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Success! Everybody woke up early, and got their things packed up! Joe and Tim headed off really early in the morning, heading toward the next town to repair their tires. Since they could only go about 10 mph on their leaking tires, and had to fill one up every twenty minutes or so, they figured we would catch up before long. This was a risky assumption for the group we were with. The Germans needed to reattach the skid plate underneath their car, and one of the welds had snapped. Andrew and I sat down in the Skoda, waiting for them to finish, and we both eventually fell asleep. By the time we were woken up to leave, over two hours had passed. So much for everybody getting up early.

We drove on until we reached the next town, but by the time we reached it, we were alone. We had decided to take a side road to avoid the washboard, but about 5 minutes down the road, our path suddenly collapsed into a ditch. We were forced to turn around, which included Andrew and I pushing the car out of the sand. We figured everybody was way ahead of us, but as it turned out, they had turned around when they didn't see us. While we were on the lower road coming out, they passed us going backward. At the town we got a mobile signal, and we finally figured out what happened. There were no tire shops at the town, so we assumed Joe and Tim had gone on.

When we arrived at the next town, there was some sort of demonstration going on in a small parade ground. We would have loved to see it, but with all the time we had wasted thus far, we all knew we had to go on. The Spaniards looked for a tire shop in this town, but the people said there wasn't one. This really made us worry about Joe and Tim, who had obviously continued down the road on their bad tires. We drove the rest of the day without running into them, wondering how we hadn't caught up with them on their bad tires. We were making excellent time, and thought that we would actually make it into Altai that night. Then 2drew had his first mechanical problem. While driving over the top of a shrub, he managed to catch his sump-guard and rip it off. While we were stopped we saw some guys in a landrover that had blown both of their rear shocks, and were driving as carefully as possible. Every bump they hit bounced on the axle, and they knew the car wouldn't take it for long. They told us that they had seen Joe and Tim earlier that day, and that they had managed to get their tires fixed in one of the towns.

We're not sure which town they did this, but good news for them. We eventually got the sump-guard back on the Skoda, despite 2drew's passive aggressive remarks, and continued toward Altai. We were fighting sunset, but we still thought we could make it into the city before dark. Then somebody's tire blew. We quickly changed it over, then continued on the path toward the city. We made it about 100 yards down the road when somebody's roof rack started to fall off. An hour ticked by, and the sun was quickly setting. The roads are risky enough to drive on in broad daylight, so attempting them at night was out of the question. We found ourselves a small river valley and set up camp for the night. We had barely covered any distance, and we had lost Joe and Tim. We did, however, have another brilliant sky hanging above our heads that night. http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... The next morning we woke everybody up early, then told them that we were going to go into town immediately, take care of getting groceries, and catch Joe and Tim before they left town. It was frustrating leaving because Juan and Nuria had to talk in their tent for 45 minutes before they got up. Andrew and I grew up camping with boy scouts where you have everything packed, breakfast cooked and eaten, and everybody on the road in 45 minutes. It took these people hours to get ready, and only Karsten seemed to be annoyed with these habits. Perhaps it was the impatience of youth on our part, as our traveling companions are all in their thirties.

We made it to the town and drove around searching for Joe and Tim. Although Altai is one of the largest cities in Mongolia, searching through the whole thing does not take long. We made it to a hotel and saw some ralliers if they had seen the Rubik's Cube, and we were told that they had left about an hour before we got there. We were devastated. We had been with these guys for weeks, and they finally left us. I don't blame them; it was rather frustrating to constantly be waiting on people, but at the same time I felt obligated to stay with them because of all the help and time they gave us. There would be other times when somebody would try to separate, but it I generally felt that I was the only one with whom it did not sit well. Juan was definitely offended by Joe just taking off, for the reasons stated above, but Andrew and I knew that Joe was impatient. That's why we tried to catch him before he left.

Eventually the others made it to Altai, but then they had to do the repairs on their cars. The cars were working fine, but Juan always wanted every tiny thing to work properly, even if it wasn't a vital part of car. We had finished all of our tasks by the time they entered the city, so we found ourselves waiting on our friends once again. We went to the little marketplace and ate some awful goat dumplings with an incredibly gamey flavor. These were by far the worst we had eaten so far, and my stomach hurt for most of the day. After a couple hours, everybody was finally ready to depart again, so we headed down the road.

