Hey, just got my first Internet access in Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates. So here's my first post from the Persian Gulf!

I wasn't the only one on the JFK to Abu Dhabi flight headed to the Emirate for this big race. Sam (a female Sam, and she's unforgettable), a television producer for Jeep World of Adventure Sports, was on the jet with elements of her crew. They're covering this race for Jeep World of Adventure Sports on NBC. Her one-hour show about the July 2008 Mountain X Race in the French Alps recently ran on Discovery Channel HD, but I missed it. Any of you see the show?

Three of DART-nuun's four competing athletes were on the flight as well; Glenn Rogers, Matt Hayes and Mari Chambers.  Not yet in NYC for the big flight to the Middle East was Ryan VanGorder, more commonly known as "RVG," who's going to be a day behind us. While at JFK we also met up with Colorado's Jay Henry, who is racing here with Richard and Elina Usher's New Zealand team, Desert Islands.

I'm afraid the jet lag is going to be tough on me. Abu Dhabi is exactly 12 hours ahead of Portland, Ore., where I'm from. So even though my watch tells me it's 7:45 at night, my body tells me it's actually 7:45 in the morning, and hey, dummy, you didn't sleep a wink last night! What were you thinking? I'll try to be in bed by 10 p.m. local time so I'll be ready to post like a madman tomorrow.