Rally Chaser

Quick shout out to Aer Lingus *again*. Power ports at every
seat on this A330. And not one of those 12v ones either, I've
got A/C. Perhaps I won't sleep on this flight after all...
I'm such a sucker for a window seat. A *Recaro* window seat!
The flight is maybe 20%
full. I've got a window with a vacant seat next to me, but
the center rows of four seats had no people in them. I grabbed
one thinking I'd sleep but I just can't bear to be away from
the windows on planes. I love the view. As I type I have
the loveliest view of Pyramid Lake, Black Rock, and Winnemucca
piggelties it's wiggly up ahead of us.

Actually I have kind of a lot to do. I have had a lot to do for
weeks now, with this project, watching it snowball. One really
big awesome snowball. Logistics are something I enjoy. And gear.
The pack I have taken with me is the fourth I bought; the rest
have been returned. Each little piece in its place. Then I get
the van in Budapest and I'll simply move into it. My mom will be
pleased that I have the little purple bag she gave me for Xmas
in the eat next to me as well as all the übergear. The maps
of Africa won't be too handy, though, but it was the nicest thought.

When this goes onto the site I will already have landed in Dublin.
I have a 24 hour layover, which is just perfect for visiting an
old housemate Brian Keegan and his wife Helen. She's Rossa's
cousin, and I should be meeting more of their family there.

The Plans on the Ground

Budapest I reckon to be 36 hours away. I'm in the same hotel
with the Rally Pan Am guys at the start and finish. The van is
to be scrutineered (but really, wouldn't we just chase the root word
back down and call it 'scrutinized' in that tense?) as a support
vehicle. In case you're new to this sort of thing, Rally Pan Am
is a race team. They were set to do the 2008 Lisbon-Dakar in
January - they were in Lisbon - and the event was canceled until
further notice due to, we're told, increasing violence against tourists
in Mauritania. Like the day before the event. Teams were
there, most of everyone's budget was long ago spent on fielding the
team and getting there. Same with spectators and the press. I
had to pull out of the trip at the last minute, otherwise I'd have
been in it a ton of cash that wouldn't have come back.

This shorter make-up event is the kickoff of a Dakar series.
This is the event I'll be following.

Who the hell is Shawna, anyway?

The Canadian Film Girl is hard to pin down. We've only
met this last month, and only on the phone and email, her at the
head of nearly a year and a half of prep
for her film project, once aborted, then merely postponed, back in
January. Her story is captivatingly frantic. As such, I'm not exactly
sure I even fully understand it. In short though, she got more or less
the same wild hair that I did, about a year earlier. She's met a lot
of fascinating people from the North American rally-raid scene.
All five of them. Just kidding, LOL, etc. I'll have to check my
paperwork but there may be only five North American teams racing in
all three classes at this event. Likely in only two since the trucks
raced on the Dakar aren't all that popular with the North American.
I don't even think you can get the stuff they race (the likes of Kamaz,
Tatra, and DAF.) in North America, though Unimogs would be the exception.
But they're rare back home. Anyway. Shawna turned up on everyone's
radar and is having a BLAST. I jumped on as a production assistant
for things I can help with and one of her camera people, Miro, is
rolling in the van with me. His task is to shoot the starts of each stage, so expect
plenty . Then we're rolling along the route, or to spectator spots, to shoot more.

There are more players - many more. I'll get y'all brought up to speed on them
as soon as I can. Right now, I'm about to pass out. I like it.