Once again we had wasted over half a day, and we had not covered much ground. On top of that, Andrew and I had no spent several days in a car without once touching the wheel, and we were getting restless and tired of our driver. That's when we decided to start messing with 2drew. We actually spent the next several hours trying to get under his skin because we were tired of the uncalled-for negativity. The least we could do was give him a reason to get upset. We also strapped belts to the doors of the car, and Andrew went for a ride on the hood. Soon it was getting late, and the Germans' entire roof rack came flying off their car. We wouldn't be going any further that day.

The next morning we came across a small village full of children. They all lined up at the cars, hands outstretched, looking for gifts. We had nothing in our car, save the ratty barbie we had found on the side of the road, but we enjoyed watching the kids clamor for the doll. The Germans had a lot of sweets, and the Spaniards had inflatable beach balls and pens that doubled as bubble blowers. We got the roof racks bolted onto the roofs and tires repaired at the only building in the village, then had a delicious brunch. We managed to make it away from the village by 10, and it looked like a promising day of travel for us, but then we saw a broken down car in the middle of the road. http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... While we generally stop to help anybody in need, this car was significant because it was the "sister ship" of Juan and Nuria. They had some disagreements and had decided to split up at one point, but promised to help if they ever saw them stranded. After checking everything with the car, as well as trying to reset the fuel pump, they still couldn't get the car to start. There was really nothing we could do at this point, but Juan and Nuria felt too guilty to just say "see you later", while their former teammates waited for the Germans in a firetruck. 2drew managed to do the hard work of asking if they would be offended if we left, seeing as there was nothing more to do, and they said it was fine. We told our friends that it was fine to leave, but they still lingered, so 2drew just told us to get in the car and drive off.

We didn't have much choice, but this was not the way I wanted to depart from our friends. 2drew drove really slowly, expecting them to be along any minute, but they weren't. Then he just decided that this was our chance to leave. We drove for a bit, but then the engine started overheating (karma?). The reason was because there was such a strong back wind, and we were driving so slow, the intake wasn't bringing in enough air. 2drew insisted it was because of the skull on the front preventing air getting in (despite the massive eye sockets). Andrew tried to explain that it couldn't possibly be the reason, but the response was, "well it's an effing factor, and it's coming off!" Such is what happens when things aren't 2drew's idea... When the car was still overheating a bit later, Andrew said, "wow, we're still overheating. It must be because the horse skull is still on the roof." Oh passive aggression, how I love you so.

We eventually solved the heating problem by driving faster and blowing the heaters through the vent. After awhile we got to a massive river that was flowing faster than any we had seen to that point. A local told me that further down the river was less than knee-height, so we trekked down stream to see what we could find. An Irishman named Martin and I waded into the river to try and find the best route across. We finally found a spot that didn't have a muddy bottom, and that didn't come up to high. We then stood in the river and directed the flow of traffic across, for the path was rather narrow. When it was 2drew's turn to go, he once again started too fast. I was frantically waving my arms for him to slow down, but sure enough, the wave came over the top of the hood, and this time the car stalled mid-river. We then had to push the car the rest of the way across the river.

When we opened the hood, this time the air filter was completely soaked. It looked like this might be the end of the Skoda, but we we reached up into the air intake, the pipe was dry. We luckily had an extra air filter, but the engine still wouldn't start. We figured the spark plugs were wet, so we pushed the car around to face the sun, then sprayed copious amounts of WD-40 into them. While we waited for the plugs to dry, I headed back out into the river to direct the rest of the cars across. Eventually Juan, Nuria, Karsten, and Robert all showed up, as there was about an 8 person bottleneck by the time we found the best spot to cross. I apologized for the way we had left earlier, then helped direct their cars across as well. By the time they had both made it, we had just managed to get the car the turn over. I feel I should mention that the only person that stalled the car out of ten crossing cars was our fearless driver who refused to let us take the wheel.

