Ukraine Refugee Assistance

Ok, so some updates (my apologies, I find it brutally painful to write these posts from a mobile device):

First is our stateside friend “Katie” wants to host a fundraiser for our adopted medic “Dr. Julia”.  She’s got it all planned out, has a great angle we think will draw attention to the cause, and of course I’ll share her fundraiser here as soon as I have it. This is a person who has donated to almost ALL of our fundraising efforts, and was even pictured in our very first medical supply run to Lviv back in spring of 2022.  (obligatory picture from our first run)

Her goal is a “medium to large medical device to Dr. Julia”, which I think is a great way to go.  Much like when we fixed Dr. Julia's vehicle last winter (or the power supply she and her unit is still using), a “device” allows her to help those in need for as long as it keeps working.

I have zero doubts Katie is going to do great work. 

Also in the works (and in parallel to the above, and slated to start around the same time) is our fundraiser to get our drone pilot some much needed protection.    As you already know, they’ve eaten a few strikes (one where he got VERY lucky) and of course, they’re losing drones to combat.  We’d like to help him through these.  We’ve already delivered the 12 IFAKs to his unit, so we’ve put the question of “how to help” to those who know better than myself. The unanimous response we got back was “soft armor”.

I know we’ve talked about plate carriers here in the past, but the mission profile for a drone pilot is different than that of a front-line combatant.  Instead of “direct fire”, Yaro’s main concern is protecting himself from shrapnel from a nearby explosion.   

Soft armor offers greater coverage than the plate carriers, but it’s not rated for direct rifle fire, and it does weigh a bit more.  However, when it comes to protection from shrapnel: Chest, Back, sides, neck, and even groin are all offered protection (a helmet and eye protection will be the focus of future fundraising efforts).

Given that Yaro doesn’t need to ruck as far as a font line combatant, nor is he expected to move as quickly, the soft armor made sense to us.  More protection, and it fits his mission profile.

And finally, we have a follow on care package for the 24th Convict Battalion (“The Redeemed”).  This was purchased by Mrs. Hungary and I after we traded some credit card points for two $100 gift cards.  Together we bought 12 bottles of water purification tablets (the small type, that you’d take backpacking) and their requested protein bars (one of the boxes took a bit of a hit, looks like)

We don't want these guys thinking we forgot about them.

We've printed instructions for use in Ukrainian and put them in every envelope.  They read as follows

add 2 tablets to 1 liter of water

Screw cap on loose

Wait 5 minutes

secure cap and mix well

wait 30 minutes

remove cap, drink water, and kick russian ass.

Together until victory.  Glory to the heroes.

I’m waiting on the novaposht details for the unit, but these will be making this trip as well.  If we can’t re-establish contact then Dr. Julia or Yaro will be our recipients.

And last, but certainly not least.  Our second driver (Owner of “Anytime Express” out of Ramstein, Germany) reports that he’s filled 9 boxes of baby food and diapers and may have a couple stragglers still trickling in.  Officially we both have “closed donations”, buuuuuuut…..  *wink wink* 

I’m sure I’m forgetting something in all of this, but we’ve been a bit “non-stop” lately.  Fingers (toes and eyes) very much crossed for this run. 

Most importantly:  Thank you all for your continued hard work all the way through this.  I know we’re all exhausted right (and have probably been so for quite some time now), but I also know we’re going to be in this for the long-haul.  Please make sure you’re taking care of your mental health.  Duck out when you need to, join back in when you're ready.  Even front-line soldiers rotate to the rear.

Cheers, everyone.  And thank you for making this possible.

Hey everyone, I'm going to take my own advice and drop offline for a minute.  Trying to keep up with the updates and maintain a social media presence while we prep for this run just might kill me (I 100% promise a full report from here until then when I can)

A one thing before I do all that though. Anna's dad sent us a message! 

I know we've done a LOT to try to help this girl get through the war... Now, it is 100% looking like it really paid off.  Anna seems super happy!!!!!  (not just in her photos, but in her art as well)  Have a look:

I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but that girl decorated the box we got her! (I was 100% hoping she would do that)

Everyone, I'm sure I'm not the only one who watched the news unfold back in January and February of 2022 and just felt absolutely powerless to do anything at all to help the people we were seeing do anything they could to get away from the fighting.  To our former selves I would like to say:  We 100% got one little girl to safety with her childhood still intact.

It doesn't have to end here if anyone wanted to keep pushing forward.  We still have Anna's Dad's contact info.  If Amazon.de can deliver to the shelter, then it could potentially be an opportunity to send her care packages until they find more permanent housing (And if amazon can't do it, then I'd bet dollars to cents that we could find another solution).

And remember.  Anna's dad is a welder if anyone in Germany needed such a person.  I'd gladly put you in touch!

Cheers guys, and enjoy Anna's artwork!

