Day -10 and -9: Bonjour Europe

Miles driven: 140 miles

Time in Car: 3 hours

Borders Crossed: 2

Dover. Friday morning. 5:30 am.

Our first of what I assume will be many inopportune wake up calls. We needed to be at the docks by 6:25 to catch our ferry to Calais and pass through French customs, which unfortunately meant we had to get moving fairly early. We broke down our camp, enjoying the occasional glance to the beckoning coast of France as well the calm, tranquil sound of a hundred seagulls shrieking and shitting everywhere.

White Cliffs of Dover from our ferry.

Our drive to the ferry and our experience with the French customs officer were both relatively uneventful. Our drive onto the ferry, however, was a bit more concerning. Stevie needed to really give it all she had to make it over the small, but steep hill. While our driver probably should have used a lower gear, it was still a reminder of just how weak a 1.2 liter engine can be. We left Stevie in the cargo bay and took in the views from the cafeteria of the ship. Mike and I enjoyed a nice English breakfast, consisting of a sunny side up egg, some baked beans, a cooked tomato, some mushrooms, a hash brown, bacon, and a piece of sausage. The food was fine, but the British people are really going to flip out once they discover what salt is. The coffee was burnt; but I assume that is something we will have to get used to, especially as tea is the drink of choice for most of Central Asia. The views, however, were incredible. As we watched the famous cliffs of Dover grow fainter and fainter, we said goodbye to the last English speaking country for the next 9 weeks or so. We were on our way.

While the language barriers may cause some frustration going forward, France did provide us some immediate relief: wider roads and driving on the right side of the road. Mike expertly guided Stevie from the ferry to Dunkirk, the coastal town in Northern France where the British troops needed to be evacuated under Operation Dynamo during WWII. Our experience was more pleasant and involved exploring the dunes and watching some kite surfers.

After Dunkirk, we drove straight to Brussels, where, after some frustrating moments trying to find parking, we checked into our Airbnb and began to explore the city. We ate dinner at Fin De Siecle, a pub type place specializing in traditional Belgium comfort foods. After a few drinks and a couple of bars, we were exhausted and our long day was over.

After a long night of sleep with a surprisingly low amount of snoring, we woke up refreshed and ready to explore the city. Mike had done his research and was super excited for us to try waffles at one of the best shops in the city. Mike could have benefited from a bit more research as we found out that said shop did not sell waffles at that particular location. Luckily, we were able to quickly pivot to a nearby local market where we enjoyed a nice breakfast of coffee, fresh fruit, and waffles from another vendor. After breakfast, the three of us wandered the streets before finally going to what I am sure has been the highlight of the trip so far for Tanner and Mike: Cantillon.

Cantillon, for those of you not in the know, is a super famous, small brewery that specializes in Lambic beers (think wild ales / sours). While I may not be as big as a beer enthusiast as Mike and Tanner, I certainly don’t mind drinking the stuff, so we made sure to book a tour. The brewery is small and only brews beer from October to April, so the beer itself is very hard to find in the States. It was really interesting to learn about the history of the lambic tradition and how the brewery sacrifices additional financial gain in order to continue making beer the traditional way. It still uses the original, antique equipment to brew every batch, and the beer still gets its yeast from the Brussels air due to its unique cooling process.

We tried several varieties before searching out some much needed food. The beer was a perfect excuse to find ourselves some Belgium fries as well as the waffles from the place we had failed to find in the morning. We ate our grub in the main square of the town and enjoyed some people watching before heading to find the most bizarre and underwhelming tourist attraction I have ever seen: Manneken Pis.

The Manneken Pis, or peeing boy statue, is exactly that. It’s a two foot tall statue of a boy peeing that was originally built in the 17th century. The place was packed as if it was the Mona Lisa. To each their own I guess. We later walked to the palace and the nearby park before heading to our Airbnb for a much needed rest.

The pissing baby in all its glory.

