Better get some sleep guys, tomorrow is going to be an early day
Better get some sleep guys, tomorrow is going to be an early day
For this next section, there were three ways we could have gone:
The costal road doesn't show the estimated drive time, but it's 12.5 hours for comparison. I'll be referencing the roads we take as things progress so I wanted to share this now so you can have an idea of how we planned things, and how we adjusted, and why.
Cheers guys.
Oooo, yesss!!! i've been waiting for the continuation of this story 
something interesting for the evening reading 
VikkiDp said:Oooo, yesss!!! i've been waiting for the continuation of this story
something interesting for the evening reading
Man, I really am sorry it took me so long to get back on here. I've been absolutely exhausted lately and have been in doing all I can to recover from how busy things are.
Northbound, Day 2
I'm up at 3am and it's time to get going. In chatting with the brits we're all in agreement that we're mostly going to be camping. They want to keep this operation as low budget as possible, and I am 100% game. I stay inside the hotel so I can use the wifi as much as possible to get caught up on messages. Mostly I'm messaging Julius from the Bananas team (still stuck in Dakar) and Mrs. Hungary. Julius sends me a video he clipped together of my truck when we were leaving Koundara on the way south
I'm pretty sure I posted it here when it was part of the story, but this is when I actually received it. I'm floored by these guys's approach to social media, it's next level compared to the pictures and tons of text I post... I try to take note, and think it might help my work in Ukraine.
Looking at my data usage, my sim card has 400mb left. By the time I'm packed and at the truck, it's 4am. Time for a fluid check (all is good), and to clean the windshield.
Alistar gets down first and we chat a bit about his truck. It had a 2.0 petrol engine (the same my old Mercedes 200 Automatic had), and now it has a 2.4 liter diesel. We talk driving routes and this is where the map becomes important:
The coastal road is easily the longest, so it's out straight away. The east-most route goes through Labe, and we think that road is good but ultimately decide to shoot straight up the middle. It's better and shorter, and there was a good canopy of trees on the way south that should help keep us cool and camping.
With that we punch out of town:
As the day continues to get lighter, the drive continues in an uneventful fashion
I'm loving the uneventful drive here, and the 80kph max speed restriction is really proving itself to be a complete non issue. With the way these roads are, we wouldn't do much more anways and the pace is a nice relaxing change. Not to mention the scenery isn't bad either.
(but you just know things cant stay this good forever by now, right? Because...)
And then it happens.
The pavement disappears and the dirt began:
I'd like to point out now about how much complaining I did on the way south. The roads the rallye organizers picked seemed like they were selected to beat us completely to death. Ever since we were at that national park in Mauritania's southern edge, it's been washboard roads, washed out roads, and ruts ever since. This wasn't my idea of "off road" or "touring" and thought that these organizers must have been a bunch of city dwelling panzies who'd never seen a 4-wheel drive track before.
I was wrong.
The roads we wen't down? Those were the "good roads". the one we're on now? It's so much worse!
Our pace is slowed to a crawl....
After a couple hours of this, we stop for a walk.
The fire truck guys are dumping a can of fuel in, so I decide to do the same. Except my tank wasn't very empty and I ended up splashing a bit on the ground when it filled up.
oops!
There's also a bit of a seat comparison going on between the fire truck guys and myself. These roads are AWFUL and those seats in the firetruck aren't doin anyone any favors.
Doing some math as we drive, I can quickly tally up that we've lost 3-hours of drive time on this trip. What was going to be a 10-hour drive is now going to be a 13. And that's IF these roads improve immediately (which they're showing no signs that they will)
And right about then is when we came to the bridge....
Man, we all agree that this bridge is janky as hell. I mean this is the type of thing you see on those jungle exploring movies where the sidekick's feet break through and everyone almost falls. NONE of the boards that make the track for this are nailed down, so we reposition some of them so they run the full length of the bridge. After that, Alistair flies his drone a bit to take some photos of the experience (I didn't even know he had one). A motorcyclist goes by and doesn't fall to his death, so Alistair decides to proceed
Here goes nothin, guys. You ever notice that it's never the lightest vehicle that goes first? In this particular instance, I don't mind:
Well, that went well!
