Day 1

Whoa. Chaos and insanity at the warehouse, then at the petrol pump where 60+ teams were attempting to fuel up. many had already learned the lack of a line in India and freely jumped the line to my utter annoyance!

Finally made it to the launch site only to find it wasn't really a launch. No megaphone, loudspeakers or speeches. A small band playing and people offering puja flowers and well wishes. Paul got interviewed for ages by a reporter from the Indian Express. Hah.

Launch time came and went and it seemed that teams just started heading out, so we did as well. We had no idea where we were going, but just followed the road! The cops at the junction pushed us right, which I guess is where the other rickshaws went. But thats not where we wanted to go!!

I drove getting us out of Pondi since Paul was having stalling issues all morning. Man it was hectic. Within 15 minutes I had a total meltdown when a dog ran in front of the rickshaw. In typical Karilyn fashion, I freaked and pressed all gas, brake, and clutch at the same time. Luckily it just made the rick do a funny little shake and slow down a bit! haha. Scared the daylights out of me, so Paul took over for a bit. Oh and the thing kept shutting down when you went over 40km per hour. that was scary!

Got out of Pondi to find we were on the coastal route. Thought we'd take this one turn off but right before our rick completely seized and wouldn't start again. Within seconds locals from the bushes had appeared to help and another team stopped. took out the spark plug - all ok, fuel ok. so must just be too hot. Did a running start and were back on the road!

Paul drove for a while, getting the hang of it all. Luckily Stacie had come along with us for the ride and helped us with map reading, guarding the bags and keeping me company in the back. It was so great to have her with us for a while. We almost kidnapped her so she'd stay the whole time. Hopefully she'll meet us in a while though once her cast is off.

Had a second dog incident. a tiny 1 week old puppy was in the middle of the expressway. Amazingly all the cars swerved to miss it. And of course we had to stop to make sure it was off the road. all in the name of karma kab!!

Made it to Mammalapuram - not on our route, and not in good time. but it was day one. Today we are setting off at the crack of dawn to make up time. Hopefully heading further inland to get back on course.
Still alive and well and getting the hang of it. It's tough, but fun.

Recap: 2 dog incidents, 90 km in 4 hrs