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Well, I believe this entry will be rather short, but then again I tend to get rather long-winded when I begin writing about life here. We left San Sebastian on Sunday to head down to Barcelona to do our final preparations for this wonderful trip. We said our see-you-laters to our wonderful companion Tasman, who wanted to spend a few more days on the beaches in San Seb before heading off to Switzerland to meet his sister for a music festival. It was a great run with that crazy Aussie, and hopefully we´ll see him again before all of this is said and done. The trip down from San Sebastian was rather long, ten hours I believe. Andrew started off for the first hour or so, but the road started making him sleepy, so I took over to slam out the rest of it. He was able to stay awake to keep me company, so at least we were being as safe as possible. We decided to go straight through the Pyranees instead of going around on the main motorway which doubles as a tollroad. The drive was absolutely spectacular, and I don´t think either of us regret the decision in any way.

We got stuck in traffic in Barcelona as we rolled into town that night, and I think it was because the Wailers were playing in Mataro. There was also a big carnival going on in one small town. By the time we made it out of all the traffic, it was too late for us to check into our campsite, so we made due with parking the car near the beach, and then walking far away from all the loud music coming from the beach bars. We laid down in the shadow of the rocks so that we would be less noticable to passers-by, and stuck it out for the night. I froze. A mist set in during the night and made everything damp, and I didn´t have my sleepingbag with me. We were also accosted by ants most of the night. I woke up face-down to see them running everywhere, and when I told Andrew about the ants he exclaimed, "Good! I thought I was going crazy last night imagining bugs running all over me!" It was a strange feeling for sure. We got up and walked back down the beach to our car to a lot of strange stares from all the old people who apparently frequent the beach starting before 9.

We made it to our campsite and set up shop and have been spending the last 5 days just north of Barcelona in El Masnou. We tried to get our suspension issues taken care of, but nobody could see us in enough time to promise that the car would be ready by tomorrow. Alas, we´ll just try not to lose a wheel on the way to the Czech Republic. We did get a spare key made, but even that was a hastle of getting keys cut and not having the electronic codes for the keys and yadda yadda yadda. All of this stuff is very difficult when you don´t speak Spanish very well, but I managed alright. We spent a couple days just walking around the city and seeing the beautiful sites. La Sagrada Familia is a stunning sight to see, and I´m certainly glad we were able to have a look. Other than that we´ve been taking it easy on the beach and at camp in anticipation of the big day tomorrow.

At 1030 everybody meets near the big statue of Columbus in Port Vell, and the other 99 teams have a little party before we leave with music and food and a lot of staring at the ridiculous vehicles that will be accompanying us to Mongolia this year. We are one of 3 US teams leaving from Barcelona, and with a lovely little megaphone we picked up from Ash, we will proudly be blasting "Born In the USA" as we rock up to the starting point. Special thanks go out to The Boss. At 12 the festivities start, and then at 2 we set out on the long road to Klenova Castle for Czechout! Basically a massive party for all the rally-goers with free food and Hendrick´s Gin providing "enough gin and tonic to cure the world of malaria." There are bands from all over the world coming out, and it´s our opportunity to meet the other teams to find out who will be caravaning with us as we cross the more remote areas of our journey. Thanks to all who are keeping up with us, and I will have to apologize now because updates will surely be less frequent. We have no idea where the next few weeks will take us, and that´s what makes it all so exciting. So stay tuned, and be well.

---Team Flatlanders---