Ok, so out the other side now and we're greeted by a gate. It's not locked, so we shrug and go through
I just wanted to share that last picture so you knew we closed it afterwards 
Back in the driver's seat, it's more of the same. Low speeds, and bumpy roads...
We're stopped at this point to make sure we're on the right track (and to dump another jerry can in the fire truck). Unfortunately, we are. I know you see a couple videos, but I can not ever explain to you how punishing and slow this drive is. I mentioned earlier that I did some quick math to estimate how much time we lost? Well, I should also mention that task was made super simple because we're traveling at an average speed of 10kmh.
10!!!!!!
And we need to go all the way to Koundara like this????
In the truck with me is Max. He's the motorcyclist that broke down and I think he made mention that he was on a Honda CRF230, which I thought was a pretty small bike for such a ride (but then again, I've only ever ridden on trails, etc). He says his ECU went out and no mechanic in Sierra Leone could solve it. he's been down here living with a local for over 6-months!
Back in the UK, he runs a charity called "Wheels to Work". He rents out scooters and bikes to low income families as a means for transportation so they can avoid losing their jobs and save up enough for better transportation. He's a good guy and very outgoing. It's nice to have someone to chat with and in doing so I found out that he's paying for the family that housed him's eldest daughter to attend college. It's going to cost $1500.
Going back to the track at hand, it's 1530 now, and we've traveled 125 kilometers. We still have 250 to go (so, 20 hours??). We're also going to need fuel. We both have jerry cans, but we have seen absolutely NOTHING in the way of a gas station out here (and don't expect to anytime soon)
More driving ensues, and not long after this stop we hit a "stop sign"
Beyond that is tarmac! The dirt road has ended!!!!
Alistair gets out to embrace our new paved surface
I've gotta pause there for today, guys. Youtube is telling me I've hit my daily video upload limit
Thanks for coming back to tell this part of the story!
Not long after making a left at that intersection, we run into a town with a fuel station. I've been using the jerry cans, so my tank only needed 10-liters but then I still had three cans to fill. The fire truck need more fuel than I do, so I pop over to some covered store fronts (shacks, with blankets spread out like tarps really) and buy some green oranges, some baguettes, and bananas. That's right, I learned a thing or two from my time with the Flying Bananas guys. Max and I are going to have ourselves a road feast!
Pulling out, the firetruck turns the wrong way on a one-way street. It's easier that way to get to the main drag from the parking lot of the gas station. I turn the correct way and get to the main drag, when I do the fire truck is nowhere to be seen.
Back tracking down the road a bit, we find the fire truck at a building that we learn is a police station (it's right across the main drag from the gas station we just departed. Alistair was instantly spotted breaking the law and brought inside.
yikes.
Apparently a fine is paid, and Alistair is released. You can tell he's annoyed but the guy's still got his signature smile on his face. Time to get moving again.
The pavement obviously didn’t last long. We’re still averaging 10km/h and it’s 1800 now. We still have 100km to go. I think it’s becoming very apparent that even with “iron butt” levels of seat time, we’re not going to make it to Koundara… If you're wondering exactly how far we've gone today, and how far we still have to then here's a quick visual:
Not even half-way...
This is what I've been thinking all day. It's November 12th or 13th now. I need 3 days to get across Europe. I need 2 days to get up through Western Sahara and Morocco. I need to be home by the 20th, or I need to call my boss and find some way to get an extra vacation day from a zero-balance.
Catching up on messages, things aren’t going much better for the Bananas either. They’ve yet to secure a flight to get them out of Dakar. I'm sure Patrik and Julius are going to be fine, but I'm wondering if Katka, Roman, and Peter have similar deadlines. Either way, I don't think any of us can afford this slow pace we've all been forced into.
