Pothana Kambhapati is the proud winner of DELL Rugged Tablet for correctly guessing the time (i.e. Nearest Guess) of the DELL-MCP Rugged Adventure .

Looking back at our journey from San Francisco to Alaska, this is a great stroke of luck as the number of variables we faced till the very end of our journey were numerous. A bad weather day or vehicle emergency could have thrown us off by days. The sheer luck of sunny weather for 14 days during our journey to and from Alaska is what kept this time to under 7 days.
Final bit of statistics as we say good bye is that this stretch of 14 days of sunny weather is the longest, Ravi Narahari ( Native of Washington DC ) has seen since his stay in United States. The drive from California ,Oregon, Washington, British Columbia( Canada) , Yukon (Canada), Alaska to Dead Horse and back, all with sun on our shoulders. Keeping that in view we congratulate Mr. Kambhapati for his genius of guesswork.

MCP-DELL Rugged Adventure Team tiredly reports a successful return to home base in San Francisco on the 14th day of this trip. We took some more side roads on our way home and the night stop of Whistler in British Columbia (Site for 2010 Olympics) was the highlight of these four days it took us to cross remaining miles home. The consistent 10-12 hours of driving each day had started talking toll on both of us and sleeping at the wheel due to fatigue was a concern. Finally, the stories will last a life time for both of us we promise to embellish them with new angles each passing year, and as we get more grey hairs the ride will get more dangerous, the mountains will get higher and baby bears will get bigger. The sense of a completed project and journey gives both of us great satisfaction and the confidence to take other such foolhardy adventures to make our own stories.

…and do buy DELL Rugged IT products next time you are in the market!

Click Here For Latest Photos

On our way back from Dead horse Alaska we have taken the road less traveled and that has made all the difference. The end of day 7 find us camped along the river & day 8 we found a great spot in the Denali National Park to sit back and relax. Today we crossed over back into Canada and are reporting to you from a small town called Dawson in Yukon Territory. The northern lights have put up a show for us in night sky and we will sleep with a warm shower and smile on our face.

We will report occasionally as we make our way back to San Francisco and keep posting some photos to keep you updated. The final winner of this contest will be determined once I am back in the office next week, so please bear with me.

Click Here for Updated Photos..

At the end, and with the benefit of hindsight, neither the journey nor the destination seemed as important. My high school teacher mentioned something about horizons just shifting and other vistas and challenges coming into view. One moves on to other bucket lists and hopes to remember the lessons learnt from the previous endeavours.

Our drive to final city turned out to be much easier than we anticipated and as all other things in life most of the red lights we were told were never there or we missed them and reached Deadhorse around 1’O clock. That does not mean the challenge was not tough or one should take it lightly, but one does get a break and we seem to have cashed in all we had in a hurry. The city of Deadhorse and the Dalton Highway, is mostly used to service the trans-Alaska pipeline sprinkled with a few hardy souls in bicycles, motor cycles and in our case a SUV. As you drive along the 600 miles of pristine landscape the human hand is never forgotten because it is always running alongside. Ravi articulately has decided that is desolate and I agree but then there are other practical things to consider.
Till the next time Au Revoir..!

Click Here For Latest Photos

On day 6, our over night stay at Tok left us short by around 250 miles from the city of Fairbanks which is the starting point of the Dalton Highway which ends in the city of Deadhorse, on the Arctic Ocean. During the early settlement and mining of gold around Alaska, horses were shipped via rail or otherwise and the long journey left them malnourished or dead by the end of their journey,hence the name Deadhorse. Prior to this trip, both members of this Dell-MCP Rugged team believed that
“JOURNEY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE DESTINATION”
For this adventure, that position is publically reversed because the destination has become all consuming for both of us. We may look into the logic of reversal of this policy for later but for now the single focus is required. The team crossed the 66° 33’ parallel to move into the Arctic Circle to pursue this goal on the 6th day of this trip. This was the final leg of our journey but stories we heard in Tok and then at Coldfoot about the weather and the road conditions did not make us warm and fuzzy about this upcoming journey.
While the stories in the bar room were disheartening , we met incredibly positive people like Gustavo, who had started on a bicycle from Buenes Aires 18 months ago and had pedaled the continent all the way to DeadHorse and was now heading back home. With his inspiring send off and some last minute checkup to our vehicle we made good time to end up at the campsite COLDFOOT which is almost half way to the end of the line for these two horses. We are well fed and have good vehicle and hope to make it to the end of the line tomorrow.

