Wanna Be Schumacher by Kimberly Dods

The drive to the airport is probably going to go down as the scariest part of this race.  Give your 23 year old the keys to your BMW and you have a Michael Schumacher wanna be.  It’s Sunday morning, eyes barely open (not for long) and there I am being driven by Schumacher down the M1 at 160 kms per hour.  Remind why is she driving?  Oh, I forgot...I don’t know how to drive..hummmm.  Quiet mom!  I’m driving and I know how to drive, not like you..hummm...I stay quiet because I know she’s right.   Please just get me on the plane in one piece, I silently pray as I untangle my new angel wing necklace. I want to get it on asap. I really think I need it, not so much for the race but for this very scary drive.

I think the kids were delighted seeing me pass through the doors of the airport.  After the usual lecture, if anything happens to me look after each other, have a fab party and don’t spend all the cash in 7 days and give some to charity.  I waved goodbye to my beautiful Schumacher and her equally beautiful co-pilot brother and off they raced.  I think the last thing I heard them say or scream...was yea, HOUSE PARTY!  Who do you think is going to have more fun? The penguins and me or the Schumacher’s.  Have fun guys, please don’t break all the glasses and save a glass of wine for me when I get home.

Penguin Talk by Kimberly Dods

What a way to pack for the adventure of a lifetime!  It’s the night before departure and here I am looking at the mountain of equipment that has been lying on my bedroom floor for weeks.  Why oh why do we procrastinate and leave the most important things for the very last minute.  The decisions that lay before me are just so difficult....what does a girl wear to the coldest place on earth!  Give me Ibiza or Cape Town, but Antarctica....so many penguins to impress!

Looking down at the two piles  before me,  what’s in and what’s out, I’m feeling as if I’m making progress and then as if some god with a warped sense of humour decided to play a practical joke on me, I’m in total darkness.  You know the kind of African darkness where all you can see is nothing. No matches, no candles, packing comes to an abrupt halt!  Shit, and I thought I was doing so well.

Time ticks past....I’m feeling anxious, I need sleep, I need to be rested, I haven’t slept for days...I need to PACK!  Why do we always leave the most important things for the last minute? Why?

My intention was so good, for weeks I had begged, barrowed and broke the piggy bank to get the 57 items of mandatory equipment....now my new bedroom carpet. Every day I woke up to it and every night I kissed it good night....it just whispered back to me....please....pleeeeeze., No I had to wait for the perfect moment, a romantic candle lit moment to pack.

So there I was, with my glass of delicious Chardonnay and a room full of candles, I said farewell to my 40kgs of stuff I think I will need to survive the Last Desert.  I hope the penguins are impressed!

The countdown has begun!  The sleepless nights, endless questions racing through my brain and doubt plague my days.  All I do is run.....run when I wake up, run when I get to the office, run to the shops to buy yet another piece of equipment I think I need to surrive Antarctica and then run home to yet another sleepless night!

And then I see someone coming towards me in the office, and I can see they have that look on their face like they have to ask me something, and I know what that something is....AM I CRAZY! No.  I am not crazy.  I love the thought of running around in circles in Antarctica freezing my but off.  But most of all, I love that they think I'm crazy. 

Thanks guys for all your support.  I will try and be a good blogger and keep you all up to date as this journey unfolds.