The gGrand Finale

Well folks we have defied the odds and what seems to be impossible... We crossed the finish line at 11 this morning! Sorry there will not be any more posts to enjoy from this point on. The pain is over with, all of you can finally sleep soundly knowing we've made it. I'm sure all of you were restless (yeah, right. None of you were). Now to fill in the last 12 hours...

We had a 6:30 wake up call, which was not expected and quite loud. Then we had a lovely breakfast of tea, coffee, cereal (with hot milk for some reason. They say try everything once. Well Don't give it a try. More like oatmeal), toast, and omelets. We had a huge banquet table shared with 15 other rickshaw runners. The room was amazing with historic paintings, artifacts, and rugs. Truly a grand experience. We hit the road around 8:30 with the convoy. Roads were smooth, but the weather wasn't too great. It was another one of those arctic mornings we've enjoyed in our tent. Still had frozen toes, but at least we were moving in the rick. We did a few Indian fire drills while going down the road, and of course stopped in for chai along the road. One of the best chai experiences yet. Cody and I went to town and the others had to make us leave. While on the road a tractor pulling a bed seemed like a good place to jump in. So we pulled up alongside and I hoped in. My teammates sped away as I rode the bumpiest ride of my life. Then the girls from New Zealand picked me up. Jumping back into a rick was much easier than jumping out. Made for some good video. We all had a turn at the wheel and then we made it to Jaisalmer. Naturally we got lost in the city and couldn't find the palace. Why not go out like we had the entire race, lost and confused with no clue on where we were headed.ha. we do suck sometimes, but it was all fun and we did eventually find it like always. As we pulled up in the convoy emotions were high and we couldn't believe we'd finally done it! One by one we crossed the finish line in front of the palace and took photos. It was such a great feeling. Hard to explain how we felt, but I know we all want to do it again. Plans are being set for a 10 year reunion tour. We fooled around, tipped the rick up on two wheels, did doughnuts, and just did anything with Beatrice one last time. Following her good thrashing was a victory parade through town. More lije a high spped chase through traffic, but still fun. 60 shaws trying to follow each other is quite the trick. After we turned in the keys, cleaned our shaw, and enjoyed a nice free victory beer! The taste of vistory has never been so sweet. Final tallies: Breakdowns: only 5!, Chai: 110! (More to still be consumed), wrecks: 2, forts owned: 1, amazing hotel rooms: 3, camels rode: 1 tomorrow, new friends from the convoy: 9, stories: enough to last a lifetime!, and memories forever! Thank yoy all. We've had the greatest adventure of our lives! All the support, prayers, and love have been felt. We'll see you back in the states. The true finish line! Thank you all again! For one last time... SPEEDBUMP!!!

The Convoy and Greatest Day Ever

Over the past two days we've had a blast. We awoke from the frigid arctic that is a Rajasthan night, packed up the tent and made it to Johdpur by 10a.m. We had no idea where to go. The city was massive and of course there were absolutely no road signs. Even though our maps are 12 years old, it's still impossible without any f'n road signs. I don't know how anyone finds anything here. Even Indian people. Anyways, we drove until finding a nice hotel in the middle of town right below a fort. Booked it, moved in, showered, and then discovered that 3 other teams were in the same hotel! It was extremely lucky, and reassuring that we weren't totally alone in this race. After an endless Thali lunch we hit the fort. It was absolutely massive, beautiful, and historic. We spent about 3 hours walking around the grounds. Another American team was there! We shared stories, took pics, and parted ways. Next we hit a temple and the market. After that was a meeting of teams atop the hotel for a beer. It was great to tell and share stories. Seems everyone has had there fair share of struggles (go figure, we are driving wheelers with landmower engines across an entire country. What a stupid idea to begin with). There were plenty of laughs. Then the three of us parted ties to get dinner at a roof top restaurant right below the fort. It was a beautiflu view and we only went there bc we promised a little old woman earlier in the day that we'd return to eat later (damn our politeness again). I say thos because as we waited for nearly forty minutes for our Thali dinner a little girl shot rocks at us... Yes, you read that correctly. She had a gum that fired rocks. Who in the world is stupid enough to give their child such a toy, or to leave their child (that doesn't speak English) alone with customers on the roof!? It was the most frustrating meal of the trip. Honestly I think we all would have rather changed a flat tire and frozen our asses of in the tent again than eat that meal. At least the view was good, and we got a discount. In the hotel we had one more beer woth the other teams and decided to join their convoy of 4 teams. then we called it a night. The convoy consists of 2 teams from New Zealand, 1 team of girls from New Zealand and England, and another AMERICAN team. We were stoked to join in the fun.