Click Here For Latest Photos

“COLD FOOT, ALASKA”

View Larger Map

“MILE POST 175 ON DALTON HIGHWAY”

View Larger Map

Dell-MCP rugged adventure team reached Deadhorse ,Alaska .Further updates later.

Prior to this trip, both members of this Dell-MCP Rugged team believed that
“JOURNEY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAT THE DESTINATION”.
For this adventure, that position is publically denounced.The team crossed the 66ᵒ 33’ parallel to move into the Arctic Circle. Currently they are in the city of COLD FOOT “MILE POST 175 ON DALTON HIGHWAY”.

“COLD FOOT, ALASKA”

View Larger Map

“MILE POST 175 ON DALTON HIGHWAY”

View Larger Map

Due to connectivity issues the photos and videos blog will be updated soon.

We crossed the Canada border into Alaska and with that begins the final phase of this adventure. When we started this morning we were not sure of making it this far but good roads and some heavy footed driving did the trick!!

The dilemma is that, as a song rightly states, that the eyes don’t have a tongue and the tongue does not have eyes. For me personally the words are not enough to describe the beauty and quiet of this picture I will try to paint for you all. Knowing full well it’s not doing justice to the scene. So I am going to invite you all to come and see this part of the world once, so your eyes will see what we have had the privilege to watch with our mouths agape about grand majesty and awesomeness of the scenes we have witnessed.

The early Alaskans gazed at the various streams and rivers around this area and the way the water gushed reminded them of majestic horse prancing in the wind with his white mane spraying about his head  so
they named this town , Whitehorse. If the name intrigues you, pull up the video and let your imagination go wild with our meager attempt at capturing reality. There is another story about Deadhorse, which we will describe
tomorrow or day after depending on the weather and the roads. For now, we are back in the US with the immigration officer ensuring we were reminded of this with their subtle welcome !?

We are coming towards one half of a great adventure but the most difficult ride of this journey lies ahead of us so please keep an eye out for us over next few days to see how this concludes.

Click here for Day-5 Photos

Today’s Video:

Does one go and visit a country or a place or you answer the call to an invite from the place that beckons you?

We entered the Yukon Territory in Canada late in the evening today and the rugged and stark beauty of the landscape overpowered us. We thought only music had such effect but the endless catwalk of beautiful lakes, decked in their best colors of green, sashay along the crisp highways. The majestic and watchful mountains keep an eye over all that unfolds here. One feels the hand of god everywhere. We will try to post more photos and videos so we can share this beauty with you all. The connectivity is getting sketchy so please bear with us over next few days but we promise to keep you all in the loop. Talking of bears, we saw our first Moose and Baby Bear this afternoon and are sharing the photos here. We could have reached out and cuddled the baby, the idea of angering mama bear kept us in our vehicle. The Moose was bit further and gave a distinct angry look as if we were trespassing.

Coming back to the starting thought, the people we have met during this leg of our journey so far range from Linda, the owner of the motel in Nugget City, who has on her wall a stuffed head of 1800 pound moose she shot herself after tracking it for hours. Another couple had just completed a 10 day river trip and Judy is a 73 year old grandmother who has her own farm and has done the 1500 mile trip to Whitehorse more times than she could remember. These are hardy souls and their lively and hardy nature matches the nature of the country they live in. So do we choose a place to live or the place chooses us, it’s is worth a thought.

Tomorrow we head thru city of Whitehorse after which we will enter the US territory again at beaver creek. Once we enter into US, we will stop taking entries for guessing how much time we will take to
Deadhorse as this is getting too near the final stages. If all goes as per planning we will making our final ascent to our summit during next 48 to 52 hours after we enter back into Red, White and Blue territory.

The third day of trip finds us by the lake side Burns in British Columbia (BC), Canada. We had an early luck at Hope, BC during our early morning walk when we ran into a fellow traveler who had returned from the areas of BC with updates on the travel conditions. They say, when you make up your mind to do something, then the whole world conspires to make it a success. Furthermore we ran into a 70 plus year gentlemen who had returned from a trip from BC to Nova Scotia and back which took him 2 years to complete… On a bike! We have no cause to complain or toot our horn after meeting this gentleman. Before we get too high on ourselves along comes a Canadian Copper warning us that if we go over the speeding limit by a certain click we would have had our vehicle impounded and spend a week checking out their jail facilities. The thud was heard with both of us landing on our backsides and to make matters a bit clearer for both of us.

