Help From the Home Front

By Steve Bouey in

February 23, 2008 – 8:51 am

Planning our route through Africa has been quite an ordeal. We are pretty much always on the move so it is hard to keep tabs on what is going on in Africa, whether or not to pay any attention to what is going on in Africa and what sort of things we can expect to encounter and strive to avoid. The research – from border crossings to which roads are not mined to how much of a pain visas are… all of the information needed to successfully navigate our way south with as little problem as possible is a huge task. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to do as much research as we would like given our location and access to reliable internet, but luckily, we have some amazing people helping us out back home. I would like to send out a huge thank you specifically to Doug Tucker for all of his help in researching Africa. Doug not only researched the necessary things to help us better plan our route and to help us stay safe, but he also provided a lot of information about all the the fun and interesting things to see along the way. Based on the amount of information Doug compiled for us, I imagine he spent quite a few hours scouring the internet and other sources for things that can help us out. These are hours that we did not have, so thanks Doug for helping to give us a clearer picture of over-landing through Africa!

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By Steve Bouey | Posted in Africa, Expedition Sponsors, Trip Thoughts | Comments (1)

New Video – Lisbon – The reoccurring problem

By Steven Shoppman in

February 22, 2008 – 11:02 am

Back in my former home of Denver, Colorado, I was once told that the “Denver Boot” was so named because Denver is such a horrible place when dealing with the meter maids. After recently taking the time to research the claim, it is in fact true…and even more to it than I was originally led to believe. The boot was in fact invented in Denver by a violinist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra in 1953, and has since kept its name “The Denver Boot.” The city of Denver is so intense when it comes to parking that our current mayor Hickenlooper based part of his campaign on reforming our ridiculous parking laws. When I left Denver, I thought I had left the boot behind as well.

Throughout most of the world we have not had to worry about parking laws, because we never get tickets since we do not have local license plates. We do still have to worry about getting towed, which we had a problem with in Barcelona. Barcelona is by far the most difficult city to park in that we have visited yet, and there we had to track down a Toyota dealer outside of the city that would allow us to park so that we would not encounter any more fees. Shortly after we were robbed of more valuable TWBR funds by the Barcelona municipal government, half of the team went to Lisbon, Portugal only to get slapped with the notorious invention from our hometown. Brook put together this short segment about the experience, luckily this boot was not too expensive. It is an excellent way of getting people with foreign license plates to pay their parking tickets.

Then again in Casablanca the Sequoia was booted, but now that we are in Morocco, the fee only amounted to a grand total of about $5. Most places in Europe we could not even find an hour of parking for less than this. I would like to give Frank Marugg a big thanks for his car shoe. Since my birthday was decades after his fancy little invention I cannot begin to try to imagine what it was like in the 50s for cars. For now though I would like to give ol’ Frank and all of the people that continue to produce his invention a little piece of advice – CARS DON”T NEED BOOTS, THEY HAVE WHEELS FOR FEET.

Bouey also wrote a blog about the boot when it was put on…click here to read it.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in New Videos, Portugal | Tagged | Comments (0)

New Photos – Istanbul

By Steve Bouey in

February 22, 2008 – 8:21 am

We made it through Asia! Istanbul is where east meets west, where the continents of Europe and Asia collide… or breakaway depending on your point of view I guess. We spent a handful of days in Istanbul checking out the sights and trying to get some work done on the trucks but sadly it was also where we said goodbye to Karie who had been with us for over a month and to Greg whom we had met in Georgia. Fortunately, Steve and I would not be alone for long as our friend Mark was flying into Istanbul to join up with us for the rest of the expedition.

Not to worry, the Aya Sofia mosque and old Istanbul is where we needed to beAfter six weeks on the road with TWBR, it was Karie’s last day with us in Istanbul Karie makes faces before her next to next last meal with TWBR while Greg actually decides if it is a good place to eatNo matter where you are in Istanbul, there is always something to look atWe don’t know if the photo was any good, but Karie definitely learned some style while she was with TWBRThe Blue Mosque looks pretty sweet at night tooLooks like we missed the turn for modern Istanbul Karie’s last meal with TWBRKarie’s last meal was a Turkish delightWe took the trucks to a Toyota dealer in Istanbul, but from the looks on their faces, we knew finding a new window for the SequoAs it turns out, we broke a leaf spring, probably somewhere on the road from hell in KazakhstanThe Tundra was riding a little funny so we had them take a lookTo many people, the Tundra looks like a spaceship and at Toyota Istanbul, it was no different Greg left shortly after Karie, as did Bouey’s moustache, and it was back to just the Steve’s Sultanahmet or The Blue Mosque is one of the largest in IstanbuAccording to Bouey, the Blue Mosque is this bigThese porters were lining up to take big screen TV’s up the street on their backs!This bridge in Istanbul is famous for attracting a lot of fishermenPeople hang out all day on the bridge to chat, gossip and occasionally fishEither these are bait fish or you guys have fished this place dryI guess you can consider fishing to be a form of huntingFishermen line the bridge with the Yeni Cami or New Mosque in the backgroundThere is literally standing room only on the bridge from end to end

