Off to a Good Start and Landed Just Outside Salzburg…

Day 1: Wohlen (CH) – Salzburg (AU)

With great excitement we met this Wednesday morning at the Oase. We finalised the last preparations and while hitching the trailers to the rally cars we discovered that Gloria had no power to the trailer and therefore no trailer lights either.

Unload everything again, track down the fault, and repair the cable break. Load everything back in, hitch the trailer and form up the convoy. At 12:00 noon we launched a balloon competition — one balloon per rally car bearing its name — to see which balloon would be found where and by whom. A fine crowd of friends then gave us a proper send-off punctually at 12:12 pm for our big journey.

We arrived ahead of schedule for our PCR test in Dättwil, and once all team members had completed it, we drove on to Schaffhausen and Thayngen to cross the border. Things at customs also went like clockwork — Oliver Dux cleared our relief supplies through customs, and after a brief check by the German customs officers we were able to continue the journey towards Austria.

After Munich, Selma became a little less friendly and lit up not with her headlights but with two warning lights on the dashboard. After a quick check and topping up the automatic transmission fluid, the journey continued. A heavy hailstorm accompanied us before the Austrian border. After leaving Germany behind, we crossed into Austria at around 10:00 pm and settled in for our first sleeping bivouac at the rest stop right next to it. Tomorrow we will drive all the way through Austria and then through Hungary — that’s the plan.

Brief summary:

Today’s first day went well — even with a few technical challenges — and the planned stage destination near Salzburg has been reached.

Now we’re going to bed happily after a well-earned evening beer.

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Your Judo goes Orient – Team