It's happening, y'all.

Everything's purchased.  Just trying to get our inventory together

Our second driver (Razo) got his haul inventoried today.  16 boxes of baby clothes, diapers, toys, and baby food

It is HAPPENING!!!!  🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

Hello, everyone!!! 

Hope you're doing well!!!

7th trip to Dnipro has officially started!!!

Bill, Mrs.Hungary and the second team are already on their way to the Ukrainian border 

Cross your fingers, guys and wish us luck 

More details will come a little later 

Have a good day, everyone!!!

We're back!!!

And of course we have a report being compiled as we speak.  For now here's a teaser for you guys:

Oh man, you guys.  Lots of good stuff.

First up is I'm still working on the report.  I'm no longer "mobile only" but access to a proper laptop is a bit limited still.  I'm still working out the kinks, but we're getting there.

More important than that though is Katie opened her fundraiser at about 10pm local time on Tuesday of this week.  I was going to post it here, but by Wednesday 6am local time she blew the lid off her fundraiser and was asking me how she could send me money

Dr. Julia is getting a portable EKG machine!!!!

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/983NmNtfnQ

The fundraiser is still open as Katie is trying to keep the momentum under her to raise $1500 needed to get Dr. Julia a diesel generator, but failing that all funds will go to getting her all the meds she needs from a list she provided.

Next up (and this is me being a little behind the curve) is a fundraiser for our favorite drone pilot "Yaroslav"!

We're opening this up to try to get him the body armor we mentioned before.  Earlier this month we received a donation to the fund before this was officially opened, and more recently we received a very nice bump from Dark Monohue's store!

We split the cash received from the store evenly between Yaro and Vikki's funds, which brings us to just over $110 total donated to paypal.  The fundraiser's goal is set at the actual cost of the body armor but any additional funds will still go to Yaro (in the form of a FAST helmet purchase, eye protection, or just a cash donation to him for whatever he needs)

Here's the link for anyone you think might be interested in joining our effort:

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/986pbr5Ioj

Cheers, guys!

Hi everyone!!! 

First - Bill, Sarah - guys, i'm gald you got home safely and hopefully without any problems 

The second one - let me say - IMHO, it was AWESOME trip!!! THANK YOU ALL!!! WE ALL MADE THIS POSSIBLE!!!

We brought help where it's really needed!!! We brought the kids what they need!!!

Things didn't always go according to plan, but we did it!!! and everything went perfectly!!!

*well, actually - all of our trips are AWESOME!!!

The third - all the kids have already gotten their packages!!! and I already have a whole bunch of pictures and kind words for all of you!!! 

I'll tell you all about everything a little later  believe me, we have a lot to tell you all 

Now let me say thank you all again and say once again - it was worth all the effort!!! 

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

We're back!!!

And of course we have a report being compiled as we speak.  For now here's a teaser for you guys:

 

I'd just like to add to this picture 

 you guys are just completely insane!!!

waiting for the whole trip story 

In reply to VikkiDp :

oh.  100%!!!  But I wouldn't have it any other way

I owe you guys a trip report though, so let's get it started!

There we were.... Day 1.

Today's the day I try to finish up the shopping.  A few more school supplies here, a couple more things there.  Funny thing is,  you never know what items are going to be the most difficult to find.  On my RADAR right now is a LED UV light to dry nail polish.  I have no idea where to find such a thing.

But the funny thing is, sometimes these things that you think are going to be impossible to find just jump right out at ya!  The unit I purchased was the last one on the shelf, but it was right there waiting for me at the second stop of my day.

So what was the hardest thing to find?  A simple desk organizer.

This is our third day looking for such a thing.  It really makes you notice the difference in shopping back in the states versus here.  Back in the states, I’d hop online and click until it was at my front door.  Here, it means going from store to store.  From the most to the least likely.  And then to anyplace you might think may just randomly have such a thing.

It never happens though.

Also difficult (but in the same realm as the above) was “Harry Potter school supply organizers”.  You would think that finding something as popular as that would be EASY?  Well, it wasn’t.  I did get lucky though when I found a “Harry Potter Diary kit”.  It came with a pleather binding and “Hogwarts” in gold across the front.  A quil and a pencil accompanied the kit.

Hey, good enough for me!  Technically this counts as a school supply, but I really do think Dariya is going to love it.  To finish off her gift, I add in A Hermione figurine.  It doesn’t all have to be business, right?

We really are trying to actually deliver things as complete as we can. Art supplies, for instance, come with brushes, canvas, and a canvas holder (easle) whenever possible.  In our minds, these items need to be able to "stand alone".  No outside purchases required. 

I think I mentioned that there was a soldering iron.  This too, needs to be as complete as possible.  While, we can't repeat what we did for Yaroslav (where we sent him a whole tackle box full of consumables) I DID decide to add in $50 of my own money to make sure David got flux, solder, and a multimeter to go with it. 

