Wednesday 07 Jul 2010 22:43

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads...

by Tony Edgar of Steppe By Steppe

I thought the blog title was quite topical, both in terms of the recent hoax that has been doing the rounds and the - shall we say, "path" - that lies ahead.

I must admit that life would potentially be made easier in a flying DeLorean, but given the hassle we've had just trying to find cheap Jerry cans for spare diesel, the thought of running out of plutonium in the middle of Kazakhstan doesn't bear thinking about. Having also checked out a few pictures on Google Earth, finding a nearby bell tower is a remote possibility, never mind a bolt of lightning.

As for any potential problems with the flux capacitor.....well, whilst I have enduring faith in the power of the global village mechanic to fix just about anything (and have in fact built our entire rally maintenance strategy around it), I think even he might struggle to mend Mr Fusion with some baler twine and an old pushchair.

My point is - for all that an admittedly-cramped 1980s sports car might win on looks and aerial ability, we have supreme confidence in our small but mighty Genghis Van, who we picked up from the hospital earlier this evening.

Admittedly we had the same level of supreme confidence before he went in for a service, emerging four days later with £400 worth of repairs to his name (cam belt? brakes? who knew they needed replacing?), but now he's patched up and ready to rock even harder than before. We were talking to the mechanic about the trip and whilst we got the usual half-smile and raised eyebrows, he replied "it's a good van, it should get you there". Said mechanic is a Macedonian called Dragan; if he says so, I believe him.

Last day at work tomorrow and then we have a whole day to get the rest of the stuff we need, work out a plan for packing the van and actually doing so. No time for pimping our ride or even cleaning it, but we have a 'New car smell' Magic Tree that we firmly believe will right all wrongs. 

We also won't have time for organising some of the basics - like memory cards for the camera, music to listen to en route, or mastery of any Russian language whatsoever. It will be hectic, but why change the habit of the past 8 months? Time to put our faith in the Gods of fate and adventure.

I'll try to blog regularly from now on, and to those of you who have recently signed up as supporters - thank you, welcome and I promise my posts will in future be more about the rally, less about semi-obscure Back to the Future references.