At the start of the Mongol Rally, you rumble through Western Europe in an all out push to cross the former Iron Curtain as quickly as possible. You whirl past all the places your mother told you to visit. It is with a complete disregard for classic photo opportunities and potentially tacky souvenirs. And your reward, the goal you seek, well it materializes as you approach the Ukraine border from Poland. The crazy folks that opt to spend their summer sweating in sub one liter cars through a bunch of countries ending in Stan are not on the road to experience the mundane and safe sights of Western Europe. No they come to see the very real and sometimes frightening grit of the former Soviet Union.

I distinctly remember rolling up on the border. We had spent the previous day driving through the Czech Republic and the better part of Poland. The landscape and architecture had taken a dramatic turn but it still seem somewhat false. There is nothing false about the Ukraine border. A line of dilapidated vehicles carrying appliances or insulation lined up far from the actual crossing. Fires smoldered along the roadside as Ukrainians sporting tank tops started the day with a tall beer. It put me on edge, it was everything I came for. Original rally post here.

As we waited in the endless line, we curiously observed the locals pushing their cars along as the line moved. We quickly adopted this practice and subsequently pushed our little Fiesta over every border from the Ukraine to Mongolia. Why waste the petrol, you never know when you will find the next tin shack selling precious fuel.

This is the Ukraine MPG post.

Originally posted on LowBall Wiffle by my alter ego Hot Rod Beck

I sat fixated to the old color television, gripped by the storyline that years later would seem cliche and tired. I was well into my formative little league years, a youngster fully entrenched in the grassroots of America's pasttime. As Roy Hobbs limped to the plate, blood showing through his jersey, I scooted to the edge of the couch, anticipating the storied ending to come. Chills went up my spine and my eyes watered as the destined home run inexplicably set off a series of lighting explosions. I was hooked.