A chemistry set was on the list for Sergei.  He and his brother have a history of asking for technical items (they got an electronics kit for christmas last year).  The problem here is I really want to support this guys learning but there is 100% going to be a language barrier if I buy a chemistry set on this side of the border.  To make matters worse, I have no idea where in Ukraine to buy such a thing.  Vikki 100% comes to the rescue and uses her funds to purchase one in Dnipro (which was a HUGE weight off our chests). 

We also got VERY lucky with the jackets.  We had a small handful being asked for and these are going to be SUPER important this winter.  The problem is, jackets can get quite expensive.  To that end, my first stop was at a discount store named "Hervis", and I really wasn't impressed.  They had jackets that LOOKED puffy and warm, but when you picked them up the material felt thin and cheap.  The only thing going for them was their low price.  With the money we had left, I could get jackets for all the kids who were asking for one.

I decided to hold off, and check a store we liked called "C&A".  They generally have good quality items, and they seem to have a focus on eco-friendly/recycling so Mrs. Hungary and I like them.

Holy smoke, guys.  We hit the jackpot!!!  

Prices were only slightly higher than the discount store and the quality was MILES better.  We still had enough money to get everyone a jacket who asked for one, and shopping here meant that these jackets were actually going to keep the kids warm.

As we got closer to the end of our lists though we found we had to improvise a bit.  One child asked for ju-jitsu rash prevention clothing (think long sleeved shirt and long pants made out of a material that wouldn't cause rug-burns) and we had to get him a set of sparring pads instead.  Another was a pull-up assistance strap.  None of the sports stores had one and I was starting to plan on elastic bar instead.  This was another case where I literally tripped over the last one on the shelf.

Really, the shopping takes the whole morning but when we’re done we have 99.9% of the supplies we need.  I make it back by 12:00 on the dot (just in time to get ready for work).

Razo reports that he is doing well too!  He's got 16 boxes of diapers/baby food/wipes in his possession and is busy doing inventory work.  Vika busy with all the clothes sizes that Mrs. Hungary is sending her.  We collected a few boxes of kids clothes locally and the process goes like this:

1) Mrs. Hungary writes Vika.  "we have x number of y in size 123:

2) Vika asks the moms "who needs...."

3) Vika writes back "Milana.  Family 32, child #199.  And then we sort accordingly.

Rinse, repeat.

Everyone is working.  Everything is frantic

Day 2 ends up being very much the same.  99% of the shopping may be done, but that last 1% remaining takes FOREVER.  This is really because we’re transitioning from holding out until we find the perfect gift for each child to “ok, what can we make do with” and those desktop organizers haven’t gotten any easier.

Mrs. Hungary and I work different shifts, so this allows us to pass the torch off to each other.  She’s gone to office depot, and I’ve gone to the mall.  Nothing we’ve found matches what the kids are asking for.  Eventually we have to bite the bullet and scrape together what we can (as best we can).  And then comes the organizing…

A discount store named “Tedi” sells big-ish paper bags for something super cheap like 15-cents each (or thereabouts) and we decide this is going to be the best way to pack for each kid/family.  Along with the school supplies, jackets, and toys, we’re still sorting all those clothes we've had donated as well.  Everything’s gotta go in (and this is how I spend the next couple days…). 

As a bonus we’ve had a fair amount of candy donated AND we’ve had a birthday for a Hungarling recently.  I prepping for the birthday, Mrs. Hungary WAY overestimated the amount of candy needed for the pinata, and this means each kid on our list is going to get a nice little treat bag.

Once bagged, it all goes in the truck.  By 9pm, we’re loaded and ready to go.

In parallel, I got a report that Girthquakes solar battery charger arrived!

Unfortunately, the box took an absolute beating in transit and I think one of the connectors he built fell out as there was only the female side of the connector remaining.  It wasn't a problem though because there is a mom/pop electronic shop locally that I LOVE to shop at.  I bought a small handful of connectors there and got to work soldering the remaining connection into place...

except I forgot one very important thing.  That is, I gave ALL of my consumables to Yaroslav over a year ago (this is how often I'm involved in electronic repair these days).  The only thing I have in the shop is some silver solder from a reflux still project that I never got around to finishing...  Well, if that's what I got then that's what I got!  I crank up my soldering iron to full volume and get to work.

\

This gets me through the first day.  With everything so frantic, I didn't want to wait on another trip to the electronic shop but 100% to stop by there when I do get a chance later in the evening.

On the battery side of the house, I had been testing two batteries.  The first was an Exide unit that has a dead cell.  This makes it unusable in the truck, but I've successfully ran our 12v fridge for a considerable amount of time from it so I know it is perfectly capable of acting like a giant power bank.

