We're in business

Today our trip got a bit more serious with official signing-in sessions, meetings with fellow expedition participants and finally the picking up of our truck. There are a total of 25 cars participating in this event adding up to 50 drivers, mostly people from the UK, some from the Netherlands and few Americans. 

Looking at our fellow adventurers I'd say that we're not really going to be roughing it. It appears like people are here to casually motor from nice hotel A to nice hotel B in the comfort of their very rally-ish looking Range Rovers, which don't look like they've seen much dirt. But I could be wrong. We may be building bridges over some swamp in Malaysia soon. It's been raining here the last few days, which is very unusual for this time of year.

We picked up the Tacoma in a shipping company's warehouse that smelled like a blend of vinegar and oriental spices and our car now has the odor of an Indonesian bazaar on wheels...very nice. Last time I saw the car was when it disappeared into an 18-wheeler's belly in front of my studio in Santa Rosa Beach.

The calibration of the computer that will help us navigate this trip was a bit of a problem and I think my dad and I both felt like morons for not being able to figure it out, but in the end after many trials we managed. Amazingly enough, my Floridian Garmin GPS device works here just like it does in the US; just type in where you want to go and the thing will guide you right to it, even in Singapore. 

Tonight is the formal sign-in dinner here...will need to throw on a suit jacket and be all British. 

Cheers!!