediate task of some kind.

Adams would even be a slightly strange route to take since it doesnt go through the park. More likely they would be on Jackson. Being on any of those roads toward Sears would put them right in the heart of the Loop and I don't know any good places for them to find cars, unless the task was to wander the Loop looking for parked cars which could be amusing.

Now I'm really intrigued. I may have to quiz some of the security guards to see if they saw anything.

So, if they were running towards the parking garages to the West of the fountain, it could have been interpreted as them running towards the Sears Tower.

It depends on the specificity of the "running on Adams" part of the spoiler. Given that Adams dead-ends at the Art Institute and doesn't go into the park istelf, teams would have to get to Michigan probably via Jackson then head over to Adams. By the time they got onto Adams, they would have bypassed the Grant Park garages altogether. That would mean they were headed towards an above-the ground garage inside of the Loop possibly.

This post has been edited by Lancer: Aug 20, 2004 @ 4:31 pm.

[Rabrab]

OK, thanks. Part of what I meant was would it be reasonable to take "toward the Sears Tower" as meaning "west", since a lot of times when I've gotten dierections from locals it's "towards the lake"="east" even if we were nowhere near the lake.

It's a fine point of wording, but the sighting doesn't say "at the Tower", it says "toward the Tower". That's why I keep chewing on this; it bugs me.

ETA; another probable non-brainstorm: Union Station? Maybe they have to take a train to O'Hare??

This post has been edited by Rabrab: Aug 20, 2004 @ 4:35 pm.

[ChiggyAstro]

It just hit me--if it's midday Friday and I'm trying to get from downtown to O'Hare, I would take the el (although the blue line to O'Hare isn't elevated downtown). And the blue line is West of Grant Park; it runs under Dearborn street through the loop (see this map, which also has Buckingham Fountain as momument 44 on it). I think they took the train.

ETA: Here is a CTA map of the downtown area. You would probably want to get on the blue line at Jackson.

This post has been edited by ChiggyAstro: Aug 20, 2004 @ 4:44 pm.