Africa Rally Presentation @ OSU

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for those of you who came out to the COW Presentation today at Oregon State University. This presentation was exactly the same as the one presented in April except filtered towards a student audience. This presentation took place 7:30PM in WNGR 151 (Weniger Hall).

If you are interested in purchasing a DVD, please send an e-mail to Tate Koenig or Keegan Warrington.

Thanks again for supporting this cause!

Tim Chen
COW Webmaster

Africa Rally Presentation

After successfully completing the Africa Rally, COW will be conducting a presentation to explain how donations were distributed, to share the experiences from the Africa Rally, and the future for Citizen Of the World.

This event will take place at the Willamette Christian Church in West Linn, OR at 7:00PM Thursday, April 22nd.

Feel free to invite guests. Cookies and drinks will be provided!

For more information, please contact Keegan at keegan@beacow.com

Thanks,
Tim Chen

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When: 7:00 pm Thursday April 22nd

Where: Willamette Christian Church
3153 S Brandywine Drive
West Linn, OR 97068
503.656.2328

Homeward Bound!

It hasn't quite sank in yet that we are coming home! Africa is about as different from home as anywhere could be but after 2 months even it starts to feel almost normal. Were about 8 hours away from catching our 30 hour flight home and it cant come soon enough! It has been over a month since we have been somewhere under 70 degrees (including at night) and 2 months and 14 days since I have had ranch dressing... This trip has really helped us to see how great we have it in the US and we cant wait to get back to it! We get home Monday night and will spend Tuesday Uploading pics and writing a blog to give a somewhat overview of the trip! Once again we can not thank you all enough! The Africa Rally would not of been possible without all the help and hard work of all our Friends, Family and Sponsors!

Tate

Wrapping up the Africa Rally

After some crazy happenings in Nigeria, the guys made it across the Cameroon border and are now in Kribi. Keegan and Tate finished the rally last week, and are now relaxing in style. It was an amazing journey full of ups and downs, crazy adventures and new people. Along the way, the guys met some amazing people. Thanks to everyone who helped, and if you were wondering, the boys will be back in Corvallis on February 25th!

The COW car has made it too, minus some parts and the addition of some dings and miles. Keegan and Tate have donated the car to the organization that puts on the Africa Rally. The Suzuki Samurai will soon be auctioned off to the highest bidder and all the money will be donated to the charities. Also, all the tools that the guys used are being sold so they can have money to live, most of which are being sold for more than they are worth in the states.

Keegan and Tate also decided to donate some of their tool-earnings to other people. While in Kribi they went to an orphanage, run by white people who have lived there for forty years, and volunteered letting the orphanage take whatever they needed.

For fun, the COW team visited a wildlife center for rehabilitating animals. They also enjoyed seeing a water festival that took place on the beach. After walking on the private beach of their hotel, they came around a rocky corner and saw the festival on the beach in front of a small village. Of course, Tate and Keegan didn’t resist to join in the celebration.

Also, Tate and Keegan met two guys who are starting a restaurant and decided to help them start it. They have helped the entrepreneurs get menus and other things.

There were hundreds of participants in the Africa Rally this year. Many teams drove straight through as fast as they could; some teams quit or simply could not finish the journey. Tate, Keegan and the COW car took a much different route than planned, experienced many different cultures, conquered all of the difficulties during the journey and were the last ones to finish. While half of the teams didn’t make it to Kribi, our team comprised of two very young drivers and a young COW staff made it.

The Africa Rally was Citizen of the World’s first major philanthropy event. It highlights all the hard work of COW members and Tate & Keegan. Right now, Tate and Keegan are eating shrimp dumped on the dark lava-flow sand of the Cameroon beaches by local fisherman. On behalf of them and everyone involved in COW, we would like to thank EVERYONE who donated their time, money and efforts. As a not-for-profit organization, we could not have done it without ALL of your help.

Thanks again to everyone,
Connor Deeks
PR director COW

Nigeria!

Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria... Before entering Nigeria we heard nothing but bad things and horrible stories, most people we met told us not to go and if we did go through as fast as possible. However when I meet fellow travelers so far anyways I have a good, or at least decent story of Nigeria to tell. After spending an entire day to travel the 100 Km from Niki to New Bussa on the dried up river bed the good Ol Sami needed more than a few repairs. After the drive it had: A broken Motor Mount, A blown Transmission Seal, 3 broken shocks (2 completely missing), our carburetor wont rev right, a Cracked rear axle housing and our exhaust had broken in half in a different spot! After going to about 3 Nigerian Napa's (a guys garage who has more than the average broken down cars) we found a seal that wasn’t the right one and not even the right size, but it slowed down the leak so we only had to fill the trany up with oil about every 3 hours. We used some JB weld on the rear axle and were back on the road heading east! Our goal was to make it to the town of Abuja by dark but having to stop and fill up with oil every three hours made it take a bit longer than expected. Along this drive we saw firsthand the reason Nigeria has such a bad name... We went through towns were the smog and pollution were so bad that you couldn’t see more than three cars in front of you, you couldn’t take a deep breath and our eyes were actually burning. The people here were also unlike any others we have encountered. We had the driver of the car in front of us hit a guy on a motorcycle. Instead of apologizing or giving him his insurance info (like they have insurance) He got out and started a legitimately minute long all out Fight with the driver of the motorcycle! Eventually they were pulled apart and the entertainment was over... for about thirty seconds. People begging for food or money every time we stop our car have become an every stop occurrence however this was the first time the beggars had ever turned violent. After telling them we had no food left etc they literally started hitting our car as hard as they could! As if it hadn’t taken enough damage already! By this point it was getting dark and we were not looking forward to Abuja which was still at least 45 min away. It was main roads the rest of the way to Abuja and even two lanes going each direction! We hadn’t seen this big of roads in over a month! We finally arrived in Abuja and pulled into the Sheridan Hotel (you can camp in their parking lot if you eat at the restaurant) which is where we met Marcos. Marcos is a Swiss guy who was leaving the restaurant as we pulled in. He came over to check out what we were doing and what not and after talking for a while he mentioned that he had a few extra rooms and we were welcome to come stay if we would like and save some money. He was the first other white person we had seen in over a week and seemed like a nice guy so we quickly agreed. When he pulled up for us to follow him in his brand new Land Cruiser our hopes of a hot shower grew! We followed him for about ten minutes before arriving at his place, The Security Guard opened the gate and we pulled in. We were greeted at the door by his Chef who quickly asked if Steak sounded good for dinner, as if we wouldn’t have loved it anyway the fact that we had been eating nothing but plain rice and beans for the past two days had to have helped. As he showed us around his house our dreams came true when we found not only a Hot Shower but AC in our room as well! He then added that he also had a full Shop and if we wanted to stay the next day and get our Cameroon Visa's we were welcome to use it to fix up the car!
After a good night’s rest we got up this morning, dropped off our passports at the Cameroon Embassy and headed to his shop. I was able to fix the motor mount, exhaust, carburetor and finish up the rear axle! Tomorrow morning we will pick up our Visa's and head Towards Cameroon and if all goes well (stopping every 3 hours to fill up on oil) we should make it to Cameroon by Thursday evening!

Tate & Keegan making progress; Togo to Benin to Nigeria!

Hello followers, sponsors and members of the COW herd,

Keegan and Tate have been on the move and covering a lot of miles over the past few days. Starting in Turtle Beach, they went east to Kata and ended the night staying in a large hotel. The interesting thing about this hotel was that Keegan and Tate were the ONLY people staying there. Imagine, a large resort in Hawaii or Mexico completely vacant! From there, they drove to Lomo, then north to Sojode following the roads that were much more suitable fro travel. During this northern route, however, they saw around 10 flipped semi-trucks. The guys got through without much trouble.

After reaching Nadoba, Togo they crossed the border into Benin on dirt roads. While traveling along back-roads they came across a tribal society that they learned had not been “touched” by white people until the 1970s. Keegan described their housing as miniature castles; I can’t wait to see the pictures! After this, they ended their day for such much needed rest at a crappy hostel in Natitingog, Benin.

