It's the New Year Baby...

Well almost anyway.

So while us three crazy kids are partying like it's 1999 (2 together in Africa and one grumpy orphan back on muddy island), we leave you with a song that has summed up 2011 for us.

And remember: Pain is weakness leaving the body

- so no pussying out of the party on Saturday!

xxx

Merry Christmas!

Tis the season to be jolly and all that! I'm back in the southern hemisphere and enjoying a gin in the sun by the pool - whoever said Christmas should be cold has missed a trick!

Here is a little festive cheer - probably best enjoyed after four gins and an afternoon reminding yourself that Santa does in fact exist, one doesn't want to accidentally tell a three year old that Santa is actually a massive marketing trick embraced by corporations to sell more presents. Hmm...perhaps time to lay off the gin.....

Chez Penny Pitstop

17 days on the road is no joke. So the team is going have to think long and hard about what home comforts need a space in our car and what we'll have to do without. (No hairdryer you say???!!!)

So while we work that out here are a few putfoot homes we wouldn't mind finding under the Christmas tree:

Happy Fursday folks!

Meeeeooooowww! I’d love to see the cougar that drives this beauty..

Business on the outside, party on the inside?

It’s a long weekend for those of us who are in SA, rave safe ya’ll :)

Top Ten Tuesday - Treats for the Road

Must have treats for the hours in the car:

1) Biltong - we can't possibly make it around 7 countries without dried meat
2) Niknaks - orange that comes off on your fingers, salty non-specific deliciousness, each nak different from the last (somewhat akin to snowflakes really) - food AND fun all in one.
3) Soft Gums -awesome name to say and just the right level of sugar without being tooth rottingly, ear-achingly, saliva-inducing sweet
4) Coke - caffine, sugar, bubbles ... what more can you ask for from a beverage really? And given it's alleged hangover curative powers I'm making sure we have at least a few cans in reserve AT ALL TIMES.
5) Fizzers - I still can't really explain what these are to people that have never enjoyed the pink/green/blue flavoured glycerine strips. With hours of sitting ahead I forsee fizzer melting competitions taking on new complexities.
6) Sausage Rolls - enough said
7) Ceres fruit juice boxes - yes perhaps we should have something "healthy",  do these count as one of your five a day I wonder?
8) Simba crisps  - there is sure to be some debate about flavours allowed in the car but with 17 days of car journey to look forward to I think you can all expect a pretty thorough blog post on my favourite crisp flavour and why - it may even be worthy of a sonnet.
9) Fruit? - I know at least one member of the car will insist on this. I would argue however that fruit goes off, processed treats do not. Fruit - 0, processed foods - 1. How about jelly tots? These are fruit flavoured...
10) Cheese sandwiches - perhaps a throwback from a childhood of long car journeys but nothing says adventure like slightly stale white bread and sweaty cheese.

Mammal Monday - it's a thing

I went to an exhibition at the Tate Modern this weekend and one room was devoted to the work of Vito Acconci and his performance pieces. The one that really struck me was entitled Sedbeed and given the nature of this blog it's probably improper for me to detail what the performance contained but in summary I'll tell you it was about an empty room, an artist under floor boards and the creation of human seed - for full details let the great-wise-wiki tell you more.

Now this exhibition happened back in 1972 and it got me thinking about how on earth anyone knew about anything before the advent of the internet. Nowadays you can't move for blogs about this, tweets about that and facebook event invitations, but before all of this how did people really get the word out about anything? And beyond this how did you know what anyone (except the critics and journalists who got to write about it) thought about exhibitions or shows or anything really. It's another question altogether whether we really care about what every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks about a thing but the scope of access we now have is pretty darn incredible. Only problem is, and you knew I couldn't be rejoicing in the interwebs without a little niggle, how on earth can one ever do anything original. Google even the whisper of an idea and you'll find someone's already done it, and probably better than you'd even begun to think of.

With this in mind we introduce (to the greater body of work already in existance) our contribution to #Mammal Monday and given that the Put Foot Rally is this year raising funds for a Rhino initiative we thought we'd start our with these little guys. How can you not support a charity for them!

Thursday Furday

Some fur inspiration from the 2011 Mongol rally..

Hmmmmm... Mongol rally 2013 perhaps?

Wednesday = Speed Hump Day

Mid-week madness has hit and given that I'm having a pretty manic week and Wednesday is Speed Hump Day I thought I'd give us all a little something to laugh about.

For the ladies

For the men-folk

Because it makes me laugh

And last but not least, please don't let us see this...

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Penny Pitstop Pays up

In true Pedal Pusher fashion we left the payment of our entry fee to the last minute.. But we are glad to announce that after some complex international bank transfers - and a weekend spent hard at work digging through the couch for change - the cash money is winging its way over to Put foot headquarters!

