Like Jeff says, Oregon is the problem, but you'll be heading that way on the last leg for capitals (Salt Lake City ?) anyway.
Paul, you were missed at the start this year. They even had blue raspberry soda available at the banquet.
I need to point out something about Oregon though with regards to Leg 3. That's only an 87 hour leg where they will need to hit AR, TN (could be done on Leg 2), and AZ as well. This would likely mean that any rider would be getting up to Oregon late on Thursday if they are trying to get capitols like, say Nashville and Austin while they are at it. 12 hours from Oregon to LA isn't a problem but they'll have to clip over to Needles/Toppock on the way to Ontario just to get the AZ receipt.
Now look at a map of where the would be trying to get a receipt at that time in Oregon. Now find the cities of Klamath Falls and Burns. Draw a line between them. There is no 24 hours gas in Oregon southeast of that line. Lakeview rolls up the sidewalks at night. So what about an ATM receipt as proof? A rider may be able to score one of those 24 hours in Lakeview or Jordan Valley, but certainly not Denio, Rome, or Fields. Aside from that those towns there ain't jack in SE Oregon other than cattle, deer, sagebrush, rabbits, and chukars.
Now if they skip Oregon on this leg, they will obviously need to get it on leg 3 or they are DNF. In that case, I think they would need to hit AZ in the four corners (UT/AZ/NM/CO) region and bypass Denver. Maybe if they've got Alaska in the bag, it will be worth it. Maybe not.
And 4800 points in the bag from AK is 4800 points the rest of the field doesn't have. Provided they don't sacrifice any states on this leg, they'll hold a big edge. That's the question.
Pass the popcorn.