Well all said and done, we are at a rustic camp after a dinner of steak and mashed potatoes, on an open fire grill and tents set up to crawl into….Good Night..

Click Here to See latest Photos

The end of Day 2 of this rugged adventure finds us in the city of HOPE in Canada. We over slept this morning and took a side tour to get a closer look at Mt Helena turned into an impromptu lunch by the lake. The traffic did not help as we were late in getting to Vancouver and a two hour wait at Immigration and Customs tested our patience and planning and fair bit. We had a wonderful dinner at Ken Dhillon and his lovely wife Parminder in Surrey, British Columbia before heading out on Highway 1 for our first leg of our journey in Canada. Besides a great dinner we managed to hit Ken for a Canadian Version of Hotspot wi-fi terminal so we can stay in touch over next few days.

Click here to see Day -1 Photos

Day 2 Video

Crossed the Golden gate bridge and escapade began, after a hearty Indian breakfast made by Sergi’s mom and the trip thru down town San Francisco, over the golden gate bridge, past mount Shasta with snow caps into Oregon.

All the months of planning and the excitement starts. We have a high tech rugged laptop mounted in the car and a video camera mounted on the hood. All the technology that we can handle. Hope you enjoy my creativity or lack there off on the video link provided.

Tomorrow we hope to drive into Canada, scurrying past Seattle and Vancouver. The most excitement we had was the video creation. Imagine this ..!! Driving almost 600 miles and not only creating a video content but editing it to add narration, music and still photos. All this with an intermittent web link. We think we can work in this high tech vehicle of ours and keep going until we cross over the top.

Tomorrow looks like another great weather day and we will catch up with you via Blog and social media.

The Dell-MCP Rugged Adventure Team crossed over the last span of Golden Gate Bridge at 9:55 Pacific Standard Time.
This time will start the official stop watch on our website which will countdown the time until we reach DeadHorse in Alaska.

Please sign on our Blog and add us to your Facebook pages to get a daily update of our progress or lack of as we undertake this approximately 3500 mile journey. Please keep in mind that this is not a race for time and keep in mind the vehicle and other issues that may come up. We will stop website form for sending in your entries once we reach Canadian/Alaskan border but till then you can send in your time estimate. You can send double entries as long as you use a different email address for each submission. You can communicate with us directly by commenting on our Blog.

This is a good time to make some high flying statements but I want to take this time to thank everybody involved in this trip during last 4-5 months. Starting with Heather Wilcox and Mike Willen at Dell, everybody at Dell and my main office in San Marcos has been extremely supportive and enthusiastic about this endeavor. My special mention for technical support Team in India who has been working overtime to keep the website and other related issues working under some trying situations when social media rules were being changed almost weekly.

Finally, join us on the social media at Facebook , Twitter , Google + and LinkedIN as this event is intended as a social gathering and all are invited.

Ravi Narahari finally arrived from DC and that completes our team. As usual he brings this whirlwind of energy and we have visited Any Mountain, Walmart, Home Depot, O’Rielly Auto and two different auto shops to satisfy his list of requirements that he dug out. Now we can live on the road for months. He has tents and related paraphernalia, and cooking grill and utensils in this list. He did not like the way Toyota brakes were behaving so we will be back in the shop for few hours today.

This was also a reunion of some sorts, as he is meeting my parents after a gap of almost 25 years. My mother remembers him for he was one of the few people who could cook all she had and force her to make extra Chappati’s while he waited patiently at the dinner table. This time he is kind enough to let her know how many of those he will eat so she was fore warned. But it is good to have him back as our household is abuzz with activity now. He does that to you.

My parents talk of this trip in some sort of pilgrimage language. My mother is busy cooking for the trip and I am sure Ravi will have no reason to cook for first few days of our journey. Tina, my wife is more religious and talks to the guy upstairs all the time for our safe travels. My daughter Kavitta and I are of more business bend of mind and looking to see where a buck can me made here so marketing angle of this all is supreme in our mind. Moreover, I am looking forward to the deadline tomorrow cos that will mean the months of planning will come to an end and hopefully all the loose ends will look nice and shiny so the trip is fruitful for all.

