Team America
15Apr/11Off

international driving permit

lex is international permit enabled!
ghetto fabulous. Surely we can do better with a home printer.

14Apr/11Off

visas have been shipped!

as of yesterday afternoon, the passports have been put in a mighty fine secure envelope and sent off to visa machine headquarters in london. Upon arrival they will make the rounds of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. When they return to us we will send off for the remaining two visas. Here in San Francisco we will get a Russia visa and then afterwards ship it off to Washington DC for Azerbaijan.

During the handwriting madness of filling out visa paperwork, I had to rewrite the Kazakhstan visa several times(in the end it was 5!) One of those times involves just a tiny little error by me, though luckily we caught before sending it off. Somehow when I chose the city and hotel for our temporary destination, I missed that Bishkek is actually in Kyrgyzstan and not Kazakhstan. You know, just a minor detail.

One line item on the visa for Kazakhstan requires to list current medical coverage. I've spent a day or three looking into to travel insurance and checking prices and coverage. In the end all of our current medical insurance covers internationally emergency and urgent needs while outside the US. We will still buy travel insurance and additional medical coverage but have postponed it until at least we buy plane tickets.

I've been receiving great information from Brian from Baatar Hero who did the rally in 2010. So far he has diminished our fears of ferrying across the caspian sea, and more recently our travel insurance woes.

We have also made progress with our contacts in uk. Bryan's friend Mick has managed to find Ryan to help us with some of our car mechanic details.

Our fund raising event plans are back on track. I got a little lost with the launch of Color. Expect more concrete details to come. There will be some video footage and auctioning off items that we will bring with us on our 10,000 miles journey.

4Apr/11Off

visa process has begun…

oh the enjoyment of getting visas. Nothing but red tape as far as the eye can see.

Each country has their own madness of information you must handwrite in the correct font (ie kazakhstan explicitly says block) and make sure your passport photo is the correct size. Each country has their set of pet peeves too. Some require staples for your photo, others require glue. The visa machine team says that visas have been denied from having the staple at the wrong angle. What's worse than that, is that they deny you your visa and keep your money.

I'm not clear why the walgreens and UPS store charge $10 for 2 passport photos, but it's definitely a pretty sweet deal in their favor.

Russia's visa seems on the more extreme, if you are self-employed you must provide a bank statement showing that you have at least $100/day available for your stay. Clearly some bitterness between countries and the difficulty level to get a visa.

anyways... let the games begin!

11Mar/11Off

Main Routes Map


View Mongol Rally Route Planner in a larger map

13Feb/11Off

filming today

The filming of the Subaru Justy commences today.  We are two man down so we are having to draft others into our madness.  I did some trial runs with the Contour HD by attaching it to my helmet and driving my scooter around town.  Here is a great sample of awesomeness that can be captured.

Thanks all for the donations.  I have received a few wishlist donations this weekend.  We now have some MREs for those long stretches in the middle of nowhere.  Anyways who can say no to a pouch labeled "Chicken Breast Filet".  Or a DVD size box that says "Pork Rib, Boneless, Imitation".  In addition I have my first paper map of Mongolia.  I'm having a difficult time getting a good picture of it, but you can get a vague idea below.  Mostly to say that all "roads" lead to the capital.  The current plan is to enter Mogolian in the northwest entrance.

6Feb/11Off

fund raising event soon

Ok so we are targeting Friday, February 25 for our first fund raising event, but it could also be following friday depending on venue availability.  We've kicked around a few ideas last night for the event and I think we have a few winners.  We still need to do a little research to make sure it's possible, but no matter what, it should make for a fun evening.  As soon as I know I'll definitely start making announcements.

Next weekend we are going to start filming some Justy Power action.  Hopefully it edits as well as I can dream in my head.  I'm looking forward to see shots of the Justy in full jaunt in around san francisco and bay area.

In the mean time check out the Gobi desert.  An intriguing region in the south of Mongolia.  Dunes are fun, but not so much fun when you get stuck.

vroom vroom.

The donations are coming in, which is good.  Let's keeping coming.

2Feb/11Off

route update

I was going through visa machine and confirming the cost and how soon we really need to start the process and learned that I cannot go russia from georgia via road.  The road seems for locals only, however you can by ferry!

Anyways we are getting close to pull the trigger to start the visa process.  So we will need to get a rough idea on our itinerary and our country route.  It's looking like 17 countries or so.

This week we also should be settling on the details of the first fundraiser.  Keep your eyes peeled.

30Jan/11Off

pamir highway

Now this looks like an adventurous road..  We will not be entertained by this road on our route, but is probably a rough idea of what's in store for us.

The video is pretty long, and their car is quite crippled at this point but it's pretty stunning.  They drive through a waterfall around 3:30.  Good stuff.

29Jan/11Off

still alive and moving

even though the period between posts is probably too long, I promise the behind the scene is moving faster than ever.

The website is looking better and you can now find us directly at http://rallyteamamerica.com

For our fund raising pleasure, I've also added a Amazon wishlist. Cash never is that much fun to send, so send us a item that we will use for our trip!

This past weekend Bryan and I met up with Nick who did the rally in 2010. He was on the non toxic avengers team. They turned their mean machine into biodiesel. We got some good tips and even more revving to go.

Check out meet the team page. Some quality information of us.

31Dec/10Off

must focus

The adventure of misadventures is upon us.  The team has met a total of one time and guidelines have been spoken.

We now have: Team name, check.  vague route, check.  car type, check.

Much telling of family, friends and anyone has begun.

We do not know all the details of our misadventure, but we do know that it is a long and challenging one.  I'd like to believe it is time to focus.  We are amidst of gathering our intellect, and skills.  We are narrowing on the details of our route so that we can start the visa process with all those countries.

I have been doing a bit of research on cars and I have narrowed down to a fiat punto.  A mighty machine indeed.
Next on my list is a another list of things to do:
  • find contacts in uk
  • gear for prepping the car
  • more details on our scenic route
  • finding people to donate, donate, donate
if this interests you and you would like to help us in any way, please leave a comment to get in contact with us.