This morning we woke up bright and early to a pot of tea and toast being brought to the room. Within minutes we ordered another pot of tea. We packed up the shaw and met up with the other teams to hit the road. I'm glad we had them. The roads of Johdpur might as well be a 5x5 Rubiks cube...because they are impossible to figure out. It is an absolute madhouse and maze. Following someone with a gps was the greatest amd smartest idea we've had all trip! We do have brains after all. Only took 12/14 days to find em. As we carried on everyone in our rickshaw took turns riding on the roof. Sure it sounds foolish and unsafe (because it is) but we had to do it. Probably some of the most enjoyable time we've had on the road. Fresh air, some sun, and great views. Eventually we determined we were ahead of schedule so the convoy decided to make a trip down a side road. Now we've had a rough history with leaving the highways, but we said screw it and didn't think twice. Only two days left, might as well screw something else up. The side road was just wide enough to fit a rickshaw and there was sand everywhere. The sand banks on the sides of the road had drifted onto the road and made for some deep sections. Thus meant that you had to gun it as hard as you could and try to not drift completely sideways. Well. Easier said than done. The first time we got stuck amd had to be pushed. The next time two teams git stuck, so we helped push. Then the third was the best of them all. We took the lead and barely made it through. The sevond team didn't quite make it, but the third team was following and were forced to brake. So now two teams are stuck and the Americans come flying in and are forced to hit the brakes. This proceeds to cause their rick to turn sideway and then flip over. No one was injured and we had a great time pushing the ricks out of the sand and laughing about it all. For ONCE it wasn't us having the hardest time. The whole team did. The side road was a great decision though. We stopped and climbed a water tower (redemption for us, considering last time we flipped the rick and got in an accident we climbed one), saw some villages, did some desert driving, and got away from traffic. Eventually we made it to Pokhran, only 100km from Jaisalmer. We had an all you could eat lunch which led to Cody and I eating about 20 chipoti before calling it quits. Next began the pursuit of a hotel, which is quite difficult for 4 teams to find rokms and agree on them. After turning down two hotels a team saw online there was a hotel in the fort in the middle of the city. We knew it'd be too expensive, but why not check it out.. So we pulled up right into the fort, thought we were in the wrong area and began talking to the owner over telephone. He cut us a deal and we got a room for $3,000. Thats only about $54 USD. So cheaper than most hotels in the states. And let me tell you. This is the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at in my life. We pretty much own the fort. The rooms are great, there is a museum right next door (physically the next door) within the fort. We explored the area and climbed the walls and cannons and then were granted the opportunity to drive our rickshaws up onto the wall! It was such a cool experience and we had quite the photo shoot. We enjoyed some tea and beer (not mixed of course) by the pool and did a bit of yoga. Next we were blessed with the red dot on the forehead outside of a small temple shrine within the fort! Then the 9 of us went to dinner and stuffed our faces. The men working would replace the food on our plates as soon as we took a bit of something. Best service in India. To close out our night we played Spotlight. It's basically hide and seek in the dark with flashlights. Playing with only 8 ppl in a huge fort makes it quite difficult. Cody and I hid for 40minutes before being found and another team made it an hour. It was a load of fun. We really do own the fort tonight. It's quite incredible. Never possible to do anything like this anywhere in the world I don't think. It was by far the best day we've had. Smooth sailing all day, Beatrice ran great (at higher speeds. We even hit 70kmph today for the first time!- we went buck wild in the rick when it happened. For other teams it happened everyday, but we have shit luck sometimes and it was a big deal for us), we hot some back roads with success, had great food all day,and now we will be sleeping in an old war fort! It doesn't get any better than this. Total tallies: water towers climbed:2, breakdowns: still only 5!, chai: over 100 so who cares how many more, teams in the convoy: up to 8!, chipoti eaten: more calories than anyone should have in two days(and that's just the bread), fort wall climbed:14, rolls of tp left:2 (I sure hope we don't poop more than that in two days), pee breaks on the road: 6, expected cups of chai to be drank at our all you can eat included hotel breakfast: at least 15 (and if they keep coming I'd say 24-that's not a joke either. This stuff is running through our veins at this point), and lastly as always speedbumps crossed: 120(just a guess, and just today). But we are having a blast and can't believe the finish line will (hopefully) be crossed tomorrow! Thanks for all the love, support, prayers along the way. One final update to come tomorrow. Hope you've enjoyed, shaken your head,and laughed reading these as much as we have on our journey. SPEEDBUMP!!!

