The 2CV Alaska Challenge
Bulletin No.12 AU REVOIR LITTLE DUCK Winnipeg, Manitoba. Saturday 14th August 1999. MILE 1677 (2725Km) of the 2CV Alaska Challenge. Total Sponsorship Amount so far = £1.68p (at 1 penny per ten miles) The No.2 car's engine was running like a constipated pig, but despite this it managed to make it all the way to Winnipeg, where some guy called Blair Anderson put us up for 3 days. Who's this Blair Anderson..? he runs a huge web site called the Citroen Connection, and part of the Citroen Connection is an obscure little site called The 2CV Alaska Challenge. Life's full of strange little coincidences like that. Blair and his wife Nancy and their son Neal showed us what prairie hospitality is all about and took good care of us during our time in Winnipeg, a wonderful city, what with its many parks and tree lined boulevards and diverse cultures. Blair also surprised us when he said he'd take the No.2 car off our hands. Was this guy serious..? apparently he was, which was good because Jose and I knew the sick duck wouldn't make it to the Winnipeg city limits, let alone Alaska. Blair adjusted the wing mirror and it came off in his hands: nothing some duct tape and a big whack with a hammer wouldn't fix. Rob leaned casually across the windscreen, hoping that Blair wouldn't notice the rusty hole in the bodywork. Blair didn't notice the rusty hole in the bodywork and so the No.2 car found a new home in Winnipeg. It was an emotional moment, bidding farewell to the No.2 car, a duck that had been our faithfull, if somewhat temperamental companion on the tortuous 3640 mile (5915Km) drive up from Savannah. Jose got quite emotional and gave the No.2 car a last kick for luck. She's funny that way. And so after a relaxing break in Winnipeg it was just Jose, Rob and the No.1 car that set off into the sunset, west across the prairies; and at the end of this long road, within sight of the Rocky Mountains, lay Calgary, a city that Rob had lived in 12 years previously in the run-up to the 1988 Winter Olympics, a city that left an indelible mark on Rob (ok, it was a woman). The time had come to return to Calgary and to bury the past, but there's nothing more boring than other people's relationships... END.
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