The videos now are doing a better job of showing how god-awful the bumps on these roads are, but I couldn't record all the elevation changes we went through because I needed both hands to drive. We'd get to a spot that would be STEEP (and bumpy) and the fire truck would climb up it like it was it's job. Max would go on and on about the traction that thing could find. I'll be honest here, I was damn impressed too. If it hadn't been for the fire truck I would have locked the hubs and put her in 4-hi (mostly to avoid tire spin, and to preserve whats left of the roads). Since Alistair was doin just fine in 2wd, I could never bring myself to do it.
Eventually Max hops out of the truck and Dan takes his place in the 4-Runner. His butt just cant take the beating the road and fire truck are dishing out. We're still only averaging 10km/hr here, and there's no other indication that anythings going to change any time soon. It was good we enjoyed that pavement while we did (all 500-meters of it, it felt like).
Dan is an engineer for Jaguar/Land Rover. We talk about our careers and how I'm not really happy with mine lately. He tells me about his, and talks it up a bit but moving to the UK with my gigantic fur-family isn't really something that would be allowed. it sounds nice though, and he likes it.
We also talk video games, and TV shows before we get back into engineering. He mentions 3d printing and talks about how into 3d modeling he got. This he goes on about for a bit and I'm listening but I'm not quite sure I need another hobby. It does sound nice though... being able to print anything you need... He makes a few printer recommendations and tells me what the differences are, and why he likes them. They're all "entry level" and wouldnt set me back much, he assures me.
Again, not sure I need another hobby to spend money on, but I jot down the info when I get the chance.
It's 1800 now, and we're taking the lights off of the spot lights. Nothing's gotten better with regards to this road. You cant even get mad at it at this point, it's just what it is...
10km/hour
Ten. Kilometers. An. hour....
It just goes on forever! If there's anything I can say about this, is my fuel consumption is amazing! With my gearing, and these speeds, I hardly ever have to touch the pedal!
The sun's goin down, and it's getting darker now. I notice a spot to my right that's flat and grassy as we drive by. There's a radio tower there and figure that must be the reason why, but we drive past without issue.
The KC lights don't get used much with the fire truck infront of us. It's got it's own spotlight and I don't want to shine my bright lights in his mirrors. At 10kph, at least we dont have to slow any. We're still holding pace.
Until we come to a bridge.
It's unfinished concrete at this time, but over a river that's as wide as the last one. When I say "unfinished concrete", I mean the left side is paved but it's higher than the right side. The right side isn't finished and still has metal rebar spikes sticking up.
There are two lorries at the bridge, one on either side. The one on the far side is backed in and unloading his cargo. The one on our side is backed in and he's loading from the other truck. This appears to be the two driver's plan to get the cargo across...
We talk to someone that speaks english to get an estimation of how long it's going to take to transfer the goods. I think about 4-hours was the estimation, and while that would be irritating it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'm thinking that if we weren't all so beat to death from today's drive then we might even be able to help. But then again, what good would that do us. We need to rest if we're going to drive all day again tomorrow.
We investigate the bridge and get more bad news. With that rebar sticking up, there's no reason to wait for the cargo transfer. the fire truck is too wide to get across without running over the metal spikes. We think this, and not the partially complete and uneven construction of the road surface, is why the lorries chose to do what they're doing.
crapbeans.
No sense in dwelling on what cant be changed, it's time to turn around!
I mention the potential campsite I saw near the radio tower. Maybe this is why the universe brought it to my attention. We're going to need a place to sleep, and now I know exactly where that's going to be. I'm told to lead the way, so I do.
Again with the random people walking! (see them in the last photo?)
We get back to the spot after a couple more hours of driving, and set up. It's a crap campsite (the ground has a LOT of large rocks hidden in the grass) but there are lots of stars out, so that's kind of nice
We all break out the camp food and mosquito spray (still in Malaria territory). We've all got our burners and are heating up water for dinner, but I'm still using Katka's JetBoil as I asked to borrow it until I could get back to Europe (this thing is awesome, and I may need to get one). Dinner for me will be two packets of chicken and lentil soup. I'm now aware of how little and poorly I ate on the way down and am trying to make up for it. Plus it helps that these guys ordered a whole case of the stuff by mistake and have been trying to give it away at any opportunity. It goes good with those baguettes we bought earlier!
