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Cross-Country Adventure in a Volvo XC70: Race Across the States

May 17th, 2011

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I hear their voices coming from 30 feet below: Just let go. Let yourself fall. It’s like falling back off a diving board. Just let go.

I make the mistake of looking down. My stomach lurches. What am I doing up here clinging to these ‘rocks’? Fifteen minutes earlier, I was nestled cozily in the sleek sandstone, leather-clad seat of a Volvo XC70, cruising the smooth Strip of Las Vegas, marvelling at the lush vegetation and grandiose palaces lining the street. Husband and team partner, Garry Sowerby, was powering the 300-horsepower luxury SUV north to the destination address written on our most recent ‘clue’ packet.

Now he’s way down below, with the rock-climbing instructor, urging me to ‘let go’ so that he can capture video as I plummet 30 feet in free fall. Well, not quite free fall. I have a harness on and I’m hooked to a tether that will supposedly ‘auto-belay’ me down this wall studded with menacing humps and threatening juts. Is this how the Vikings felt? Did they have to scale the inhospitable cliffs of Newfoundland when they first sighted North America? They were probably slightly more intrepid and uninhibited.

Oh well, there’s only one way down and it’s up to me. Let go.

It’s Day 1 of the Volvo XC Adventure Race across the States from Los Angeles to Gateway, Colorado and so far we’ve seen sharks, raced through lunch at The Mad Greek, uploaded Tweets and Facebook posts on the fly, climbed a 30-foot rock wall, and piloted a sexy (not boxy) Caspian Blue 2011 Volvo XC70 through the Mojave Desert, maintaining an average mile-per-US-gallon reading of 25 or more. Why? Well, that will get you 50 bonus points in the Challenge and we, Team Edgar, the only Canadian team of the 16-team roster, are in it to win it. Stay tuned...

Follow us on Twitter: Garry at @DrivenMind99 and me, Lisa at @FrontLady.

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