For Nigeria, a little improvisation was needed with their international licenses. Keegan and Tate’s licenses were valid for Niger luckily, so they used a photocopy machine to simply add an ‘i’ and an ‘a’ so it would read Nigeria. All turned out well as they crossed the border into Nigeria a day later. The boys said their goodbyes to the tropical (but dusty) Benin with a little nervousness as Nigeria is the most dangerous country they have to travel through

When I asked the guys via satellite phone how fast they were traveling they told me about 300 miles a day if the roads are good. Funny, seems that the roads are never quite “good” enough to hit that mark.

A very funny trick that Tate and Keegan learned about toll booths and police barriers is that most are unofficial and are there to simply bribe people who have enough money to own or drive a car. After the hundreds of bribery attempts, the guys have found that if you just speed up and drive through them, the police cannot chase after them because they do not have any more transportation than anyone else!

Anyway, the boys entered Nigeria through the city of Nijki and exchanged their old currency for Nigerian’s currency in a back room with large stacks of money; don’t worry parents, the exchange was official. After about 10 miles of wonderful roads, everything changed. The road became a dried lakebed and all speed was lost. The guys had to drive 10 miles/hour for an entire day over the most treacherous roads they have encountered. During this disastrous drive, the COW car sustained multiple injuries. We can now say the guys only have one working shock (2 more were taken out of play) and the transmission is now leaking. The guys may need to take a few days to get the car in working order.

While they took a short break to get the car at least in functional order, a large group surrounded Tate and Keegan and the car. Keegan counted 79 at one point and noted that many more came. Before getting too nervous, Keegan did the best thing he could think of: pull out his camera. Once he did this, everyone started to go crazy with excitement. In a place where civil war plagues many innocent people, Keegan and Tate bring fun and excitement. With a little coaching, our COW travelers recorded 100s of Nigerians chanting “U-S-A” and then, as the guys are Oregon State Beavers, led the “O-S-U fight, fight, fight” chant. Personally, I cannot wait until I can see that video.

Right now, Tate and Keegan are in New Bassu, Nigeria with a little over 900 miles to go of traveling. While they pass village after village, city after city, they try and bring excitement to the people that are around them. They are driving long days and living off little food for a good cause. Keegan told me over our last phone call that one of the biggest things he misses about home is the food. We can’t wait to see him and Tate soon.

From everyone involved in COW, we would like to thank our sponsors for their commitment to our cause; each and every dollar and/or car part has gone to unimaginable good use.

Thank you once again,
Connor Deeks
PR director COW

Ghana is Great!

