We were extremely careful not to declare anything “our last ____,” but now that it’s happened we actually can. After a late night of hanging out in the desert with our kish lak, our convoy group, we slept in and had our last standard breakfast of oatmeal and coffee then packed up camp. We were just under 200 miles from the city when we began, and we had heard that the roads would be pretty good until the finish line. So, we started out thinking it would be an easy day—a nice cruise into the city.
Nothing beats a roadside hangout?
Of course, we were wrong. We drove along “good” roads for a while and got comfortable with our pace. Then, BOOM! BOOM! We hit a couple potholes and blew out two tires. The Skoda was following close behind us and swerved quickly, making it out unscathed and ready to help us out. A few moments later, while we were checking out the car, we heard it again, BOOM! BOOM! A Mongolia family hit the same potholes and blew out two tires and sent a metal ring flying into Fabian. Luckily, Fabian sustained no injuries.
We had some problems, though. We had two completely flat tires and one spare. We put the spare on one punctured tire and then went through our options. We had a good tire on a bad rim, a bad tire on a good rim, and a can of fix-a-flat. The best option was for Fabian and Oskar to go into town to have the good parts put together while we waited on the side of the road, so the rescue Skoda went to work. A few moments later, Daniel and Markus returned after hanging out with a bunch of Rally teams a few miles up the road. If only we could have been with them! There was a Panda! Instead, we got out the fix-a-flat just for ha-ha’s. Naturally, when the tire comes off the rim, it doesn’t work and the tire comes completely off. We packed the destroyed tire away and got out the soccer ball, Frisbee, and camp chairs. The Mongolian family came over, and we started a play party on the side of the road.
#134. Team Turnagain!
A few hours later, Fabian and Oskar returned, and within minutes, we were back on the road! The rest of the drive was beautiful, and the Panda held up. As we came into town, the Panda did start making a few funny noises (and according to Daniel, we lost a part that hit his car?), but we turned up the music, made it through insane U.B. traffic, and crossed the finish line with our convoy!!!! Time to celebrate!
Today’s lesson: If it seems easy at the start, it’s not. Also, WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!