Born for adventure

Justin Farren stands at Pacaya, an active volcano in Guatemala. The Galt native has seen much of the world since his days in Central California. For his next adventure, Farren and two friends will drive 10,000 miles from London to Mongolia for the Mongol Rally, an annual charity event. (Courtesy photo)

Born for adventure

Galt native hitting the road for trip of a lifetime

By Ted Mero
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, March 22, 2008 6:52 AM PDT

Comments (2 comment(s))

Justin Farren was born for adventure. The 1988 Galt High graduate has traveled far beyond his boyhood homes of Galt and Lockeford, spending seven years in the Air Force, where he served two tours during the Gulf War and later served in Korea.

As an independent professional wrestler, Farren has traveled to Egypt, England and across the United States under the moniker, "The Bug, the Pest from Budapest" — and yes, Farren lived in Budapest, Hungary, too.

He met his future wife, Marie, in Texas during a cross-country road trip. When he left Texas, they kept in touch through the Internet, and Farren later invited her to join him in Budapest for New Year's. They are now married and have since journeyed to the likes of Croatia, The Netherlands and Guatemala.

So when the adventure of a lifetime came along in the form of the Mongol Rally — a road race from London to Mongolia — Farren was intrigued, to say the least.

The prospect of driving a junker car through mysterious foreign lands like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan was too good to pass up for a guy who has trouble staying in one place for too long.

"I'm not really interested in the traditional vacation," said Farren, who now lives in Orlando, Fla. with his wife and daughter, working as the development director for Madden NFL '09. "I think if I went to Paris it would be a carbon copy of 1,000 other peoples' experiences, and that's not what I'm looking for."

Paris, the Mongol Rally is not.

The Team

Best Intentions Tea And Travel

Bryan Walker

Bryan Walker

Age: 28.

Current residence: Austin, Texas.

Day job: Design technologist for Frog Design.

Alter ego: SCCA rallycross racer.

Previous adventures: Spent a year in Micronesia at the age of 10.

Specialty: Amateur auto mechanic.

Rally role: Mechanic.

Farren on Walker: "He's a really good mechanic. He can take an engine apart and put it back together. We need him, because between Steven and I, we'd probably try to hit the side of the car with a wrench."

Steven Cloud

Steven Cloud

Age: 34.

Current residence: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Day job: Web advertiser.

Alter ego: Creator of online comic strip, "Boy on a Stick and Slither."

Previous adventures: Has lived in Florida, San Francisco and Connecticut; once traveled to Paris.

Specialty: Amateur photographer.

Rally role: Documentarian.

Cloud on Cloud: "I'll take a laptop and blog along the way as much as I can. I'll be taking a Canon (point-and-shoot camera)."

Justin Farren

Justin Farren

Age: 36.

Current residence: Orlando, Fla.

Day job: Development director for Madden NFL '09.

Alter ego: Independent professional wrestler, known as "The Bug, the Pest from Budapest."

Previous adventures: Has traveled to England, Hungary, Egypt, Korea and Guatemala, just to name a few.

Specialty: Natural born adventurer.

Rally role: Project coordinator, media and sponsorship relations.

Walker on Farren: "Justin's really been a machine to this point. He's very passionate about this, and it shows when he talks to these sponsors."

Now in its fifth year of existence, the event's popularity continues to grow each year, and the rally received a boost when Jack Osbourne, the son of Ozzy, made a documentary about his journey. More than 4,000 teams enter the rally each year and only 250 are selected to participate.

The rules of the event are minimal: Teams must raise $1,000 for the rally's specified charities in order to compete, and the cars they drive aren't allowed to have more than one liter of power. And once teams leave the launching point in London, they are completely on their own, taking whichever route they choose to reach Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the adventure's final destination.

Rally teams have traveled as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Afghanistan on their treks. According to the Mongol Rally Web site, just over half the teams reach the finish line in one piece.

But driving through miles of deserts and mountains with the always-lingering possibility of being abducted or thrown in jail is not everyone's cup of tea. It took Farren some effort to convince friend Steven Cloud to join him for the event, which kicks off this July.

"I would never do this if it was just me," said Cloud, who lives with his wife in Brooklyn, N.Y. "I would never plan or get around to it. Justin told me he got a spot on the rally and asked if I wanted to go. He'd wanted to go for years, and at first I was scared. But if I didn't go, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

"I'm sure it's going to be rough in some spots, but no matter what happens, I'm not going to regret it."

Bryan Walker, the third member of the team, which they've named "Best Intentions Tea and Travel," is not as well-traveled as his friend Farren, but he was happy to be included.

"I had not heard of (the rally) before and I was immediately impressed with it," said Walker, who lives in Austin, Texas. "I'm thrilled to have a really good reason to see huge parts of the world."

The threesome's plan is take their 1998 Nissan Micra — which they bought specifically for the event and will auction off afterwards — 10,000 miles through 20 countries, beginning with Europe and rolling through several of the "Stan" countries on their way to Mongolia, giving themselves just over three weeks off from their day jobs to accomplish the feat.

"We looked for maps of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and we couldn't even find maps with roads on them," Farren said. "So we're hoping there are roads."

While the trip is largely about the journey itself, the genesis of the event is the money being raised for charities. The goal for each team is to raise $2,000, but Farren's squad is shooting for $25,000.

"I think about it every single day," Farren said. "I'd say from the time I get off work until I go to bed, I'm working on either contacting sponsors or stuffing envelopes."

Even for Farren, it seems adventure is not without busy work.

To learn more about Farren's trip, visit the team's Web site at www.bitravelco.com.

Click here or on the map to see a larger image. (Marc Lutz/News-Sentinel)

Reader Feedback

educator wrote on Mar 22, 2008 10:33 PM:

" WOW. I haven't seen Justin in years. Glad to know he is doing well. He was a great kid. So smart he skipped a grade. "

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