After a promisingly early start from Olgii this morning, we ran into trouble about 40 km outside the town whenour radiator sprang a leak after running aground on some nasty tire ruts. We got a tow partway from a nice construction worker, then managed to cruise the remaining downhill distance back in to town in neutral. The mechanic assured us he could fix it, and proceeded to remove the radiator, rip out the damaged bits, replace the hoses, and epoxy the whole thing back into place. He also replaced the guard over our oil filter, which we lost somewhere along the way. The drive back to the hotel was promising - no overheating - but the real test will be tomorrow when we push on to Khovd. The mechanic's parting wisdom was "when you see a rock, get out and move it or find another way around. If you can't, camp".
Well, been awhile since an update - but then again, been awhile since we had reliable internet. In brief, here's what happened since we left Tbilisi with a now spot-free Kiavash:
1) Drove to Baku across some stunning mountains in Azerbaijan, camping at a restaurant en route - a taxi driver helped us with directions and then a pulled over, phoned his son who spoke English, and had him explain to us that the roads got better and where to turn. Super nice. Baku had a lovely old town, though we spent most of our time repeatedly visiting the port.
2) Ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi - not nearly so sketchy as reported, but definitely hard to find. Got on board and the captain was giving out shots of something. See Dave, I said there'd be a welcome drink. Managed to score breakfast, too!
3) Entering Turkmenistan - 16 windows and about 8 hours later, we were in. Brad gets hero points for negociating the car importation while the rest of us watched Olympic showjumping.
4) Turkmenistan - odd place, lovely people. A traffic cop stopped us just to give us a watermelon. We ran over a pipe and punctured our gas tank with a three inch hole, only to get a free tow from the first trucker we flagged down to the nearest city. where a mechanic patched it up in two hours flat while feeding us melon and tea.Â
5) Uzbekistan - Samarkand and Bukhara were beautiful. Photos as soon as we can!
6) Kazakhstan border crossing - required a painful 100 km u-turn due to a closed border post at Tashkent. Bored border guards incessantly asked us for Mongol Rally tshirts. Ended up spending the night in Shymkent, not Almaty. On the plus side, we lost our spare tire on the highway and some nice truckers stopped, picked it up, and chased us down to return it. Thanks guys!!
7) Almaty - lattes, the Gap, and a hotel with cloud-soft beds. What's not to love?
Having had our day to prep, we rolled into Goodwood only a touch late and lost, stalling three times as we tried to get into the muddy campground. We put up our tents and enjoyed a cold dinner of salad, cheese, and smoked fish. Amy and I gave the rest of the team their presents, 5 flasks with outdoor themes and their initials on them - these were promptly put to good use with Scotch Brad brought. The party wore well into the evening as the rain came down harder, with everyone ending up crowded in the bar tent. It was nice to meet other teams but by the end we were all quite wet and muddy.
In the morning we packed up and went to the Goodwood Speedway for the Festival of Slow. We were shown to a stall, which was thankfully covered, since the rain continued to come down in torrents. Brad finished the application of our snazzy wave decals, and we were feeling pretty ok about the whole thing - only to be selected by the organizers as the winner of the prize "Team Least Likely to Make It". Being good sports we went up and gave a rousing acceptance speech, followed by a failed attempt to win a tire-changing competition (note: pump jack must be able to reach the bottom of the van in order to change tires). Shortly after that, we were off to Calais, which we made in record time on a train.Â
A brief night in Calais was followed by a long drive to Germany, where we fell short our goal and stopped in Koblenz instead of Hiedelberg. Koblenz ended up being a beautiful stop at a fork in the Rhine river, dotted with churches and winding medival roads. From Koblenz we headed straight to the Czech republic for the Czechout party. A night of madness in a 13th century castle, we enjoyed shisha, beer, tea and many new friends - plus some intense renditions of Stan Rogers songs with other Canadian teams. Others had a more interesting time, not the least of whom was a guy we met on the way back to the campsite wearing a dress and going barefoot because he'd traded his shoes to the bartender for a beer. Good times were had by all.
The next day, among the least hungover of teams, we rocketed out of Czech through Slovakia, and into Hungary, landing in Budapest as the sun set. Enthusiasm over stunning views of architecture along the Danube and warm, non-rainy wheather was slightly overshadowed by our inability to find a hostel with room for us, but eventually we landed at Thumbs Up Hostel and found our way to a funky bar for dinner, where Dave was creamed by Brad in a foozeball tournament for the ages.
So after catching a flight to London and staying at Kiavash's lovely aunt's place, the day finally arrived to pick up our van from Mark. We took the train to Potter's Bar, a taxi to Mark's farm, and as we bumped down the dirt track leading to the farmhouse - what did we see but our Porter driving towards us! Mark gave a friendly toot and pulled over. He had wanted to take it for a quick wash before we came, but we were too keen and arrived early. We turned back to the farm, paid the taxi, and got out to inspect our beautiful car.
