Mongol Rally 2013 part 2

Six months ago I was still feverishly plotting on the 2013 Mongol Rally, scribbling on notebooks, toying with routes in google maps, drafting solicitation letters, researching charities, learning Russian using Rosetta Stone and of course sending prying emails to the Adventurists.  Helpful as they were, they did feel compelled to temper my enthusiasm by advising that I cease some of my efforts until I had actually registered.  I sulked a bit and, faced with a diminished workload for the rally, eventually fell back to the distractions of my fruitless pursuit of a doctorate and an ongoing feud with my neighbor and the city of New Orleans. 

After that little pep talk from the Adventurists the momentum behind my planning for the rally slowed significantly.  That’s not to say the potential wasn’t still there because it most certainly was, it’s just that I had to get the ball rolling all over again later on.  I should have ignored the Adventurists entirely and just gone about my business.  Since I did not, I again had problems rather than cherished projects occupying my time, problems I had been quite content to ignore when I had such a pleasant distraction as planning a trans-Asia expedition.  Lesson learned.  If the last six months have taught me anything it’s that you need pleasant distractions.

A very long story short, months passed and by June I’d managed to sell my house in New Orleans at a comfortable profit and make the move to Colorado for a new job.  This job, as I admit that I am not an advocate for work in the professional sense, was a necessary evil in this entire yearlong scheming process.  Employment with an oilfield service company is something akin to seasonal work, like picking fruit or logging, only far more lucrative.  It’s a crude but effective way for a transient like myself to acquire an income, and a damn good one, without being chained to a career.  The last thing I want or need is a career, as I’d much rather be in a position to make changes and careers make that exceedingly difficult.  Having spent years in college and working a variety of jobs without much improvement to my personal life I figure it’s time to concentrate on something else, and job aside that’s exactly why I’m doing things like the Mototaxi Junket and the Mongol Rally.

Seemingly out of the blue I get an email informing me of a post on a long since forgotten blog entry on the rally, the one preceding this post in fact.  By now my teammate and myself were registered for this year’s Mototaxi Junket and thus preoccupied with our trip to Peru.  Our original third teammate for the Rally had dropped out months earlier and given it was still more than a year away our attention was focused elsewhere.  As luck would have it that post was from a very well traveled, adventurous and, as I’ve come to find out, thoroughly awesome young woman asking for a spot on our rally team.  Initially two things went through my mind, the first being “what planetary alignment caused this to happen, I didn’t know anyone actually read this stuff!?” – the second was a mixture of shame and panic as I realized I had neglected to keep up with the registration process (not to mention my blog which already has very limited readership- thank you, Lisa) and thus may have jeopardized the whole Rally scheme.  I’d been told registration could get very competitive, so I was fearful we couldn’t snag a spot.  After shrugging that off as a possibility I couldn’t effectively address at that point in time I at least responded to the inquiry.  We still had something like a month to register, cash in hand to pay the fee, three people now interested and what I could only assume was a much greater chance of success given how much my own situation had changed since January.  That response paid off, and as of now we have secured a spot on the 2013 Mongol Rally with a compliment of three willing and enthusiastic travelers. 

Following this blog I intend to provide some sort of haphazard breakdown of the planning process, more information on fund-raising initiatives and equipment as we come together as a team and begin serious plotting for the Rally.  I assume I’ve troubled you enough with personal details and will henceforth make an effort to provide more useful information, like what I had for breakfast and so on.