Waking up for the last day of driving had me feeling some kind of way. I was excited for a shorter day, which meant we could spend more time exploring and less time getting lost or breaking down. But at the same time, I knew that an adventure of a lifetime was coming to a close.

I think we were all feeling that way because we vowed to make the most of our last day on the road, picking some off-the-beaten-path spots to stretch it out as long as we could.

As I packed up my bags and lugged them down to the lobby, I caught a glimpse of Sai being led around outside on a beautiful white horse. Come to find out, riding a horse is a big fear of hers, and when she found out the hotel was offering rides, she decided it was something she wanted to overcome as part of this experience. How very cool.

I cheered her on and headed inside to find some of our other teammates taking advantage of the opportunity to ride a camel around the hotel as well, a quintessential experience while in India.

As we kicked off the day, there were two routes we could take: the direct route, featuring long stretches of highway but more time at the final destination, or the scenic route, where the unknown still lurked.

All week, we’ve been talking about the value of getting lost and taking the path less traveled, whether forced (re: breakdowns and wrong turns) or by choice. Through it, teams have had genuine interactions with locals, found things they never would have come across if they had stuck to the most-traveled path, and challenged themselves to step outside their comfort zones. And today was our last day to experience that.

So, we opted for the latter, as Team Bearly Made It scoped out a few cool places along the route. After a quick double-check that we had enough gas to reach our next destination, we were off to the races.

I knew we had made the right decision when we were stopped on the side of the road confirming that we were headed in the right direction when a car pulled up beside us. The man called me over and said, “Where is your driver?”

This isn’t the first time I’ve been asked this question, but the reaction never gets old.

“I’m the driver,” I said, pointing to myself.

“No, no, your driver. Where is he?”

At this point, my game of charades was back in action as I motioned to myself and then did the universal sign for driving a tuk tuk (handlebars out, vroom vroom, you get the picture).

He smiled from ear to ear, laughed, gave me a big thumbs-up and a head shake, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to think, and then pulled away. I always smile to myself when this happens as it’s a constant reminder of how wild this experience is. Many people have never seen someone like me driving a tuk tuk down the street, but I can guarantee we’ll both remember that moment for quite some time.

We jumped back into our trusty steeds and headed to a nearby waterfall that Cathy had found before we left for the day. We were a little skeptical as paved roads turned into dirt roads, which turned into dirt paths, but we were pretty sure we were still on the right track.

Once we decided it probably wasn’t the best idea to continue driving down a massive dirt hill, we opted to make the final trek on foot. What we found was a beautiful waterfall where we took a moment to bask in the fresh air and calming ambience after a week full of stress and high emotions.

After having to push our vehicles up the dirt hill, we did indeed make it back onto pavement, which put us about an hour away from Udaipur, our final destination. Despite being with a group all day, we somehow managed to veer off onto what looked like the highway to Udaipur but…wasn’t? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine at this point. I’ve given up thinking I can make good directional decisions.

We were at least headed in the right direction, according to the signs, but as we were chugging along, the tuk tuk suddenly died.

“Not this again…” I thought to myself.

Thankfully for us, we were just out of gas. Also, prior to this experience, I never thought I’d say, “Thankfully, we were just out of gas.”

But it wouldn’t be a complete day if someone didn’t run out of gas.

We had somehow lost our funnel along the road, and the kindness of the local people once again came into play. A man at a roadside stand helped us jerry-rig a water bottle so we could refill the oil and gas and get back on our way. We pointed our tuk tuk toward the City Palace and headed into town.

A few days earlier, I had told Matt, and I quote, “I really want to have some more stressful driving opportunities.”

What a wild thing to say.

But we had been doing a lot of highway miles, and I wanted to feel the rush of almost being T-boned by a motorbike once again before the week ended.

Udaipur delivered.

As we navigated the chaotic streets toward a parking garage, we honked and beeped our way through traffic circles and tiny streets before spotting our fellow teammates in the city parking lot. After a quick run-in with a parking garage pole that left our fender a little beaten and bruised (it adds character to the tuk tuk…), we headed toward the beautiful City Palace.

This was our first real museum of the trip, and it was really cool to see all the beautiful details of the palace, learn more about the history of the Indian royal family, and take a million photos of the architecture.

After some shopping in the bazaar around the palace, where I achieved my personal best bargain of the week and felt like I conquered the world after saving a solid $20 on a piece of art, we were in our final stretch to the hotel.

SAD.

However, it wouldn’t be the Northland Challenge if it wasn’t a chaotic adventure right up until the end.

