Meet John of Steel Mongolia — [The Mongol Rally]
Meeting fellow ralliers and getting to know them a little has been a highlight of this trip for me. I am curious. Curious to each team’s make up, dynamics and motivation for wanting to know what motivated my fellow ralliers to take on these 10,000 miles.
There is a newly married couple (as in they got married 2 days before kickoff), Helen and Neil, The Uncertainty Principle; The Mongol Rally is their honeymoon. There are two family teams, John (mid-30’s expat from Colorado) and his parents, and Injection Family, 2 sons and their parents. The Mongol Rally was their parent Chrismas gift to them a few years ago. The Fire Fairies are three Romanian girls who learned about the rally at last year’s Vema Veche party and were immediately hooked. Rub a Dub Tub is 3 young Brits driving with a full size tub attached to the roof of their car.
Steel Mongolia is a team of two Aussi, John and Travis, from the Northern Territory and we had the pleasure of spending some quality time with them in Istanbul.
John, early 40’s, who have accumulated over 150 days of vacation time and are being forced to use some of them and he thought, hey, this could be how I spend some of my vacation time!
Spending an evening with John and Travis is like watching a comedy duo re-play The Odd Couple Mongol Rally style.
John wanted to do the rally because he is a person who always has a plan. Step by step, beat by beat; living with the unexpected and the spontaneous is not something he is very good at. He choose Travis to be his travel-mate, who is the opposite of himself because he wanted to learn how to live without a plan.
John Sheppard Mongol Rally Why from Charlie Grosso on Vimeo.
Be still my heart!
What a reason for wanting to do the rally. I love it!
This might be the most well articulated reason I’ve heard from anyone as to why they wanted to drive into the unknown. We take on challenges because we want to want to expand beyond who we are and what we are….I too was seduced by the idea of the rally first upon hearing it, but I am not sure I ever had a concrete WHY. Now I need to figure out is where is the room for expansion for me, where is my opportunity for growth in this.
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