September 05, 2011

by Stephen Jan in New York, NY

Now that we have a team, a destination and a mission, alls we need is a ride to take us across the Sahara. We need a vehicle that announces our presence when we rolled into a Berber village. When I think of this American team, the first thing that comes to mind is the word “Awesome”. Ambulances are awesome. So we’re taking an ambulance, and that was that.

The organizers, other teams, and common sense all generally discourage teams from shipping a car. It’s a huge hassle and not worth the trouble. Well, being that we’re driving to Timbuktu, doing things that make sense doesn’t exactly jive with our collective brains.

Couple weeks ago, we started scouring the net for ambulances. As it turned out, eBay proved to be a great resource. By the end of the week, we found an ambulance listed at 2000 dollars sitting in Agawam, MA. It took all of 10 minutes of deliberation to be convinced this 1989 Ford Econoline ambulance should not retire to the back of the used car lot to be forgotten, nor should it be disassembled at the scrapyard. After a lifetime of public service, this ambulance will embark on its most ridiculous journey yet - tearing up Saharan road in the name of adventure. The ambulance is going to retire to the legendary “Lost City of Gold”: Timbuktu.