To look at pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57599610@N02/page01/

GPS FOLLOWING SYSTEM LINK:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0IEeg9h5Rjq6FOqAezXhXycZYzde0ce32

Team King Tuks Chariot is from Virginia USA. Brother Team is "To Tuk or Not to Tuk", for MORE FUN PIC"S and video's : http://www.totuktuk.com/

Road Conditions (Video)

My teammates sleep and I keep you informed or laughing,,,, no rest for the wicked.  This is a hightlight of India's road conditions, for all of those who dont know VDOT, Virginia Department of Transportation.......Enjoy.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s7HvHZ0N-Q

Skip

Naw man we're good.....

Really we're good.  I dont know where to start or how long I have b/c of internet connection.  But here goes nothing....... 

India,,,,,,,,,, oh how I love you let me count the ways.  Better yet India, why dont we discuss what I do for you, I ride 14 hours in a Rickshaw from Ahmenbad to Vapi.  We were going to stop about half way at a town named Bharuch but we determined that it was less appealing than we thought.  It appeared to be a tough town to way the least. We decided to  move on around sunset & we continued on our way for the next 5-6 hours searching for Vapi, the next logical stop. We kept thinking it was closer than it was. Our muffler was broken and getting louder by the minute, our carborator kept sucking air instead of gas which kept us at 35k until we were able to find a 14 yr old mechcanic to fix it.  India can be very high maintenance, yet I find myself falling in love with it more every day.  India is  intriquing, mystical, raw and yet rare all wrapped into one. India I look forward to seeing you in the morning. 

Leaving Jaisalmer....to start Race tomorrow

      Jaisalmer is an amazing place.  TD stumbled across this guy name Raju who is a magician.  He has completly taken care of what we need.  He can get you anything you want anytime of day.  He can get you a sound system for a Rick that plays iPod (which we have) or he can take you into the Fort/city and get you a pair of Nikes, custom Rick rims (which again, we have) or book you a hotel 2 cities from here.  Its crazy,, but he's cool.  We arrived in Jaisalmer from Delhi after a 18 hour train ride,( w/ 2 wilds Brit's with a propensity for Gin, who are also in the Rickshaw Run.  We toured the Palace/Fort on the Hill here in the Golden City of Jaisalmer.  Scott, Jay and I took a camel ride in the desert, about 30 K's from Pakistan, to see the dunes at sunset, but we didnt wait for sunset. Today we prepared the Rickshaw for the Run. This entailed, checking oil, connections, got more spark plugs, clutch plate, and fuel & tanks.  We Practiced driving the Rick.  TD rock n rolls on the thing, it reminds him of being a kid. To me it feels like we are driving in a Video game.  The driving over here is interesting to say the least.  Im trying to upload more videos, but the internet in the motel is SOOO SLOWWWWW. We upload to youtube to host vids and then paste  the link. We have a dinner party tonite at hotel, then kick off party for new years, and we pick up ricks at 10 a.m. and depart at noon.  I think we are going to head northwest and take a shortcut to Pakistan and loop around to catch a fast ferry to Mumbai that leaves a Southern Pakistan Port,,,,,,,,,, just kidding, we head SOUTH to where the winds take us.  

 - Skip "Man, This Rickshaw is small" Carleton

Jaislamer

We had an awesome two days here in jaislamer India. It already feels like we have been here for a month. We have not stopped since we left Richmond in the snow. The people are amazing. We met our tuk tuk yesterday and test-drove them. It brought me back to my sears moped I had at 14 years old. We got it tricked out with a sound system and loud horn which is essential for travel here. The only rules of driving is there are no rules. Anything goes. Yesterday I rode on the back of a motorcycle. I'm a biker and I have to say it was the most terrifying ride of my life and I've done some stupid things on two wheels but this was the most insane. Almost hit 3 cows, 3pigs, 2people, 4cars and oh yea 3dogs, one of which took after us. Happy we got the rabies shots. The only thing I forgot to do was use my flip camera to record it. Scott, jay, and skip are riding camels right now and I went shopping. My friend Jim Rogers told me if there was only one country you could visit it should be India. He was right. Tonight we meet the rest of the teams and tomorrow night is the blow-out before we start. We will make our first stop Barmer Iindia. Google it. skip has some video,s to put up. We have tons of pictures and Scott will let you know where to go on the net to see them. Well blog tomorrow. By the way, best food ever. T

