Esquire at the airstrip. They're the first to get there, so they park themselves to wait. "Now we get to sit around, like, for four hours out in the dark," Rob says. "But we're first in line, and that's what counts." Brennan: "It's a little cold out here." Man, why do they only give him lines like that? Everything they let him say makes him sound like Rain Man.

4:59 AM. Momily. Nancy tells us that the lack of sleep and the lack of food are beginning to catch up with people. Emily tells us that Momily hasn't been able to catch many breaks. I suppose that's true, if you don't count the help of other teams as a break, which I think you arguably can. On the other hand, sociability is a skill, so perhaps that's not pure luck. After all, it's not an accident that nobody would extend a hand to help the Guidos. Em laments that over and over, "the same people are getting the same good luck." This is partly true as well. The Guidos, in particular, have BOTH played the game quite well AND had unbelievably good luck. More to the point, they've had no bad luck, which is more than basically anyone else can say. Nancy says she keeps thinking they're going to be eliminated, but then they keep squeaking by.

5:00 AM. Lenny and Karyn. Hard to believe it took this long to get them their nickname, but this week -- with all appropriate respect to South Park -- we will call them Team Kenny. Lenny is wearing one of those wraparound-earmuff rigs that make everyone look like they've just had massive ear surgery. As a matter of fact, perhaps Lenny HAS just had massive ear surgery as a result of the screeching he has to listen to all day. Karyn: "We realize couples have differences, but if you love each other, you can work through them." I poke myself in the eye. Karyn: "That's what we've been doing." I poke myself in the other eye. Then, just for good measure, I poke myself in both eyes at the same time.

Team Guido is trying to get to the bike shop. They track it down, calling out the name in their lame-o Italian accents, and park their elegantly matching behinds in front of the door.

Team Shower-Fresh is making a play for the glider. As they arrive at the strip, Kevin says, "With any luck, there'll be nobody here ahead of us -- but it looks as if somebody's here ahead of us." He spots Rob and Brennan, lying on the ground on their packs. Shower-Fresh departs the cab and chats about their choices while they admire the prone Esquire. Drew asks Kev whether he wants to stay or go, and Kevin says, "I just don't want to go over there and sit for three hours with Bert and Ernie." Ouch! Kevin, now you ARE letting them affect your game. Don't do that. Drew: "We got good company here, better than we'd have at the bike shop." I have to say, out of all the times in this race when I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall just from a personal point of view, this couple of hours at the airstrip with the boys is probably number one. I bet it was fun.