Ok, time to plan though. Labe will be our destination tomorrow:
To do so, we're going ot have to veer on off the N24, and into what looks like a path through the hills (I think I was told we're regularly cresting 3000ft, if anyone was keeping track). With the highway nearly needing 4wd (if only to avoid wheel spin) we have no idea what to expect when we deviate from it. But it's that, or we lose an entire day going back to ground zero and none of us want to risk that.
After Labe, we'll grab the N5 and pick the N24 back up before Koundara and it's a north-bound shot from there.
With that we kick back. There's no beer or anything this time, but I do have to comment that even though none of this is going to plan (and even though I'm running head-first into a deadline right now), this is actually way more relaxing than running the rallye. There's no big push to get to some set camp ground, there are no big crowds at the camp ground when you get there. No police presence, no crowds, no cruise culture... It's just.. Africa.
It's quiet, the stars are out, and the company is good. What more could one ask for.
Anyhoo, 10pm now. Lights out guys.
Sonic said:Thanks for coming back to tell this part of the story!
Hey, I couldn't leave ya hanging! The northbound stuff was where all the interesting things happened! 
Northbound +3
I said it was quiet? yeah, I was wrong. This place is like Grand Central Station! There was lots of traffic at night. A couple vehicles, lots of foot traffic, and animals too! (mostly goats with bells). I ended up getting out of bed at 4am.
It's a full moon out, and I can hear a goat with a bell hanging out somewhere near our camp, but I cant see him. I decided to use the jet boil to make my coffee and then used the poo-bucket.
Some of the guys that were flying back gave me some sim cards to try for my northbound trip (they said they still had data on them) but it's hard to tell them apart. I swapped mine out for one I thought was Guinean and got lucky. I sent messages out to Bananas and Mrs. Hungary before settling in to google maps (Satellite view). I traced our road to the bridge that was still being built. The entire distance wsa 24kms... holy smokes. That took us an hour and 15 minutes to drive last night!
From here to Labe looks to be 5-hours (and we know how that estimate will go)
From Labe to Koundara it says it's 8 hours (and we can only hope that's going to be accurate)
Since no one is awake yet, I try to follow the satellite view of the dirt road we'll be on today. "tracks through grass" might be a better description of what I'm seeing. I don't want to be too doom and gloom so I put my phone away and pick up trash in my truck. I'm trying to be quiet as to not wake anyone up.
Now, I have to pause for a quick post script, because it's been a year at this point and I really can not tell you how impossibly well I remember this. So well, infact, that I just went to google maps and picked up right at our camp site:
The building wasn't a radio tower, it was some sort of travelers hut. I cant believe I didn't remember that when I was writing the previous post (well, so I remember SOME stuff well). What google maps does an AWFUL job of showing though is contour. Across the road from where we were parked (arrows), that hill was STEEP!!!! Like you wouldnt walk down it.
The bridge too, isn't too far away:
This is what our road is going to look like today.... Ah well, at least there's no question about how the drive will be. Cant crush someone's dreams if they have no hope to begin with, right?
Alistair, Max, and Dan are up at 5am. I get some coffee started for them as well, and we start to pack up the site. I also wet-wiped my steering wheel, as a side effect of peeling those oranges is "orange juice" that makes your hand sticky. This pairs well with the red dirt dust that's covering everything and you eventually get a red-dirt layer on your hands and everything they touch that absolutely does NOT come off.
Eventually everyone is awake before the alarms go off (we set them for 5:45am) and we're in good spirits. There's a round of coffee for everyone now.
Well, here we go. 141kms to drive! I top up the ATF in the power steering reservoir and we're on the road by 6:30.
Jack is with me for this stint (to be fair, with his rear suspension collapsed for half the rally on his motorcycle, those firetruck seats probably weren't doing him any favors). And the roads are still... well...
Aside from a night or two of drinking together, Jack and I have never really "chatted". We hit it off pretty well and it turns out he has all the right screws loose in his head. It starts with music, and I've already promised him some toothless, american, cousin kissin', country that is most certainly not from Nashville.