We have been in the country of Ghana for about a week and it is unlike any other country we have been to so far! Like most places we have been, the people here are very friendly, since most of them speak at least some English we are actually able to communicate with them other than just hand gestures. The biggest change other than the language is the Landscape and climate! We have finally left the dry dusty countries of Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso and are now in the Hot Tropics of Ghana. The usual landscape of dusty plains with small brush has been replaced with tropical jungles of Palm Tree's and Pineapple. We started out staying in the capital city of Accra and were lucky enough to be here as Ghana beat Nigeria in the Semi Finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. That was an experience to say the least. You didn't even need to be watching the game to know exactly what was going on! You could hear the entire city roar or groan with each play made during the entire game! Ghana ended up winning 1-0 and when the final whistle blew the town exploded! Literally people running, screaming and dancing through the streets! Speeding cars and trucks with people hanging on all sides, on top and inside all hoopin and hollering with cheers of victory! This place was literally on the verge of out of control! The next day we dropped our Passports off at the Benin embassy to get our Visa's and with it being the weekend had a few days until they would be ready. We took the opportunity to drive west along the coast and see the famous Slave Castles and beautiful beaches. We saw the beautiful Slave castles like Fort Amsterdam and Cape Coast Castle which were pretty cool. We ended up staying on the beach in Dixcove. This turned out to be a fantastic beach with a small village about a half mile down the beach. There is a small eco friendly resort called Green Turtle which had more than reasonably priced meals, even though we mostly dined on Fresh Coconuts and Pineapple which the local kids delivered. Dixcove is also where we had to part with our good friend and Photographer Luke. Luke found an opportunity there that he just couldn't pass up. He found a good job working for the guy who owns the Local slave castle. He is living on the beach in Paradise while he saves up money to eventually fly home. Keegan and I both admitted our jealousy as we said our goodbyes. We made the drive back to Accra and stopped to camp along the way at Big Millies Back yard which is a camp ground right near the beach. Up with first light again we made our way to the Benin Embassy where we picked up our Passports and started looking for the Nigerian Embassy. Once we found it I dropped Keegan off to start filling out our forms while I went to the bank to get out some money. After getting a set of wrong directions I finally found a bank but when I saw it I was already going passed it, I pulled a quick U-turn and pulled in. As I was using the ATM I was disturbed by 4 police officers with there night sticks out. I was told that it was illegal to do a U-turn in the specific spot I had just done one ( which is BS because no one here follows the traffic laws even if it HAD been one) When I refused to pay a bribe , They told me I needed to come with them to the Police Station. One of them jumped in shotgun and started giving me directions as we drove through the bustling city streets. After about a 15 minute drive we arrived at the police station. On the drive I had realized all of our paperwork, from passports to car insurance, was with Keegan filling out paperwork. I stashed almost all of my cash in the glove box and went into the station. After about 30 minutes of arguing with the Police chief, refusing to pay bribes and showing them my wallet which now had only 10 cedi's in it they finally let me go. All in all the whole ordeal ended up just costing me a pack of fruit snacks for the officer who road with me and about an hour of time, but could of ended up alot worse! When I got back we dropped off our applications and go back to pick them up this afternoon at 2. We will then start driving east Through the rest of Ghana, Togo, Benin , Nigeria and the Cameroon!

If all goes smoothly we should be able to make it to Cameroon in about 10 days. Our plan is to drive north through Togo and cross through the center of Benin and Nigeria as the south and the north of Nigeria are both quite dangerous. Hope fully we will be able to cover at least 300 miles a day and avoid the police if at all possible.

Thanks again to all our sponsors the GPS and sat phone have been life savers.

COW Team in Ghana!

The COW team is in Ghana, and we say goodbye to Luke.

First off, I would like to say thank you so much to all of our sponsors for your donations and support, without every cent and every ounce of effort COW would not be where it is today.

Tate and Keegan are now in Ghana! Over the satellite phone I spoke once again with the guys who told me of their whereabouts and recent adventures. As of two days ago, the guys were in a populated area in Ghana. They were finally able to take showers, consisting of rainwater funneled down a hose and a refreshing dip into the ocean. They have been camping out and enjoying the brief reliefs from extremely dense jungle areas.

Unfortunately, this is where we say our goodbyes to Luke, the photographer who joined the COW team months ago in Barcelona. Luke was an excellent addition to the team and helped document COW’s participation in the Africa Rally. While he would have liked to continue, visas were simply too costly and he had to remain in Ghana. We thank him for all his efforts and his participation and hope he finishes his travels safely and returns to his home safely in the State when he chooses to do so!

Tate and Keegan also let me in on the condition of the COWmobile. Currently, they are driving the treacherous roads of Africa with two working shocks; the two-foot potholes took the other two out of play. We can only hope the other two stay in working order over the next “few” thousands of miles before Kribi, Cameroon.

While our two adventurists keep steady on their journey, us COW members at home stay vigilant and try and help them as much as we can. Large thanks must go to Debbie Hennessy for her extensive efforts in helping out with all the financial speedbumps that have come our way. Also, a thanks must go to Tim Chen for the wonderful website.

Once again, thanks to everyone for their help in making our not-for-profit organization prosper and succeed in our first international efforts.

Connor Deeks, PR director COW

The COW adventurists pass another border!

Hello everyone! This is Connor, the PR director for COW. Over the past few months, I have talked with Keegan and Tate via satellite phone about their travels, experiences, physical and financial speed bumps. Earlier today, I received a phone call from the boys about such things.

