Our last day in Canada

We’re at the hotel airport now looking out over South Vancouver and the third runway. Grandma Kinahan loves to tell the story of how her moms family farm sat where the eastern section of the third runway is now. They buried horseshoes in the gravel there before leaving to imbue good luck to the track. Hopefully we can share in that during our trip. In just over 24 hours we’ll take off across that runway headed to Beijing. I’m sure we will both be too excited, nervous and worried to really get any decent rest tonight.

Tomorrow we have a last minute interview scheduled with Guy Durant of global news at the east end of the airport where the world statue is. We’re amazed at the interest in our story. So far we’ve been published in the Vancouver Sun, Kelowna Now and coming up in the Kelowna Courier courtesy of our friend and fellow Shakespearean actor, scribe Don Plant.

We’ve worked out a few of the final details today, locating some reflective vests and tools. Even with all the preparation I’m sure we’ve forgotten something. Our hotel in Beijing is situated near a department store, where according to Chris Beresford, you can find just about anything you need. In fact, the last several months have been a challenge to decide what exactly we need to bring with us as essentials and what we should trust we will be able to find when we arrive.

This event will be the culmination of five years of thinking, planning, work on the vehicle, decision-making, and testing. I hope the metaphor of two men, father and son facing a challenging mission to pilot an old car 14,000 km over a distance equal to half the land circumference of the world, will resonate with our readers and stimulate some of you too embark on similar family based adventures of your own.

Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t and check the tracking section of the blog to see our location. Please feel free to respond on our website with comments and questions. The first of many questions we got today from Dr. Bill Neilson: “What is the best kind of camel to tow an Austin Cambridge across the Gobi desert?”

I hope we never find out, Bill!