July 15, 2013

So the facy schmancy GPS tracker we had for the bus went missing somewhere between getting gas in Dover / arriving at the Dover Ferry Terminal, and disembarking in Calais – harrumph.

So Monday while en-route from Cologne, Germany to the Czech out Party (Launch Party #2) at Klenova Castle in Klatovy, Czech Republic, we made a detour into Frankfurt to get a replacement so all you fine friends and family can continue to track us via the fabulous  Norwegians tracking map!

A dealer was found via the internet, a voicemail message was left, the pertinent address was entered into the Garmin – and off we went.

We realized something may have gone greatly awry as we found ourselves, this large American school bus, in the middle of a tiny residential neighborhood, parked outside of an apartment complex.

After ringing the bell a few times and re-trying the phone #we had, we were feeling at a bit a loss.  Suddenly a guy peeks his head out of an apartment window above.  He was in fact the dealer, was in fact “home”, and had exactly 1 remaining spot tracker in his possession.  A small gathering was buzzed into the building, a deal was made, and a new Spot tracker was acquired!

 

Turns out – Wolfgang’s company is called 8(Acht) F(Foxtrot) Computer…that’s right soaring friends…Wolfgang is a Glider pilot!

He belongs to a local glider club, owns his own glider – contest letters – yep – 8F, flies x-cntry, and sells these fabulous trackers to his fellow pilots (clearly I need to get one of these myself one day).

At the same time, teammates Will and Tommy had hoped to meet up with a team from last year – “The Dukes of Hessen” – as The Dukes had a gift for our guys.  With our detour, that seemed to now be unlikely.  But as luck would have it, they were also driving on the Autobahn, also headed for Frankfurt, and were about 10 KM behind us.  As our top bus speed is 50 MPH, they were able to catch up to us (we are not hard to miss) and they followed us to Wolfgang’s.

I’ve been told these serendipitous events happen ALL the time on the Rally!