Last night they were driving along a main road through Mali and decided to pull off to find an open area to campout. At the end of a windy road they reached a house. Through the most basic of communication, hand gestures and gift-offerings, they were able to camp on the land of an African family. The family was very hospitable and in return, the guys let the family—consisting of a man, two wives, and twelve children—watch the Pixar movie Cars. They were enthralled for hours!

In the morning, they got to experience fresh-from-the-cow milk and some dish consisting of spices and dirt. Very funny, I know. After the meal, Keegan, Tate and Luke (the newest member of the COW herd) took off. This capped their stay in what I believe Keegan called Polygamy Hill; I couldn’t be certain.
They reached the border of Mali and Burkina Faso. Once again, bribes ensued and after four “visa checks” they entered the new country.

Somewhere along the way, during a drive through treacherous potholes, the COW car’s muffler shot off. While fixing the car, an indigenous woman, who was only partially clothed, came up to inspect the boys and their work. Naturally, Keegan handed her a candy bar, which she enjoyed until the boys were done with the car maintenance and continued on their journey.

To date, the COW team has driven over 1000 miles in the Samurai across western Africa. They are roughing it in a place where the majority of Americans, or the world population, have not and will never visit. They are dirty—no showers for about six days now—and are losing track of time (during our phone call, they thought it was Saturday…I corrected them and gave them an update on the NFL). However, our charitable cause and their journey will continue on. We send our warmest wishes to all those involved in COW and have supported us, and more importantly the travelers, over the months. Keeping checking the website and blog for future updates. Thanks!

Connor Deeks, PR director

112 degrees and our car breaks down

Africa rally blog

Burkina Faso – On Jan 24th we left our campsite Polygamy Point (We stayed with a farmer, his two wives, seven children and livestock) and headed south towards Burkina Faso. The road if you could call it that was extremely treacherous, by far the worse that we have seen so far. Large pot holes were so frequent that at times the road ceased to exist and we resorted to drive on the side embankment of the road. It was a very long, bumpy, hot ride with the temp reaching well over 100 degrees, more than once I truly thought we were going to crash. We jammed to our ipod and drove for a good 5 hours dodging, weaving, and plowing over dirt, asphalt, and rocks to the Burkina Faso border. Compared to the Mali border this one was a breeze, it was pretty much just five stops along a mile of road where they just checked, double checked, triple checked and rechecked all of our paperwork looking for any small flaw that could result in the need for a bribe. While Tate dealt with the border guards I entertained the local kids and myself by dancing to several tracks off the Ipod, the song “millions of peaches” was a big hit.
We successfully crossed the border and headed towards Bobo-Diuolasso, which is a city famous for its drums and butterfly masks. Despite being the third poorest country on the planet, the poverty we saw in Burkina seemed no more then its Saharan neighbors. According to Lonley Planet over 80% of the country’s population live on less then than 2 dollars a day. Once in Burkina the roads actually got surprisingly better, I think it must be because there are so few cars on the road. We were cruising along at the rip roaring top speed of about 60 mph, when all of a sudden there was a loud bang followed by scraping metal and the roar of our usually quiet Sami……. our entire exhaust system was dragging along behind us. We had not passed another living soul in miles and the nearest town was a good 100 miles away. By now the sun was at its hottest and the thermometer read 112 degrees. We quickly got to work repairing the broken exhaust under the baking sun. Then seemingly appearing out of thin air a half naked mentally handicap girl showed up. I am dead serious. It was almost like out of a strange horror movie, she walked up to us sat down in the grass and just stared at us the entire time we repaired our exhaust system. We had no clue where this girl came from or what she wanted so we gave her some candy and hoped for the best. It only took about a few feet of wire (unknowingly donated by RK farms) to repair exhaust and we were back on the road, the girl was still sitting and eating candy when we left.
. Once we were back on the road it was smooth sailing to Bobo where we stopped for a short pit-stop that eventually led to Tate and I purchasing extremely loud bongo drums. We left Bobo as the sun was setting and headed out into the bush to make our camp under the light of the moon. After clearing a few bushes out of the way and narrowly avoiding stepping on a snake we made a nice camp fire and broke out our new drums. We had not been playing for more then 10 min when a few local people came up to our campsite after hearing the drums. They joined us and we danced with a group of about 7 locals to the beat of our new drum. It was a long and adventurous day.

