By Justin Mounts

Beep. Beep. Beep. The alarm’s going off. Ugh. It’s 6:30 AM, and it’s time to go to work….

Welcome to America’s playground -- Las Vegas, NV. It’s day 3 of the expedition, and the team is piled into 3 hotel rooms in Sin City for the SEMA auto show. Our goal here is very simple — raise funding for the expedition by walking around and talking to companies about donating money to offset our expedition costs. It’s a pretty good deal for them because they get exposure all over the world.

Now, if you’ve never been to SEMA or never even heard of it, that’s okay. It stands for the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer’s Association. And you should know that it’s huge. And I mean HUGE. There are 9,100 exhibitors at the show. SEMA is filled with any type of auto product you could ever hope to use. From flashing lights that go on the rims of tires to cryogenically treated spark plugs, it’s all at the show. Not only is the show filled with auto parts, classic hot rods, and the latest full-bore racing modifications, it has showgirls. Not the kind that dance in rhythm on stage under lights, but short-skirt, knee-sock, low-cut blouse wearing girls that will flirt, cajole or pose for you just so you stop in their booth for 3 seconds. But we have to stay focused. No short skirts for us—well, not yet anyway.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. I was saying that not only is Vegas full of distractions, but the task of working out team logistics and getting everyone from point A to B can give you an ulcer, or a migraine, or a desire to cause great bodily harm to people. But no one on the team has time for any of those things. We have to get in, get the lay of the land, and get to work. Easy, right? Let’s see—it should take us 20 minutes to get from the hotel to the convention center. About another 20-30 minutes to register and pick up our badges, and about 10 minutes to find our booth and get busy. At least, that’s what was going through my mind after I finally had a cup of coffee and started thinking about the day ahead. Here’s how it actually happened.

We fought traffic for about a half hour. It took me over an hour and a mile of walking to get permission to enter the convention center. I was tired, sweaty, and a little pissed by the time I got inside, but I didn’t have time for that. I got dropped off early so I could put some more stickers on the vehicles inside promoting our sponsors. There was only 30 minutes left until the show opened. Once I was there, I was able to get to work quickly. I was finally able to meet up with half of the team around lunchtime. We tried to schedule a group lunch so we could review the list of companies at SEMA and create a game plan for talking to them about sponsorship. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. The film crew was held up a fair portion of the day trying to get their press passes and permission to film inside the convention center. Nick and Chanda were knocked out of action trying to get internet access to work on the www.drivearoundtheworld.com website. The rest of us were just tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. So, we went separate ways.

After lunch, the team was finally able to focus on what we came here to do. Pick up girls. Oops…that was the film crew’s goal. (Just kidding). Sponsorship! We’re here to raise money. So, off we go. The film crew’s going to hit up all the mobile electronics manufacturers, and the rest of us will split of among tools, car care, and SUV accessories. The rest of the day followed the same script for all of us.

“Hi, I’m with Drive Around the World. I was wondering if you had a few minutes…” You get the picture. We didn’t have any luck today, but there are 4 more days and about 9000 more booths to visit. We have our work cut out for us.

Now, where’s that bikini contest that’s supposed to be held every day?

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.