The Mongol Rally Guys

Collin arrived in the UK on the morning of July 15th without much incident (other than him losing his directions to a cleaning lady on the subway and having to find a library in London where he could check his e-mail and print them out again). He was pretty jet-lagged and ended up sleeping most of the day. We went out in the evening for a few rounds with a friend, Fran, from Ireland, that lives in Australia and I met because of Japan and was now in London on a one day stopover before flying to China.

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I’ve had a great few weeks in the UK, and have been to London, Birmingham, and a few other towns along the way. As this is the official first (non-U.S.) leg of the journey, I have uploaded some pictures of my recent travels (including a few from the Rotary International 100th Annual Convention that I attended).

It’s not the most amazing thing you’ll see on here, but they are technically part of the journey! View them in our gallery.

We were recently interviewed on WJR 760 Radio’s Warren Pierce Show. Warren, born and raised in Detroit, hosts a morning talk show every Saturday from 6:00AM to 9:00AM. Thanks to both Warren and producer Rachel Nevada for having us on the show.

[youtube width=”440″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0uYotfnzQw[/youtube]

Believe it or not, there are actually two Mongol Rallies: the proper one, and a copycat one unimaginatively named the Mongolia Charity Rally. It’s a long story, but this additional rally was formed by former Mongol Rally affiliates that were unhappy with the way the original rally was being handled. The Mongolia Charity Rally‘s entry fee is less than half of the official Mongol Rally, and there are no age or engine restrictions for the vehicles involved (which leads to some teams going all-out in custom Land Rovers…a bit too prudent for my taste!).

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Thanks to all of you that came out nd attended our Euchre Fundraising Tournament last Saturday. Everyone had a good time and we managed to raise a fair amount of money for our charities.

Only a few more days to go… Scott still doesn’t have his passport as it seems to be taking longer than usual to get through the Uzbek Embassy. The car has been picked up and ready to go, but the check engine light came back on for some unknown reason. Also, the original title seems to be stuck in US customs…we need to it take the car past the European Union. It’s always something!

We are very close to our fundraising goal of $9000. If there’s anyone out there that wants to donate and hasn’t done it yet please go ahead and do so! We will be accepting donations through the end of the rally (and maybe a bit past that, into September).

Come one, come all to the Mongol Rally Guys’ Charity Euchre Event being held at the Life Church Assembly of God in Walled Lake, Michigan. For just $25 per ticket you have a chance to walk away with a nice bit of prize money* and assist our charity efforts at the same time. The event starts at 6:00PM and will run until 9:30, with food and refreshments provided for all.

This will be our final fundraising event, and we still need more money to meet our charity fundraising goals, so please come out and show your support!

* Provided, of course, that you are an awesome Euchre player!

The car has been dropped off in New Jersey and ships today. I have arrived in London and will pick up the car in a couple of weeks. Thus begins Mongol Rally 2009!

Actual quote from the car shipping company representative upon dropping off the car: “You’re shipping this piece of sh*t!? I’m gonna run out of ink on my pen just detailing the existing damage on the thing”. Yup, that’s our baby!

HUGE thanks to my stepfather Matt, who was the one that underwent the arduous journey to actually drop off the car at the New Jersey docks. I was all set to do it myself until I received an e-mail from the shipping company that I wasn’t actually guaranteed a spot to the UK for my car until the car was at their facilities. Thanks for letting me know guys! So, we had only a few days to ensure arrival of the vehicle in order to guarantee pick-up before the start of the rally. Matt also crafted us a roof-rack to place our spare tires and gas canisters on during the rally.

Also, thank you to my father, who provided packing help and car fixing-up. Thanks to mom for our rations trip to Costco and for other general support miscellany.

Thanks to all of you that came out on Monday night to support us! We had a great turnout and raised a lot of money for charity.

Special thanks goes to Cheryl Savage, Lorene McVey, and the Lakes Area Rotary Club for helping us create and sell the Mongol Rally Guys T-Shirts. Also need to thank local artist Julie Dawson for the wonderful artwork she donated for our silent auction. And, of course, thanks to the staff at BD’s Mongolian BBQ in Novi and general manager Julie Yohe for the great service and also the generous contribution to our charities.