The other is an optima unit that is just utter garbage.  It got discharged once or twice when I took the truck to the shop to have it's tie-rods changed and tires aligned and they left the key on.  It's never recovered enough to be usable as a truck battery, but again I've run the 12v fridge on it overnight and it does just fine in that dept.  So for testing, I charge up both batteries and see which one is going to be the lesser of two evils.

Optima wins without any contest.  The exide can't pull itself over 4v, while the optima routinely can be topped up to 13-ish volts.  I charge it up with the solar panel and then connect it to the compressor fridge.  It works PERFECTLY!  When I get out to the garage the next morning the fridge is still running strong.

With that last item sorted, our truck is now ready to go.

Thursday Morning 4am wakeup.  Mrs. Hungary is up at 3am (despite getting off work at midnight last night) to clean the house (we have people coming over to watch our pets and water plants).

The truck is mostly packed, really we just have to shower, drink coffee, and grab the paperwork and snacks for the trip.

We're meeting Razo in Poland at noon-ish.  He's arrived the night before and is crashing at a hotel in prep for our push into country.  The drive is going to be about 7 hours to get to him and we hit rain almost as soon as we hit the highway.  Mrs. Hungary and I get a good kick out of this as Razo has been asking about the weather.  In Hungary we've been in the middle of a heat wave, and the weather in Dnipro looks equally sunny.  Razo, though, has been in rain non-stop since he left (a trend that will continue all the way to Dnipro.  Otherwise, the drive up is pretty uneventful.

We get to the hotel by 12:45 but couldn’t park in hotel garage due to height of our Toyota (mostly because of the lights on top.  Instead, we parked down the road and on the curb (legally) and opted to walk back to hotel. 

Lemme tell ya, it was hard to find entrance as it’s part of a HUGE mall.  Instead of the entrance saying "HOTEL" it said "restaurant" (On the third floor, no less) which means both Mrs. Hungary and I wrote it off as "not the place" which resulted in several frustrating trips back to the mall map...

When we DO finally find the place, Razo and Rudy are in the lobby sitting in lounge chairs.  One has the Ukrainian flag and the other has the American flag on it.  We thought that was both funny and fitting.

After introducing ourselves (I've met Razo, but they haven't met Mrs. Hungary.  And neither Mrs. Hungary nor I have met Rudy) we opt to head down to the garage together and they drive Mrs. Hungary and I back to truck.  The problem with all this is, first we found ourselves locked in parking garage (this will be the start of what we'll call "The Friday the 13th run).  Razo's ticket to leave wont work in the machine which has us pushing the  call button to security, but no one picks up after multiple attempts.  This leaves us calling the front desk of the hotel for help, and we're lucky we still had service.   Gate eventually opens, but it’s not the same one Mrs. Hungary and I tried to drive into...  It's somewhere else in the building (strike 2!)

We depart anyways and just tried to use the giant mall as a beacon to find our truck.  We got lucky and found it no prob, as a bonus Razo brought radios for car to car comms.  We do a radio test and I discover Mrs. Hungary is way too serious/nervous on the radio for my comfort.  She talks all proper, and it just cracks me up to no end.  And as much as I try to get her to cut loose with some slang or radio jargon, it never happens

Anyhoo, the drive to border from here is only a couple hours and when we get there there are 3 lines.  Bus, normal, and tax free.  Someone at the hotel told Razo to use the bus line, but I think bad idea (because, let me tell ya:  There are some LONG waits if there is a bus in those lines... ).  I'm the lead vehicle but he pushes over the radio so I humor him and we drive up through the bus lane only to be turned around.  We circle back and wait in the tax free line.  While we wait there he walks up and tries his best to get the guard to let us in early, but it doesn’t work.

Bat-Man there is guarding the haul

Some leftovers from the Polish farmer blockade earlier in the war:

Border crossing is super easy with the new system in place.  Total time was under an hour.  We use the gas station on the other side as a meeting point and I walk him through his first fill-up (with our worksheet and the process)

Mrs. Hungary notices a couple horses walking around across the street.  We figure someone in line has a trailer and is letting them stretch their legs, but it's still cool for us to see.  As we drive off, she also has the camera out and is filming everything.  Earlier in the drive I told her I had an idea for a video, and she picked it up and ran with it.  The bright side is if I get around to editing things, I should have LOTS of video clips to pick from.  The down side is the video's very much took the place of the pictures we usually take, but I think we've shot enough photos of us driving that this isn't a huge loss this time.

The weather turns grey and eventually it starts raining (hard).  It continues after it gets dark, which bites because I can’t see a darn thing and the wipers are smearing a bit which causes the windshield to flare up when headlights hit it.  It's pretty exhausting, and Rudy and Razo swap out drivers from time to time.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Hungary isn't proficient at driving a stick so it's just me behind the wheel of our truck.  As it's getting very late at this point we all start to talk (in person and over the radio) about our strategy.  Do we stop in Zhytomyr or continue to kyiv?