Brussels, always mentioned last in comparison to the other Belgian tourist cities like Ghent and Bruges, was actually quite nice. Sure, maybe it’s not as pretty as those other two cities and being the EU headquarters always brings a negative connotation, but the beer and food along with it’s quaint village neighborhoods like Saint Gilles and stunning sites like the Grand Place made Brussels the perfect spot to spend two nights. Tomorrow, we head to Marburg, Germany, where we get to see the town in which Tanner studied abroad. Until next time, au revoir - FWY

How Did We End Up Here

 ​A lot of people – friends, family, girlfriends – have asked us, what sparked the idea of this trip? What compelled four employed post-grads to take unpaid leaves off work, cram into a crap car with 6 inches of leg room, and huck it to Mongolia? Well, ironically enough, Mike drew inspiration from work. A short 2 years ago, I was browsing my company’s internal online portal page and a news article flashed across the screen. A Danish co-worker had done the Mongol Rally and lived to tell the tale (Shout out Søren). It sounded like an incredible adventure – trekking over unseen territory by 99.9% of the world’s population and experiencing cultures that no one ever hears about.

I immediately told Dan and Tanner; they seemed interested – the concept doing the Mongol Rally was born. From there, we all put that idea in the tickler file to simmer for a bit. It wasn’t until Tanner brought up the idea to Joe that the idea finally had a chance of becoming a reality. What if we actually did the damn thing? Tanner, the ever so responsible project manager set a deadline – we all decide by end of year 2017. You’re either 100% in or you’re 100% out. We’re only getting older where every year creeping towards 30 equates to rising job responsibilities and rising pressure to settle down and get married. We either do it the summer of 2019 or we don’t do it all. Thus, by January 1st, 2018, we had all agreed that in 17 months, we’d start the Mongol Rally. We had no idea what that entailed, what our life situation would be, or how we could actually pull it off.

As I type this on my flight to London, I can’t actually believe I’m doing it either. It feels surreal – I’ve had a lot of swirling thoughts flying through my brain the past several weeks. I’m excited to see the birthplace of wine in Georgia and drive the rugged Pamir Highways. But at the same time, I’m nervous if our car experiences any breakdowns outside of a flat tire or if we get stuck on the Baku to Turkmenbashi ferry for a week. With all this excitement for the future, I know I’m extremely fortunate that I have the job flexibility and good graces of my girlfriend to go on this trip. I don’t know how this trip will pan out – Where will a lake-sized pothole try to blow our suspension to kingdom come? How many times will we get pulled over and haggled for bribes by police in Georgia? When will Joe, Tanner, and I have our first shouting argument? I’m not too concerned at the moment, I just know I’m in for one hell of a trip.

Landing in London, I’ll be shooting directly to Oxford. I’ll meet up with Joe and Tanner who’ve put in some much appreciated leg work on the car and supplies for which I owe them a very much deserved round of beers. We’ll put a few final touches on our car, Stevie, and then our Rally unofficially begins as we head to Dover. Going forward, our team will do our best to blog daily, but don’t quote me on that. 

Mike

Cheers to Charity

In a little over two weeks, the first of us will leave for London, and our adventure will begin. We’ve come a long way from last fall when the most pressing issues was deciding which crummy pun should be incorporated into our team name. Now, most of our time is spent deciding how best to cram in endless attractions and cultural experiences across these strange countries with scary sound names that all end in “stan” (well that and my remedial stick shift lessons). It’s humbling to realize just how little we knew, and continue to know, about the richness of human history. We have learned an incredible amount about so many countries, climates, and cultures. Many of the countries we will go to are known for having both endless heritage sites and some of the most welcoming people; it’s a shame that we will not have the time to do each justice. 

Exploring Eastern Europe and driving the Silk Road, however, are not the main reason for this trip. There are easier and cheaper ways to get to these countries that do not involve driving something called a “Skoda” with three other adults and minimal room for supplies. We chose the Mongol Rally because it is both an amazing opportunity to see these countries and allows us to raise money and awareness for an important charity: the Ramp Less Traveled.

As July approaches, we continue to be touched by your generosity. From the corporate sponsors (shout out to our friends at Rack Attack and their premier vehicle rack solutions as well as the Boka Group for their raffle contribution!), to your donations, to the shares on Facebook, it has meant a lot to see just how far we have spread Jay’s story. We really appreciate it.

A few weeks ago, we held a fundraiser at the Sedgwick Stop (a neighborhood bar here in Old Town in Chicago). Over 50 of you came out to support the cause, which allowed us to raise over 1,000 dollars through both door sales and the 50/50 raffle. During the event, I had the opportunity to speak a little more about Jay and the Ramp Less Traveled. I wanted to take the time to expand upon those thoughts. 