I warned him it'd make his teeth fall out, end in alcoholism, and eventually he'd fall in love with his cousin.. but he didn't listen.
I start him off easy with Angry Johnny and the Killbillies and play "High Noon in Killville" (NSFW Language Warning)
He seems into it, and I'm singing along while we bounce down the road. That's when I remember I hate singing along to the radio when I have a drummer in the car. I had forgotten that Jack was a drummer in a band, and he picks up the beat instantly and keeps perfect time with it while I'm late in starting verses and missing the occasional word. it's bad.
That one ends and then I decide to break out Crazy Eddie and his last Hurrah, as sung by "Reckless Kelley" (Cross Canadian Ragweed did a version which is done very well, but I believe Reckless Kelley wrote it so that's who I go with)
Relationships that end in death, restraining orders, and prison time were such a staple of country music growing up, that I never thought twice about it. I found out on accident that I had scared my Slovakian passengers slightly when this first came on and I sung it word for word a full volume.
Jack isn't phased. He's drumming on the dash and tapping his feet like it's his job.
We go through a few more. I play "Corpus Christi Bay" and "The Road Goes on Forever" by Robert Earle Keen and he digs them both.
He mentions that Robert Earl reminds him of The Hold Stead and recommends a song called "Sequestered in Memphis"
Give it a listen, it's worth it.
This goes on for a bit, and Cross Canadian Ragweed turns into Ray Wylie Hubbard ("Drunke Poet's Dream", but I used to drive by that "Snake Farm" he sings about almost every week back when I lived in Schertz, Texas), and we go on from there. We talk about music and about growing up with it. I tell him we used to roll 3-deep in a 1981 Ford Courier to the Auburn Annex with one pack of smokes between us and $15 in our pocket. We'd smoke the entire pack listening to god awful local punk bands while having the time of our life.
He tells me about turning 18 and going to veterans bars and pumping the juke boxes so full of coins that they'd play Irish punk and fight music until they inevitably got kicked out.
I'm tellin ya, this guy has all the right screws loose.
We talk about our old favorite bands at the time (I liked Bouncing Souls, Op Ivy, Rancid, and Bad Religion) and when I mention "Punk in Drublic" we immediately decide we need to play something by NOFX. A bit of data was used, but soon we had "The Brews" blaring out of the speakers
"oi oi!"
The energy calms down after a while and soon it's more of the same. Talk about music turns to talk about motorcycles, and we continue to bounce down the road...
Even with the energy levels high, I begin to jot down numbers at the bottom of my notes page. I'm using my trip odometer and my clock to measure our average speeds.
Hour 1: 12
Hour 2: 10
Hour 3: 10
Hour 4: 12
Hour 5: 10
At 11:55 we all stopped for a leg stretcher and dumped a jerry can in our vehicles...
There's really nothing around us, but it is nice to get out and walk a bit after being couped up for so long.
by 12:54 I have a baguette and an energy drink for lunch (I don't usually drink energy drinks, but Team Flying Bananas gave me a couple for the northbound run.). The baguette went down so well, I decided to have another.
Around 13:20, the clutch locked up in the fire truck. They couldn't get it to disengage! We pull over to troubleshoot
(Obligatory mention of the meme where 20-layers of management are watching the one worker. But unfortunately due to budget cuts, the company had to lay off the one worker 
)
The truck is looking pretty filthy from all of this as well. I cant imagine what the air filter looks like
Alistair crawls under his truck like a man who knows exactly what's where and what it needs. Watching him reminds me of what I think I look like when I work on my truck, so I decide it's best to let him be at it. He finds that the ball attachment on the clutch fork has come off. Possibly because it got hit by a motor mount (must be these roads). Grabbing a wrench and a hammer, he gets it back in place.
All said, we're back on the road by 13:33.
If you've watched that second video there, then you're not seeing things. We are on the side of the road again. It's 14:37 and the ball attachment on the clutch fork got hit by the engine mount again.
Max, now riding in the fire truck, is on this like a thing that's on things. Alistair may know his truck, but Max has an idea and wants to be underneath to investigate. He hypothesizes that there is a loose motor mount to frame bolt somewhere allowing the engine to rock and make contact with the ball attachment.