Major Milestones

This is a quick blog update and nothing special. Sorry if your hopes were up for something great. Your hopes should never be up when you read these though, because my writing is rubbish. The only reason you would be excited to read then is because you enjoy laughing at our pain and suffering. If that's the case...shame on you, but I don't blame you. This update however is quick and not some story about us flipping the rick again, or running out of fuel. Simply letting everyone know that we have drank 100 Chai teas!!! Yes, 100! We didn't know if it was possible, but we've done it and have a day to spare. Also we are only 70km away from 3,000km!!! What a long journey it has been. Tomorrow is the last leg. It is a short 100km to the finish line, and it should be very easy...SHOULD BE. thanks for following along. SPEEDBUMP!

A Blessing In Disguise

It has been a few days since the last update, but that's because we've not had Wi-Fi access and things have been running relatively smoothly. To pick up where we left off near Surat things have been great. After leaving our over-priced hotel (best hotel yet. Hot showers, Wi-Fi, soap, breakfast) we hit loads of traffic. Thankfully a man on a motorcycle said folllow me and he took us on a half hour detour around all the highway backup from an accident.-the traffic sucked as much as any non moving traffic jam, but we made the best of it as Evan climbed on thw roof, Cody drove inch by inch, and I danced around cars to Taylor Swift. The mysterious motorcycle man bought us chai and then we parted ways. As we continued we met another rickshaw driver, not associated with the race, and he let me jump from our rick to his on the highway. It was a load of fun, and then he asked to stop for chai. He spoke no English and it made for the most awkward restaurant trip of our lives. The hospitality of India is unbelievable. As we pushed on to Palanpur our clutch cable was getting lose. Once again we pulled over and as if we were Obama himself people flocked to our rick just to watch, take pics, and help. Finally we were able to part the seas os Indian people and make it to Palanpur. Our night was hardly over then. For once we made a destination before dark (who'd have thought we'd ever do that), but once again the Indian trickery got us. Not a hotel (lodge) available for us,white folks, anywhere. Finally a man on a moped stopped and gave usan exact address for a hotel. It ended up working out great thanks to yet again another mysterious motorcycle rider. Then we headed to dinner and enjoyed some great veg thali as the owners and waitors video taped us eating. A bit awkward but we've gotten accustomed. Then as we headed back to the hotel for the night a man stopped us and asked if his boy could ask us a few questions to practice his English. We obliged and after about 5 minutes and another crowd forming (starting to feel like a famous rockband over here), he invited us to his home for tea. As we enjoyed tea and some Gujarati snacks, the entire neighborhood popped their heads in to check on us. It was a blast hanging out with the kids and family. After the father walked us back to the hotel (showing us off to his friends the entire way) we had a good nights rest and geared to leave with the sun the next morning... As of now this blog entry sounds great and that's not like us, but have no fear everything went wrong in the morning. We were up and packed by 6:45 ready to haul it to Johdpur, however the rick had other plans. The gears were slipping, engine puttering, and clutch was loose again. We couldn't make it more than a few km without having to stop. Evan was able to tighten up the clutch cable and we thought that was it again...ha. Shit out of luck. Much more than that. Still puttering along we stopped by an auto shop (not open) and waited until a kind man said I know a great rickshaw shop but it's not open until 10. For some reason everyone in India decides to do absolutely nothing until at least 9:00. Explains why the best hours of driving are at the crack of dawn, yet you are hopeless if and when you break down. Naturally we are all a little pissy and groggy from the early rise and the bitter cold of the morning and then the engine trouble just made for three awfully cheery lads. Things couldn't have been much worse..So we decided to wait and simply grab breakfast with this kind man. This is when the blessing begins... He got us a traditional Gujarati breakfast food, which was delicious, and then we chatted. 