Thanks again to all of our sponsors, sushi at Aomatsu sounds amazing right now!!

Made it to Mali

After countless hours and a handfull of bribes we finally got our car cleared through customs. I could not believe how corrupt many of the officials in senegal were. Within the first two days of clearing our car through customs we have been pulled over 5 times. Luckily our paper work has been in order and we have been able to get away with small bribes. Tate got out of speeding ticket by giving the officer a headlamp and stick of gum.
After leaving Dakar we stopped by the Niokola koba Wildlife Refuge and were able to see everything from Monkeys to Crocadiles to Gazelles living in the wild! although no lions or giraffes yet ): but we still have a ways to go! After that short stop we were back on the road heading east!
We are currently in Bamako, Mali and have spent the last three nights camping out in the bush which has been remarkably beautiful. Although our diet has been kinda lame, pretty much cliff bars all day and then cambells soup for dinner, and everyonce in while we mix in some top ramen and malaria pills. The roads over here have been ok by african standards. Huge potholes up to 2+ feet deep dot the road and make for some dangerous driving conditions, sometimes they are unavoidable and if it was not for our awesome tires donated by Millars Hi-Way tires we definitely would of had more then a few blowouts. Despite the treqcherous roads, the hundred degree weather and the corrupt police our journey so far has been nice. We have been stopping along the way and handing out candy and some cloting to kids. It is amazing how happy these kids are just for a stick of gum. Wherever we go kids and adults both wave and cheer us on as we drive by.

Dakar so Far

Dakar has been full of ups and downs since our last post. Mostly our time has been spent filling out paper work and last minute visa applications. We have had the pleasure of meeting some fantastic people as well as some not so fantastic people. Our guide Tasmil turned out to be a major headache, everywhere we went with him turned out to be more expensive and more time consuming then we planned. Finally we asked him to stop following us and sure enough life got easier. Except we almost got arrested at our hotel, because they said our online payment was not valid. I argued for a good 4 hours and showed them all the paper work but they would not accept the online payment. Long story short we ended up paying twice and now I have to go back in and argue my case again.... it is a huge headache and waste of time.

Today however was an great day. We started our day early and went to church with our friend from Liberia. Church in Africa was a new expierence for us all, it is much more energitic and loud then church back home. It also lasted close to 4 hours which was unexpected, but they made us feel very welcome and I learned a few new dance moves. After church we went out to Isle de Gorre which used to be a major slave trading post. The island itself was beatiful which contrasted against the horrible conditions of the slave houses which sent millions of slaves all around the world. Seeing where the slaves were held and the conditions they endured was a sobering expierence. We ended our day exploring the rest of the island and riding ship back to dakar as then sun set out over the ocean.

Through the Desert into the Tropics

I don't know what to say about Dakar, it is a place unlike any other that I have been. I can't understand a single word of the local language, the public transportation system is very bad, and the people are extremely welcoming and friendly.
We immediately got down business and after an early breakfast Luke and I made our way to the Mali Embassy to get a Visa for Luke. We had not walked more than 200 feet from our hotel when we met our new friend and guide Tasmil. Tasmil is about a 6'3 28 year old self-proclaimed Rastafarian who knows pretty much everyone and everything in Dakar. Tasmil made helped us with all of our errands and showed us his fathers factory. By factory I mean a small overcrowded room with kids and adults fast at work making traditional African clothing. His other "factory" was a wood shop where they made absolutely stunning statues and masks. From here we walked back to our hotel and on our walk back we were greeted by welcoming shouts and smiles. People would run across the street to shake our hands and introduce themselves. They have this cool handshake where you grasp hands like a normal shake except instead of shaking hands you bring your hand up with the back of your hand to touch each others forehead. It is supposed to be a mutual sign of respect...either that or they were just getting a kick out of messing with some foreigners.

