We only have 169 “fans” (at the time of this posting). We want more! We want you! Help us reach 1,000 by May 1, 2009. You should want to be our “fan” for a bevy of reasons:

1. You can stay in touch with other High Trek Adventure “fans”
2. Share tips with other adventure racers
3. Even find an urban race partner
4. Read our blog…we’ll have special discounts, fun facts and other cool tid bits

You can follow me and know my every move. I twitter about 1-5 times a day. Now you’ll know my favorite piece of sushi, if I like the movie “The Sound of Music,” or how I’m feeling about the latest Boston Red Sox Trade (yes, I’m part of Red Sox Nation).

I can’t wait for this show! The grand prize is 10 million big ones!!! That’s crazy! I just found out that it airs in the fall of 2009 (it was suppose to air this fall).

Here’s the gist:
Hosted by Rob Mariano (The Amazing Race and Survivor fame), 15 contestants are each given a key. One of the keys unlocks the riches of the 10 milllllyun dollars! Once the keys are doled out, the race begins and over the next 100 days the contestants will face mental challenges and physical tasks. In the end, the person who holds at 15 keys wins!!!

Here’s the history of the tontine (courtesy of Wikipedia):
The basic concept is simple. Each investor pays a sum into the tontine. The funds are invested and each investor receives dividens. As each investor dies, his or her share is divided amongst the surviving investors. This process continues until only one investor survives. Originally, the last surviving subscriber received only the dividends: the capital reverted to the state upon his or her death and was used to fund public works projects, which often contained the word “tontine” in their name. In a later variation, the capital would devolve upon the last survivor, effectively dissolving the trust and usually making the survivor very wealthy; it is this version that has often been the plot device for mysteries and detective stories.

While once very popular in France, Britain and the United States, tontines have been banned in Britain and the United States due to the incentive for investors to kill one another, thereby increasing their shares. Geneva, in Switzerland, was known for its active market in tontines in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nevertheless, there are underground organizations in the US that still use the tontine, and ownership of a business or property by joint tenancy with right of survivorship has much the same effect.

I’ll have more updates from time to time.

Yesterday I posted a recap of last week’s TAR. Sadly our pick (Terence and Sarah) were eliminated. We vowed to regroup and pick our new team. Here’s what we are going to do:

There is one particular team that I’m rooting for: Toni and Dallas. Do I think they are going to win? Maybe. Maybe not. The strongest team left is probably Nick and Starr. They get along. Know how to play the game. They don’t make mistakes. They are not vegetarian! ;P

How I hope TAR will finish this week:
4. Nick & Starr
3. Ken & Tina
2. Dan & Andrew
1. Toni & Dallas

How I actually think they will finish:
4. Toni & Dallas
3. Dan & Andrew
2. Ken & Tina
1. Nick & Starr

Teams leave Humayans Tomb and must fly 1,000 miles to Almaty, Kazakston a chicken factory where they will find the first clue box. Lucky for Terrance & Sarah and Dan & Andrew, the chicken factory did not open until 7:30 a.m. All teams caught up. The gate opened and the five remaining teams raced to the clue box to find that they had a choice between a Road Block and a Fast Forward.

Road Block: Search for the Golden Egg
One team member must search to find one of seven golden eggs. Sounds easy. Did I mention that there are 30,000 chickens!

Once teams find the golden egg they must travel by crane to Koktobe Arch where they must follow a marked path to meet a Mongol Warrior. It is here where they will find their next clue, which happens to be a Detour.

Fast Forward: Eat Local Delicacy
Nick & Starr and Terence & Sarah raced for the the Fast Forward where the both team members had to finish a traditional meal: the fat of a rear end of a sheep. Sarah felt like this was a bad idea. Will she be right?

At the restaurant, N&S and T&S found out that what they were eating was meat. Terrence is a vegetarian and hasn’t dined on animal in 15 or 16 years. He bit off more than he could chew and waved the white flag. If it were Sarah who could not finish the task (for a million dollars) I think Terrence would not have understanding or sympathy. Terrence better remember this moment and realize how lucky he is to have a woman like Sarah in his life.

Detour: Play Like Mad or Act Like Fools

Play Like Mad: Teams must head to the Museum of Folk Musical Instrument where they must learn to play the dombra and the kobyz. Once their instructor feels that they have mastered their instruments they are sent out to the park where the must play for the locals and collect tips. Once they receive the equivalent of $1.50 they will get their next clue.

No team chose this one; I wouldn’t have either.

Act Like Fools: Teams must head to a children’s puppet theatre, find the wardrobe dept and don a cow costume. Once suited the two person squad must head out on to the streets of Almaty to find a milk stand, drink the milk AND look at the bottom of the glass to receive their next clue. Then TARers must find Zelyonly Bazar and find a specific butcher stall where they will receive their next clue.