There are definite plusses and minuses to both.  If we stop in Z-town, we can get rested earlier tonight, but it doesn't really change how much rest we get at night as we're going to have to leave that much earlier the next day.

If we stop in Kyiv, we'll have a shorter distance to drive in the morning (so we can maximize the amount of rest we get) but that will mean pushing harder tonight.

Ultimately, Kyiv wins.  And while Mrs. Hungary may not be able to drive a stick, she can quite literally do everything else that needs to be done.  That includes keeping me awake while simultaneously sort through hotels.  She reports finding rooms as expensive as $1500 a night, or as cheap as $6 a night.  Ultimately we settle around $50 a night and she starts making calls "hi, we've got an ETA of 1am.  Can we check in that late?"
 

The answer, more often than not, is "no".  But she persists and eventually we have an address.

The drive non-stop to Kyiv is 21 hours in total and we do arrive around 1am and 100% crash for the night.  I had to pound a monster energy drink to make it, but the radio chatter between the vehicles helped a lot (Razo reported the same thing).  Our room has a minibar that has beers and Mrs. Hungary and I enjoy a Corona as a bit of a laugh.  Lights out is 2am.  Meeting time is 7am for breakfast, followed by a butt in seat time of 7:45.  Drive is predicted to be 23 minutes.

Good night, everyone.

Breakfast at this hotel looked to me more like "dinner".   Instead of pancakes and eggs, there are chicken legs, potato wedges, and all sorts of stuff I'd usually eat in the evening.  I’m not super hungry so I don’t eat much, but I do drink a couple cups of coffee.

Our drive to our next spot today is quickly moving from 23 minutes that was estimated last night,  to 45 minutes as morning traffic begins to rear its ugly head.  Our arrival time was supposed to be 8:30 and we were planning on being 15 minutes early but now it looks like we’ll be on time (if we're lucky).

Man.. traffic is pretty bad.  I know the picture doesn't show it, but that's not what we were trying to get a picture of (we got it on video instead). Stop and go, mostly.  And it’s not helped by a wrong turn I took when we got to a clover leaf.

Our destination this morning (and 100% the reason we're stopping in Kyiv) is a military hospital, and the reason we're stopping here is because this ONE place has now opened its doors to allow foreigners to donate blood (something we've been trying to do for over a year now).  We arrive at the GPS location and park on curb (legally).  Razo u-turns just ahead of me and snags an even better spot right across the street from the entrance.

I have notes prepared for this place too (hello, my name is… with me are... blood types are... point of contact is... )

We walk up to a guarded door and show our note.  The guard knows a word or two of english and points us to the next door.  Inside we hand our note to a person in uniform and they find our name is on a list.  We’re given a ticket and told to wait.

Not long later a nurse comes to get us and walks us through the courtyard of the compound to the blood draw area.  The process is a bit clumsy for us as we don’t speak the language but we go through it.  Much of it with the help of Razo's phone and google translate.

First we sign the waivers, and say we don’t have any diseases or fresh tattoos.

Next they test us for blood type and HIV and the person doing the testing may have been a bit of a masochist.  She pokes our finger, but didn't go deep enough with Razo or Mrs. Hungary to draw blood.  This had the effect of her getting a big smile when she got to stab them again .  We got a good laugh out of it. 

Our blood is mixed with a solution and one turns red, the other causes lines of blood to form.  She makes notes of both on paper.

I will say there was a bit of a concern when Mrs. Hungary’s blood type seemed to come back the same as mine on the paper (I’m A+, she is A-) but ultimately we decide to trust the system.  We can't read Ukrainian so who's to say what we think is our blood type is really our blood type.

They feed us chai and biscuits to prep for the draw.

Inside the draw goes FAST.  They’re going to take 455ml from each of us and the needle person I get is not very good (we later deduce that she was the trainee). 

I fill my bag first and head out.  Mrs. Hungary and I brought bottles of apple juice for the occasion.  We've never done this in Ukraine before so we wanted to make sure we had something on the back end to get our sugar up.  For the first time in my life after giving blood, I’m feeling VERY light headed.  This is not normal for me, but I exit the room and wait in the observation area.  I immediately pound my juice hoping it will help.  It doesn’t really.

I’m joined by Mrs. Hungary and after a short convo, things go black.  I hear Mrs Hungary shout "Bill! BILL!!!!", and I have it in my head that I dropped something between the mattress I'm sitting on and the wall and that I very much need to find it.  She has me pinned to the wall by my shoulders and  I’m arguing and trying to explain that everything is ok, but I think it's pretty obvious to you that I'm not.  Words and vision were slurred, and I didn't have the strength nor motor control to put up much of a fight.