After we finished our errands we headed down to a small reclusive beach that Tasmil showed us. It was awesome to run off some energy and stretch our legs after being cooped up on buses and planes for the past day. Within a few minutes of being on the beach some curious locals came to join us. Eventually one man came down and although he could not speak a word of English, through sign language we realized that he wanted to wrestle. Unfortunately for him he asked Tate to wrestle and got demolished but no matter the outcome he always had a smile on his face. We came to learn he was from the Gambia and supported his wife and two kids by washing cars.

We ended our day by walking out on a long rocky pier to see some fisherman, an ancient cannon that has been around since around the 1600's, and watch the sunset, romantic huh? It was a great way to start our trip through Senegal, and if all goes smoothly we will have our car in the next day or two and we can start driving south! I am off to the port right now, wish me luck.

Sahara to Senega

After a very uncomfortable 4 hour bus ride from beautiful and relaxing Essaouira to the busy and bustling Marrakech we took off for the Sahara! In route to the Sahara we stopped by a few of Morocco's other attractions including Ouarzazate which is a small town where many films including parts of Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars were filmed! We also stopped by Atlas studios and the Todra Gorge which were almost as impressive as the Sahara itself! Before to long we were on the edge of the massive Sahara Desert! This was literally the end of the road, we got out of the car and aboard our new form of transportation... CAMELS! Keegan and I had been looking forward to riding Camels through the Sahara since we first heard we were going to have the opportunity! Before we had even started we had both named our Camels and were arguing who's was faster (Mine was named Humphry for obvious reasons and Keegans was named Kane because its black curly hair closely resembled Kane Bickfords ) However after about 20 minutes the novelty started to ware off and we began to realize we were just on over sized uncomfortable llamas... The Sahara desert is truly amazing! We rode until just before sunset when we came upon a set of Berber tents (Berber's are the native people to the region) which is where we stayed for the night. We climbed to the top of the tallest dune around and watched the sunset with rolling dunes of sand as far as you could see in every direction! As famous as the Sahara is for how hot it is, it should be equally famous for how cold it gets at night! Especially this time of year! Luckily the Berber people where used to this and once inside the tents it wasn't to bad. We woke up before first light at 530am to grab a quick bite for breakfast and it was back on the Camels. We rode at a bit quicker of a pace to get out of the desert before the Saharan Sun was in full force, eventually the edge of the desert came into view and to be honest I wasn't disappointed to see it! I got enough of the desert in 2 days, I cant imagine how people can choose to live there!
After leaving the Sahara we started heading south towards Senegal! At about 3am after a very sketchy landing we stepped out of the Dakar Airport and into a completely different world! So far everywhere we have gone we have been able to find someone we can communicate with, either with their broken English or my broken Spanish but not here! The good news is so far the people here have been very friendly and with our random vocabulary of French and a lot of pointing and smiling we were able to get a shuttle to our Hotel. Our Hotel is by far the nicest we have stayed in yet! 3 nights at the Novotel Hotel was very generously donated by Pico and has given us a safe place to stay in Dakar while we try to get out car through customs and figure out a few final details! Hopefully we will be able to get our car through customs quickly and start heading East towards Cameroon!

Southern Morocco

Jan 3rd. With our new Moroccan friends Tate and I were able to see a part of Morocco that few travelers ever experience. We were able to glimpse Morocco as a local, getting a inside look, feel, and taste of Morocco. We rented motorbikes and visited the Atlas mountains which overlook all of Marrakesh and the surrounding villages. Driving motorbikes in morocco is a crazy experience that involves dodging oncoming cars, trucks, humans, and the occasional donkey carriage or stray camel. After about an hour of dodging and weaving we made it to the beginning of the mountains.

The lifestyles in the mountains were much different from the cities. Some of the people that live in these mountains are actually remnants of the indigenous Moroccan population known as Berbers. People up here make their living through various trades from creating pottery to small scale farming. We actually saw a lot of the goods that they sell in the larger towns and cities being made up in these hills. As the day came to the end we filled up on tangine (Moroccan dish) and we raced down the mountain to meet a 5:00 pm deadline on the return of our motorbikes. Tate rode on the back and snapped pictures as we sped down this old windy mountain road at 70 kmh Looking back it was not the smartest thing we have done, but probably one of the most fun!

