Ukraine Refugee Assistance

GoFundMe has been approved and is now live:

https://gofund.me/ce4c8be5

For the previous years we've brought school supplies to help get the children started.  VikkiDp and I were chatting and this year we'd like to take some time and do things a bit different.  Since we've gotten to know these children and their interests better throughout these years, we thought we would like to take this chance to focus on their hobbies!  Something to take their minds off of what's going on around them.

The fundraiser will be open until Sept 1, so please share share share.  Once closed we'll start shopping from our list of what the kids enjoy and send them what they need to do the things they like to do

Cheers everyone!

And of course the truck suffered some damage on the African continent...  The hood latch ripped itself back out when we were driving north through some nasty cross-wind, and the driver's seat has some sort of break internally causing a permanent "gangsta lean" situation.  This morning I decided I've sat long enough and got to work on attempting to fix both:

Maaaan, coffee is not my friend when it comes to welding in the mornings.  Plus both of my argon bottles are about darn near empty.  I hooked up the one that had the highest reading on my gauge to the welder and got to work, but I did not have time to take a bunch of photos as the truck had an appt at the sticker shop after work today so I had to work like crazy to get the seat and that hood latch buzzed up.

The hood latch is uglier than home-made sin, but it's working.  The seat had multiple broken brackets on both sides but I found enough to weld to so it should hold.

All in all a success.  As I drove today I didn't realize how bad my seat had been for so long.  There was always a "give" to it and I had noticed it had reclined a bit after it failed the tech inspection at that new test place.

Now normal seats recline all the time, but this one doesn't.  I looked into why this one wouldn't after I bought it and found that someone tacked the seat-back in its current position.  it was a good position for me so I never bothered to do anything about it.

I'm thinking the inspector guy probably went to adjust the seat, pushed really hard, and "oops!  I just wont say anything"

When we were heading into Africa I remember complaining about it to Mrs. Hungary "Man, I have a lot of seat time in this truck and this seat position just hasn't felt right since that damn inspection...  Am I crazy?"

well, obviously not but my complaints were proven to be valid when everything above the lumbar support gave out (felt like a wet noodle) when we arrived back in Tunis for our ferry.  I drove all the way through Italy, Slovenia, and Hungary like that.

One other thing I noticed when in Tunisia.  The front suspension was sounding a bit noisy...  I crawled underneath a couple times to look for something loose (or another broken swaybar bolt) but never found anything.

When I got home today, I found this:

I found the hardware still sitting on the upper shock mount, and how I made it all through Tunisia and Europe without losing those is well beyond me.  But obviously we got a problem.  Hopefully the control arm escaped undamaged when the shock's mounting hardware decided to rip itself out...

berkin-hell...

Hi everyone!!!

I hope you're doing well!!!

Dr.Julia called me today and she asked me to say you all many thanks once again!!!

The meds we sent is very helpful. Many people asked her for help with their health in the past few days and they got it!!!

Thanks everyone!!!

Good morning, Vikki!  Thanks for the update from Dr. Julia.  I'm hoping you're still on vacation and getting a good rest.

And I know I've been bad about these since summer started, but I do have some Monday updates for everyone:

Current Paypal Balances:

Mothers and Babies Fund (Gmail)  Get Vikki a Generator Fund:  35,000huf (or about $100)

Drone Pilot Uniform Fund (Yahoo): $50 (it's a USD account)

GoFundMe is Open and can be shared:  https://gofund.me/a11d14eb

Also for sharing are our social media links:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/510575651154518

https://www.instagram.com/dniproexpress/

And our very own website:

www.DniproExpress.com

I have some truck updates as well, but more for tomorrow.

Thanks everyone!

-Bill

Good morning and some good luck for us this time!

Regarding the truck:  So, with everything going on I have not had a chance to clip the grass at the house I have under construction.  I decided to attempt to fix this last weekend by going over there and knocking things down.  When I DID, I found my old shocks laying under a pile of junk I had left to throw away (I usually call in a 5 cubic meter container from time to time to get rid of rubble).

This was a darn god-send as I had zero luck finding replacement Bilstein 5100 bushings or washers online locally (and the truck had an appointment to get measured for new stickers on Monday)

Here was Saturday:

Holding this now, I can see that I am a complete dunce.  That shiny washer that the nut pulled through?  Yeah, paper thin compared to the one I'm holding in that last picture.  I must have gotten the stackup COMPLETELY wrong when I installed the shocks.  This is something I know I should have known better...

my bad.

Monday morning comes, and I decide to play with the farm jack.  I don't like using these things and want to get more comfortable with it before a situation arizes when I actually need it.  I picked up the back of the truck once to show Mrs. Hungary how unstable this darn thing was, and even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still surprised when it fell completely over...

Corrected just in time.  After work it'll be measured for stickers and then it's back to the new house (as no way did I get all of that yard cut...  We're thinking of hiring someone to take care of the grass over there.  I just gotta get it cleaned up enough to not scare them first)

Good times.