Pictures of the event have been posted in the Gallery, go take a look!

We have a new team logo and T-shirts to go along with them!

Collin has come up with a snazzy new design that we have decided to slap on some T-shirts and offer to all of you for the low, low price of $15.00. Of course, all of the profits from each shirt goes to our charity, so don’t be afraid to snatch up some for you…and some for your family…and some more for your friends, etc. etc.

Order via our PayPal ordering system and we’ll ship it to you for $2. Or, you can order at one of our events (such as our send-off event on Monday, June 8th at BD’s Mongolian BBQ in Novi) and we’ll give it to you right then and there!

The above design is centered on the middle of the shirt; all shirts are white in color. Please list sizes desired (Kids S-L, Adult XS-XXL) in the comments box before you checkout your order.

Thanks to all of you that came out to the Uptown Grille last night for our pre-send-off event—we had a great time! We have posted a couple of pictures in the gallery from the event.

Be sure to mark the evening of Monday, June 8th (next week) on your calendar—it’s our largest, most important event. Both guys will be manning the grills to cook everyone dinner, and we will have a 50/50 raffle and a silent art auction. If you weren’t able to come last night for some reason be sure to come this time and wish Scott “bon voyage” on his trip to the UK next week.

1 Adult Ticket $25.002 Adult Tickets $50.003 Adult Tickets $75.004 Adult Tickets $100.005 Adult Tickets $125.006 Adult Tickets $150.007 Adult Tickets $175.008 Adult Tickets $200.00

1 Child Ticket $15.002 Child Tickets $30.003 Child Tickets $45.004 Child Tickets $60.005 Child Tickets $75.006 Child Tickets $90.007 Child Tickets $105.008 Child Tickets $120.00

Everyone is invited to our official send-off party and charity fund-raising dinner on the evening on June 8th at BD’s Mongolian BBQ in Novi, Michigan! Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for kids and include dinner, soft drinks, tax and tip. A good portion of that goes to us, so come on out and show your support! We will also be selling T-shirts and having a 50/50 raffle. This will be the last event that Scott is present at, as he is leaving for the UK on June 14th.

Tickets may be purchased at the door or online via credit or debit card through PayPal (above). If buying online please specify whether you will attend the 6:00 seating or the 7:30 seating—you can stay as long as you wish, but we need to know an approximate count for each time.

Stay tuned, as we will be having additional events posted here as the dates are finalized.

We have organized two major events before we head over to the UK. The second is on Monday, June 8th at BD’s Mongolian BBQ in Novi—details are above. The first one is a week beforehand, on June the 1st at Uptown Grille in Commerce Township, Michigan.

No tickets or RSVP needed—just come out anytime after 6PM and order as much food and drinks as you want, a portion of the revenue will be going towards our cause.

So please be sure to come out, bring your friends, bring your family. If you have never been before, Uptown Grille is a very big bar & restaurant with an amazing selection of beer and some of the best steaks in town. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

We have finally gotten the car running to the point where it can make it to the mechanic’s place (well…we had to tow it actually), so we took the opportunity to take some pictures and introduce everyone to our vehicle!

Thanks to Charles, our ‘team mechanic’ for the time has has put (and will put) into helping us fix her up. And thanks to Matt for his hard work getting our brakes in an operable condition…it’s scary not having any brakes.

Take a look over at the Gallery page for more shots of our trustworthy (?) steed.

Scott recently wrote an article on the Mongol Rally for Matador Network, an web site geared toward travelers. Read his submission here.

Thanks to Dave, Chuck, and Lisa at The Morning X on 89X (88.7FM Detroit). They had me on the program this morning to discuss our participation in the Mongol Rally. Listen to the entire segment (in two parts) below.

[youtube width=”440″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcoUqcLwwy8[/youtube]
[youtube width=”440″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8rsiWMwerI[/youtube]

We scored a great article in today’s Detroit News! Thanks very much to Detroit News writer Susan Pollack and photographer Brandy Baker for making this possible. Update: looks like the article is no longer available online unless you pay to see it. Try here for a copy of the article instead.