No time to rest though, now we have set our collective sights on finding some sponsorship and raising as much money as we possibly can for the cause. And potentially a small amount to buy leopard print fur and a glue gun to pimp out our car with :)

204 days to go

The official charities and causes for the 2012 rally have been announced! The official charity is Bobs for Good - so the Pedal Pushers and fellow Put footers will get to be part of shoe drops as we wend out way from checkpoint to checkpoint

The official cause is Project Rhino - the goal is to raise enough cizash to sponsor 2 Anti Rhino Poaching Teams!

The Put foot gods have set the goal at R300 000 - to do your bit go to the Put foot GivenGain page and click donate - easy as pie!

You are here

Given that my directions seldom involve road names and rely heavily on shared experience (turn left at the pizza shop where we got that really awesome Calzone that one time or it's behind that place that I got those red shoes that give me blisters; and that while the "you're here" tab on a map certainly helps me see where I am it can seldom tell me in which direction I am facing and thus hinders my forward progress somewhat; I've left it to Danger McEwan to plot our route. Besides, she bought a map so it seems only fair that she should become our "great and illustrious navigator".

Never a one to do anything by halves Danger got right down to earning her title and began what one may only call a map appreciation endeavour and this is what she tells me:

While we still await the official checkpoints for 2012 this is what 2011 had in store...

Etosha NP, Namibia (1800km - distance from jhb)
Kasane, Botswana (1200km)
Livingstone, Zambia (120km)
Lake Malawi (1440km)
Inhambane, Moz (1340km)
FINISH! Mlilwane park, Swaziland (850km)

These distances set her "a-trembling" and the great fear that on this whirlwind tour we'd miss some of the best sites (it's a given) has her frenziedly mapping not only a main route but side-routes too and may well see us doing many more than 7000kms as we go off route to see "that famous collection of glass owls...".

She has however reminded me that we should probably figure out how to pay the rest of our deposit before we map ourselves out of the game. Ah Danger, she is wise.

Am I too old for this...?

This weekend, for the first time in a very long time I went to a party and stayed up all night (!) only wending my extremely weary way home at 7am. I was up again at 10am to see a friend run a half marathon (well done Tamarin McG) and only ended up in my wonderful bed 12 hours later having failed somehow to squeeze in a much deserved afternoon nap and chosen to do washing instead (for shame). Today I pay for my "rockstar lifestyle", feeling like I've been run over (repeatedly). I can't remember the last time I felt this knackered and I'm beginning to wonder what's happened to my stamina - I'm sure three hours of sleep was more than enough when I was 18, and I've definitely stayed up till dawn at many parties before this - but it seems those days are behind me.

This all begs the question - how am I going to cope 14 hour days driving; followed by checkpoint parties and tent sleeping? Anyone got any good car games to keep my mind occupied and car music options to keep us on good form? And of course energy drink recommendations (only of the legal kind please, I have enough problems without that) are most welcome. In fact, if anyone can get hold of any powerthirst (see below), let me know. And if you don't know of powerthirst you must watch all their videos on youtube, this is my favourite but they are all pretty crazy, and awesome.

 

Gratutious amounts of energy, sounds right up my street...

And then there was social media

There's all manner of ways to connect with the world around us these days and as a facebook user for several years now I've finally graduated to having not just a Facebook profile but also a Facebook page and you should totally like it (insert subliminal messaging here). I did, shamefully or not, have to read a blog to set up this page but in doing that found this awesome article on "if Facebook was a country" which I couldn't resist sharing with everyone.

In my excitement at my social media savvy (and what might also be callled a rush of blood to head) I also set up a twitter account and you should  totally follow us @Pennyputsfoot (insert more subliminal messaging here). I didn't have to read any blogs to get that set up but I did then waste a good hour watching the tweets scroll by me and realised the wicked web that is social media and it's time-draining potential (almost worse than that day I spent youtubing kittens). I can only hope that @andrew_girvan, my very own social media guru, has trained me well.

In other news, I still don't know where the carburettor is (I had to google how to spell carburettor for goodness sake) and someone told me cars also have altenators (apparently not something that helps you switch between parallel worlds). Bother.

If you weren't before, you will be now...

Many of you will have read the start of this blog and wondered what sort of crazy fools (and not in the good, Mr T sort of way) we are. Why on earth would we try and tackle 7 000kms in 17 days? Who in their right minds and so on and so forth...? And indeed even we - when the initial excitement had worn off and the blonde one had found a map and used her big science brain to actually start calculating distances and warned me that we might be laughing now (we laugh in the face of danger and enormous distances don't you know) - even we started to wonder if we hadn't actually gotten ourselves into something pretty massive...and we all took a deep breath and questioned if it was in fact madness...

But then we saw this video:

Put Foot Rally 2011 from D4 Productions on Vimeo.

and while the distances are staggering (did he say 14 hours...on day one....am I even awake for that many hours in a day....?), and the time is pretty tight, this video reminded me why we would brave something of this proportion. Did you see the views? Did you see the parties? Did you see the ridiculous costumes? Did you see how much fun everyone was having (except for when a bit of you dies at the end because you're so sad it's over...but even that doesn't sound all bad)?