A BIG nurse man appears and gives me smelly stuff to wake me up.  He takes me over to a different bed where I have to lay with legs elevated.  Things get better quick.

Razo and Rudy follow soon and Razo reports he almost ripped his IV out when he heard Mrs. Hungary shout.  All is good again and everyone is laughing.  I guess this is just my limit (hard drive, low food, no sleep, plus blood draw).  After we’re all observed an no one else passes out, it’s back to the chai room for more tea and biscuits.  We’re headed back out the way we came in, and Razo (in his outgoing nature) takes a couple photos with him and the guards out front.

Back in the truck we’re pointed south towards Dnipro.

Heading out of Kyiv, things get lighter as we get further from the city center.  We decide to wait until the road gets down to 2-lanes to stop for gas, plus a potty break.  One thing I can say for sure was it was smart of us to stop last night for fuel, because that would have thrown a wrench in everything this morning had we not...

It's just a quick gas station stop, but when we set off again my GPS goes wonky.  It keeps trying to turn us around.  Again, we're lucky we have the radios as I'm able to radio back to Razo to see if his is doing the same.  He reports back that it isn't so he takes lead.

Between Kyiv and Dnipro, it looks like a new highway is being built.  Everything on this drive has been so darn nice that Mrs. Hungary and I REALLY feel nostalgic for the early war difficulties we had back in "the day".  I mean even our Hungarian sim card working now!!!  We talk about the block points, sleeping on the side of dirt roads, fuel shortages, and struggling to reach a fuel stop only to find it abandoned...  That's not to say there aren't some rough spots as we pass through small villages, but even still we arrive in Dnipro by 1630

The coordinates Vikki sent us to meet her at have us very near her place.  We're stopped at a bombed out repair station that was hit very early in the war and has long since been abandoned.  It's the first battle damage that Razo and Rudy have seen and they take lots of photos.  We call Vikki and she reports she'll be here in 5 minutes.  She sounds very busy.

When she arrives, we see her driving a BEAUTIFUL new Opel!  It's Vikki and she has a new car!!!!

We all say hello and introduce everyone, and discuss what's going to happen next.  Our first stop today is a children's hospital to drop off Razo's big boxes.  The drive is short, and the drop off is a bit quicker than Rudy and Razo were expecting (I kind of forgot to tell them how these drop-offs go).  They quickly realize that these are workers in the hospital, and that they're taking time out of their day to pose for pictures with us (for which Rudy and Razo are appreciative).  They'll later comment on how grateful the workers were when they got the delivery.

The drive to next hospital is a bit like a tour as we head through town.  I have the radio out and am reporting on the things we're passing by (this building was hit 4 times.  That one 2.  Coming up is one on the left is another missile strike…).  Razo seriously thought we were being tour guides but we were really just going from point a to point b.  It kind of drove the point home for me as well.  It hasn't been an easy couple of years here.

Rudy and Razo radio'd that they wanted to see the downtown area (potentially for a place to stay) so we did detour through there and they dropped pin at hotel they liked.  Along the way we got to see a public shelter (for airstrikes) and a memorial for fallen citizens

Out the other end, we eventually get to our familiar hospital complex.  This is the complex we've routinely supported since our first trip to Dnipro, and I am VERY happy to see the sandbags are gone.  This is just a quick drop off for baby wipes.  Razo had some from his boxes, and Vikki in Dnipro used all the remaining Mothers and Baby's funds to buy more

Its around 7pm now and we’re all beyond exhausted.  That blood donation earlier is really taking it out of us (pun intended).

There's not much fanfare at this hospital and we all meet by the trucks to discuss what's going to come next.  For our truck we have to head to a NovaPosht to get all our stuff to where it needs to go.  Vikki found one that's open until 9pm, and we need to get right to work.  Razo's truck is empty now and they decide to head off before we make our final drop.  Vikki, Mrs. Hungary, and I squeeze in the truck but only the front seat is useable.  The results are as comical as youd expect, and we snap a photo before we drive.

This NovaPosht location is part of a mall complex, and it takes Mrs. Hungary and Vikki a minute to find the office.  It's inside a bit, but once found the three of us get to work like a well oiled machine.  I'll sort the items from the truck and stage them on the curb.  Mrs. Hungary will take them from there and bring them to Vikki.  Vikki will man the counter and work her magic.  Luckily we printed 3 copies of our wish list because we all needed one.

Here we go!  We have 2 hours to get everything sent! 

Unfortunately, Mrs. Hungary reports taht the counterperson is frustratingly slow.  We're both hoping they'll find their groove soon but I can tell when I start catching up to Mrs. Hungary that we’re not going to make it.  At one point I called her phone to ask “are you locked in???”.  No answer.

Furthermore, there are no lights outside, this is all being done by flashlight.