Now we are in Essaouira which is a small town on the coast of Morocco. We took a 4 hour bus ride that was scheduled to leave Marrakesh at 10:30 but did not take off until about 11:45 but that is the way most of the public transportation around here works. Essaouira is a beautiful town probably my favorite place I have been to so far. The whole town is painted blue and white and since the Medina walls actually border the sea the whole town has that fresh salty feel about it. The people here are extremely friendly as well, not has pushy as the city folk of Marrakesh.

We move on to the Sahara desert from here and then down to Dakar, Senegal to pick up our car. I will be so relieved to finally get our car back, it was way back in October that we dropped off our car with the very incompetent shipping company Schumacher Cargo Logistics and now half way across the world we will finally have it back again!! Hopefully everything works and has not been stolen.... ha I am sure it will all be fine.

Hope everyone is doing well we are always thinking of you guys.

The Real Morocco

We were lucky enough to have yet another fantastic day in Morocco! We started off the day with Keegan, a friend from the hostal named Jack, and I walking out into the square. It wasnt more than 20 feet before I had a giant snake draped across my shoulders, I looked over to see jack as suprised as I was with a small monkey sitting on his! We had Keegan take a few pictures and then for sanitations sake moved on. As exciting as the whole "Medina" was it was not even close to the highlight of the day. At around noon we were walking around in the outskirts of town and came across a dirt soccer (futbol) field. We walked up to the kids playing and were lucky enough to find 3 that spoke SOME enlgish, although they could understand it very well. We became quick friends with Simon , Usef and Hadid. They seemed to be as interested in our cultures and customs as we were of theres! We talked to them for a while and explained to them the Africa Rally and COW. After sitting around with them and talking about everything from religon and politics to who was going to win the Africa Cup (they even let us take their motorbike for a spin) Simon invited us to his house to meet his family and watch the local soccer match. ( Marrakech lost to Casablanca 2-0 ). We quickly accepted and a short cab ride later arrived in Simon`s neighborhood. This was our first expierence of true Africa and to be honest I couldn`t of enjoyed it more. After a quick tour around his neighborhood we went to his house. His entire family are devout muslims and meeting them all was a great expierence! They were the most Hospitible people I have ever met! (maybe second behind the Gregsons :) ) His family welcomed us with tea, cookies and another treat we think were figs. We explained to his family all about COW, the Africa Rally and what we were doing and they were very supportive and interested! We were then given a fully tour of their house from their Prayer room to the bedrooms and it was really amazing! We watched the game and then called it a night, but not before exchanging numbers and making plans for him to show us around tomorrow!

12/30-1/1 Happy New Year

Hello Home,

It is has been awhile since my last blog and I have a lot to share with you all. First and foremost is that we have added a new member to Team COW! That's right a new member, so please everybody give a warm welcome to our new friend Luke Brossete. Luke is a photographer from New Orleans who we crossed paths with in Barcelona. After hearing our story and about COW Luke decided to come along to help document, photograph, and promote Citizen of the World. His photographic talent will be a priceless addition to COW and he is ready for just about anything the world throws his way. In short we are very happy to have Luke with us.

We have also finally made it to Africa. Marrakesh, Morocco to be precise and what a great place this city is. We are staying in a small old Riad just outside a Medina that has a circus like atmosphere. In the center of the Medina there is everything from snake charmers with 4 feet long cobra's and vipers to acrobats dancing around while men beat drums and play a violin like instrument. This all surrounded by street vendors selling every day items from socks to orange juice. In the evening the snake charmers are replaced by makeshift restaurants and smoke fills the Medina air, as thousands of people come dine on delicious street food; from kebabs to sheep heads to snails the night market is a delicious and exciting place to eat. And I haven't even told you about the story tellers that come out at night. They attract crowds of 50 or so people all gathered around to hear ancient stories about.......... well I don't understand a word they say but it is still entertaining to watch. Maybe I should learn some Arabic.

Anyways that should catch you all up on where we are at and what we are doing. I am very excited to be on the road again and have a new member of Citizen of the World.

Hope you all had a great holiday, mine was spent on a boat, train, bus, and plane.

-Keegan