Tina completely missed the clue on the bottom of the glass. She thought that they found the wrong stand. They eventually found it and found the clue, but lost precious time. Then K&T made another HUGE mistake and returned the cow costume to the children’s theatre. They didn’t need to do this, if fact they needed the costume to recieve their next clue.

Pit Stop
Final clue takes teams to Old Square by foot. (Dan & Andrew did not follow these directions (that’s their fine ASU education at work) and had to go back to the bazar.) This is the Pit Stop for this leg of the race. Here’s how they finished: 1. Nick & Starr (won two 180 horsepower wave runners); 2. Toni & Dallas; 3. Ken & Tina; 4. Andrew & Dan; 5. Terence & Sarah - Eliminated.

Now that I have officially screwed up the final ranking - thanks to Terrance the vegetarian My new pick…hmmm. I’ll post it on Tuesday. It’ll be a special edition.

This is a new segment that I will write about from time to time. It’s called “Favorite Section.” It’s here where I’ll tell you my favorite section of a city and tell you my favorite place for sushi, to watch an indie flick or to grab an iced chai non-fat latte light ice (I love those!). So without further adu…Boston!

My “Favorite Section” of Boston is the Fenway-Kenmore district. First and foremost its the HQ of Red Sox Nation! Go Sox!!! This is the main reason why I love this area. See the famed Green Monster below.

Northeastern University: My alma matter and site of the first World Series (Red Sox won!)

Punters Pub: It’s a dumpy pub located on the corner of Huntington and Parker. I use to live 337 steps from this fine establishment (so says my old college roommate Peter Bronsdon)

Chicken Lou’s: I always order the #5 with spicy fries.

Museum of Fine Arts: Love this place. I saw my first major art collection here: Monet

Brown Sugar Cafe: Awesome Thai food

The Phoenix: Great alt wkly

Boston Billiards Club: Host site of the very first High Trek Adventure Boston

Cask ‘n Flagon: The famous bar across the street from Fenway Park located on Lansdowne

The Fenway: Beautiful park. I still remember NU canceling classes in the winter and playing snow football here!!!

Giving back to the local community is very important to all of us here at High Trek Adventure. In 2008 we helped raise over $5,000! We look forward to quadrupling that amount in 2009! Our goal is to help raise $20,000 to various local charities throughout the US.

Here are some great charities that focus on sports, running or adventure racing:

Shoe 4 Africa - Empowerment through sports & education, creating unique health initiatives, and promoting Aids awareness. Our cornerstone project; The Shoe4Africa children’s Hospital.This organization is run completely by volunteers, so 100% of your money goes to the cause.  Why donate? Shoe 4 Africa is run by actor Anthony Edwards of ER fame (Dr. Green).

Team in Training - Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Join the more than 30,000 runners, walkers, cyclists and triathletes who will participate in the world’s major marathons, triathlons and century rides this year on behalf of LLS. Why donate? You’re running anyway! This charity operates all over the US, so whether you’re in Philly, Atlanta, Dallas or LA you can find a group to train with!

The Running Bug - Find a charity running event in England.

The Walking Site - Find a charity walking event in the US and Canada.

Active.com - Another site to find charity races throughout the US and beyond.

Did I miss your favorite race, charity or list? Let me know and post it! Looking forward to seeing you at our races and helping us raise money to support your local charities.

Teams leave Baha’i House to find Deshbandhu Apartments to find the first clue box. On the way Kelly and Christy ask each other whom they would rather make out with: Andrew or Dan. Andrew won out.

Road Block
One team member must partake in a traditional Indian celebration known as the Holi Festival. The team member must climb one of three ladders to search through hundreds of clue cards to find one of six labeled The Amazing Race all while being pelted with paint dye and water. It’s more difficult than it appears.

Kelly didn’t even make it to the ladder twice and when she did make it to the ladder she grabbed the incorrect card twice.

Sarah was soooo supportive of Terence. Hopefully he will be as supportive of her.

Next, it’s onto Old Delhi to find the Charity Birds Hospital where they must search bird coups to find their next clue. And they needed

Detour: Bleary Eyed or Teary Eyed

Bleary Eye: Help Dept of Power. Teams must look for tiny numbers that are strung up along power lines. They must write down all the numbers (about ten) then find a man with a sowing machine where he’ll verify the numbers. Once verified, teams must find a local shop where they must plug in an electric Ganesh then they will receive their next clue.

Kelly & Christy and Andrew & Dan had a heck of a time finding the little tags. Ken and Tina were able to leap frog K&C and A&D.

