85 Days Remaining

Well it's been a while since I've blogged last so I thought I'd give some updates. The visa applications for Russia, Kazakhstan & Mongolia are in the post as we speak, so fingers crossed I haven't made any "school boy" errors on the paperwork. My bank account is now officially £210 lighter that before, and the beauty of it is I get none of that back if they decline my application, what a great system, you could just take everyone's money then reject them for no particular reason.

Anyway, that's one of the last big ticket items that needed ticking off my to-do list. In the post this week arrived some bargin basement roof rack bars for the swift off the good ol' eBay. So that gives us something to fix a roof rack too, I've found a website that does the car stickers for our sponsors farely cheaply so that'll give us as much of a margin on the sponsors contributions as possible.

I have also recieved yesterday the first corporate sponsor cheque in the post, which is great, it all helps, another is in the post on its way so that's abother bonus. Hopefully my workplace will be able to sponsor some more, and then its up to us to squeeze every penny out of friends, family, workmates, random people on the street and pretty anyone we come across.

I'm hatching the idea, though I've avoided it to date, that I may set up a bands night either at a venue in the city, or at Kingston Uni's student union bar, and make a bit of money on the cover charges hopefully, so watch this space, and we'll see how it develops.

Another unexpected result has been the post-rally travelling plans, which originally involved catching the train form Ulaan Baatar to Beijing, China and then catching a ferry to Japan and travelling around Japan. This PLan is still in action, but there has been the addition of a small stop off on the way home to the UK, you may have heard of it, its a little place called the United States of Hell Ya! The plan is in the planning stage, as is the case with many a plan. But it seams to have evolved that with the exception of the train to Beijing and Japan, that I will now be driving the across the all Northern Hemisphere landmasses pretty much. My partner in crime will be Owen Coomber, a member of the Mongol Rally 2009, he's in team Xtreme much of the plan is fluid at the moment, so there's the likelyhood of multiple changes and detours but the general plan is buy a $200 banger in the US and then drive it across the US, if it breaks down then buy another $200 banger, and so on, and so forth. A car much like the one to the right, which I spotted in Alaska and thought at the time "What a legendary rust bucket to drive the horendous amount of miles across the states". Little did I know that I may well be doing just that a year later. We'll see how it goes...but it has so much potential it seams mad not give it a try!