​Jay and I became close as upperclassmen in high school when we finally had a few classes together. We enjoyed the same quintessential Indianapolis activities such as Race Day or boating on Geist, and we both cared about school, global politics, etc. He quickly became one of my best friends. Jay even joined my family in Hawaii the summer after graduation, only a handful of weeks before his accident.  

After the accident, Jay spent a significant amount of time first in the hospital, then a local rehab facility, and finally a longer-term rehab stent in Atlanta. I was fortunate to be able to visit my friend every step of the way. I was also fortunate enough to be able to contribute to the fundraising for Jay’s expensive rehab. Due to some incredible people who mobilized overnight, Jay’s family and friends were able to raise a substantial amount of money to help support the Jay. From donating the proceeds of our neon high school tailgate shirts, to selling bracelets at an O.A.R. concert (we even got the band to give him a shout out), it was amazing to see the effort and love everyone poured out. Our initial fundraising efforts were eventually capped with a large golf outing, which we were able to quickly pull together through the collaboration of the Joseph Maley Foundation. Between the support of the community and the incredible support given by Duke University, Jay made it through some costly hurdles and succeeded at both Duke and at Oxford. 

At the end of the day, I have no idea how large or small of a dent our initial efforts made in any financial costs related to the accident. Jay and I both do know, however, that some survivors do not get anywhere near the support Jay received. It’s why he created the Ramp Less Traveled. It’s why we are honored to be driving half way across the world for it. It’s why we are thrilled for your continued support. We sincerely thank you.

Joe Corsaro and Fleetwood.Yak (Michael Conry, Dan Morizio, and Tanner Speltz)

To donate to Ramp Less Traveled, please find our donation page at https://www.gofundme.com/fleetwood-yak-and-the-ramp-less-traveled

Racked Up

What our 4-door, 1.2 L Skoda Fabia makes up for in beauty, it lacks in size. On the road through Europe and Asia, our wonderful car, Stevie, is going to be chock full – 4 male adults, spare tires, jerry cans, camping gear, food, beer… honestly, the weight of our egos alone will test the suspension of our 2004 hatchback. Needless to say, all of that ‘junk’ is not going to fit in our 9 cubic foot trunk. We need to strap some of our supplies to the roof of our car. And that’s where our friends at Rack Attack come in to help.

Rack Attack is the premier retailer of vehicle rack solutions and they have been outfitting cars and trucks across North America for all types of adventures since 1996. Whether you need your SUV fitted with ski racks for weekend trips to the mountains, your sedan upgraded to a beach-mobile with surfboard mounts, or your pick-up truck hitched with a bike mount, Rack Attack has you covered. Whatever your adventure may be – biking, surfing, skiing, kayaking, climbing, camping – Rack Attack is the best place to go to make sure you have the best equipment to haul your gear to your destination.  The nice folks at Rack Attack deemed our adventure worthy and were kind enough to gift us a Yakima Offgrid cargo-basket for our big journey to Mongolia. Easy to install and configurable to any roof-rack set-up, this basket will give everyone aboard Stevie a little more room to stretch our legs with the camping gear and other supplies on the roof. Who knows though – I imagine there will be times on the trip when I’d rather be sitting next to a Jerry-can and some tires than a fellow Fleetwood Yak-er.

Again, we can’t thank the good people over at Rack Attack enough for upgrading our crappy 2004 hatchback into a trans-continental cargo-carrier. Also, BIG thanks to Will at the Skokie, IL location for giving us the low-down on which roof rack would suit our journey best. Will was extremely knowledgeable and friendly in giving us details about the various racks and cargo baskets they carried. We are so excited to represent a company that enables people to pursue their adventures, whatever they may be.  Keep on the lookout for a future blog post when we get to mount this bad boy on Stevie… until then stay tuned!

To find out more about Rack Attack and the great work they do, or if you’re interested in fitting a roof rack on your vehicle be sure to check them out on their website www.rackattack.com and follow them on Instagram (@rackattack)!

