Ok, so a brief recap on how we got from the first post to the Charity website - alluding to the fact we had decided we would be called 'Ulaan Book Tour' and obtain a mobile library that
three of us would drive to Mongolia - to the team being reduced to two and renamed as 'Steppe by Steppe'.
Ulaan Book Tour is a genius name. Taking a mobile library is - on the face of it - a genius idea. I grew up in a small village in the country with nothing in the way of facilities - a dodgy pub, a chemist and a Spar were what passed for a high street. I spent my childhood making weekly trips to the mobile library; checking out dog-eared copies of the Hardy Boys and Three Investigators.
Mongolia is a rural country - that's the whole attraction. Kids like reading, no matter where they are. The capital is Ulaanbaataar. Thus, in a moment of cava-fuelled inspiration, Lucy, our third team member, came up with the team name and concept.
We loved it. I still do. It was only when we started looking at the logistics of actually doing it that we started to realise that great ideas aren't necessarily that easy to put into practice. Justyna's driving licence doesn't allow her to drive anything bigger than a Transit van. Mobile libraries are not that common on Ebay, and are bloody expensive. On top of all that, it seemed pretty clear that if we got bogged down in sand somewhere in the middle of Mongolia, not only would we not be able to push the bloody thing out, it was unlikely that any vehicle that might pass by would be beefy enough to assist. Tractors aren't that popular on the Steppe, surprisingly. On top of all that, Mongolia has some pretty strict customs regulations these days about what can and can't be imported into the country - a legacy of the rise in popularity of 'banger rallies' over the past 10 years which saw the countryside become a grave yard for inappropriate vehicles which died out in the vast tracts of countryside between the border and the capital, if they got that far at all.
We began looking for a different vehicle, and with it, a different team name.
Around Christmas, it became clear that all was not well with our happy trio. Lucy - my best mate, who I'd discussed doing the trip with for years - had to take the difficult decision to withdraw from the team. A combination of spiralling costs (as it became clear we would need to fund most of the trip ourselves rather than rely on donations), a lack of income whilst away (for someone who is self-employed, taking a month off raises some serious financial considerations) and the prospect of being stuck in a vehicle with my girlfriend and I for 5 weeks all led to the decision. I was gutted but understood. Obviously I hadn't considered what the prospect of being with a couple for that length of time might be like, being part of said couple. I just saw it as me getting to do the trip with my two favourite people. I have to admit, I wouldn't have gone for it had the shoe been on the other foot - none of us knew what stresses lay ahead or how we (and the relationship) would react.
And so it was - Justyna and I blundered forth, putting our faith in 3.5 years without an argument to fulfil, if not a lifelong ambition, one that I in particular had harboured since around 2003 when I first heard about charity rallies. We deliberated over a new team name, initially deciding on One Steppe Beyond only to discover another team had got there before us. A flash of inspiration from Justyna's friend Karolina proved the difference, and Steppe by Steppe was born.
