Impending start update

Hey folks,
It's been awhile since I last provided an update. Things are progressing (as time requires), and we've had a couple hiccups:
- Shipping proved problematic. Our first shipper tried to nearly triple the price w/in a week of us delivering the ambo for shipment. This caused us to dump this fellow and go in search of a new shipper. Time got away, and by the time shipping got arranged it was too late to get it to the UK in time for the launch, which is a shame, but as there's nothing we can do about it @ this point, it's just a loss we'll have to absorb. Now the ship, the Texas, is scheduled to arrive into Bremerhaven, Germany on the 25th with our ambo. They've given us a date of the 27th for pick-up, but because we're still hoping to make the Czech event in time, we'll push to see if we can't get it a day early, the 26th. Cross your fingers...
-The other sorta big thing also has to do w/ delivery date, sorta... Max had timing issues wrt visas, and so of the Central Asian countries only will have a visa for Kazakhstan. This means that the ambo and I will likely be alone from the Azeri border till the Kazakh border. I'm hoping to meet up w/ a team doing a similar route @ the Czech event that I can travel with through Central Asia. Again, this'll have to be a wait and see sorta thing. Worst case, I'm going to be pissing into the wind, and going it alone. I can almost picture it now: me w/ a couple months of beard, a cowboy hat, and a massive American ambulance bounding though the desert plains of Turkmenistan w/ "Party in the USA" blasting on the radio. If so requested, photos and video may be taken of such happenings.
- More minor things: the ambo I don't think ever had its A/C charged (Max?); we have no spare wheels; I'm not sure what our status of vehicle recovery equipment is (Max?), but my present impression is we have none; we presently possess no roads maps (this'll probably be addressed, but maybe not)

This'll be interesting...

I'm presently hanging out in northern Netherlands, doing what prep work I can, and looking forward to the Netherlands largest semi-truck festival this Saturday. Bremerhaven comes this Sunday, and we'll see what we can do about getting the ambo early. Till then...