Engine Stalls, Confidence, and Manual Transmission

Our last blog post details the 2004 Skoda Fabia 1.2L we purchased sight unseen. Our paperwork for the car is still processing but we are confident it will be there waiting for us when we arrive in London in July. Apart from its sluggish 0-60 acceleration and whopping 54 HP engine, the Fabia also sports a manual transmission. Most people have never and will never learn to drive stick shift. In 2018, only 2% of the cars sold in America featured a manual transmission. Unless, you own a high-performance sports car, drive semi-trucks, or own a crappy 1.2 L engine car, you will probably never have to learn to drive stick for your life and being completely honest, you’re not missing out on much. 

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While our lonely car sits on the lot in the UK, our team thought we’d take it upon ourselves to learn how to drive manual. The right-hand drive in the UK is inevitably going to give our team trouble, so we thought that having some manual-driving experience may make our first drive on British roads a bit easier and safer for others on the road. As far as experience, no one is an expert let alone skilled in stick-shift driving; but we do have some experience so we’re not taking on manual driving completely unprepared. Tanner has the most experience driving stick – he learned when he studied abroad in Germany. Mike has a bit of experience, but only with driving utility vehicles. Joe is the only one without any experience and it showed … more his performance below. Dan actually has experience driving stick as well, but he’s in San Francisco so who cares about him. We rented a mint-green, manual-transmission Ford Fiesta, watched about 20 minutes of YouTube tutorials, and took to Humboldt Park on a sunny Saturday to give manual driving a spin. We circled Humboldt park maybe 40 times and even tested our driving on city streets. Here’s how we did: 

Tanner

Grade: B+

# of Stalls: 3

Tanner’s experience showed on the race course but like everyone else, he was not without blemish. In getting the car rolling from a stop, he had no issues. Shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear – not a problem. After gaining some confidence, Tanner started experimenting in down-shifting, a basic skill for a regular stick-shift driver, but for us three, down-shifting was an advanced maneuver. Tanner downshifted once or twice successfully without causing the car to jerk; but still, that’s progress and we’ll take it. Apparently, you’re supposed to give the car more gas once you downshift *noted*. After mastering the Humboldt Park loop, Tanner hit busy North Ave on the Saturday afternoon. It was smooth sailing until Tanner stalled after a red-light went green. A few honks from the car behind us and Tanner’s jimmies were launched into orbit. Hurriedly, he restarted the car and we were back on our way but not before Tanner’s road confidence suffered a serious blow. Perhaps the biggest lesson we learned from our day of driving is that when you stall, ignore the horns and don’t panic; easier said than done but an important lesson none-the-less. Apart from a few other blemishes, Tanner was fine on the roads and with manual transmission. Additionally, Tanner was a great tutor from the passenger seat. He was great in offering advice and tips to Joe, even if they fell on deaf ears. 

Mike

Grade: B-

# of Stalls: 6/7 (Depending on who you ask)

Mike, like Tanner, had some stick shift driving experience in that he used to operate heavy duty utility vehicles for a summer job in high school. Still he never drove a manual transmission car and had never dealt with other driving conditions like traffic and stop lights. Since Mike made car reservation, he was the first one to test his skills on the speed bump littered Humboldt Park side streets. Key, ignition, clutch release, gas and the Ford Fiesta lurched forward. After driving aimlessly around, speedbump over speedbump, Mike nervously cruised in first gear hoping to eventually find a good practice area for driving. Only a mile away was Humboldt Park which may as well have been in Wheaton. After a stall or two and cautiously crossing Division Street, Mike had safely arrived at Humboldt Park –our 2 mile looped practice course for the day. It was the first 60s and sunny springtime day in Chicago and the park was buzzing with activity. Kids playing sports, Puerto Rican music, food trucks – all had a front row seat to watching us drive stick shift. Mike acclimated to the outside track. Soon he was shifting into 3rd with no problem. That’s not to say there were some hiccups – he made a testy crossing at a 2-way stop intersection where he crossed the street in first gear as daunting oncoming traffic crept closer making it an uncomfortable moment for everyone in the vehicle. Deep breaths – no harm, no foul. Lesson learned here – when in doubt, hit the gas. Like Tanner, Mike also took it up a notch and drove on the busier North Ave but suffered one stall-out at a red-light. As horns from the back mounted, he restarted it and quickly put it in gear. We sure hope that the British drivers are patient for stall-outs at stop lights and we sure hope by Turkey we aren’t stalling out at stop lights any more. 

