There have been a few questions on the origin of our team's name, Fiestavus. The clever will quickly note that it is simply a play on the famous Seinfeld piece called Festivus. If the story ended there, well it would be admittedly lame. However the roots of the name lay deep in Kazakhstan.
At the start of the trip, the team in the Ford Fiesta was known as "Mrs. Tigglywinks" and the Seat Marbella was "Lil' Larry". To this day those names still bring a smile to my face.
I am not too sure who coined the name or when exactly it was branded. I am fairly confident it was somewhere in Kazakhstan when things were not going so swimmingly. The name came to represent both our ability and our car's ability to withstand whatever hardships the desert could throw at us and make the best of them. The longer the trip went on the stronger the name became.
There were some core ideals attached to the Fiestavus during the rally and we intend to bring these to the reincarnation this summer. The most important of these ideals are:
1. Carry something completely useless in the car that will most likely hit you in the head a few times.
To the left you will see the fine mannequin leg that we carried all the way to Mongolia and then home to VT. We found it in a parking garage in Prague and decided it would make a fine addition to our crew. Some in our team were not as enthused with it as I was. My favorite part was telling border guards that it was a "car paddle" when they would inevitably ask.
When we finally made it to Mongolia, the leg was a badge of idiotic accomplishment and we hung it proudly at Dave's Place (the rally watering hole in Ulan Bator). At some point during the revelry, the rest of the teams started signing our sacred leg and soon we had a priceless piece of useless luggage.
We are still debating whether the leg should once again be our useless object or if a new piece should be inaugurated. Suggestions are welcomed.
2. Spread the word of wiffle in all the lands you might visit.
The Fiestavus team takes wiffle ball extremely serious. Well as serious as one can take playing a child's game at 30+ years of age. During the rally, we marked a strike zone on the hood of the Fiestauvs and would throw some plastic whenever we were not drinking coffee or fixing cars. Many a young Kazak and Mongol was enlightened to the greatest game in the universe. I remember one little Russian punk taking my slider deep twice in Astrakhan. I am sure he still brags to his friends about that day.
This summer there will ALWAYS be a wiffle bat and 30-40 wiffle balls in the Fiestavus. Some may claim that this will satisfy ideal 1. They are unbelievably wrong, don't listen. I expect to play wiffle ball across this great land. I am sure that little Russian won't be the last one to take me deep while road tripping. So if you see us on the road and are so inclined, ask for a few pitches. Be aware my wiffle name is "Hot Rod" after the greatest pitcher of all time, Rod Beck. Don't even try to argue that point, it is indisputable.
3. Whenever there are important decisions to be made, ignore them temporarily and have a cup of coffee from Vermont.
The final core ideal and potentially the most important one revolves around drinking a lot of coffee. Most of the uninformed are going to assume I refer to Green Mtn Coffee and while they make a fine brew, we keep it local.
On the rally, we had a gang of Awake coffee that would be brewed cowboy style whenever there was something pressing to accomplish. Since returning from the roads of Kazakland, we have matured to a new coffee roast. Vermont Coffee Company is now the fuel of Fiestavus.