Using my phone this time (so really, I can’t be blamed), I helped Matt navigate through tiny, jam-packed streets just wide enough for a tuk tuk and a food stall, and definitely not wide enough for the other motorbikes, tuk tuks, people, and animals crowding the roads.

“Take a left,” were my famous last words before we found ourselves squaring up with an incredibly narrow exit to the main street.

To set the scene: to the right was a stone building, and to the left was a flat stone slab standing straight up from the ground, what I can only imagine was meant to deter people like us from attempting to drive through it.

We tried to squeeze our tuk tuk through the opening and heard a horrendous scraping noise that we knew came from the fender that had already taken a beating earlier in the day.

Next thing we knew, a man was yelling in Matt’s face, pointing at the tuk tuk and then at the alley behind us. In my mind, he was telling us we couldn’t get through this way and needed to back up. But after taking a quick look behind us, there was absolutely no way we were getting out by reversing.

Keep in mind, we were speaking two very different languages the entire time.

After some passionate hand gestures and a growing crowd joining the “conversation,” my understanding of the situation started to evolve. What began as, “Uh-oh, we’ve royally messed up,” slowly turned into the realization that he was telling us to back up and then absolutely gun it through the opening to avoid getting stuck.

Yeah. Totally. That sounds like the right course of action.

But it would be like like threading a needle with thick yarn instead of a single thread.

While the video I took was chaotic at best, there is a very clear audio track of us saying, “one, two, three…” followed by me screaming, “GO!” before you see the lower bodies of several men helping push the tuk tuk through the opening along with some crunching sounds that we chose to ignore at the time.

Yes, the tuk tuk survived (the fender was still attached, so we’ll call that a win), and Matt and I got a good laugh that the challenge delivered the perfect final moment.

And we love you for it, Challenge.

Per usual, we were the last team to arrive. And to be completely honest, I took great pride in being the last team every single day. It meant we were experiencing this challenge to the fullest (intentionally or unintentionally) and getting some quality time on the road.

Later that night, we had our closing awards ceremony where we tallied up points, thanked the people who made it all happen, especially the real MVPs of the trip, our amazing mechanics, and voted on our “Best Of” categories (photo, getting-lost story, bargain, and video).

We then crowned our winning team: Soe Fast, Aldo Furious, and handed out the “Bonkers” Award for the craziest driver, which was taken home by Reston’s own Olivia Doherty.

To close out the night, we each took turns sharing our favorite moments and takeaways, along with what we felt most appreciative of when reflecting on the experience. One of my favorite quotes came from Elizabeth, who said:

“I never thought I’d say, ‘after the cow, make a left.’” But, we all laughed at the shared experience.

Here are a few of the other themes that stood out:

• A common thread was the kindness, selflessness, and generosity of the people we met. We had countless stories rooted in these principles, from big moments like joining in a homemade lunch while broken down, to the small ones, like the smiles and waves on the highway. Sabrina also mentioned that her life motto, “find joy in everything,” was reflected so clearly in the people we encountered, and many of us agreed that it would leave a lasting impression on our everyday lives.

• Similarly, many of the women shared stories about their interactions with other women. We all noticed the look on younger women’s faces when they saw us driving the tuk tuks. It felt like a look of empowerment, almost a small nod that the world is a place they can conquer with the same gusto we used to drive our little tuk tuks across Rajasthan.

• For many of us, that same feeling of empowerment was a key takeaway from our own experience. We proved to ourselves that we can do anything we set our minds to this trip, even things we initially thought we couldn’t. “We can do hard things” was a message I shared with the group, and we all agreed it’s something that will stay with us long after we return home.

• We also talked about how many of our core values came to life during the challenge: Take on Challenges (check), Be Honorable (check), Unlock Prosperity (check), Our People (check), Do the Right Thing (check), and Have Fun (check x 100). These values drive our business, and the opportunity to live them out during a once-in-a-lifetime team-building experience was something we all deeply appreciated (Thanks, Pierre!).

It became so clear that even though each of us had unique experiences and takeaways, there were many shared themes that left a lasting mark. From the people we met, to the unbridled joy of the journey, to pushing ourselves so far outside our comfort zones that the zones themselves began to expand, I can’t even begin to fully describe how this trip has changed my life.

And even though the driving is over, we still had one very important stop left to make: The Taj Mahal. And after a 5+ hour bus ride and a sunrise wake up call, we can now add, “Seeing one of the seven wonders of the world,” to our checklist.

Our teams are now on their way home, with a deeper appreciation for the journey, the people who helped them along the way, and the realization that sometimes getting lost leads to the best parts of the adventure.

Thank you to all of you who followed along on this journey! It was a blast to take you with us and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.