Hey dudes, just popping in to let you know- I'm slow on the solar panel for D.r Julia because I'm having a hard time finding a box that actually fits it. Damn thing is like 12x14 inches and I'm trying not to get completely destroyed by the shipping cost lol, but it should be sent within the next couple of days.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Depending on how much padding you need and how you're shipping it, this may be an option.

Otherwise you might have to resize a larger box. You can get box resizing tools that work great for people who ship all the time, but for once in a while stuff, just lightly score the cardboard on the inside layer wherever you want a new folded edge. Crude, but effective. 

Good morning everyone.  Lots of updates coming in, not all of them good.  If you follow any of the social media pages, then I'm going to be spacing them out over a bit of time (I've found that keeping a steady pace on FB/insta tends to keep people's attention better than posting as the news comes in) but I thought I'd put them all here real quick.

1st:  VikkiDp is back from vacation and the world didn't stand still while she was gone either.  There's a heatwave that is absolutely cooking this area of Europe and she's reporting nearly 40-degrees C in the shade.  For reference, these were the temperatures we were experiencing in the absolute hottest spots of Tunisia.

2nd:  The power outages haven't gotten any better.  She was previously reporting outages for 11 to 12 hours every day.  She is now reporting that electrical power is only available for 4 to 5 hours a day (with mobile service being available for only one or two hours afterwards at best).  This means that there is zero time to make posts, run anything resembling AC (for those lucky enough to have it), charge devices, etc.

This is a result of the absolute beating that the cities have been subjected to recently.  All sorts of infrastructure have been targeted, including the train cars she was greeted with at the station:

As you can see, the cars had been blasted by shrapnel, the windows were replaced, and then the cars were pressed back into service.  That can't spell a pretty picture for the other services...

Next comes news from our drone pilot.  Unfortunately he has not given me permission to share any of his details yet (unit, general location, or blurred photos).  I'm not sure if we ever mentioned how this person came to be in our lives, but there's obviously a connection between him and I that goes beyond two random strangers.

For now, we can call him "Captain" (because he's a pilot) and "V" for "Victory"

Previously Captain V was asking for Trousers and tourniquets and I opened our Yahoo Paypal account in an attempt to assist.

Yesterday (after 4 days of zero comms) I got word that Captain V's squadron took a strike.  Luckily everyone survived.  Captain V was in the building and escaped in rubber slippers and the clothes he was sleeping in (basically, shorts).  All paperwork, documents, phones, clothes, uniforms, and drones were completely lost.  He was able to borrow a couple clothing items from other soldiers (they do try to help each other out) but obviously the need has increased significantly.

Currently Captain V is in need of the following:

Full uniforms (undershirt, socks, blouse, and trousers)

Military boots

tourniquets

Powerbank(s)

It's worth noting that VikkiDp had 900uah ($22USD) left over from our "Adopt a Medic" fund, and she asked if she could help by porting that his way.  I answered in a way that stated "yes" without question and also implied that she was crazy for asking.  I know it's not much but I'm hoping it will get our Captain something he needs.

Donations can still be made to our YAHOO paypal address, but it's worth noting that I will be in Ramstein soon so I'm hoping I can leverage my position to get those sorts of things (Ideally I would run a uniform drive for all of his squadron mates, but there's a touchy relationship there that prevents me from just charging in and asking.  If anyone has sympathetic contacts that might be able to help, please let me know)

For now, I think this is a safe photo I can use to represent Captain V:

 

Finally, the truck.

I don't mind saying that today was a first for me in a long time. I do try to present things as they are in real life so I don't think it's any secret that my updates were getting sporadic, inconsistent, and sloppy since springtime at best (I'm very lucky that VikkiDp was able to continue to post, and keep this thread going).  I've been absolutely beat to death after the years of continued operation and juggling these efforts between work and life and family obligations (and my truck hasn't fared much better).  Finding balance is always a moving target and it's hard to get it right when you put so much effort into various things yet they all still look so damn hopeless.

Well, I've been working on that (the vacation to Tunisia was a big part of that, and even that ate at me.) and today I can tell that if I'm not "out the other side" then I'm damn close because for the first time I actually felt "motivated" and had the energy to get out and do some work on the truck.

I really cant tell you how many times I just did not want to move when the alarm went off in the morning.  Often times I only did so because the dog you saw in the pictures had the energy to cheer me up just enough to turn another bolt.

But today (and even yesterday) it finally feels like I'm getting caught up and the things we've been working so hard toward are finally starting to show results.  It's felt like a HUGE weight has been lifted off my chest.  So here's a truck update for ya.  It's something that's been in work in the background for a while:

And to prove things, I was out bright and early this morning to get those KC Daylighters wired back up (currently in bluetooth mode as I need some rain proof connectors as the last ones got ripped off in Senegal on the Bamako run)

And of course the dog was there.  You just cant see him because he's constantly under my feet

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

Finally, the truck.