After this we hit large stretches of sandy roads that our broken CV boots certainly loved. There were multiple paths to choose from, and we chose one of our own. Soon though, we had lost everybody, so we ended up cutting across the scrub desert to find the parallel road. We had lost our companions again, and we were afraid that they were making a point in trying to lose us after we had ditched them that day. We were trucking along when 2drew got his first flat tire. This wouldn't have been so much of an issue had the trunk door not quit working the day before, so now we had to pull all of our stuff out of the car over the backseat to reach our spare. We saw the Spaniards and Germans on the parallel road, and 2drew was screaming at them to keep going, and that it was only a flat. I have no idea why he refused to have some help, but soon not only had those two teams come over, we had the Irishmen and some Brits stop as well.

We got everything fixed up, and we made it to the next city just before nightfall. Our companions wanted a hotel, so we camped just outside the city with some other teams we had met along the way. We discussed paragliding with our new Irish friends, and they told us of a place in UB where we could go paragliding for next to nothing. The next morning we got our tire fixed, and a tube put inside. We wasted some more time waiting on our friends, but by then we were used to it. We got a bit more food, then headed out of town.

Once again the roads were something to be reckoned with. There were also about 8 branching roads to choose from. At one point the Spaniards turned around, and so we followed them. The next thing we knew they had turned around again, but were driving on a road higher than us, and did not see us. Andrew and I each suggested good, easy places to turn around, but since they weren't 2drew's idea, he kept driving the opposite direction til he saw one he liked. Then he got stuck in the sand. This meant that Andrew and I got to push him out. Sadly, this wouldn't be the only time that day with this same scenario.

At this point we had lost everybody. We drove along on narrow dirt tracks, not really sure if we were even on the right road. After an hour we suddenly saw the German team, and they asked us where the Spaniards were. We hadn't seen either of them in a long time, so we turned around and waited. Apparently the two cars had taken diverging paths that they assumed would converge on the other side of this small mountain, but it never happened. We said we would wait where we were in case the Spaniards came back, and then the Germans backtracked all the way to the city to see if they could send a SMS. After 1 1/2 hours we got sick of waiting, wondering if the Germans even knew which road to take. We continued on, thinking we were alone. Eventually we blew a tire again, and out of nowhere the Germans reappeared. We kept on driving, and after a particularly horrific stretch of road, we finally found some pavement. What a Godsend. We made it into town right at sundown, and then we ran into Juan and Nuria! We found a hotel for the night, got some dinner, and went to bed. http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... The next morning we grabbed a quick breakfast and started driving, feeling much more confident about being able to finally finish our journey. We had been told that once we hit the town we were in we would have several hundred km of tarmac, followed by 60 km of awful road, and then be able to ride out the rest of the journey on tarmac again. We were so excited when we saw our first road sign for Ulaan Baatar along the highway. At one point we saw some of our friends stopped on the side of the road, but when we brought this to 2drew's attention, his response was "The Germans will stop." A short while later we saw another team we knew pulled over on the road, and once again 2drew just kept going. Who was this guy? The spirit of the rally alone makes everybody stop when they see somebody in trouble, and regardless of the help he has received, he still refuses. It was incredibly aggravating, but since we had so much food, and weren't going to camp anymore, we decided to pull over and make a massive lunch. At least our friends could catch up to us.

The lunch ended up being fantastic. Andrew made some curry potatoes, 2drew fried some eggs, Juan made rice and vegetables, and some Italians made some excellent pasta. We ended up having about six or seven teams stop and enjoy this fabulous meal with us, and even one Mongolian man on his horse who was out tending his goat herd. We managed to finish off nearly all our food, and thoroughly enjoyed our two hour lunch. 2drew started getting really impatient again while everybody was cleaning up, and soon started the car. Finally our friends told him to calm down and wait ten more minutes for everybody to finish, and we would go together.

