Day 1

Day 1. Couldn't sleep. Stomach is nervous. Do I have everything? I have no idea.

The one thing I knew for sure, my experience taught me that the most important piece of information that must be known before going to bed... your starting time! We were to leave the starting line at 8:25am. In my nervousness, I clung to the knowledge that, surrounded by a bunch of newbies, I knew the importance of my start time. "This is my starting time. There are many like it, but this one is mine."

The starting line was at a tourist spot along the Great Wall about 45 minutes away from our hotel. We woke early, threw some breakfast down our gullets, and left the hotel by 7:00am. Navigating to the starting area was easy enough since Hayden and I had both been there before. Unfortunately, several cars didn't make it. We passed a few cars along the way with their hoods up. Some cars got lost. One car Model A with pink wheels still hasn't shown up. I heard they went 3 hours in the wrong direction.

After the grand ceremony with Chinese bands and dragon dancers, Hayden and I departed on another "once in a lifetime" trip through Asia and Europe in our little car.