We have set a new link on top of the page which will take you to the daily blog where the video links and daily photos can be browsed. We can only keep you updated if you will go to our facebook page here and “like us “to keep us socially connected. Any feedback is always welcome via our blog here.
Final reminder. D-Day Minus 1.

Checkout Our latest Photos Here..

As you can see from the photo the Dell E6430 unit is working nicely in the vehicle mount. Ravi Narahari is flying in from Washington DC tomorrow with GoHero video camera and other equipment that will be connected to this unit. I have purchased a Nikon D7000 after some heavy you tube watching for the tutorials and honestly think it is too much of a camera for me. You will see the results as we venture out and start sharing photos with you all. So the vehicle, IT technology & communication, video and photography aspects are going to come together in next 24 hours. Friday will be for testing and collecting last minute things before we head out early Saturday morning. We plan to start the clock once we cross the Golden gate bridge in San Francisco and will post photos and videos of the same so we all have a validated starting date and time.

Following videos are capture today..

Video 1

Let’s talk shop….!!!

Dell Rugged and semi-rugged laptops, tablet and servers can be used to provide basis of high quality solutions for various Police and fire departments at state and local level. Also federal agencies like DHS, DOD, ARMY and intelligence can use this rugged equipment to provide high quality services and solutions under trying environmental conditions. MCP works and adds value by working with companies like HAVIS and others, whose mounting brackets you see in the picture, to provide complete end to end solutions. Words like Infrastructure and Cloud Integration need to be discussed in the same sentence as Software Development and Big Data to be able make sense of this fast moving technology curve where companies and Agencies look for solutions and not piecemeal approach to solve their problems, so they can achieve their mission goals.

This was important to note because the main aim is to sell our product and services to you, and I don’t want to veer away from that aim for too long.

Coming back to the fun part, we are making the final touches to this process of being ready to kickoff on this adventure on the 17 Th of August, 2013. As you can see from the photo the Dell E6430 unit is working nicely in the vehicle mount. Ravi Narahari is flying in from Washington DC tomorrow with GoHero video camera and other equipment that will be connected to this unit. I have purchased a Nikon D7000 after some heavy you tube watching for the tutorials and honestly think it is too much of a camera for me. You will see the results as we venture out and start sharing photos with you all. So the vehicle, IT technology & communication, video and photography aspects are going to come together in next 24 hours. Friday will be for testing and collecting last minute things before we head out early Saturday morning. We plan to start the clock once we cross the Golden gate bridge in San Francisco and will post photos and videos of the same so we all have a validated starting date and time.

Finally, I am not too happy with social media marketing and response to this campaign and I ask you to share this opportunity to win a DELL Rugged Tablet with your friends, family and co workers. This is not too much to ask among friends eh..!!

Introductions are in order before we head out this Saturday for our Rugged adventure …!!! My partner in this crazy ride will need no further introduction after I share this small story how I met Ravi Narahari in early 80′s while at DAV College, Jalandhar, India.

Small town college was a buzz with scandal & excitement when a training grenade exploded in the dorm bathrooms. Ravi’s very cool and calm reply to this whole episode was that he was” bored”.

Fast forward this to current times, I don’t think he had to think past a blink of an eye when the drive to the top of the world was broached and accepted . We both have bounced around different countries and settled on the opposite coasts of this great country and are looking forward to share this adventure together and with you all.

Our ride is a 2001 hand me down, Toyota Sequoia, with more miles than I care to share with you all . It has character and I have full confidence in its abilities to bring us back without much drama. Any disparaging remarks about this member will not be taken lightly.

I, Sergi Ghai, am the third member of this crazy trio and will need no further introduction after you read about the company I keep and travel. In the end I ask you to connect with us on our Facebook, Twitter or Google+ pages and read and see how this trio does during our approx 8k mile round trip journey.

August 7. 2013.

Since we will be travelling to this town situated at the end of famous “Dalton Highway ” starting August 17th 2013, I thought it was wise to check upon the name. One does wonder at such things …!!

