The trials and tribulations continue!

4th May 2023

30th April: There’s a renewed sense of drive – we are having a sit down and getting the whole team up to date with where we are so we can share the burden. Confirming start dates, coast guard cover along the coast, resupply points have changed, social media, airing our concerns – it’s a great feeling to have the whole team together!!

Food and kayaks are high on agenda due to time frames involved, road moves to Canada crossing borders – it’s all moving just not quickly enough!

We have all struggled with the uncertainty; we have to shoulder the burden and share the good news and bad news.

The thing that strikes me with this team is that we all are strong characters and the group dynamic has created this environment where we are all valued and have a voice, our individuality has been brought out and it has added a sense of pride.

29th April: The rest of the team is landing in a couple of hours! You can cut the excitement with a knife!! The amazing thing about this group is the range of personalities, these leaders of men, these explorers, pushing what people think is the norm, and there is no ego involved! Just 8 friends that slot into their roles and responsibilities working as a unit and getting stuff done! It is a brotherhood like no other!

The exuberant nature of the team is slowly returning and it is a joyous thing to behold!

This expedition is like surfing an endless wave sometimes you are on the crest and living your best life, sometimes you get hammered whilst paddling out, the key is to keep on working, concentrate on the next breath, the next stroke then the next! 

28th April: Tensions are running high!! Phone calls to and from the U.K!! Trying to sort out our airfreight and people are just passing the buck! No communication; no updates! This is starting to really test the team! We are now getting saddled with extra costs due to incompetence; flights have changed so many times; our food might not arrive in time. Kayaks are now getting flown to Las Vegas so it’s an 18 hour plus road move!! Our start date is now in doubt

What a difference a phone call can make! Theo spoke to Mick at Benco Freight services -what a legend working until 01:00 in the morning sorting out all the paperwork! Without Mick we would be stuck with no hope and more delays!! We are buzzing! We are one step closer to getting our kit!!! It’s a wave of emotion – the ups and downs!! This is happening… the team is smiling and the rest of the team is landing tomorrow which is fantastic news!!!

27th April: Ahh yes the trials and tribulations continues!! If it doesn’t rain it pours!! So when everything starts to fall into place life has a way of making you go ‘what the actual…? Can I have a little break please!!’ The never ending cycle of on the bus off the bus continues; the problems with kit, kayaks and our food is starting to be comical! We are busy playing air freight bingo!

We decided to come to Tacoma Narrows National park and look at the water and feel the breeze and get kissed by the sun because the next couple of days it looks grim and grey!

And now our timings have slipped to the  right and we are delayed by 2/3 days – sad day! Can feel and see the disappointment on the boys’ faces! When you place the control into someone else’s hands that doesn’t have the same investment or sense of urgency, it turns into a very frustrating and draining experience!!!

Theo did the team proud with his presentation to the local Kiwanis Club, it is a very humbling and emotionally charged experience when random strangers buy into your dream and expedition. The flood of well wishes, support and offers of help blows my mind! A good example of this is the Mayor of Steilacoom, a retired editor of an international newspaper, a journalist and a camerawoman made an appointment to promote our expedition by sitting down to hear our story and write articles about our journey, to connect with the team on a personal level!  

And this makes me uncomfortable and sad because we had to fly to another country to get the press to buy into our journey to get airtime to promote a charity!

To see how far we have come! 

If someone tells me now that this once in a lifetime experience is over today I will hold my head up high with a smile on my face and I will go ‘you know what these last couple of years was some of the best times I ever had!’ These lovable rogues has dragged me out of so much darkness and the lowest of lows; we can sit around a fire, laugh and cry, there is no judgement, no ego, only pure brotherly love picking up our broken pieces and duct taping them together. Giving me back that feeling of belonging to something greater than myself! This is what life is about! Sharing that human connection we all crave, that feeling of I am enough,  with someone who gives a fuck next to me under a moonlit night around a fire! There is nothing that comes close!!! 

Markus Strydom MC