10 minutes later were were given another breakfast,and again delicious. At this point we are pretty full, 2 chais deep, and 2 breakfasts to the good. At this point a teacher and 3 students show up at the food stop. We begin to talk and then he insists we try another breakfadt food. Cody and I shared this great moment where we looked at each other and with no words gave a simple head nod that meant ues give us the third breakfast! Meanwhile Evan walks up and says "I'm going to throw up". We all proceeded to stuff our bellies even more and talk to our new friends. Then our new teacher friend invits us into his school. We taught (who the hell would trust us three to teach children), we spoke English and helped the kids for an hour! We talked about American culture they talked about Indian culture. It really was quite the experience. After we headed to the town-wide proclaimed "Rickshaw Master". We had no engine oil left, the clutch cable was ready to snap, and the gear shift was shot. So we waited around for a few minutes and Cody and I decided that a fresh straight razor shave would be a good way to spend our time. It was exactly that. As soon as we finished up Beatrice was ready to go. All the fixes with labor was $500 (rupees) ~$8USD. So it wasn't too shabby. After all of that and 5 hours later we hit the road. Whew! What a morning it was. Our spirits were high though because we had a great running machine. A tune up was well needed. The whole freaking trip our Rickshaw was cruising around 45kmph. And sometimes we'd push her to 50. Well come to find out every other team cruises around 60kmph! bloody hell! We have had the slowest rick the entire way. No wonder we drive for freaking 7 hours a day. We are a snail compared to the other teams! What bad luck... After the tune up we now can cruise around 52-55 so if nothing else it was well worth it just to be able to keep up with those other shaws we thought had rocket boosters. Now that we were on the road cruising much faster we ran out of gas.haha. and yes both the spare petrol cans were empty. What a freaking day. We could see a station in the distance, So we started to push it. Cody then was able to jump on the back of a tractor and ride to the station with a can and fill it up. Meanwhile Evan and I continued to push Beatrice until Cody returned. It was a pretty good place to run out of gas. Only slightly uphill and a little over 1 km from the gas station (doesn't count towards the breakdown tally). After all was said and done we had a full tank and a spare can of petrol and our spirits were still not broken. We pushed onto Pali, it grew dark, but we didn't want to leave the highway to find a hotel. Well once again our plans back fired and we ended up driving at night! Again! We suck. But we are getting good at night driving. This time we had a divided highway and reflectors on the road, so it was pretty smooth. We knew that Johdpur was out of reach so once again...yep you guessed it.Tent! We found a good spot on soft sand and the rickshaw was hidden from the road by a bush. Things were looking up. We laid down to sleep, it was comfy and the Coldest Night I think in Indian history. We froze while sleeping. And the sweet sounds of the highway didn't help us fall asleep, or the pack of wild dogs barking in the distance. No one could sleep (except me). It made for a terrible night. After all of that though we honestly had a great day. Breaking down was actually a good thing. Total tallies: Breakdowns: 5, chai: 84, tent nights:2, toes felt in the morning:0, number of Indian kids trying to forget us as teachers: 12, free breakfasts: 12, fresh shaved faces:2, dogs that peed on our rickshaw tire:1, hours in tent: 8- hours Cody slept:maybe 1, laughs: endless, memories: thousnads, and speedbumps: more than enjoyed, as freaking usual. So there's the update. Enjoy. 2 days till Jailsamer! Godspeed. SPEEDBUMP!!!

