12:39 AM. Ron and Kelly. Ron claims that of all the teams, they are in the best physical shape, and he smells blood in the water as some of the other teams seem to be "breaking down and having a little bit of trouble." Kelly says they're hoping they can "step it up a notch and maybe push the other teams out." Kelly claims in the car that they saw the sign for the Rhino and Lion thing yesterday, so they're just backtracking. Not that that's a metaphor for anything.

Ray and Deana arrive at the reserve, and they learn that the first shuttle doesn't leave until 8:00 AM, so that's going to do it for their lead they were determined to keep. Go figure. Ron and Kelly look out the window and see what is apparently lightning, which Ron immediately compares to "bombing downtown Baghdad." They're not really going to force me to make "bombing downtown Baghdad" jokes, are they? That's not even nice. I abstain. Anyway, they sign up second on the 8:00 AM shuttle.

1:03 AM. Brian and Greg. Brian: "Make your way home and give Mom a big hug, then eat all of her chicken enchiladas until you enter a food coma." Oh, man. A girl could pass out, that's so cute. I bet their mother adores them. They take off, as Brian laments that he's not exactly the best driver of all time.

1:24 AM. Lynn and Alex. Lynn, perhaps commenting on events yet to come in this episode, say, "Alex and I, we're people first and racers second." To his credit, Lynn adds, "Half of the prize is being here," and every racer I've ever liked has had that attitude, so there is at least that for Lynn and me to use as a shaky foundation for détente.