October 30, 2009
The sight of dead dogs and cats on the side of the road is nothing new, but a dead camel… that’s a first!
Old tires litter the side of the road. I think about those tires and the stories they must hold about how they came to rest here in the middle of nowhere. As far as the eye can see there’s nothing but sand. Every now and again I see a silhouette of a camel on the horizon. The desert heat today was intense, it felt like someone was putting a hair dryer in my face. Driving through the Sahara desert with out A/C was definitely a bad idea. I feel like god must be listening to my thoughts, as a big grey cloud has just moved in and is now giving us some relief from the suns rays.
Crossing the border from Morocco to Mauritanian proved to be an interesting 5 hour adventure. Morocco and Mauritania have all but recently been at war, so the border is filled with landmines. If driving across the 2km stretch of rocky dirt road wasn’t bad enough, the thought of landmines loomed in the back of my head. Fortunately the only major problem we had was getting stuck in the sugar sand and having to push our cars out and also beating the shit out of our cars. The actual border process was much easier on our nerves, it just ate away at our time. It took us 5 hours to get our lovely Mauritanian visas. I wont go into detail as I have no real explanation why it takes so long… but lets just say things in Africa take forever. As Leonardo Dicaprio says in the move Blood Diamond…. “TIA”….. This is Africa!
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October 24, 2009
It’s been over 4 years since I last set foot on the African continent. Last time I was here I did the east coast route from Cape Town to Egypt, this time around it’s down the west coast from Morocco to Cape Town… or I should say, as far as these cars will take us.
I now find myself at a place I never would have guessed I would be, at the edge of the Sahara desert. It’s going to take us 4 to 6 days to drive through the Sahara. No guesthouses or hotels, so we will be camping in the sand.
Driving in Morocco is very similar to India, people, goats, cows, camels, motorcycles, trucks, cars, dogs, cats and pretty much anything else that you can think of, jump out in front of you every other second. At this point I’m glad I haven’t hit anyone, although the site of dead dogs on the side of the road is getting old fast… I have always hated the sight of dead animals.
The cars seem to be holding up, other then a few things that have fallen off, but it was nothing important. It is taking us a lot longer then planned, the roads are packed with slow trucks and sheep crossing the roads that have cut our time in half. The Malaria pills have been messing with my stomach or maybe it’s all the street food we have been eating.
Well I need to go get my hair cut…. here are some photos of Morocco!
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October 3, 2009
It has been over a week since my tired and tattered corpse limped into Istanbul. After 4 months, 15 countries and endless partying…. my body was dead! I was in need of a major detox/recharge.
Istanbul has turned out to be the prefect solution. I have spent the last week doing absolutely nothing other then getting a tan and going to the dentist. It’s amazing how just sitting in a place for a week and doing nothing can make such a difference in someone’s mental and physical wellbeing.
A week later and probably a few pounds fatter thanks to the Iskender, I feel 100% again and ready for what lies ahead. The “Summer of Love Tour” has officially come to an end and now it’s time for the next adventure.
I fly to Spain on Monday where I will meet up with my business partner to do the unthinkable and drive from Spain to South Africa! We are doing a scout for our up and coming adventure race “World Cup Trek”. The route will take us down the west coast of Africa for the next 8 weeks. For more info check out our site www.nomadicnation.org
But for now all I can say is, “I am ready!”
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September 13, 2009
I find the word “Goodbye” coming out of my mouth a lot lately. As quickly as I meet new people or start to fall in love with a city or a woman, that word “Goodbye” keeps slipping out of my mouth.
I came to Poland not knowing what to expect. I am %50 polish, but I have no idea who my grandparents were or where in Poland they came from, but I still felt the need to find out for myself and see where my roots are. I can’t say I have learned anything about my past, but I have found another place in the world that feels like home, a place where my roots have taken hold and a place that will for sure be a part of my future! I will take away a lot of things I have learned here in Poland, but yet I feel like I am leaving a part of me behind… and not to mention I am leaving behind my trusty baby blue Fiat ;-(
I am finding it really difficult to say goodbye to my car that I paid $100 for and drove 4500 kilometers over the last 2 months through 8 different countries. I think the reason I am having such a hard time letting go of the car, is the fact that it’s the only real thing I own in this crazy world. Everything I consider “Jimmy’s” is in my bag on my back. I try not to get attached to things because of this every reason, it makes saying goodbye soo much harder.
So for now with a sad look on my face I say Goodbye Poland and with a fake smile… Hello Ukraine! But before I get to comfortable in Ukraine I will have to say Goodbye again and leave for Turkey. I believe that there’s no such thing as a final goodbye, I feel that we will always see each other again. If it’s meant to be, it will happen!
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September 12, 2009
It’s true when they say “Everything in Moderation.” I am finding myself running out of time and out of gas!
Over the last 3 months I have been traveling too much, drinking too much, taking too many pictures, meeting too many people, seeing too many new cites, trying to figure out too many different currencies and just plain old doing too much! It’s all about finding the balance.
There was a study done on long-term travelers, and they found out that most people hit a wall and get burned out after 3 months of traveling. It sounds crazy for people sitting at work to hear a story of someone having too much fun and traveling too much. But like everything in life you need to travel in moderation, just like not working too much or not eating too much.
I am back in Poland now after an amazing trip to Russia. I went to Russia not really expecting to like it, but I now have another country to add to the list of places I need to go back to very soon. I flew from Moscow back to Latvia to meet up with my friend and pick up my car. We drove from Latvia down to Lithuania for the night, then on to Warsaw Poland for a few days to visit some friends. We are now back in Krakow Poland where the Fiat road trip started, and it now looks like this is where it’s going to end. I find myself running out of time. The weather is getting colder as we head into fall/winter and it’s time for me to get back to work so to speak. In October I am setting out for a road trip from Spain to South Africa for 8 eight weeks to research a road race my company is putting on (more on that in a minute).
So for my last few weeks in Europe, my friend Conor and I are going to head to Ukraine for a week and then fly down to Turkey to meet another friend of ours who’s having a big party at his beach house in southern Turkey. I will spend a week or so checking out Turkey and eating on the Kebabs I can fit in my mouth.
From there I will fly to Barcelona to meet up with my business partner and get ready for the road trip. We are doing a pre race test drive to research and set up stuff along the way for our race the World Cup Trek. Check out the sites for more info on what its all about. www.nomadicnation.org
Here are some pictures from Moscow.
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