Finally some smooth sailing

After a very rough two days we needed a break, so we got out of our hotel around 8:30 and hit the road to Surat. The roads were nice and we were cruising until breakfast.we stopped in a roadside vendor and had some chai, of course, and some odd deep fried dough that came with a secret sauce and was the spiciest breakfast we've had yet. Then for once we did something intelligent! I know hard to believe, but we tightened the clutch cable ourselves! Turns out a little maintenance can save a break down later. What an incredibly difficult concept to grasp.ha. Beatrice was running smooth and we carried on until crossing into Gujarat. Once we entered the new state the police presence was definitely known. Many cars were stopped and some were searched, but as our team policy goes we don't ever stop, just do the Indian head bobble, wave, and carry on. It worked for a while. Then we got stopped again by one officer. We tried to carry on and the officer made sure we stopped. He asked for our paperwork and to our luck Evan was driving and he's the only one without and international license. So he jumped out of the driver seat, I hoped in and sped off. Sorry officer, but we don't stop. He didn't have a car or radio so speeding away seemed safe. Score for team SPEEDBUMP. in Gujarat the roads were actually nice....for a while. And then, oh my word. The holes in the road were bigger than our Rickshaw. This is not a joke at all. Someone serious must have bombed the area. I don't think a monster truck could have handled the road well. We crept along, I think a few turtles may have passed us on the way. But as our team motto states "through perseverance even the snail reached the arc." after the ridiculously terrible roads it was smooth sailing. Smooth highways, 100kmph spped limit (good thing we can't go above 45), and plenty of stops for foodand gas. We had a quick delicious veg thali for lunch then made our way to Surat. The traffic once again became outrageous. The city has 5million people so it's easy to imagine the roads. We made the decision to not actually reach Surat but to head north towards Ahmedabad. After a half hour the hunt for a hotel (lodge) began. We wereturned down about 4 times then we found the Sun Plaza Hotel. We have no idea what town we are in. It's not on any of our maps (once again may be a side effect of maps from 2003). Doesn't matter because we are safe and have the nicest hotel possible. Actual shower heads (none of us have showered in three days), with HOT water, WI-FI, a.c., three beds, and a great complimentary breakfast. Total tallies: Breakdowns: still only at 4!, chai:50, showers the past three days:1, hot showers taken in one hotel:6, and smiles:1,000. Feels good to be back on a successful path with few SPEEDBUMPS! Another good side story happened two days ago but didn't reach the blog was our toll booth fiasco... Evan was driving up to the toll plaza, and like every other one the far left lane is a motorcyle lane (exempt from tolls). We've taken that lane everytime so far, but this time the lane was a little more narrow than we thought. Evan wasn't sure as he approached, but Cody and I were cheering from the back saying "GO GO GO, YOU CAN DO IT!" well Evan should have never listened to us. He made it in the lane for a few feet then "Bam, bam, bam" we slammed into each cement block on the side until it stopped us. Ppl around starting yelling and laughing. A few nice guys jumped in to help us push it back, and once again we caused a bit of a back up (something we are getting good at). We couldn't stop laughing about how stupid we can be at times. Truly a great moment to remember. Sorry Evan. From now on backseat driving is limited.haha. Blessings to all back home, and thanks for all the support and prayers. Godspeed! Rick on!

pick up right where we left off

After waking up filthy, smelly, feeling like we may take on hypothermia and pissed off after the worst night of sleep any of us have ever had we picked up right where we left off the night before- With a flat tire. haha. We only drove about 20 minutes when we realized the front tire was shot. There was a freaking nail in the road that punched through (breakdown #4). We pushed about 500 meters to the gas station where we couldn't get the spare tire out because the nuts that held it in place were worn out and we didn't have a wrench to fit it. Eventually a little man-power got the job done and we were on our way. (We did get the spare replaced, so we are prepared for the worst IF it happens again.) The day progressed into a beautiful stroll through the Western Ghats and a variety of crop fields. It was a strange day because we truly felt like rock stars. Twice we were asked to pull over for a picture, so we did, and once a man stopped us then led us to the nearest hotel (food, not lodging;still find it a stupid name) and he bought us tea and biscuits. What a great surprise and treat. Then we got stuck in Dhule. We agreed that this town had never seen a white person before let alone three idiots in a Rickshaw. As we crept through their main market street everyone yelled and screamed and other people touched us and the Rick. We were extremely uncomfortable and the road was the tightest road imaginable. Carts, motorcycles, masses of people, fruit stands, vendors. It was absolute madness. Finally we got out of the town after not finding a hotel. On two occasions we were told there were no rooms available for us, even though there clearly was. One man said "sorry, but we don't allow foreigners to stay." Well once again we thought we were screwed for a hotel because sundown was a mere hour away. As we pushed onward a man drove up beside us and asked us to come to his home for tea. We figured why not, it may pay off big. After tea and some sort of "gum" appetizer (quite possibly the worst food in all of India: no worries we ate the whole damn thing. Damn our politeness) we went through wedding photos told stories and then as we talked about religious customs they proceeded to give each of us a brand new Ghandi cap. We look pretty darn good in them. They didn't have room for us to stay there so back on the road against time, damn our politeness again to accept the tea invite. Once again we saw the most beautiful sunset. We stopped to enjoy the view as it reflected off a lake and over the mountains. We did eventually find a hotel about 15 minutes later and it all worked out great. As the day started we thought for sure that we were entering the 6 level of hell and the seventh was only moments away, but we ended up climbing out of the fiery hell we were stuck in. Just another day full of Speedbumbs. Total tallies: Breakdowns:4, nights in the cold:1, cursing at the road and drivers:123, chai teas:42. But we are Halfway there! Keep the support and prayers coming. Lord knows we need them