We also brought lots of water this time.  Every time we go in country, we learn something new.  I don't know why it's taken us this long to realize that we always finish this shipment over-heated and dehydrated, but we finally took appropriate action.

Also, I learned not to use dry-erase marker on the bags of candy, as that stuff wipes away!!!

Note to self for next time.

During the process we'll learn that the reason for the slow speed at the Novaposht was due to a lack of workers and to an 8:30 delivery truck departure.  Not only were they dealing with our overwhelming arrival, but they were also rushed to get the days take out the door.

At the end, we had 15 of our 41 families that didn't get their shipments out at the end of day (for a total of 15 of 63 children).  Also included in what we were able to ship was dog/cat food for a mother with a son suffering from brain cancer (she cant always get to the store between work and visits to her son).  She'll report that what we sent was a month and a half's supply.  Boots to Yaro in the 25th Airborne were sent, as well as the protein bars and water tablets originally destined for "The Redeemed" (convict battalion).  Unfortunately "The Redeemed" were on the move and unable to receive shipments, so the supplies went to 78th Special Forces instead.

Going back to the shipment for our children, I saw the situation coming early so all the remaining bags were packed by me and 100% ready to go.  We gave Vikki the remaining cash we had on hand and she tells us she'll stop by the next day to finish the delivery.  Nothing to do now but to head to Vikki’s house for Borsch!

At Vikki's place, we meet her husband who is working on his car (I peek under the hood and see that someone has been working in the area of the EGR valve ).  He takes a break and we talk about the solar panel controllers (oh!  I snuck one of these in Yaroslav's package.  In chatting with him on Instagram, he reports he had a car battery but nothing to make it useful.  We're both hoping he can find a solar panel to complete the setup). In the garage, everything pretty straightforward.  Solar panel gets plugged in here, connects to the battery here, usb here, and I tossed in a collection of extra connectors in case they wanted to fab something up locally (oh, I also left a VERY long set of leads to the solar panel so they could place it remotely.

Inside the house we enjoy some Vika borsch and exchange gifts.  This is where we realize that while we remembered her husband's AC/DC record (he'd been looking for some good vinyl recently), we 100% forgot Vikki's gift that we had sat by the door to ensure we didn't forget it...

(as I type this, it is still sitting on my dining room table in the box I 100% plan on shipping it in.  Sorry VikkI!!!!!)

Vikki has gifts for us from her, some sweets for our kids, and included are also a patch from Dr. Julia's Battalion (the 3rd Assault) as well as a signed flag from Yaro's:

Mrs. Hungary and I immediately start talking about having the flag framed.

Head out of Dnipro now and it's around 10pm.  I think we make it about 2-hours down road before we stop for the night and sleep in the truck.  The air raid sirens went off while we were eating borsch at Vikki's (rockets and drones in the air).  I messaged Razo to give him a heads up, but I can see he still hasn't seen the message.  We're betting they crashed early at their hotel.

Sleeping in the truck is that nice bit of nostalgia that Mrs. Hungary and I were talking about earlier.  The next morning we take some well known roads by now and continue "as is" on out of country. 

I tell ya... it's nice being on our old path again.  Lots of memories.  (The window fell out of it's tracks in a snow storm here...  we stopped to buy souvenirs here...  remember when we did that there?  oh, this is the town with the nice farmers market!).  We even saw a dog that we 100% did not adopt!

It's still raining and our route takes us through Carpathian mountains.  Honestly, that was a BIG mistake.  Bad weather...  Tough roads...  The sort of drive that makes you never want to try it in the winter.  Ever.

I do like taking different routes, not just for op-sec purposes, but to prevent single points of failure too.  When the Polish truckers (and later the farmers) blocked their part of the border, we already had two other crossings lined up.  If anything good is coming out of this drive right now, it's that now we KNOW we need to approach it with caution in the shoulder seasons (and not at all in the winter months).

And while we're making note of this, the  poor truck decides it's had enough and breaks down in pouring rain at a gas-station half-way through the mountains... 

This is one of those times I'm instantly in "full panic" due to our current levels of exhaustion and the deadlines we're facing.  Definitely not a mindset that's helpful to fixing ANYTHING, so I decide to calm down a bit and grab a cup of coffee to try to wait out the storm. 

While sipping the coffee, I decide to check my Chiltons manual and the interwebz a bit to try to find the root-cause of our breakdown but deep down I know I just need to get out in the wet and take some measurements.

The problem is, when we stopped at this gas station to use the bathroom, Friday the 13th again reared its head and nothing worked when we got back in the truck and tried turning the key.  No click, no indications on the gauges, and most importantly "NO HEADLIGHTS" (this is important to not for anyone who's ever lost a starter solenoid)

Nothing in the truck worked at all, except new cig lighter tied directly to the battery...