And wow, is it awesome. And tiny. We chatted and Mark showed us the ropes - then it came time to take off, as we had a long trip to Bristol ahead of us to get parts. As we drove out, we had to stop at a hill - and of course, stalled trying to get out. As we rolled backwards down the hill, Mark pulled up beside us to give us an impromptu lesson in the fine art of starting a manual on a hill. Parking break engaged and a firm rev later, we were off to Bristol.
The trip went very well, after getting quite lost for a bit, the GPS Kiavash's aunt loaned us came in quite handy. We hit the highway and pushed the car to its max 120 km/h. It shifted beautifully and hummed (well, whistled - no one can say it's a quiet car) down the road.
After a quick pub stop for lunch, we arrived at the garage in Bristol to load up on parts. The mechanic there gave a quick look to the car and pronounced his approval - though he was quite puzzled as to why we were doing this trip. The funniest moment came when he asked how many people do this - when we told him almost 800 will be participating this year, he burst out "so there are that many idiots out there!" with a good natured chuckle.
Parts acquired, we headed back to London - no easy feat in rush hour traffic, but we made it by 8 pm in time for a nice family dinner with Brad and Amy, as well as Kivash's cousin and partner.Â
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Dave and Kiavash doing our first off-roading in the Porter at Mark's farm.
World's tiniest dream catcher for our rearview mirror.
Dave trying to get some quiet time to do a phone interview with CBC, rally-style.Â
*"We have to make sure that no one is homeless in a rich country like Canada."Â *- Jack Layton
Just off the main street in Ottawa's Chinatown, there's a pretty four-storey apartment building with 20 apartments for senior women and 22 units for any woman in need of affordable supportive housing.
This is Cornerstone's Supportive Housing building. And we love it!
The idea for this building was born a decade ago. It’s not an emergency shelter (though Cornerstone runs one of those too) but a long-term, affordable and supportive housing solution for some of the most vulnerable women in our community.Â
Why, you might ask, do we need this in one of Canada's most affluent cities? It may be hard to believe, but in 2010 over 1000 women became homeless in Ottawa.
Cornerstone was able to help just over 400 of them. We want to improve that ratio.
Basically, Cornerstone is providing the kinds of solutions we need to see more of across Canada to end homelessness, especially as an ageing population finds itself grappling with poverty. The unfortunate reality is that we have senior women living on the street in Ottawa, and most shelter facilities just aren't suited to their needs. Many of these women are not likely to ever be in a postion to get a job or live on their own, so a tailored facility like 314 Booth gives them the chance to remain in the same place as they age.
Residents are provided with beautiful and quality affordable housing units, nutritious meals, comprehensive health care, recreational and social activities, spiritual care and common spaces to have guests and visitors. It’s a great community. Â
*The back garden at 314 Booth***
It took nine years to plan the building, purchase the land, and raise enough funds to build it. The seed for the project was planted almost a decade ago at the retirement party of our friend – and generous donor – Catherine Boucher, who held the first fundraiser for 314 Booth. From that grew the first and only purpose-built facility offering housing and support for homeless women in Ottawa.
Jordan and I, on behalf of Five Crew Canoe, had a chance to drop by the building yesterday as they celebrated their first birthday. And what a building! Full of joy and music, beautiful living spaces, colourful common rooms, lots of light and a friendly staff - and most of all residents who are proud to live there and be part of our community. That’s why we love Cornerstone. Â
*Jordan and Kiavash with Sue Garvey, Director of Cornerstone*********During the years that Jordan ran University of Ottawa’s Women’s Resource Centre, she had to repeatedly rely on Cornerstone to support women who were dealing with affordable hoursing, mental health issues or living in poverty. The need was great and even though they were always full, Cornerstone did everything they could to help women in need.
So, the Mongol Rally is our chance to say thanks to the wonderful people behind Cornerstone and support the amazing, much-needed work they do every day. We originally targeted $1,000 to raise for Cornerstone, but thanks to all the generous donations from our friends and families, we have already raised more than $1,700! So we’ve decided to increase our target to $3,000. [Will you help us reach our new target?](http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=17102)
We need a lot more Cornerstones to make sure no one is homeless in a rich country like Canada - but having one in Ottawa is a great start. Â
Incredibly kind and generous friends, colleagues, family, and random acquaintances came together on June 1st to get down, party, and raise some truly awesome cash - just over $2,000! - for our two charities, Cornerstone and Lotus Children’s Centre. Â
A shindig like this can’t go on without a whole village of support, and Five Crew Canoe wants to send a grateful shout out to everyone who made ignition possible: our doorkeepers Drew and Katherine, our heavy lifters Brennan and Mike, rockstar bartenders Tyler and Sarah, beer salesman extraordinaire Julien, fixer Lisa, game-masters Mike and Tamara, fundraising pros Josh, Lydia, and Robin, elected rep and friend Paul, our fantastic sound team Alex and Matt from [Raven Street Studios](http://www.ravenstreet.com/), Nat for her tech loans, my dad for fixing that damn remote control car, the fine folks at [Beau’s beer](http://www.beaus.ca/), [Wall Sound](http://www.wallsound-lighting.com/)…