HELL

We pushed on and just as the sun was setting we decided to stop at a water tower alongside the road. We climbed up and had a blast watching the sun go down over the mountains in the distance. Then we had the brilliant idea to drive the rickshaw down the road as I stayed in the water tower to take a GoPro video of the drive by. Well this is when all the begins. As Evan and Cody pull off the shoulder they turned the shaw too hard and too fast which...yes, you guessed it. Flipped the Rickshaw! It was in slow motion watching it slowly tilt further and further. All I could see now was Cody trapped in the shaw with his head popping out the side and Evan somehow outside of it trying to flip it over (Accident #1). While all this is happening there are about 25 cars just pilling up in both directions. For once no one offered to help out. Thank goodness Evan had enough strength to tip it back up. After they got it off the road we assessed the damage. None! Seriously not a scratch on her or them. We tried again to get the video like buffoons. This time the clutch cable goes out (breakdown #3). What are the odds!? A local gave us a hand again as it was getting pretty dark and he was by no means a mechanic as we could tell. It was finally done, so I took the rick for a quick 100m test run to ensure it was good. WELL as a pulled off the road to the shoulder I turned on my indicator and stuck my hand out the side (great and proper technique) but a motorcyclist did not seem to see the signals. He slammed right into the side of the rickshaw Yep, accident #2). No damage once again somehow, except for a chip in the paint. These machines are built out of freaking steel. The bike on the other hand had a few scratches, a broken turn signal, and a bent front fender. Following this unlucky event there proceeded to be a yelling match that was in both Hindi and English (so it lead to nowhere). More yelling and charades happened until a nice young man pulled over and translated for us. After 5 minutes with him he said just go and leave. No payments, no hard feelings, and no trouble. So we immediately took off in a frantic frenzy. Well it was the craziest 20 minutes of the trip by far and the clutch cable was still not fixed properly. So we stopped into the next town and had it tightened up. Still dark as night and terribly unsafe we pushed on. Finally after an hour in the dark we decided that we had to take a break. We finally decided that it was in our best interest to camp in a construction zone (man, every day we figure out something stupid to do). We pulled off the road into the dirt, which nearly got the rickshaw stuck for good and said yeah this will work.. because we ran out of gas. . So we put up the tent, put our bags inside then got situated only to realize we were sleeping on the most uncomfortable patch of Earth possible, and Evan's liquor bottle opened in his bag so his clothes reeked of whiskey. Needless to say it was the worst day of our lives. Especially that 30 minute span where all hell broke loose and we were in the middle of an Indian traffic catastrophe. Final tallies: Breakdowns: 3, Accidents: 2, water towers climbed: 1, Chai teas drank: 9, times we ran out of gas: 2, hours spent driving at night: 2, number of expected hours of sleep in this tent, on this hill, with rocks everywhere, on the coldest night yet :hopefully 3. What a good freaking day it was

the start of the worst day ever

After waking up from the filthiest hotel we've ever been in, we hit the road before the sun came up. We were making great time and we had a goal of reaching Pune. It was about 280km away so we were pushing it all day. The roads were finally nice, and we felt good knowing there were no blast zones to drive through. The pushing and pushing took a toll on old Beatrice (the Rick). After about 200km she decided to pop the clutch cable back out. So I pulled over and a local helped us put it right back on. It took only about 15 minutes (total breakdown count:2). Then we carried on and reached Pune. The streets were a zoo. Imagine all of those crazy ridiculous drivers I talked about before and then cram 10,000 of them into one city at the same time. It becomes a real shit show. We were once again getting a little frustrated, so we got out of the city as soon as possible. If only we knew the highway had a bloody bypass then there wouldn't have been any problems. This idea of no GPS and only maps is proving to be idiotic. Especially since we finally realized our map book is from 2002. At least we were on a main highway and we decided that we had two hours till sundown, so why not push a little more.

