Best Intentions Tea and Travel: A 2008 Mongol Rally Adventure

The Mongol Rally is not an event that everyone would enjoy or be driven to. It takes a special kind of person to find room in their schedule and priorities to participate in the rally. In addition, simply wanting to go and experience this, and participate isn't enough. What and who makes up the BIT&T team isn't as simple as identifying the participants in the vehicle. It's about the people and organizations that are pulling together to make this our flagship event, for this and future charitable adventures.

While only three team members will be *in* the car, a multitude of sponsors, friends, family, and supportive people have come together to make this a possibility. About half of them actually think we'll finish! Those odds are more than reassuring.

Want to be a part of our team? Here are 10 reasons to be a part of our team.

In addition we've added our My Space :mongolrallyforcharity so please add us as a friend. A best friend, forever.

Steven Cloud - www.boasas.com

Steven Cloud doesn't like to be called Steve, but you can call him Cloud. His mother encouraged young Steven's drawing because it was an activity that kept him quiet during church. Middle-aged Steven's drawing keeps him from raging against the machine during his day job as a cubicle-dweller at an advertising agency. Cloud was raised in the Florida panhandle, lived in Connecticut and San Francisco, and now calls the Brooklyn apartment he shares with his wife and grumpy cat home.

Cloud has been publishing Boy on a Stick and Slither online (www.boasas.com) since 1999. While BOASAS is primarily a webcomic, it has appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Esquire magazine.

Steven's involvement in the Mongol Rally came about with much deliberation. Pressure from Justin was amazing, and he had no choice but to give in and focus on planning out an adventure and a proper beard growth plan. He plans on bringing his wits, photography skills, and power to diffuse ticking time bombs along with the rest of the teams more tangible and practical skills.

Bryan Walker - www.ironhive.com

Bryan Walker is long-time rally enthusiast, competing in SCCA rallycross during the 2003 season. Long-time tinkerer of anything mechanical, Bryan has spent his time as an amatuer lockpick, solver of rubik's cubes, paper airplane architect extraordinaire, and auto mechanic.

A year in Micronesia at the age of 10 had a profound impact and has left a love for the cultures and people of the world. This undertaking provides both a challenge and a release for his desire to unite with and help people around the world.

Daily life for Bryan involves solving "impossible" programming obstacles, motorcycling, kayaking, "extreme commuting" (with real bits of panther), cooking personal variations of pad thai / chili / chicken salad, playing video games, and lomography.

Participation in the Mongol Rally represents the challenge of a lifetime. Maintaining the mechanical integrity and viability of the tiny auto is a fulltime and wholeheartedly welcome responsibilty.

Justin Farren- www.adorevintage.com

Justin Farren is a man of many facets, he makes videogames, he climbs volcanos, he's a dad and a husband, a former Air Force Special Ops Airman, an accomplished goalkeeper and quite possibly the world's worst ice hockey goalie and on the side he's an active independent professional wrestler, who has traveled the globe as The Bug, the Pest from Budapest.

Since the age of ten when his house burned to the ground, he's had a flair for the over the top story, driven by the over the top adventure. For the past three years he's attempted to secure a place in the Mongol Rally and failed. This year, 2008, he realized his latest dream, to participate in this amazing event. The charities and the adventure associated with the rally consume him, and he's leading the team in their donation and sponsor efforts, with a lofty 25,000 USD donation goal. He wants to make a difference and have at minimum, twenty-five new stories that nobody will believe anyways..

"I am frightened by little, other than the idea that I'm no longer in motion, no longer experiencing the world on my terms, at my pace. I can't imagine looking at a map and having more questions than answers about a place or culture. I love food, I love people, and I have a constant gnawing feeling that I could be someplace else, experiencing something new.

"The Mongol Rally, and the idea of it, the overhwelming distance appeals to me on so many levels. Six months can't go by quick enough. I feel like this is the first thing I've done that has been completely and utterly unscripted, and I'm really lucky to be involved in this charity effort with two talented and level-headed guys like Steven and Bryan."

Learn more about The Mongol Rally