Introducing our newest communication/safety device/toy, The SPOT Messenger!

We purchased this little guy for a couple of reasons. First of all, he allows friends and family to check our whereabouts on GoogleMaps. This is a fun feature, but it also allows all of you who care about us to feel at ease, knowing our location at any given time. In addition to being able to track our journey on GoogleMaps (which is pretty darn cool), he has a feature that also allows us to call for help or notify a search and rescue company in the event that we get into serious danger.

Time and travel to remote areas will determine if this was a good investment, but the idea is great and we are hopeful that it will work on our journey! According to the service map on their website, we should get coverage during most of our journey, even in the Sahara! Towards the end of our trip, however, coverage may get spotty.

Check back soon, as we hope to create a newly designed map on Our Route page that will combine our planned route with the live updates from the SPOT.

I tested him out last night while at the Milford Drive-In movie theater in western Massachusetts. You can see where we were by checking our SPOT map page!

More on the device soon, but we are pretty excited and wanted to share!

18 Days until we leave London for Cameroon …

As you know, we got a car.  Let’s take a moment to chat about Monsieur Le Chariot, or Suzi, if you will.

As it turns out, our gender-bending, identity-seeking vehicle has got a lot more under the hood than expected.  When we bought the Suz, we thought we were getting a used car in good working condition with a 1.3 litre engine.  We were psyched.  Then we got a couple of surprises.  Now we might be close to overjoyed. 

First, we got a little extra oompf,

The previous owner, Steve Simms, has replaced the 1.3 litre engine with a newer 1.6 litre engine.  A little extra oompf to assist us on our voyage, but certainly not enough to transform our adventure into anything too easy.  Our mettle will still be tested.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.

but now we must pay! We could use even more oompf from our fans…

While this is great news, it also has fundraising implications.  As you know, to enter the rally we needed to raise at least  £1,000 (approx. $2,000) for Send A Cow.  With your support, we have surpassed our initial goal of $2,000 and raised $2,600 so far, which is absolutely fantastic.  Now that our engine is a little bigger, we still need your help!

As a “penalty” — in quotes because it’s charity! not a penalty! — teams that have engines bigger than the 1.0 litre must raise an extra $200 for every additional 0.1 litre. With a 1.6 litre engine, we’ve got a “penalty” of $1,200, and our overall goal (including the “penalty”) is raised to $3,200.  With $2,600 already raised, this means we need to raise an additional $600. If you have been thinking of donating, now’s the time to do it!  You can donate and read a little about Send A Cow here.

Then, some divine assistance!

As it turns out, Steve Simms, the Suzi’s previous owner, is actually a mechanically-inclined guardian angel.  Of the wingless variety.  Steve was really fired up when he heard about our adventure, and offered to help us out.  Boy did he ever.  In the 7 days since selling us the car, he has:

• found a friend who agreed to sell additional parts at cost;
• found another friend who can sell us additional tires very cheap;
• obtained a radio and power point which he then installed in the car;
• fitted his old bull bar  and winch to the car; and
• has begun creating a roof rack for the car out of used steel from a junkyard.

If you are not bowled over by his fabulousness perhaps you should re-read that list.  This is a man, who did not know us before last week, going out of his way to make sure we can actually make it from London to Cameroon in his beloved Suz.  All he asks for in return? Pictures of his babe in action.

Right now I think Doug, Jessie and I are all competing to be president of the new Steve Simms fan club.

Thanks, Steve!

From time to time we use this blog to thank all the companies who have contributed to our fundraising adventure. However, one person who has yet to be directly thanked for his contributions is my dear friend Paul Kafasis. Paul is actually the mastermind behind the layout and functionality of this wonderful website, and I can’t believe we haven’t given him a proper public shout out!

Not only is Paul a steller guy and an exquisite milkshake maker, he also happens to be quite good with technology of all sorts. This is probably a good thing, considering he is the CEO/lacky/co-founder of an outstanding software company called Rogue Amoeba.

In any case, Paul spent time helping us build the site from nothing and he did an awesome job giving us a public face. Truly none of our successes would have been possible without his help and we get lots and lots of compliments on the site, so thanks Paul!

When you have a moment, I suggest you visit Rogue Amoeba’s website and consider buying some of their fantastic software! I particularly like their product Radioshift. You can use Radioshift to listen to over 50,000 radio listings from around the world and then subscribe and automatically record any of thousands of radio programs. It’s really cool, you should check it out!

After a long, hard search we are proud to announce that we bought a car this morning!

Introducing the fourth and final member of the Sandbox Savants’ team, our 1988 SUZUKI SJ413 V JX SAMURAI. This little metal box will be our home for the duration of or journey and carry us Savants to the finish-line in Kribi, Cameroon (or until we can’t move it).

This was a very exciting day because not only do we finally have the vehicle, but we bought it purely with your donations! You all made this possible and it is truly amazing to feel your support it such a real way.

Most importantly, once the car makes it to Cameroon it will be sold with the help of the Adventurists and the proceeds will go to Send A Cow! Additionally, because the car’s engine is 1.3 litres, instead of 1.0 litre regulation size, per the rally rules we are being penalized and must raise additional money for charity (about $200 per point litre over). We almost have enough to cover the “cost” of the extra engine size. If you want to put us over the top, go to our Donate page and give a little!

Thank You!

Please visit the vehicle page to read more about our little Suzi (actual name and gender to be determined when we meet).

We want to give a special thanks to Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils and our friend Autumn, who has graciously donated a bunch of yummy, nutrition packed shelled hemp seeds for our journey. Manitoba Harvest is the largest farmer owned vertically integrated hemp food manufacturer in the world, offering fresh, high quality staple hemp food products.

The company seeks to educate the public about healthy lifestyle choices and to offer staple health food products and to encourage & support sustainable farming in North America.

What a great fit for our fundraising adventure!

I was visiting my dermatologist last week, and during small talk about our summer plans I told her about the upcoming adventure.

Given that our drive promises to be hotter than hot and the fact that we will be blasted with sun and sand for days on end, I fully expected her to give me some lecture on sun protection. That being said, I was shocked at her advice …

With a straight face, she urgently recommended that I stock up on UV blocking sun-protective clothes and Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 85. As a pale person with a high risk of skin cancer I am all about taking precautionary measures, BUT SPF 85??? Who knew that even existed?! What happened to the days when I was teased for SPF 45?

In shock, I promptly went out and bought my first -tiny- tube of SPF 85 sunblock. At $10.99 a pop, I’m going to need to take out a loan if I hope to buy enough of this super sunscreen to cover me the entire 5 weeks we are away …