He's right. AJ opens the back of his truck and I'm immediately hit with a pang of jealousy as I'm looking at a fully stocked roll-away tool box
Not only are there loose motor mount to frame bolts, one of the nuts that clamps a bolt in place is missing.
The search begins for a work around. What can we take a bolt out of, for use here. it's a big nut though...
About this time, locals start stopping to help:
None of us share a language, but numbers are universal. Luckily the dirt on my truck is thick enough to draw in, and we're able to convey what we need.
Unfortunately, the locals don't have anything. To make matters works, a nut this size isn't a common item on either of our trucks. It's almost industrial.
We all start looking, when someone spots the bolts holding the ball hitch to my bumper. They might be a perfect fit.
The problem is, even standing on the breaker bar we can't get this loose.
And this is when I'm hit with my second pang of jealousy. After standing on it once, Alistair goes to his tool box, grabs a can of MAP gas, and heats the thing red hot. it comes right off.
How wonderful to have that tool kit with you 
After that, it's back under the truck and all is good in life again.
Tools put away and loaded back up, our trucks are ready to roll. Unfortunately we have a new problem and it involves me following the fire truck. The gap between it's two "dual" back tires is picking up fist sized rocks and when they come loose, they're flung in my direction. it's not a constant concern, but it is a concern and more than one rock is picked up.
The first one was discovered at our last clutch stop. Since we had tools out we tried to pry with the breaker bar, and even tried tugging with a tow strap, but there was nothing for it. It just has to fly out on its own apparently.
A fair bit down the road, we find the fire truck's twin (Need any parts, Alistair?)
It's another town with nothing in it. We wont hit pavement until 1700 tonight, and by then we'll still have 4 hours and 45 minutes to go. And again, we found another rock in the firetruck's tire.
fun stuff.
By 19:12, the firetruck again pulls over. they're hearing "tire noise" and we investigate. It turns out it's loose lugs. It's nothing we cant easily solve, but there's no getting around it. These roads are beating everything on our trucks loose. Passengers included!
Unfortunately, the pavement ended again 30 minutes later.
You cant tell because the camera doesn't move with the steering wheel. But again I am loving my decision to point my outboard KC lights, outboard. That is, the left points slightly to the left, and the right points slightly to the right. We are moving now, and having those lights angled they way they are, I can see RIGHT around every chicane and switchback.
Now a days, when I see all four lights pointed forward I really wonder why. Unless they're mixing "spreads" with "beams" that is.
If it looks like we're finally moving, it's because we are. And lemme tell ya, again there are no concerns with speed with that fire truck. The man in that diver's seat is able to wheel his vehicle like it's his job. But of course you know this is going to have a bad ending. By now you're just wondering to yourself "well, what else on EARTH could go wrong?".
So there we were. 3.5 hours to Koundara. And the road was completely blocked....
At this point, we're somewhere around this third circle:
We hit a line of vehicles parked on the right side of the road, some have flashers on, and we pull into the queue.
The firetruck driver and passengers all get out, so so do Jack and I. We decide to walk ahead to see what's going on.
Walking along the line of vehicles we can see that it's long, but not impossibly long. Assuming whatever's ahead can be cleared, then there's a good chance this will clear up in a short while. Heck, there are even other teams parked here in the line (hi, other teams!)
And that's when we see what's stopping us:
The orange truck blew a hub or something. There's grease and gear bits everywhere. The white/yellow truck tried to drive around and got stuck in the mud.
If you go back and look at the first picture... The gap between the back and front of those trucks is the only opening in the entirety of the highway.
We're stuck.
Well! Nothing for it now! Since I have my phone out, it's time to get caught up on messages!
I text Mrs. Hungary first and let her know the situation. I don't know how long we're going to be here and things like "batteries" may start dying.
Next up was the Bananas. looks like they've had a stroke of luck today. Julius and Katka both report that they're in Marseille now. Looks like they stayed at a local Radison in Dakar, and finally got their flight back to the EU. