High Point: Entering Morocco and taking Martha into her 5th continent!
Low Point: Narrow bumpy roads and speeding trucks made me feel like I was back in Russia.
No Point: Moroccan guy “Hi are you from England?” …. James (Master of languages) Morrowreplies “Ci” … Nice.
After 8 and a half months we had finally reached the African continent. Yet something wasn`t quite right as we awoke in the Spanish city of Ceuta on the very tip of Northern Africa. Ceuta has been a Spanish territory since the 1600s and in 1995 was recognised as an autonomous Spanish region in order to help control illegal immigration into mainland Spain. Moroccans don’t recognise the city easily and I got the feeling the crew didn’t quite feel they were on the African continent properly until we had crossed over into Morocco.
High Point: Our traditional southwestern breakfast cooked by The Caskey family…. Who`d have thought that eggs and chilly could go together so well!
Low Point: Dinner is early in rural America… restaurants here are closed by 8pm which resulted in one very hungry and unhappy crew searching to find some food at 9pm.
No Point: Why are the boys having more showers than the girls? And what is a ‘strip wash’?
Burger Point: With the crew now weighted firmly towards the healthy-eating girls, the burger count has been officially closed with yours truly striding out in front with a massive 20 burgers consumed in 15 days. We need a new count now….? Read more →
High Point: Seeing the bright lights of Las Vegas appear out of nowhere in the Mojave Desert then saying hello to “Sin City” properly by rolling Martha right down the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard!
Low Point: Getting out of L.A. during rush hour (which is basically all day). L.A is a massive sprawling concrete jungle of a city dominated by cars. The traffic was frustratingly heavy while the highways themselves are probably the worst Martha has seen since Russia and Poland! Sort it out Arnie!
No Point: Driving around downtown L.A for two hours trying to see the enormous “HOLLYWOOD” sign and eventually realizing you can’t get close to it at all….. OH… MY… GOD!
High Point : Driving over the Golden Gate bridge at 5.43pm and witnessing the most perfect sunset over San Francisco.
Low Point : The travel sickness felt by all in the back of the “Rig” after 3 hours of gunning down the wonderfully winding Highway 1. Of course it could of also been the 2 foot club sandwich we ate at lunch.
Rename of the day : Martha is currently holding her own when dwarfed by U.S Fire Engines twice her size but to help her sound more Macho and fitting with her surroundings we have currently renamed her from an engine to a “Rig”. Also she now can be referred to as a “Ride” as in “That’s a sweet ride you’ve got yourself there!”
Statement of the day (And potentially my life) : X-Pod (or Rob if you don’t know his self given nick name) … “ Riding this road is like taking a drug… and I’m Addicted to it……. But sometime in life you have to give up drugs….” Enlightening stuff Rob.
Culture shock; Adj; Is the difficulty people have adjusting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own……
After leaving FTFE and Martha in Beijing in September and traveling across the African and South American continents, culture shock was the last thing I was expecting to be feeling as I walked the streets of downtown Seattle, yet undeniably I definitely felt it. Arriving in America has been like receiving a large frying pan right to the face carried by an extremely loud man who insists on shouting every time he hits you! It was certainly the wake up call I needed after taking 48 hours to travel up from Peru.
It all began on the 31st July with the passing of the baton (in our case truck keys) in Moscow’s Red square as the new stage 2 crew of Dave Orders, Ben Haselett and myself surprised the stage 1 crew after their mammoth over night drive from the Latvian border!
It’s been almost 4 months since stage 2 finished yet my memories of it are still as fresh as ever. Of all the countries I have visited in the past 6 months Mongolia has been my favourite. With Russia definitely being the most surprising! In order to sum up stage 2 quickly I thought I would list my highs and lows from each country
Russia
The highs;
1. Being waved on and saluted by most Police patrols, and when we were actually stopped we were sent on our way with a smile and a good luck message!!
2. The friendliness and help we received from normal Russians without whom we would never have found our way out of some towns or found a bed to sleep in.
3. Sleeping in a dormitory with 50 Russian girls after sitting in a traffic jam for 4 hours in Nishny Novgorod.
4. The official photographs of a Russian wedding being taken on Martha.
5. The sheer beauty of Russian Siberia with its stunning Mountains, Forests and Glacial Rivers! Read more →
