Knowdedge is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad.

Things are coming along nicely.

The Chevy van is booked in for an MOT on Monday. One possible failure is the dodgy looking shock absorber bushes, but a reliable source informs us that if we 'cover them in mud' we'll probably be ok.

The quest to find a spare tyre for the Jag could be successful in about an hour, when an eBay listing ends. Hoping to pick up a bargain there.

More importantly for now, we had another meeting on Thursday night with most of us there. Unfortunately Bob couldn't make it, so in his absence we allocated him loads of jobs to do. Sure he won't mind.

True to form the meeting was in the pub, with pints and burgers and loads of lad chat. Oh, and we talked about the trip too - we even took minutes. None of this back of a matchbox stuff, that would be incredibly amateur. No, we're professionals. Our minutes are on the back of an envelope (see pic to the left if you dare doubt our organisational skills).

We've now established a more detailed route, with specific towns along the way as checkpoints. The method behind this was very scientific - we looked at a map and shouted out towns with funny sounding names. Still, it's a base for the journey, and we're going to have to be flexible along the way anyway.

We've agreed that we need three vehicles no matter what, so if the van doesn't make it, we take plan C (the Escort). We've also agreed that camping by the roadside is not a great idea due to sanitary and safety concerns - nowhere to poo, and a good chance of getting 'moved on' by the locals. We're taking tents and sleeping bags just in case, but we've decided to try and book B&Bs in advance day by day, depending on how far we get.

There's more to think about, such as: tools, spares, radios, breakdown cover, insurance, power invertors (don't ask), jump leads, oil, a stove, cameras etc. Rest assured we have this all in hand now.