By Steve Bouey | Posted in New Photos, Turkey | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

New Photos – Fatsa

By Steve Bouey in

February 21, 2008 – 8:06 am

You never know who you are going to meet. We meet strange and interesting people almost every day. Fatsa, Turkey was no exception. We were filling up our tanks with $10 a gallon gasoline when a guy approached us asking about the cars and what they were doing so far from home. “Nino” ended up being a restaurant owner and a tour operator and he invited us back to his place for dinner. After filling up on a delicious Turkish meal, he took us out on the town and then let us crash on his boat for the night. It was a great day and Nino hooked us up. It was also the spot where Karie decided to test out the water for a late night swim… as it turns out, the water was cold and full of fish guts.

Night swimming aside, it was a fun night that was over in a blur, but Nino still made sure we had breakfast before heading off tWe also had arguably the most decadent desert we have had in a long, long timeWe had plenty of delicious fish and all the fresh fruit you could ask forNino was quite the host and all because he liked the trucks we were drivingNino even gave us a siren for the trucks to help us through traffic in Istanbul In Fatsa, we met Nino, a tour operator who invited us to his restaurant for dinnerIt was shaping up to be quite a nightKarie decided to do another yogic inversion and this time she actually fell into the Black SeaYou would think that getting a little wet would not be that badThat is until the Watts meets water incidentAfter dinner, Nino took us out to a Turkish belly dancing barTurkish fishing boats unloading lots of Turkish fishUntil you realize that fishing boats have been unloading lots of fish only meters from where Karie fell inLots of fish being unloaded next to Nino’s yacht The fish come off the boat, get sorted and are then loaded onto trucks for the marketThe fish emulsion is scraped off the dock and into the water where Karie decided to take an evening swimA proud Turkish fisherman rests after a hard nightUnfortunately for Karie, all of those fish leave a lot of fish emulsion on the docks Nino then invited us to crash on his yacht from which he runs Black Sea Blue Cruises

By Steve Bouey | Posted in New Photos, Turkey | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

News News News

By Steven Shoppman in

February 19, 2008 – 8:34 am

Since entering Europe we received quite the welcome from the local media outlets. In Bergen, Norway we were featured on the front page of the main newspaper in town. In London I was interviewed by the Guardian, and as we were told by a friend in London, it is one of the most respected newspapers in the UK. We were also featured by one of the top 4×4 magazines in the France. Marc, the writer for the magazine also helped us with the recent repairs on the Tundra and is planning a 11 page spread in the magazine in the next couple of months. Marc Mellet was introduced to us by our friend Chenzorig in Mongolia. Chenzorig helped us install the new shocks on the trucks back when we were in Mongolia. He told us about Marc and his trip to Kamchatka peninsula in Siberia during the heart of winter. Chinzo helped Marc to install many of the new heaters and components that allowed him to drive his car there in such temperatures.

As we approached Paris, Steve Bouey started contacting Marc to see if we could get some help with the damage to our trucks. We figured that Marc would just be a nice guy and hook us up with a shop, but things turned out quite differently when we arrived. Not only did Marc help us with the trucks, we are being featured in the magazine and quite good friends with Marc after our time in Paris. He even let the crew sleep on the floor at his house. To top things off, when we took photos of the trucks for the magazine, Marc talked with the Police and we parked the trucks on the Arc de Triumph for photos (this is one of the craziest intersections on the planet, for those of you that have not seen it in person).

For whatever reason, we continue to find the right people. People like Marc and Chinzorig, others like Thomas or Carlos who run hostels in Barcelona and Munich, and the countless other people around the world that go out of their way to help us out are what keep our operation from getting stopped in its tracks, literally. As we drive down tollways crossing numerous borders in a week, we tend to accumulate a myriad of different currencies. Often we get to a toll booth and do not have enough of the local currency, but over and over the toll booth operators call their supervisors to either use our credit cards, take the other currency, or in some cases take multiple different currencies to come up with enough money to get us on our way. Hostels and hotels continue to give us discounts and in some cases, like at the Easy Palace hostel in Munich, we were even given free beer for one whole night along with beer tasting lessons. Often it is hard for me to understand why so many people take it upon themselves to make sure that The World by Road succeeds. Over and over when it seems that we have hit a barrier, a smiling face, a phone call or an email come through to prove that there is always a way to a solution.