Before long we hit the awful roads again, but it was comforting knowing they wouldn't last for long. By the time we hit the tarmac, we knew that UB was just around the corner. I can't explain the elation as we came over a ridge and saw the capital sitting just below us. Our friends were a little ways behind us, getting caught up on the bad roads, but we couldn't wait at this point, and pushed on into the city. We had directions to the finish line, but due to road construction, they didn't do us much good. We tried to use the map they gave us, but it wasn't very complete, and soon we were completely lost. Eventually Andrew was able to pull up a map on his phone, and we finally made it to the finish line!!! http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... We were absolutely elated when we finished. Joe was there waiting for us, joyful that we made it that night, as we was leaving the next morning. Tim was excited because when he went to the consulate they told him that his bag had been located, and that people were going to deliver it to UB within the next two days! We had some celebratory drinks and set off our confetti cannon courtesy of Team Batlimo. Then we went inside to sign the finishing board where we were awarded finishing spot number 255! Out of 500 team slots, about 400 teams started, and many dropped out along the way, so we were definitely towards the end. The first teams finished about 2 weeks before us, but I am much prouder of our 255 finish than I would be of number 1. I have 2 extra weeks worth of adventures to tell that those people that rushed through couldn't possibly understand. After this, our friends went off to find a hotel, but Andrew and I went with Joe to go stay at "The Cheapest Guesthouse" which only cost 5 dollars a night. We met Betsy, our lovely host, then headed out to celebrate the end of a journey.

The next several days in UB were interesting ones. Everything we had planned on doing in the city didn't work out, but that isn't to say we had no fun. We really wanted to shoot rocket launchers, but the company had made so much money over the past several weeks, that they all went on holiday and closed shop. Then there was the paragliding. Martin and Frank, the Irishmen, went to go check out the facilities and equipment for the trip they wanted to do. After visiting, however, they realized that the equipment was pretty suspect, and they didn't feel comfortable using any of it. So there was our two main things shot down the drain.

The Adventurists did throw us a huge party on Saturday night. It was a 6 week finishing party, and it was the first time they've ever thrown it, as there were not enough people finishing that late every other year. They brought in a live Mongolian band, all wearing furs and playing traditional instruments. They also had a contortionist who could bend her body in all sorts of ways you would never believe possible. At one point she even flipped her legs all the way over her head like a scorpion and held all of her body weight by biting down on a wooden bar that stuck out of her table. It was incredibly. The party lasted on into the night, including a large bout of people attempting to drink beer by holding it at arms length over their heads. Emotions were high, as we had all been dealing with the same issues for 6 weeks, and we were all running into people we had met along the way. We even saw the guys with the bouncy castle that we had met in Georgia.

Over the next couple of days, Andrew and I went about taking care of how we were going to get home. We became friends with Betsy, who was like a walking Google for UB. She knew everyone and their brother, including politicians, and people in the US embassy. She took time out one evening to show us pictures of her family, and always offered us advice on where we could find things in the city. If she didn't know, then she was immediately on the phone asking somebody. We were so fond of her that we took her out to dinner one night at the restaurant of her choice.

One day Andrew and I decided to make a trip into the black market with some of our friends. It was quite an interesting experience, packed to the brim with people, and side-stepping around large puddles from the previous day's rain. Andrew and I ended up buying traditional Mongolian dress, and were amazed at how cheap things were. Some people tried to obviously rip us off, but we managed to make it through without spending too much. I bought a full-length nomadic robe, and a hat in the style of the last great Mongolian King. Andrew went a different route, buying just a jacket, a fur hat, and amazing leather boots. We had been warned about pickpockets, and I even caught a guy trying to stick his hand into my pocket. There was nothing in the pocket , but that didn't stop be from yelling at him before we headed out.

On our final day, Andrew and I went to visit the Christina Noble Children's Foundation and their ger village on the outside of town. We had given money to Mercy Corps Mongolia, but this was another of the charities sponsored by the rally. It was such a beautiful experience getting to see what this foundation is doing for the children of Mongolia. UB has a huge problem with homeless children. This is due to not only abandonment of children when they can no longer be cared for, but also children escaping home because of physical and sexual abuse. During the winter, the children sleep in the sewer systems because sleeping next to the hot water pipes is the only way to stay warm. The foundation takes a medical van around to all these kids four times a week to provide free medical care to whoever needs it. They also provide camping gear for the children who spend the summers down by the river when the weather is warmer.