Delhi to Jaislamer

we meet a tour guide in delhi this afternoon, he drove us around New and Old Delhi today.  We start off w/ a car tour around delhi, and went to a Sikh Temple, where we walked around the temple( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esxyXusSCH4 ) and outside, barefoot.  Probably not the best thing to do on your second day in India. They cook 3 meals a day for everybody and anybody.  We walked all around the compound, temple and Kitchen in barefeet.

In Delhi......

  13 hours to Doha, Qatar, a 3 hour lay over and a 4 hour flight to Delhi. We've arriced in delhi under good circumstances, customs was fine, baggage pick was smooth.  we got in @ 3:30 a.m Delhi time.  There are lots of Guns being displayed at the Delhi Airport, which our driver insured us was for "our projection".  I almost got hit in the head w/ an AK-47 walking out the door as a gaurd was unshouldering his weapon, but in a calm manner, so no worries,   Upon our arrive at the Hotel, we checked in and got to our room @ 5 a.m.  We hit the gym and have decided to stay awake thru the day and catch up on sleep tonite on our 17 hour train ride to Jaslaimer.  After our workout this morning from 5:30 - 7:30 a.m. TD & I tried to plug in all of our converters to charger all the electronics. And thats when the trouble started.  I , Skip Carleton, was plugging in stuff and immediately blew the fuse to our room and a big spark occurred as well.   And yes, I blew the fuse to our hotel room, but managed not to burn the hotel down.  Flashlights got pulled out of the "MacGyer Bag".  A qucik call to the front desk and 1 engineer later, (who couldn't understand what we were saying & we didnt understand him either), but darkness and pointing at the electrical stocket is apparently an International sign for "I almost burned down the hotel, please help". He made the needed adjustments, we laughed together, or he laughed at us, and all is good. It's almost 11 a.m. here and my computer says it's 12:19 a.m. in the US. First day in India, I'd say things are going fairly well so far.......more black coffee please!

Flights.......

We finally started our journey yesterday in DC and just arrived in Qatar.  The Business Class accomadations in the Virgin Atlantic lounge were very nice.  The flight over from Dulles to Qatar went well, 14 hours on a plane wasn't as bad as I thought. We had some movies, great food and a few hours of sleep., I slept for 9 hours which was aparently unacceptable to my team mates.  I cant decide if they are jealous or just making fun of me for sleeping.  I feel like i just timed it correctly.  We have a 3 hour lay over here in Qatar and are on to Delhi, India.  There are reports of some road closures, and railroad delays in Northern India.  We are taking a train from Delhi to Jaislamer, to start the race.  There appears to be some type of political unrest in in Northwest India, b/c the local people want some representation in the Senate or political body in India.  Either way, there are some delays going on.  No worries, we just adapt and go w/ the flow.   -Skip

GPS FOLLOWING SYSTEM

The link below will, or should, give  you an up to date fix on exactly where we are.  Technology is wonderful. Lets see if it works.  Now we have to get out in the snow.  Just lovely. 

Here is a website you can hopefully track our progress or lack there of, on the Rickshaw Run:

BLOCK IT AND PASTE TO YOUR ADDRESS BAR THEN BOOKMARK IT.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0IEeg9h5Rjq6FOqAezXhXycZYzde0ce32

Ready To Roll

We have been frantic getting the last few things for the trip.  It's time to just do it. Preying the major

snow storm misses us in Va.  We fly out of Wash. D. C. Catch Ya'll in Jaislamer or the train from Dehli.

Tom

Malaria Pills????.................yeah, might need those.

In the rush to get things finished up & finalized, I felt that I was forgetting something very important.  And then I realized I hadn't filled my Malaria priscription.............I just dropped it off.  Those are probably an important thing to have.  We only leave in 5 days.............

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