Day One

December 29, 2005

Snow! That's the last thing I'd expected to be driving through on this first day of the Plymouth-Banjul Rally. But here we are, with temperatures well below freezing, taking off on our way to the Sahara Desert.

But let me back up a bit here and give a bit of background info. It all started with my cousin Trevor, a true car fanatic, when he asked me this past summer if I'd be interested in driving a $180 car from Northern Europe down through the Sahara desert. Trevor lives & breathes cars, and he could probably take apart & re-build an engine blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back. So I figured that, from a mechanical standpoint, we'd be pretty well covered. But even with that kind of skill and preparation, it still seemed like a totally wacky idea.

Somehow, however, he'd planted a seed in my brain. I did some research (www.plymouth-dakar.co.uk) and discovered that many other individuals had accomplished the journey. I started looking at maps and guidebooks. I checked out the political stability of countries such as Senegal & Mauritania. And, from there, things took on a momentum of their own. After about a month of ruminations, I finally made the decision... I'd go for it!

Now I have to admit - when I made my decision to take part in this journey, I didn't yet know what kind of vehicle we'd be driving. And I only found that out about two months before our departure date. You can just imagine my thoughts when Trevor told me that a 1993 Fiat Panda would be our means of conveyance. A vehicle with all of 40 horsepower and a 0.9 liter engine would take us for a 4000 mile journey through some of the most forbidding terrain in the world. Once again, the idea seemed to verge on insanity.

So now back to the snow. We left Plymouth, England early this morning. Due to a massive cold front throughout Europe there’s snow everywhere. Packing the bag last night was hell. Figuring out how to put all of our belongings, four spare tire & wheel sets, sand ladders (to get ourselves out of sand when stuck), water & gas cans, a shovel, spare car parts (including a carburetor, clutch & radiator) into the car after dark was sort of like doing a Tetris puzzle while blindfolded with numb fingers. Fun!

But we got out of England safely and took the ferry across the English Channel. Of course the snow continued in France, but the highways were clear today and we averaged around 100 kmh/60 mph (including stops). But hey, we’re still in a very civilized part of the world, so rapid forward progress is to be expected.

And today we also discovered what it’s going to be like to spend about 12 hours a day in a small Italian vehicle. Much to our surprise, it wasn’t bad at all. Seats were supportive enough (but no lateral support for hard cornering!) and there’s plenty of storage space around the passenger compartment. So good places to put books, cell phones, CDs, snacks, etc.
We also installed four extra cigarette lighter outlets to power virtually everything imaginable. Trevor even went out and bought a cigarette lighter powered coffee maker the other day! So even if the engine explodes somewhere in Mauritania, we can have our morning cup of coffee while we think about how we’re going to get back to civilization.

Signing off from on our first day here in central France.