UPDATE 7/11: In London, England listening to "Broke down west of Reading"

 It has been a while since our last update, so time to bring everyone up to speed.  Since arriving in London from Amsterdam we've been staying with my cousin Candace, who has been absolutely amazing.  She's given us a bed, roof over our heads and a much needed home base where we can explore the sights of London and effectively prepare for the coming rally launch. Met with friends on July 5th, a reunion of sorts for x-junketeers and future ralliers which was good fun and great company.  The next morning, Saturday July 6th, we boarded a train out of town, picked up the car from Dave's house in Thames Ditton and then made a short drive to a campsite in Godstone, Surrey called Osney Lodge Farm.  Driving for the first time was a little nerve racking but we arrived in one piece, having not been honked at or flipped off by anyone.  Once there we had a great time testing out our gigantic new tent, which we picked up at the bargain price of $60, along with a small camping table.  All was going well the following morning, even got the cook stove working and made a fresh pot of coffee to start the day properly, though not in English tea-drinking style.  We then packed everything up by 10am and started our drive westward on the way to Teignmouth, where we'd be visiting an old friend of the family, Geoff Bladon.  We got as far as the city of Reading, or just west of there to the A4-M4 split, before something went wrong.  

I noticed a rattling sound which I first thought was a loose exhaust pipe, but within moments the car began to lose power.  The temperature gauge was reading normal and no warning lights had come on, but I didn't need one to tell me the car was apparently dying on us.  I put on the emergency flashers,depressed the clutch, pulled onto the hard shoulder and brought the car to a stop.  It had died in the process, so I turned the key to the off position, popped the hood and got out to take a look. There were several ominous telltale signs- no fluid in the radiator reservoir but plenty of oily muck from the engine, and light blue smoke curling up from around the head gasket.  The car wasn't going anywhere, it was dead.  We spent several hours and nearly all of our remaining cellular minutes securing a tow truck.  Lee, a very nice man and our savior at that point, showed up to get us off the road and taken someplace safe.  Through conversation the subject of the rally inevitably came up; he was at first intrigued by idea, then thoroughly amused upon reflection.  "Let me make sure I heard you right; your're driving 'that' (points to our broken down Alto), from England, to Mongolia?  You're braver than you look, mate!" I took that as a compliment, as I had no other choice but to do so.  Car loaded, we had to be hauled right back to Thames Ditton where we had started the previous evening, having driven a grand total of 106 miles or thereabouts.  

Despite the early run of bad luck and the substantial hit to personal travel budgets, we're still committed to finishing the rally and getting our car to Mongolia as promised.  There is also a bit of good news; on the fundraising front the Adventurists somehow overlooked our team in the rankings, though I'm not surprised.  We read an email listing the top five team fundraising totals in British Pounds and realized that we should be on this list, given the conversion rate to U.S. Dollars.  Indeed, after doing the math it would appear we'd come in at 4th place!  We've sent a message to the Adventurists to bring it to there attention and assure you we'll work to get the recognition our donors and supporters deserve.  Dave Leach has found us a mechanic in Thames Ditton and we are waiting on the car to be fixed, hoping it will be finished by Saturday when we need to be en route to the start line at Bodiam Castle.  One we get there we have some shirts we'd like to sell off to help out with the repair costs.  The news regarding our repairs has been mixed, however, and there is some doubt as to whether or not the car can be relied upon to make it to Ulaanbaatar even after the work.  Some things may therefore have to change; our route must become more direct as we are obligated to cut down on the distance we need to travel, and we may now have to convoy with another team or teams throughout the journey.  That being said we're still making the drive and, come hell or high water, we'll make it to Mongolia.  Will keep you posted on the repairs, only a few more days to go...

Dillion & Lisa