Teary Eyed: Help local merchants. Teams must pick up 2 40 pound bags of red chilies and deliver them 1/4 mile then using a mortar and pestle teams must crush the hot peppers into a fine powder then they will receive their next clue.

Only Terence and Sarah did this task. And there was more complaining from Terence.

Speed Bump
This task only Ken and Tina must face. This task looks daunting. K&T must head to a temple and serve holy water to hundreds of thirsty patrons. When there are no more patrons the Speed Bump is over.

Pit Stop
Final clue takes teams to Humayans Tomb. This is the Pit Stop for this leg of the race. Here’s how they finished: 1. Nick & Starr (won a trip to Hawai’i); 2. Toni & Dallas; 3. Terence & Sarah; 4. Andrew & Dan; 5. Kelly & Christy - Eliminated. I was almost right.

This is how I think the adventure racers will finish next week:
5. Andrew & Dan - Eliminated
4. Toni & Dallas
3. Ken & Tina
2. Nick & Starr
1. Terence & Sarah (my pick to win season)

We all know that The Amazing Race dominates the urban adventure racing world on the small screen, but what movies fall into the category of scavenger hunting, treasure hunting, geocaching, or simply adventure racing on the Silver Screen? Here’s our top ten list and (year):

10. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
9. Rat Race (2001)
8. National Treasure (2004)
7. Scavenger Hunt (1979)
6. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
5. City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold (1994)
4. Romancing the Stone (1984)
3. Goonies (1985)
2. Midnight Madness (1980)
1. It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) (Oscar winner)

Did we miss your favorite. Let us know. You can check out all of these movie out at www.imdb.com. Cheers!

Whether you voted for Senator John McCain or President-elect Barack Obama it is a historical first in our country. It’s an amazing period in America that just 143 years after slavery ended that a nation elected an African American. Here are some other famous first in the U.S. (that pertain to High Trek Adventure):

Boston Marathon Inaugural: April 1897 (third Monday AKA Patriot’s Day)

Mark Burnett born: July 17, 1960

Phil Keoghan born: May 31, 1967

New York City Marathon Inaugural: November 1970

Eco-Challenge launches: April 25, 1995

Amazing Race debuts: September 2001

National Treasure hit theaters: November 19, 2004

High Trek Adventure launches in Phoenix: October 15, 2005

NBC’s ill fated Treasure Hunters airs: June 18, 2006

NBC’s ill fated Treasure Hunters live finale: August 21, 2006

National Treasure: Book of Secrets hit theaters: December 21, 2007

Tontine debuts: Fall 2008 ($10 million prize & host by Rob Mariano)

Did I miss an adventure first? Let me know. Post it!

It’s off to Delhi, India and the flight was super cozy with everyone on the same aircraft! Exciting! Once touch down, teams hailed cabs and its off to Moonlight Motors Taxi. Ken and Tina got screwed this time around with a cabbie that had no clue where to find the taxi depot. Once a Moonlight Motors, teams faced a Road Block.

Road Block
One person must cover the windows and top of the taxi with newspaper then paint the motor tuck-tuck green (these rickshaws are environmentally friendly).

Most teams were showing support of each other except for: 1. Ken (painter) and Tina (nagger) and 2. Sarah (painter) and Terrence (nagger). Either Tina and Terrence needed to relax or CBS is doing some unfair editing.

When teams completed the painting task they had to navigate their way through the streets of Delhi to the Ambassador Hotel to find a particular Indian Doorman. It’s here where they’ll receive their next clue, a Detour.

Detour
Team must choose between Launder Money and Launder Clothes

Launder Money: Make a traditional wedding necklace out of Rupees where as the necklace must total 780 Rupees ($15.94 for those scoring at home). Here’s a great currency convert Website.

Launder clothes using a traditional coal iron (I would have chosen this task, but after seeing it I might have chosen the wrong task). I’m so glad for dry cleaners.

Pit Stop
Final clue takes teams to the Baha’i House of worship. This is the Pit Stop for this leg of the race. Here’s how they finished: 1. Nick & Starr; 2. Kelly & Christy; 3. Toni & Dallas; 4. Terence & Sarah; 5. Andrew & Dan; 6. Ken & Tina - Not eliminated, but in the next episode they will encounter a Speed Bump, which is a tack only they must complete.

This is how I think the adventure racers will finish next week
6. Ken & Tina - Will be eliminated (the Speed Bump will do them in)
5. Kelly & Christy
4. Andrew & Dan
3. Toni & Dallas
2. Terence & Sarah (my pick to win season; you two made me nervous this week)
1. Nick & Starr