the climb and the frustration

So after some relaxing on the beaches of Goa we wanted to have a big day. So we began at 8:00 and wanted to reach Kolhapur. We knew it was going to be a long and rough day because we were leaving the coast and headed inland. After about 2 hours we left highway 17, for some dumb reason we didn't learn our lesson the first time. The next obstacle was the Western Ghats. These are the hardest roads to climb in India because of their steepness and length. Well let me tell ya, they aren't lying. I drove in second gear for two hours straight. Talk about a good way to piss someone off more than they even knew possible. There was some light though. The view we had climbing the mountain were unbelievable. We stopped to take pictures a couple of times and we got to play around with some monkeys. Also we were able to stop and alongside the road and I climbed a radio/cellular tower just because it's India and you can. It was a little scary and sketchy, but well worth it. After reaching the peak we were thrilled that all we had left was to descend the mountain and then about a half hour to our next destination. HA. If only we would have known the back side of the mountain might as well not have even been a road. The freaking road looked like a warzone after hundreds of land mines were activated. At one point the cursing at the road (not to each other) got to be ridiculous. As mentioned, nothing pisses someone off like driving as slow as possible for an extended period of time. There was no light for the decline. Purely fits of rage and frustration. In the end we did make it down, but couldn't find a hotel. Of course, once again it was dark and we were driving. A friendly man stopped us to take a picture and after talking with him he was taking us hotel to hotel doing all the work and translating. He was getting us pretty good deals with his media pass but not exactly the type of hotel we wanted. After a while we left him aside and carried on solo, but he does publish a weekly newsletter and he said we would be in it! Finally we found a hotel that may require us to get a tetanus shot. The toilet didn't work, there was no shower head, and the pillows had stains. It was a day full of ups and downs (mostly downs) but we persevered and got through. Total Tallies: Breakdowns: still only 1!! Chai teas: 24 Mountains climbed: 4 curse words: some oddly high number Speedbumps: more than enough & potholes: some number that can't even be counted.

The Adventure has it's First Hiccup

After a very successful day one day two proved to start up some troubles... It began with an 8:30 start at our wonderful hotel and a great view of the Arabian Sea and a plan to reach Mangalore. After about 3 hours of driving we knew that we were ahead of schedule. So, we had the brilliant idea of visiting Kasaragod beach. We left the main highway in search of a nice relaxing beach and what we found was a dirt road under construction (yes, they were smoothing out the dirt, not paving it) that had plenty of obstacles. Once again I had the privilege of the shitty roads and after an hour of being in only second gear the clutch cable decided that it no longer wanted to work. Yes, we have had break down #1! Although not as exciting as it may seem we broke down directly in front of a mechanic's shop. We pulled in and got a free clutch cable fix. Team SPEEDBUMP had it's first true speedbump, but it couldn't have happened any better. After a few more hours of driving we passed through Mangalore. No we never did find Kasaragode/Kasaragode beach. Yes, it does have two names for some odd reason and half of the road signs are in various languages so it does get quite confusing. In the end we found a small, cheap, no shower or toilet flushing hotel room. It worked for a bed and a few quick hours of rest. The sleep was brief and at 5:30 we were up and getting ready. By 6 we hit the road with hopes of reaching Goa. After a very quick start we met up with "30 and Dirty" a team from New Zealand and shared some quick stories, laughs, and directions. As we pushed on we thought that breakdown number 2 was upon us. We pulled over took a break and then the shaw was running fine. We just pushed her too hard for too long. Beatrice (the ricksahw's lovely new name) taught us her boundaries. We pushed on, taking rest breaks every so often, and gained hundreds of kilometers. Day 3 we were able to go about 280km and made it to Palolem beach just in time for the most beautiful sunset of our lives. We also had time for a quick dip in the ocean and some Frisbee on the beach. All in all it was an extremely successful day full of more laughs, cow dodging, over heating the engine, chai teas, and good times on the road. We are making out way very smoothly so far (knock on wood). Rickshaw on!