We got our numbers! Baby beast got No. 19, Pajero No. 117. The donations are in Budapest, waiting to be loaded into the donation truck.

It is pity I don’t get points for the first challenge of the rally which was going to Budapest today. It has been snowing since yesterday evening, around 50cm until now, enough to stop all the traffic on the highway.

Now I am on the way back to Vienna, stuck in a huge traffic jam. Probably caused by trucks without snow tires 🙁

… they might be explosive! 
I was picking up three boxes full of paper notebooks which were donated by Michal’s company from an office in central Vienna today. Each of them weighed some 15kg so I left two in front of the building on the street and carried the 3rd one to my car, which was parked around the corner.
When I came back to pick up the second box, a guy from the police was warily inspecting the boxes (from a safe distance), obviously suspecting that they could be bombs  🙂
I had to tear open one of the boxes to convince him that it was just paper.
Dear African Hungarian Union (the organization sponsoring the truck which is taking our donations to Africa), I’m sorry about that, I had to rip the box to avoid a major police operation.  

Born on a lazy Sunday morning, the idea to get involved with and write about Budapest-Bamako: The Great African Run was an impulsive, spontaneous, wild idea that has become real… very real.
I am a 35 year old political operative originally from Southern California who seeks out and thrives on unstable adventure for the purpose of philanthropy, creative non-fiction writing assignments and the thrill of not knowing if “B” can be reached from “A.”
Previous adventures include an eight-week jaunt though South Africa and Swaziland studying wildlife management, sustainable farming, anti-poaching and ecology with Ecolife Expeditions, an organization affiliated with The University of Pretoria in South Africa.
In 2011, I purchased a 1985 VW Westfalia in Costa Rica and navigated “The Pineapple” through seven countries en route to Portland, Oregon, which produced a blog of questionable value. 
A special “thank you” to Andrew Szabo, the Budapest-Bamako founder who casually motivated me to join the adventure over coffee in Manhattan Beach, CA.