This was a head scratcher, for sure.  Looking at the chilton's, a possible suspect was the alternator volt regulator.  I have a spare with us, but this isn't ideal due to its location (I have to drop a lower coolant line to fix).  Also, I'm not sold on this idea...

The rain is lighter now (it's not going to stop) and I get another hint when KC lights don’t work.  The reason this is important is because they're tied to a half-way point on the alternator line ½ way between the battery.  This was a big clue as this line would run through the vehicle's main fuse before making its run.

Now, I've already checked the main fuse (it's good) but what if power wasn't even getting that far?

Well, I hit it with my multimeter while standing out there in the rain, and sure enough I find a pulled wire...

Fixing it is easy as I was able to remove the terminal lug and re-crimp it.  the only downside is I had to cut a slot in my main fuse holder to do so (it's not going to hurt anything in the future).  After that, I tried the key

Success!

With the truck fired up and pointed west, we get a “woo hoo!!!” from the gas workers as we go

About then we find out we're pointed in the wrong direction (east).  We u-turn it on the highway and have to pass by that gas station again (hopefully avoiding the notice of the "woo hoo" station attendants)

Mrs. Hungary says "Those workers are going to see us pass by again and tell everyone  'Yeah those volunteers were bad-asses alright.  With the way they fixed their truck...  But they were dumb-asses too.'"

Next big stop is the border.  We chose a smaller crossing in the hopes of making it a quick crossing.  Unfortunately things do not go as planned.  Up at the front, we notice the power goes out multiple times.  Ultimately, it takes us 5 hours to cross.

Even still.  We're home by 1pm on Sunday.  Lots of time to spare

Back home-sweet-home, Friday the 13th struck one last time.  Power was out.

Luckily we're set up for such things.

I pull the battery from the truck (it's the only battery we have these days, but it's a good battery.  We'll buy another for my my other car on payday) and run our `12v fridge.  We can tell power's been out for over 24 hours because everything in our refrigerator is warm-ish.  It all goes in the 12v unit.

Our freezers are still cold.  Normally set to -17, they currently measure -10.  We attribute this to the thermal mass of food we keep in there.

We pass the evening and the night by playing board games with the family by the fire.  This is a small taste of what Ukraine will be facing this winter, and I don't think many Ukrainian families will find themselves as comfortable or as well stocked as we are this far into the war.

It's already getting cold, and the Danube is already flooding.  With the infrastructure strikes, it's estimated that 400,000 refugees will leave the country this winter.  A couple of our families already have.

No time to lick wounds though.  Power comes back on the next day and the truck gets its battery back.  The computer is fired up and our donation drives to Dr. Julia and Yaroslav (our adopted Drone pilot) begin immediately.

Ohhh, wowww!!! Love your trip stories man  thanks!!!

i'll add a little part from me  and I'll try to flesh out what you wrote a little bit 

Hi everyone!!! Hope you all are doing well 

The first thing i'd want to start with 

Yaro - our drone pilot - asked about some meds for him and his friends  

no questions - ordered and sent 

The next day i got the monthly transfer for moms and kids fund 

Thanks for your support guys!!! 

If you pay attention to the last few lines of the report - that's what my part of the trip story will be about and a little more  although Bill has already talked a little bit about it 

Have a good time!!!

Vikki, I can't wait to read your update!  I don't think I could describe how absolutely exhausted you sounded on the phone when I called you from that bombed out service station.  I didn't tell anyone, but it sounded like you had been working like crazy all day!!

and speaking of updates, I have a Monday update for everyone (he says on a Wednesday morning)...

Current Paypal Balances:

Mothers and Babies Fund (Gmail)  Get Vikki a Generator Fund:  21,622forint (about $61 USD) Transfer scheduled for the 1-October.

Yaroslav's Armor Fund (Yahoo): $694.86 (it's a USD account).  Funds transfer has started, armor will be purchased and sent soon!!!  Moving our effort towards a new helmet.

Katies EKG and Generator fund (external):  $1850.  EKG cost is approx $1000, and transfer is in progress.  She is moving her effort to medicine and a diesel generator (approx cost $1500)

GoFundMe is CLOSED!  Trip report is written and can be shared to all donors through this link:  https://dniproexpress.com/trip-reports/f/dnipro-7-back-to-school-2024

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

Cheers everyone!

-Bill

I just finished a video I made from our run.

I can't thank you all enough for making all of this possible.

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

I just finished a video I made from our run.

Ohhh, i absolutely love this video!!! That's COOL!!!

*my special respect for the song choice  I was a Modern Talking fan(just don't laugh, pls ) when I was young, but I hadn't heard this song  *

Thank you guys for doing this!!!

and MANY-MANY thanks to all the people who support us!!!

Guys you all are AMAZING!!!

Vikki, I can't wait to read your update! 

Soon  

i'll have some free time next week  and i'm gonna do it!!! i really want to tell you all about everything too!!!