I don't mind saying that today was a first for me in a long time. I do try to present things as they are in real life so I don't think it's any secret that my updates were getting sporadic, inconsistent, and sloppy since springtime at best (I'm very lucky that VikkiDp was able to continue to post, and keep this thread going).  I've been absolutely beat to death after the years of continued operation and juggling these efforts between work and life and family obligations (and my truck hasn't fared much better).  Finding balance is always a moving target and it's hard to get it right when you put so much effort into various things yet they all still look so damn hopeless.

Well, I've been working on that (the vacation to Tunisia was a big part of that, and even that ate at me.) and today I can tell that if I'm not "out the other side" then I'm damn close because for the first time I actually felt "motivated" and had the energy to get out and do some work on the truck.

I really cant tell you how many times I just did not want to move when the alarm went off in the morning.  Often times I only did so because the dog you saw in the pictures had the energy to cheer me up just enough to turn another bolt.

But today (and even yesterday) it finally feels like I'm getting caught up and the things we've been working so hard toward are finally starting to show results.  It's felt like a HUGE weight has been lifted off my chest.  So here's a truck update for ya.  It's something that's been in work in the background for a while:

 

Dude, seeing that on the truck first thing in the morning was a pretty damned great way to start my day.  Thank you.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

Yeah, that's exactly what I need- there weren't any there a few days ago, but I'll try to look again.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

You can also order on the USPS website and have them delivered at no charge if you can wait a week or so.

Good morning everyone!  Quick drone pilot update:

Last night I received permission to share Captain V's info (and a good thing too, because I'm terrible at coming up with nicknames).  Captain V is actually "Yaroslav" and he's a member of the 25th Airborne. Here's a blurred photo:

I wanted to also mention that we had some much needed luck in Yaro's efforts as it turns out a member of our whatsapp logistics group (we all try to help each other out) was heading to Yaro's unit from Kyiv today and is bringing him some trousers!

And even better luck, some heavy hitters from the UK (also in the Logistics group) have picked up our distress call and are in the beginning stages of organizing unit support (IFAKS, uniforms, boots, etc).  I'm still going to keep our donation channel open through our Yahoo address for Yaro, and am still hoping to get him more supplies from my trip to Ramstein.  Who knows, maybe we'll have an "Adopt a Drone Pilot" program soon?

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Hi everyone!!! How are you doing?

I finally got a chance to post some updates here - ohhh, yeah!!!

Actually i came home from my little vacation on Monday morning, but the situation with electricity, the network services and hot around here(i'll be honest this one was the most exhausting) didn't give me a chance to write anything.

But i did manage to text Bill about what's going on and some latest updates - because, what?  - the work continues!!! and a lot going on on both sides of the border!!! 

My survivor kit 

Something good, beautiful and healing

as i mentioned above i've been on a little vacation, i even left my work laptop home(i usually takes it with me just in case). I really needed to take a little break 

We headed to a small town in the west of the country near Lviv.

So a little bit of walking in the mountains, a little bit of nature, a little bit of beautiful views all around... and add to that a little more peace and quiet and delicious food... that's all i need 

Some photos, if i may 

What stays behind the scenes

You know, since the war started, i've been a lot of times to the west of Ukraine. The first trip was on July 2022. 

It's always been different observations and feelings, a lot of things... but in this part of the country the presence of war is not so strongly felt as in the cities that are closer to the frontline... Yes, the danger is spread throughout the territory of Ukraine, but it's felt less here... in Dnipro and other cities closer to the warzone the tension and danger is in the air - i feel it 

But what's behind every beautiful photo taken in Ukraine? What do I see, hear, and feel?

*the noise of generators when the power goes out - the people continue to live...

*many military personnel at the train and bus stations - some are coming home, some are going to the East - the people continue to live...

*and many other things that changed our lives... all of these things stay behind the scenes...

The people continue to live... at least they're trying... i'm trying...

But also there's something that make my heart tear apart and make me cry...

in every city, town or village I've been to or passed through has an avenue of heroes, cemeteries with fresh graves and Ukrainian flags over them and the people who bring flowers there... in every city, town or village...

We're trying to continue to live...

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

Cool!!! I love these new stickers!!! 

Aaron, thanks for this Trident 

I tell you, there's at least one Ukrainian warrior who has it on his phone screen saver, just like me 

More updates are coming soon...

Have a good weekend everyone 

In reply to VikkiDp :

Try to rest your body and spirit and enjoy the beauty around you. One day this will pass. The resilience of the Ukrainian  people is truly inspiring. Long live Ukraine!!

In reply to VikkiDp :

Try to rest your body and spirit and enjoy the beauty around you. One day this will pass. The resilience of the Ukrainian  people is truly inspiring. Long live Ukraine!!