Adventurer relives glory days with 24-hour trip

With a straight-razor blade at my throat and a wild-haired Sicilian leaning over me recounting grim stories of mafia lore, I was beginning to wonder what Ken and I had gotten ourselves into.

After all, we just wanted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of setting a Guinness world record for the quickest drive around the world.

My partner on that high stakes road trip was Ken Langley, who was up for a little reunion. The car we completed the trek in, a Volvo 245 DL -- now with 283,000 miles -- had been in storage for five years but started up on the first try. I had dusted off my old driving suit and headed for a rendezvous with Ken at Toronto's CN Tower, the start/finish point of our epic 30-year-old adventure.

But where do the Sicilian and the razor blade fit in? Italy of course, one of the 21 countries Ken and I traveled through three decades ago.

In the next 24 hours, beginning at 2:11 p.m. -- 30 years to the day -- we would visit locations in Toronto that (loosely) represented those countries. So, Corrado Accaputo at Corrado's Barber Shop was Italy.

We had just come from an officious send-off for "Around the World in 24 Hours in Toronto" at the Roundhouse Park near the foot of the CN Tower. The area looked a lot different when Ken and I burst through the "Shell Helps" barrier and left behind the crowd who had come to see us off so long ago.

Today, instead of thousands, the send-off amounted to my wife, Lisa, and a couple of photographers. It didn't matter though as Ken and I were out to relive the glory days and nothing was going to get in the way.

I drove Red Cloud three whole car lengths to the Steam Whistle Brewery, where the custom-built brewing system from the Czech Republic would represent that country in our logbook. One country down and not even out of first gear.

Next stop, Italy, where Corrado wrapped my face in a hot towel and regaled me with tales of death and celebrity. Photos adorned the walls of his shop, of Corrado himself with jet-black hair standing with Elvis, Sylvester Stallone and Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni.

No time to chat, we had to catch the Consul General of the Republic of Serbia before he left for the day. Red Cloud plied congested streets with occasional thumbs-up from passers-by. It would be a long night.

With Serbia checked off, we headed for India and Pakistan on Gerrard Street. In Brothers' Halal Meats and Video Shop, we chatted with Nadeem who lived in Lahore in 1980 when we drove through Pakistan. He didn't remember us.

Next door, samosas, mango shakes and barbecued corn needed sampling while Lisa consulted at Miss India's Fashions on which style of salwar kemeez I should buy her for putting up with all this.

No time for fussing, the clock was ticking and Swedish massages awaited in Yorkville. Later, at the Toronto Australia New Zealand Club, I was received by the Aussies like a visiting super hero in my vintage racing suit. It was getting lively but this designated drive needed to get us to Spain. No worries.

It was 1:30 a.m. when Red Cloud rolled us back through the silent streets to our hotel, having ingested 20 different tapas and a couple of Paella dishes for good measure. Viva España!

After a four-hour nap, "Around the World in 24 hours in Toronto" dawned way too early. We had until 2:11 p.m. to hit the remaining nine countries. Ken bemoaned the difficulty reading the screen on his Blackberry, not like 30 years ago when a map and a plan from local bus schedules snail-mailed to us was our only navigational tool.

An early breakfast of buttery croissants and café au lait at Boulangerie Le Pain Quotidien at Yonge Street and Scollard gave us France then we headed to the Bulgarian Consulate. We were too early. Too early for The Finnish Place and a Danish Vegan Bakery, too, but we counted them anyway. Rebels with a cause, we were.

With Hungary, Greece, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom still outstanding and only two hours left, things were getting tense.

On Bathurst Street, Josef Haderspurng softened the mood by refusing to take payment for a rose Ken bought at the Hungarian Florist. Then the Athens Restaurant in Greektown whipped up a veal stew and an olive oil-drenched chunky tomato Greek salad.

The finish line was less than an hour away but still no United States. Thirty years ago, we were approaching Toronto toward victory and a stack of outstanding bills. Now we were stuck in traffic with a brain cramp.

However, Ken spotted a costume store. Inside we suppressed laughter and got what was needed. A few minutes later a reasonable facsimile of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was refueling Red Cloud at a downtown Shell Station. USA? Check.

Back at the CN Tower, a crowd was waiting. It wasn't the masses of well-wishers and media bent on seeing the "dynamic duo's" triumphant return 30 years ago, but the gaggle of friends, family and supporters made it all worthwhile.

Not to mention getting to relive one of the milestones of my life with two trusted friends, Ken Langley, and a much-loved blue and white Volvo named Red Cloud.

(If you missed Part One of this this two-part series, you can catch up at www.wheelbase.ws/media.)

Garry Sowerby, author of "Sowerby's Road: Adventures of a Driven Mind," is a four-time Guinness World Record holder for long-distance driving. His exploits, good, bad and just plain harrowing, are the subject of World Odyssey, produced in conjunction with Wheelbase Media. You can send Garry a note online at www.wheelbase.ws/media.