Yesterday was brutal.

I fell first run, jammed my thumb (which makes typing difficult), and cut up my chin. But, the day didn’t get any better. When we were coming down the access road from the mountain, probably speeding, we rallied around a turn and hit a rock the size of a soccer ball. It didn’t do any cosmetic damage, but it violated the undercarriage of our little A3. We immediately lost power steering and were inundated with tones, alarms, and red lights flashing on the dash. I wasn’t driving, but I was the lucky one who put down my credit card for the rental…DOE! Unfortunately since it was Sunday, we had a dreadful time reaching our rental car agency and were forced to drive it in its dubious condition for 3 hours to the Oslo Airport to pick up another one.

When we explained our story to the rental car agent he immediately asked, “If we lost the power steering?” I responded with, “Oh yeah, totally, does this type of thing happen all the time?” The agent replied after a short pause with a smirk, “yeah… to rally cars.”

Needless to say, I’m happy the day is over. I parted ways with the rest of the guys as I decided to race the two SGs in Hamstall, Norway (another 3 hours away) that start tomorrow so I’m now driving a tiny little French car that handles like a pair of slalom skis in a downhill (i.e. she’s not the A3 rally edition that I’ve come accustom to).

Anyway, I’m tired and want nothing more than the first flight home, but the desperation tour lives on.

I’ll leave you with the quote the kept me here from one of my old teacher’s at NHS, Mark Tilton, “The reason most people fail, rather than succeed is because they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment. Remember what you want most.”

The tour continues and I now know why most rental agencies will not rent to males under 25.

w