Sources conflict on the origin of the area’s name. The most cited theory appears to be that the area takes its name from a local business prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, the “Dead Horse Haulers” trucking company. How the trucking company got its name remains in dispute. This is also the beginning or end of an Iron Butt Association motorcycle rider challenge called “The Ultimate Coast to Coast”. This ride starts from Key West, Florida, and gives riders 30 days to reach Deadhorse, Alaska. So our challenge from San Francisco to Deadhorse pales in comparison but the adventure beckons and we will answer the call.

Deadhorse is featured on the third through sixth seasons of Ice Road Truckers, a reality television series airing on the History Channel. The show, which dramatizes trucking on the Dalton Highway, often features truckers transporting equipment to the oil companies located in or around the Prudhoe Bay area. It is also the subject of the second episode of America’s Toughest Jobs and is featured in the first episode of the BBC’s World’s Most Dangerous Roads featuring Charley Boorman and Sue Perkins.

Some weather related information.

As the area is located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 2,temperatures below −40 °F/°C can be expected during the height of winter.

• Longest day: 63 days, 23 hours, 40 minutes (12:09 a.m. on May 20 to 11:18 p.m. on July 22)
• Shortest day: 45 min (11:42 a.m. to 12:27 p.m. on November 24)
• Longest night: 54 days, 22 hours, 51 min (12:27 p.m. on November 24 to 11:18 a.m. on January 18)
• Shortest night: 26 min (11:43 p.m. on May 19 to 12:09 a.m. on May 20)
• Highest recorded temperature: 83 °F (28 °C) on 21 June 1991
• Lowest recorded temperature: −62 °F (−52 °C) on 27 January 1989
• Highest wind speed recorded: 95 knots (109 mph; 176 km/h) on 25 February 1989
• Official lowest wind chill: −102 °F (−74 °C) on 28 January 1989 (air temperature of −54 °F or −48 °C) and wind speed of 31 kn (36 mph; 57 km/h)

I will  share with you more information as we research our trip in the days ahead. My current conundrum was to find somebody local in Deadhorse who could ascertain the time of our arrival , so we could stop the clock on our website and determine who is the winner. For now it seems like a tough ask as most of the working people there work in 2 week shifts and who will be there at our arrival is up in the air. Any ideas how to solve this minor wrinkle are welcome . For that matter any feedback will be appreciated.

Stay tuned for more info as we get ready to take on this adventure.

A seasoned entrepreneur Sergi Ghai came up with a briliant marketing idea on how best to advertise his business partner Dell’s Rugged line of products along with his company, MCP capabilities. He combined ruggedness and mobility to create a campaign from San Francisco to the Artic Circle. A 7000 mile drive, plus camping plus blogging plus plus plus. I Ravi Narahari decided to join him …. ten days to go, stay tuned for lots of excitement lots of ruggedness and fun

Visit us at www.GOmcpgov.com and fill out the form to join us on this adventure and as an added benefit if you get lucky you may win a DELL Rugged Tablet.  This adventure is of a life time in thought process however will be executed in a short amount of time and very appropriate for the campaign, rugged combined with mobility. We shall be driving to the Artic circle demonstrating both and having fun along the way.  If you choose to participate in the excitement,  join us via any of the social media options.

The road trip to the top of the world is thrilling and exciting adventure.To be able to incorporate and promote world class IT products we sell is fortuitous but what is downright fun and party waiting to happen on the social media scene. This campaign is combining the ruggedness of the technology with the journey we are about to undertake and share that with you all with the goal to demonstrate “mobility with ruggedness, ie: location is no longer a limiting factor”. The incredible ability this technology provides us to connect with you all participating and following this road trip.So to keep you updated and share our daily journey please provide us with some of your social media credential.

A road trip to the end of the road – literally. When this idea was conceived, we knew it would be a thrilling and exciting experience. It seemed appropriate to test the limits of the world’s most rugged and durable mobile computing products with a race to the top of the world. Dell is tough where it counts and its Rugged line of laptops and tablets offers on-the-go productivity without sacrificing computing power.
Throughout this journey, the Adventure Team will be traveling through some of the most remote and isolated areas of the country. This is the Yukon and the Arctic Circle. Twenty-four hours of daylight. Even in this extreme environment, Dell technology keeps you connected and you can track the Team’s progress live throughout the road trip. Stay updated and be part of the expedition.
Sign up now for a chance to win a Free Dell Tablet.