Arriving in Udaipur

Getting closer and closer to the start of the Rickshaw Run. Today, Team AlwaysBeEpic just arrived in Udaipur, the "Venice of the East", long considered one of the most romantic cities in the world. So of course, we three bunch - DaveRisner, #Rollo and Cecil - have decided to stick together and have some candlelit dinners. Check out this stunning rooftop view from our quaint Hotel Thamla Haveli sitting on Lake Pichola.

India, Here We Come!

Over the past few weeks, I've watched a couple Bollywood movies - Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kuch Naa Kaho, my two favourites - as well as "A Hundred Foot Journey", "Million Dollar Arm", “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", and "Slumdog Millionaire".

I'm ready for India! What am I saying? One can never truly be ready for India."*Don’t lose patience. You are going to need it in India.*” (Million Dollar Arm) I almost lost it two years ago, but I am ready this time. The sheer number of people in your space raised my blood pressure a few notches. "*First rule of India: there's always room.*" (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) We’re about to find out once we land in Kolkata, before eventually ending up in Jaisalmer where the race begins!

I am about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime with two of my closest friends. India by definition is an adventure. Entering ourselves in a race where we are driving an auto-rickshaw 2,500 km from one end of Northern India to the other, is something far more than an adventure. It could be sheer madness. "*I don't know if I'm excited or terrified. Sometimes it seems to me that the difference between what we want and what we fear is the width of an eyelash.*" (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) This sounds a bit like what I imagine driving through the cities of India will feel like.

I thought of why I am entering my two buddies and I in this race. I've got some excuses and a ton of reasons, some make more sense than others, though I am not implying any of them make any sense at all at this very moment or maybe any moment. "*If not now, when? If not us, who?*” (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) Didn’t JFK say that too? Or was it Ronald Reagan?

That seems like as good a reason as any. Or maybe an excuse. Perhaps even better is "*Never be afraid of trying something new, Hassan. Very important. It is the spice of life.*” (A Hundred Foot Journey) This adventure is most definitely something new.

India is a country full of contradictions, more hectic than you could ever imagine, and quite certainly not for the faint of heart. "*Can there be anywhere else in the world that is such an assault on the senses? Those who know the country of old just go about their business. But nothing can prepare the uninitiated for this riot of noise and color. For the heat, the motion; the perpetual teeming crowds.*" (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

Everything that happens in India happens at her own pace, sometimes at her place and most certainly in her own time.

And that's one of the main things I've learned during my visits there - in 1982, 1988, 1991, 1997, 2006 and 2014 (none of which did I drive an auto-rickshaw though I've been in one plenty of times). Indian Standard Time is a real thing. "*There is no present like the time.*" (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) That's a great way to look at time; it's the gift we continually give to ourselves should we choose to do so. What we do with that gift is also of our choosing. For the next month, we will be in Kolkata, Varanasi, Mumbai, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bodh Gaya, Darjeeling, Shillong before heading back to Kolkata to head back home.

So for anyone potentially worried about this epic adventure, I leave you with this... "*In India, we have a saying... Everything will be alright in the end so if it is not alright it is not the end.*” (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

So are we ready for this epic adventure? For this epic life? Yes? Maybe?

"*No, but maybe it’s written, no?*" (Slumdog Millionaire)

Yes, indeed. India, here we come!

Banners R A-Go!

We have a banner!

Cos that's what you do when you drive a TukTuk 2,500 km across all of Northern India. You cart a banner with you and get people to sign it.

We'll bring the sharpies of course. Unless of course India is teeming with sharpies.

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Malarkey

Just got a message from DaveRisner. We still don't know where he is, but he is alive and kicking. Hip. Hip. Hooray! Here's the Hip, Chip and DaveRisner...

"Cecil, you gotta take me off this thread. You are throwing me off my game. I am busy talking Treason and making malarkey. We are drinking beer with no abandon.. A tawdry schwartz bier. Seems to be a beer to have when you know you are going to have more than one beer."

That's all for now, but India is just a short time away!!

Please Donate to www.GoFundMe.com/AlwaysBeEpic

As we drive 2500 km plus from one end of Northern India to the other, we are raising money for two charities. Please support us as we support them!

[GoFundMe/AlwaysBeEpic](http://www.GoFundMe.com/AlwaysBeEpic)

Please Donate to Our Charity

At AlwaysBeEpic, we believe in giving; as we believe the best way to live is to give. It sits at the very core of who we are as human beings, here on the planet to help others.

We are three friends - DaveRisner, Derek and Cecil - who met in Chicago over twenty years ago, with one of us having moved to Los Angeles and the other to San Francisco. We are meeting at the end of this month in India to race in the Rickshaw Run.

While we traverse the width of northern India, driving an auto-rickshaw 2500 km over two weeks, we will be raising money for two causes we are passionate about.

One of our dear friends Dawn has contracted a very rare disease Stiff Person Syndrome (https://twitter.com/keepmoving4sps), which has received very little awareness and funding to combat it. We want to raise money to help her in her courageous battle.

Also, since we are also adventurers at our core, we love being in the outdoors; and nature holds a special place in our heart. So we are also raising money for Cool Earth, an organization that works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction.

We like what the Adventurists (the organization hosting the race) said: "Not only is the Rickshaw Run an industrial dose of adventure, it’s also about Saving the World."

We can certainly get behind saving the world - one person and one rainforest at a time; and hope you can too.

The race starts on 4/3/16; and we would love to be able to donate the money we raise by then.

Have we said ‘thank you’ yet? Thank you!!

Ready. Set. Go!

#AlwaysBeEpic #GoAdventure #GoTravel #GoLive #RickshawRun #GoFundMe #CoolEarth #KeepMoving4SPS Please donate to GoFundMe.com/AlwaysBeEpic Please visit us on www.AlwaysBeEpic.Life for more of our adventures

ALWAYS BE EPIC Go Adventure. Go Travel. Go Live.

Still Have Not Found DaveRisner

Where's DaveRisner?

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Where's DaveRisner? Where's Dave?

Where's DaveRisner?

#WheresDaveRisner #FindDaveRisner

Where's DaveRisner?

Our friend DaveRisner is a truly epic individual.

People from all over the country are wondering where he is.

Watch the YouTube video for clues.

#WheresDaveRisner #FindDaveRisner

#AlwaysBeEpic #GoAdventure #GoTravel #GoLive #RickshawRun #GoFundMe #CoolEarth #KeepMoving4SPS Please donate to GoFundMe.com/AlwaysBeEpic Please visit us on www.AlwaysBeEpic.Life for more of our adventures

ALWAYS BE EPIC Go Adventure. Go Travel. Go Live.