Joe

Grade: D+ 

# of Stalls: 30+ (Exact count not kept)

Joe, where shall we begin with Joe. Having no manual driving experience, Joe himself and the team did not hold high expectations from the get-go and those expectations were made very real once he popped the clutch, hit the throttle, and rattled the car to a bumpy halt. Joe did get in a groove and had several nice loops riding around Humboldt Park. However, trouble came when we ran into stop signs and had to cross through-traffic. The thought of crossing a busy street and not stalling out in the middle of the intersection with cars waiting behind us created a mental block for Joe causing numerous stall-outs. On the park’s only stop-light, he stalled through two green lights on two separate occasions. After the smell of burnt clutch filled the car, we were able to get through the light. It’s not that Joe can’t shift the car into gear, it’s the on-road pressure that gets to him. That will come with practice, patience, and maybe a bit more driving confidence. Towards the end of the day, he was doing his best driving but capped his performance with a quad-stall when he tried starting the car from a stop sign into 3rd gear.  Not the best idea to do but a rookie mistake that will be fixed with practice. Overall, Joe’s day left a lot to be desired, but he’ll get there. After the driving, he self-assigned himself formal manual transmission driving-school assuring his teammates that he’ll get the hang of it. The rest of Fleetwood Yak and European drivers on the road will appreciate it. 

In summary, driving stick is daunting at first and requires mental fortitude and focus on fundamentals. Needless to say, this practice driving day was much needed. However, I’m not so sure much of it will matter since our 2004 Skoda Fabia is RHD so we’ll have to start from square one in shifting with the left hand once we land in the UK. Checkout a video we edited together documenting our day learning stick below: 

Finally Whippin’

Welcome to Fleetwood Yak’s first blog post

From this date until our trip concludes in early September, we plan to use this blog to update our loyal followers, friends, families, and anyone who finds themselves on the website about our rally planning and eventually daily (at least we’ll try to shoot for daily) updates about our trials and tribulations as we trek across Europe and Asia. We’ll try to keep the blog honest, straightforward, and interesting and will try our best to avoid sounding like those annoying study abroad blogs. Without further ado – our first blog post: we bought a car. 

Perhaps the biggest headache of the Mongol Rally is securing a car. I’ve noticed a lot of teams take pride in finding a real cheap clunker and meticulously nursing it into rally-condition. That seems like a noble way to get your wheels rally-ready, but since none of us are skilled car mechanics or live in Europe, we had to find another way. That only other way is buying one in the UK, online, sight unseen, from a hopefully trustworthy used car salesman. Thus we took to AutoTrader.co.uk and bought a 2004 Skoda Fabia 1.2L from the folks down at Hampshire Motor House. 

We sent the wire transfer and said a prayer; and the Skoda was ours. She’s currently sitting on the lot and thankfully our dealer is handling the headache of registering the car and insuring it in Tanner’s name. We’re calling her “Stevie” – a hat-tip to the lead singer of our team’s eponymous band name. Maxing out at 54 HP, this baby clocks from 0 – 60 mph at a whopping 18.4 seconds. The Skoda Fabia is ideal for short trips and commutes in metropolitan areas; I doubt the Czech Skoda engineers designed this value hatchback for fording rivers in the Mongol backcountry or driving the Pamir highway in Tajikistan. Alas, one may call our car a piece of junk; but it’s our piece of junk and we will love her dearly. To quote the galaxy’s most infamous smuggler Hans Solo, “She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.” 

Check out the pics below: 

Of course, before we embark on the rally, we’ll have to tune-up Stevie to make our rig fit for the road. Since none of us are mechanics, we’ll rely heavily on a local UK auto-shop to make sure Stevie’s bells and whistles are road-ready. But more importantly, we’re going to learn how to drive stick from the right-passenger seat. While we won’t be able to practice the latter until we’re in UK, in a few short weeks, we’ll be taking our Need for Speed talents to the Chicago streets in a manual Ford Fiesta to learn how to pop the clutch, shift gears, and avoid stall-outs. We’ll have another blog post about that experience and we’ll tally the number of stall-outs by driver. 

Lastly, we plan to deck Stevie out with stickers and decals. So if you’d like to sponsor us or would like your company logo marketed to 21 different countries over the course of two months – shoot us an email! More to come – here’s to Stevie and the wonderful Skoda engineers.