_DSC0423 Since we started the trip one of our biggest hurdles has been video. Although we film every day, with all of the trials of the road and technical difficulties we have obviously been far behind on our original plan to have more regular video up. Much like all of the other problems encountered since our exit from the comforts of home, this problem has also worked itself out. Brook Silva Braga is the latest addition to the crew here and his background is just what we have needed to take the load off my back managing the expedition and editing video. Since he has been here we have already managed to put together two different video shorts. So how did we find Brook? It is a long story, but when I was planning for the expedition the trailer for his documentary, A Map for Saturday, was referred to me by a friend. I thought it looked great and wrote a blog about it. A day later Brook contacted me…”Good luck on your trip, hopefully I’ll be back on the road sometime soon, maybe our paths will cross.” Our paths did cross again as he interviewed us in the Czech Republic for his site, The InterviewPoint. As a bit of a joke I poked Brook saying that he should join the expedition in Africa. I never really thought he would join, but only a month or so after the interview, Brook is now here in person.

It really is amazing how all of this works out. Each day brings us new challenges and difficulties, but each day also brings us miracles, for lack of a better word. In Tim Cahill’s book “Road Fever” he states, “This would not be possible without the help of all of the great people along the way.” I read that book very early on in this adventure and every day that statement rings true more and more everyday.

Below I have listed some links to the the articles and media I have mentioned above:

Brook sent me a copy of his movie when we first met, it is worth a watch. You can purchase a copy of it on Brook’s site – http://www.amapforsaturday.com/contact.html. It also is airing on MTV and some other stations worldwide, check out his site to see the latest times.

The InterviewPoint Interview
http://www.theinterviewpoint.com/ITP/Interviews/1E468135-B7D5-4CB0-87B2-47B8E74C8E6C.html

The Guardian Article – http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=505&catID=8

Interview in Bergen, Norway – Click here

Tim Cahills Book


By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Book and Media Recommendations, Expedition Updates, Media Coverage, Morocco | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

TWBRDR Pushes On!

By Steve Bouey in

February 18, 2008 – 10:37 am

As the The World by Road Dakar Rally (TWBRDR) enters its second week the route has us now in country number three on the way to Senegal. To be exact, we are currently in Fes, Morocco. We actually made it as far south as Casablanca, but have backtracked northeast through Rabat to get some more onward visas (Mali only took two hours – whoot, whoot!) and decided to drive further east to Fes to celebrate Shoppman’s 29th birthday on the 17th in true Moroccan style. Technically, in a rally of this nature you are forced to backtrack a bit in order to ensure that you take the best route possible and to keep the competition guessing and the last time we checked, we are still in the lead.

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Fes is a pretty awesome place and the winding alleys of the Medina are a great place to get lost among spice vendors, vegetable stands and tanneries. Unfortunately, I do not think that you are allowed to drive through the Medina itself, but yesterday we somehow managed to do just that. In looking for a place to stay, we soon found ourselves in an alleyway that continued to get narrower and narrower the deeper we drove. We soon found ourselves past the point of no return. It would have been extremely difficult to back out given how far we had come and although the path in front of us looked impassable, the friendly local Moroccan, Abdul, who joined us for the ride reassured us that we would be able to make it through. As it turns out, Abdul knows quite a few people inside the Medina and one of them was kind enough to run point for the trucks as we drove through vegetable stands and fruit vendors. This guy was amazing. With a single swoop he cleared small children and the elderly from the path of the massive Toyotas rumbling down the Medina and made sure that not even one zucchini or stray mint leaf bushel was smashed under our tires. The whole event was kind of like watching Charlton Heston part the Red Sea in the Ten Commandments but in this case, we had a front row seat.

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Are you sure we can drive through here?

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This guy seems to think that otherwise

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Little Pepe winds through the fruit stalls

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People stand and stare in amazement… or disapproval

After about half and hour and another five to stop and buy a kilo of strawberries from the rear passenger window of Little Pepe, we made it out of the Medina and into wider streets. It was quite an experience and surprisingly enough, we did not manage to piss anybody off. In fact, we received a lot of complements about the trucks and even a few shouts of “viva le Paris-Dakar” after which we replied back “viva le TWBRDR (twiber-dee-are)!” We wound our way around the Medina once again and found out where we were headed but not before convincing Abdul that we were all truly nuts because we wanted to run the gauntlet of street stalls again. Some people in the Dakar Rally get bogged down in the sand… we got bogged down in people and vegetables. It just goes to show you that the TWBRDR requires just as much, if not more, skill behind the wheel. Next up on the rally, back to Rabat for some more visas, back to Casablanca to drop a few passengers off and then the wide open expanses of the western Sahara Desert.

