To the surprise of the local petrol station, we all rolled in at once to top off our tanks, refill our reserve oil, and loosely coordinate our plan of attack for the day. To the mild dismay of the locals, we were occupying every tank while also draining them of all their oil as Tim and Aldo immediately put their negotiation skills to work, snagging enough oil to keep all of us running for the next 24-28 hours. Best bargain of the day? TBD.

But we were ready to roll.

Today’s challenge list included:

• A photo with a police officer
• A photo with a camel
• Figuring out what Pansal Fort is famous for
• Best bargain of the day
• Best photo of the day

With full tanks and full hearts, we headed toward the Brahma Temple in Pushkar, one of the very few temples dedicated to the Hindu creator-God Brahma. I was excited because for once we weren’t starting our day totally siloed from the rest of our teams due to bad decisions and wrong turns (re: the mini-challenge and day one).

What we soon realized is that teams loosely split off into two groups, and somehow we found ourselves navigating the narrowest streets I have ever seen in my life. I’m fairly certain the words, “You’re joking,” left my mouth more than once as I stared at alleyways that our Tuk Tuks were expected to caravan through with mere inches to spare.

After one sharp right turn that required every single one of us to execute a multi-point maneuver while holding up a row of motorcycles and providing free entertainment to amused bystanders, we thought we were in the clear. Surprise, surprise. We were not.

Our next obstacle? None other than our other teammates.

There is nothing quite like locking eyes with an identical blue Tuk Tuk heading straight toward you on a road that is very clearly not big enough for both of you.

After some surprisingly skillful maneuvering and an amazing amount of patience from the locals as we worked ourselves out of a very sticky situation, we all pointed ourselves in the correct direction and drove as far as physically possible before the market made it clear that motorized vehicles were no longer invited.

So, we parked in what seemed like an appropriate place (key word, seemed) and headed toward the temple. With our shoes safely in a cubby, the first half of the group headed inside. That’s when we spotted the other teams who, apparently, didn’t take the same microscopic streets that we had. Cool cool cool. Still, it was another lesson in rolling with the punches and finding solutions when everything feels on the brink of chaos.

After some market shopping, we made a split-second decision to veer off the road when we spotted camels, because re: today’s challenge checklist; when camels appear, you pivot.

What started as “Let’s grab a quick photo” somehow turned into a full camel ride with my fellow Challenger, Kenneth. My initial reaction was, “Nahhh.” Followed quickly by, “Why the heck not?”

I’m fully leaning into whatever this experience throws at me. And if that includes riding a camel in Rajasthan, then saddle up, baby.

Next destination? You guessed it, back to the petrol station.

I’m still not sure how something this small consumes this much gas, but our petrol station stops have become some of my favorite moments. There’s something special about the interactions: the surprise on locals’ faces when a Tuk Tuk rolls up driven by someone they absolutely did not expect (surprise, it’s me), the chaotic little fire drill of mixing oil and petrol, funneling it into our tanks, and then zooming off again like we know exactly what we’re doing.

But what has been really cool to see is that unlike the first day, when we had no idea what “make sure to put both oil and petrol into your tanks” actually meant, we kind of DO know what we are doing now! Imagine that.

After lunch at a lovely roadside hotel, we hit the road toward our final destination for the night. We finally got the Bluetooth speaker working, which meant today’s soundtrack featured early 2000s hits, much to the delight of fellow commuters as we made friends along the highway.

And as we rode in with the hazy (aka dusty) Rajasthani sunset, we closed the book on another very successful, very chaotic, and very memorable day.

Despite the 6PM deadline, we’ve somehow been among the last teams to arrive every single day. I prefer to think of it as squeezing every possible drop out of this experience… though it may also be attributed to a variety of “unplanned developments” that seem to follow us.

For those teams who are on a better streak of arriving on time, they stopped at a local fort, where highlights reportedly included charming interactions with local children, a tipped-over motorcycle (or seven), and a bit of spontaneous exploration.

Today added even more memories to the growing stockpile that this trip keeps delivering, and tomorrow is shaping up to be quite the doozy as we tackle the longest stretch of the journey yet. Can’t wait to fill you in on all the adventures still to come.