We're back to being super duper excited. And admit it, you're a tiny bit jealous now aren't you...?

Ode to Poundland

It may seem odd, in a blog about going around Africa, to talk about that great British instituton Poundland but bear with me, all will become clear.

For the uninititated Poundland is a shop which sells everything from toothpaste to baked beans, toffikee and skittles to hammers and nails all alongside cleaning products, crayons and (currently) Christmas decorations and Halloween costumes.  Sounds like a supermarket I hear you mutter and indeed it is but for one crucial detail, everything is ONE POUND (and I don't think you can get a store card but I'm definitely going to look into it...).  It's a vertiable treasure trove of wonderful buys you could do without but can't resist because they are only ONE POUND! And in amongst these delights I discovered a tool kit for repairing punctures. I didn't even know you could repair punctures. I thought once punctured immediately forgotten. Apparently not.

So in my ehtusiasm to "be prepared" I bought this miracle product and only once I got home did I realise that it was for bicycles. Bollocks. Firstly I don't own a bike and can't really ride a bike but most importantly I don't plan to take on 7 countries in Southern Africa on the back of a bike. Where would I put the gin? And what about the elements? And I've heard of chafe and I certainly don't plan to carry tub loads of vaseline with me.

But this led me to thinking of a talk I went to a few years back in Cape Town, from Riaan Manser who did actually DO Africa on a bike - he went all round the edge of the continent - the first to circumevent Africa on a bike in fact - check these clips out.  If he's done that, then other people must have braved Africa (and its notorious elements) on two-wheel, leg powered devices. And what do you know all manner of people have crossed the continent on a bicycle alone - Helen Llyod has a pretty cool story with awesome photos as does Peter Gostelow . Indeed, their 25,000kms makes me feel alot more relaxed about our adventure and has me wondering if perhaps 2012 shouldn't be just a little taster test and 2013 should be the year of the bicycle. I can learn to ride a bicycle in a year and a bit right..right?

Besides, I don't think that Poundland accepts returns so I better find a reason to get bike riding (and owning) so I can use my puncture repair kit. Boris bikes here I come and maybe a little holiday to Paris too, seems as good a way as any to practise...

We're a-go-go

Hooray! Our deposit has been accepted, we've signed the paperwork and we're ready to get this show on the road.

From 20 June - 6 July next year we'll be out on the open roads of Southern Africa - trying to make it from check point to check point without any real alarm or life-threatening drama. I'm hoping our feminie wiles will get us out of most of our trouble but I do think I should probably learn something about mechanics in the next few months, just in case. In fact, I do solemnly swear that before June next year I shall learn how to fix a broken carborator (I can't even spell it...let alone find it in a car) - using only a stocking, sand and chewing gum. Are there evening Mechanics courses? And will this be like that episode of Frasier...?

Before that though I best tell my boss I need 3 weeks off, and my mum that I plan to engage in something where disclaimer # 1 reads:
I understand that this is not an organised holiday or safari tour. I, and my Crew, acknowledge that this is an unassisted African adventure and by its very nature, very dangerous. I may be injured, wounded, bitten or even killed. I agree that I am responsible for myself and will have no claim against the organisers should anything bad happen to me.

Hmm...I guess if I'm about to embark on a 17 day adventure across 7 countries in Africa I should probably be able to face my boss, and my mum...wish me luck!

Blazing trails and busting myths

Stumbled upon this interesting article about the social entrepreneurship and charitable aspects of the Put Foot Rally. The 2011 rally raised funds for Bobs for Good Foundation and the crews raised over R150 000 to put shoes on the feet of children in need. Amazing. Check out some of the pics of the rally shoe drops in the Bobs for Good rally round up.

Here's Hoping

For three months we've been talking about it, thinking about it and finally, it's within our grasp. Entries to the Put Foot Rally 2012 opened on 1 September and with her usual enthusiasm and dedication, Lyn had our names in the moment bookings were allowed. She is the one that first sighted this adventure online and so it's only right that she should be at the helm of our "terrible trio" leading us - some might call astray- on what could turn out to be some of the most intense, chaotic, exciting and hilarious 17 days of our lives to date.

Indeed, 7 countries in 17 days is a feat wherever you are but in Africa it's something quite special. We're all born and bred in Southern Africa so we don't go into this with our eyes closed.  We know that the dirt roads, insects, foreign languages, camping and thousands of kilometres aren't going to be easy but we also know that epic adventures are not for the faint of heart and we're anything but that. Africa is in our blood after all!

We're ready to prove that three girls, with tenuous (at best) knowledge of motor vehicles can take on the challenge and come out the other side more tanned, better-traveled and with a story or two to tell.

Now all we need is for our application to be accepted. Here's hoping...