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Brook tries to film amid the chaos while business continues after we pass

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Stopping to buy strawberries as the light at the end of the tunnel gets brighter

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Expedition Updates, For some laughs, Morocco, World News | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)

It’s a Whole New World

By Steve Bouey in

February 16, 2008 – 6:08 pm

Here we are. Casablanca, Morocco. Africa. We have entered a new continent, and even though it is only a short ferry ride from Algeciras it feels and looks like another world compared to Europe. For most of us, Morocco is our first exposure to Africa, and so far everything has been going great. The ferry ride across the Straight of Gibraltar was a little rough due to weather which I also presume was the cause for the 11 hour wait on the dock in Algeciras. The wait at the dock did, however, allow us some time to clean out the trucks a bit, fry up some peppers and watch a few episodes of Flight of the Conchordes.

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At least some signs in Morocco are in English because for us, Arabic might has well be graffiti

Morocco is a curious place and although we are technically in Africa, Morocco seems to conjure up for me a lot of memories from Central Asia. Maybe Morocco reminds me of Central Asia due to the overwhelming presence of police and their roadside checkpoints, but I think it has a lot more to do with the people, sounds and smells. Everyday clothing is exotic, extremely different and not unlike the typical attire we encountered in Central Asia. The only real difference seems to be that the robes in Morocco serve more to keep you cool than protect you from the cold. In Morocco, once again we find ourselves sharing the road with “alternative” means of transportation. The people in Morocco have been warm and welcoming and after building our French vocabulary while working on the Tundra with the boys at FOXY, we are finding it easier than we thought to get around, communicate and make new friends. Last but certainly not least, the noise from bazaars and bustling outdoor markets is finding its way to our ears once more and the overwhelming variety of Moroccan cuisine makes dining out an adventure every time.

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Is that a Jawa from Star Wars or a Moroccan cruising in a jalabiyah?

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Sharing the road through Rabat

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It was short and T-shirt weather for us but 18 C is still pretty cold by Moroccan standards

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Did we make a wrong turn and end up back in Uzbekistan?

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“… the beginning of beautiful friendship” in Casablanca

The prices here in Morocco are also reminiscent of Central Asia… fuel is back below $5 per gallon and a side splitting meal will only set you back a few bucks. I can only hope this is where the similarities end because Morocco will also be home to our African visa chase… the seemingly endless running around to secure as many visas for our onward travel as possible in the shortest amount of time and in Central Asia, it felt like the only chase we were on was one for a wild goose.

 

 

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Morocco, Trip Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

New Photos – Sumela Monastery

By Steve Bouey in

February 15, 2008 – 6:17 pm

Turkey is a Muslim country, but interestingly enough, just outside of Trabzon, you can find the remarkable Sumela Monastery. The structure, built literally into the side of a cliff was home to monks for several hundred years. It was later abandoned and left to the mercy of the public who as you can probably guess managed to vandalize this historical place. The Monastery is now once again gaining in popularity but the recently instituted entrance fee is going to repair and restore the monastery from years of abuse. It was definitely worth the trip on our way out of town.

The road to Sumela Monastery winds through the mountains outside of TrabzonI never new that it snowed in Turkey, but they actually have a ski resort near TrabzonThe road got really windy and steep near the monasteryYou can choose to take the stairs up to the monasteryThis is definitely a good place to get some meditating doneWhat looks like one huge building from below suddenly becomes a small village once you reach the topThe only way to bring goods and supplies up to the monastery is to hike them up or use the winchUnfortunately, most of the entrance fee goes towards hiring a security guard to keep people from vandalizing the placeMany of the structures within the monastery complex have detailed religious paintings both inside and outA lot of ingenuity and craftsmanship went into making this place stick to the wall of a cliffView of the valley floor through one of the monastery windowsRestoration work is in progress in some sections of the monasteryUnfortunately, time, but mostly vandals, has destroyed much of the artworkSome pretty serious stonework went into constructing the monasteryThe monastery is one of the few Catholic structures in a predominantly Muslim countryThe artwork dates back several hundred yearsAnd to keep people like us from using flash photography near the wall paintings!The artwork stretches all the way to the rock face Restoration work is in progress in some sections of the monasteryIt must have taken some dedicated monks to lug stones weighing thousands of pounds up the side of a cliffOne last view of the monastery from the forest belowEither way you chose to get to Sumela Monastery, it is an amazing sightYou definitely would not have to worry about people bothering you at this locationHow anyone decided that this was a good place to build a monastery is beyond meThe monastery is literally built into the side of a sheer cliffOr you can drive part half way up the slippery, icy road