The ger village was another thing all together. They provide a home for 60 children, as well as sending them to school. They provide music classes for traditional Mongolian instruments, because they believe in preserving the culture. They also house a kindergarten on their property. Every day the foundation provides a hot lunch for over 150 children from the surrounding neighborhoods, and this is often the only hot meal that any of these kids will get the entire day.

Then there are the heart breaking stories of some of these kids. Many have legs that are completely bowed due to rickets, which is caused by malnutrition. These children will get this fixed, but it requires their legs to be broken then put in braces until they heal. It is incredibly painful, and it is two years of pain, as they can only do one leg each year. On top of this, you have the two sisters aged 4 and 7 whose mother was a full time prostitute that plied her trade in front of them until she could no longer take care of them. These kids have been seen showing the other children sexual positions that not a single one understands. The worst of all, though, are the children who are under ten years old and are victims of sexual abuse. The life that these kids have at the ger village is unbelievable, and they are incredibly lucky. You can see the happiness on every single child's face that lives in the community.

Since the foundation doesn't have the facilities to house every child in the capital, they also run a sponsorship program for other poor families. In general, this helps ensure that the children of the house can afford books and uniforms for school, but also provides the family with money. Each week the child's family is given a small amount of cash, which has proven to be the most useful way that direct aid can be given. The sponsorship program helps many families remain healthy, as well as keeping their children off the streets. Sadly, only one American sponsors any children in Mongolia, but we promised to try and let people know about the wonderful things the foundation does. Please go to CNCF.org for more information.

After our moving experience at the foundation, it was time to pack up the last of our stuff and head out the door. We had a long journey ahead of us, and it was strange to think we were finally going back. But going back is never simple, and we had a 60 hour journey waiting for us. This included a three hour flight to Seoul, a 17 hour layover, a 13 hour flight to Las Vegas, 20 hours in vegas, three hours to Minneapolis, an hour there, and another hour and 1/2 to KC. Daunting to say the least, but look what we had just accomplished. Betsy was sad to see us go, and she cooked us up a delicious meal of potatoes, rice, and horse! Oh my, the horse was absolutely delicious! I knew that we shouldn't give up on it after our first experience. We couldn't believe how wonderful it was. After filling ourselves up, we got in a cab and headed to the airport. http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... The flights weren't terrible, and we entertained many people by wearing our traditional dress all the way home. In Korea, we decided to leave to airport and go explore the city a little bit. We called our friend Junho who was with the bouncy castle team, because he was visiting his mother in Seoul. He met with us in the afternoon, and then we proceeded to eat about 3 meals over the next several hours, punctuated by frequent rounds of celebratory/farewell beers. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, and made it back to the airport just in time to get on our plane. Then it was off to Las Vegas!

Even though it was our cheapest option, it was a terrible idea to route our flight through Vegas. To go from the third world to an unreal world was way too much to process. Neither of us were in any sort of mood to party or gamble, or really do the usual "Vegas thing." We had a cheap hotel room in Excaliber, and our flight didn't leave til the next morning. We walked down the street and got some delicious In n Out burgers, then wandered around town a bit. We met a guy trying to sell us his rap album, and we ended up getting it from him for some left over Czech and Kazakh money. He loved it because of all the zeros on the bills. Next we met up with some of his friends and spent the rest of the evening drinking beers, talking about music, and listening to every single one of them freestyle at some point. Not the usual Vegas experience, but it made me much more comfortable than the rest of the scene. It was more similar to what I had been doing--meeting locals and seeing what they had to say about life.

The next morning came, and we hopped on another plane, knowing we still had most of a day before we'd make it back home. We got to Minneapolis, and sure enough, our plane was having electrical issues, and we were delayed. Luckily it only took 30 minutes for them to switch planes for us, and soon we were finally on our way back to Kansas. We were greeted at the gate by Andrew's girlfriend and my parents, as well as smiles at our ridiculous outfits. We were finally back down in Kansas City, and the journey officially over. Our loop around the world was officially complete, and we had 24 countries under our belt in a two month period. Now it's back to adjusting to life in a familiar, yet somehow foreign world, waiting until the next adventure beckons.