By Steve Bouey | Posted in New Photos, Turkey | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

New Photos – Hello Turkey

By Steve Bouey in

February 14, 2008 – 6:09 pm

After crossing the border between Georgia and Turkey (after taking some time to fill up on $4 a gallon gas as opposed to the $10 per gallon price tag throughout Turkey) we once again entered a new land. the ancient churches that were a staple of the Georgian countryside were replaced by the spires of the countless mosques characteristic of Turkey. Our first stop was Trabzon where we said goodbye to Tash but not before enjoying some traditional shisha. Most of Turkey still lies on the Asian continent, but there was a sense that we were now getting close to Europe… at least the price of fuel was an indication.

The first of literally hundreds of mosques that dot the landscape in TurkeyThe morning sun obscures the Black Sea border crossing between Georgia and TurkeyNow that bed is hotBouey trying to fight the peer pressure and not smokeKarie adds to the pressureGreg wondering just what we are smoking in these hookahsKarie taking some photos of the debauchery at a hookah bar we found in TrabzonWhen in Rome, Bouey finally caves in The Toyotas on the Turkish coastline near TrabzonKarie tries a yogic inversion pose called falling into the Black SeaThe Black Sea is the eighth major body of water we have seen on the expedition Steve posing for an Abercrombie ad or somethingThe Turkish coastline along the Black Sea

By Steve Bouey | Posted in New Photos, Turkey | Comments (0)

Let the Rally Begin

By Steve Bouey in

February 13, 2008 – 6:11 pm

In the world of auto racing, the Dakar Rally is a big one. The race has gone on for nearly 30 years (2008 would have been the 30th anniversary event) and draws thrill seekers, adrenaline junkies, endurance drivers and gear heads from all over the world. The Dakar Rally used to originate in Paris, and more people might know of it via its former name… the Paris-Dakar Rally, but for the last few years, the starting gun has been fired off in Lisbon, Portugal. Unfortunately, this year the starting gun has been holstered and the only thunder you will hear from engines heading south from Lisbon are coming from the airport. Reluctantly, the organizers of the 2008 Dakar Rally canceled the event the week before it was slated to begin as a result of some unfortunate incidents that occurred along the race route. Some of the incidents were directly related to the race and others were not, but in any event, the organizers of the Dakar Rally were faced with a decision that no race director ever wants to make.

It truly is a shame that the Dakar Rally was canceled this year and hopefully things will improve so that the race can carry on once again in 2009. Without a doubt, a lot of people in the overland community saw the cancellation of the 2008 Rally as a door being closed, however, in true TWBR fashion, we have seen it as an opening. The Rally makes a few detours out into the Sahara to test the fortitude of its participants, but essentially, the race consists of who can drive from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar, Senegal in the shortest amount of time possible. It just so happens that our route through Africa takes us approximately along the same route as the now canceled Dakar Rally.

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We were not really planning on heading to Portugal, but once we heard that the Rally had been canceled, we came up with this crazy idea to be the unofficial winners of the unofficial 2008 Dakar Rally. Lisbon was a 600 mile detour and it turns out, only a few of us made it… Steve and Mark stayed behind in Spain to try and deal with FedEx and Spanish customs and Brook, Craig and I headed to Portugal in the Sequoia in part to take in a country that none of us had been to before, but also in part to kick off the 2008 The World by Road Dakar Rally (TWBRDR). On February 11, 2008 at 3:00 GMT the TWBRDR was off, but not before dealing with some problems of our own. Not five minutes before we returned to the truck from lunch to commence the rally, the Lisbon police found a boot (wheel clamp) big enough to put on Little Pepe. It turns out we had parked in a loading zone but because none of can read Portuguese and the sign did not have any little symbols of things being towed away, we did not think twice about our designated starting line. Oh well, 30 minutes and 50 Euros later we were on our way and as far as we know, there are no other participants in the 2008 TWBRDR, so we did not loose any time to other competitors. Next stop, checkpoint two and a rendezvous with the other crew members in Algeciras, Spain for the car ferry to Morocco. Hopefully they know the TWBRDR is on its way!

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By Steve Bouey | Posted in Expedition Updates, For some laughs, Road Conditions, The Toyotas, Trip Thoughts, World News | Comments (1)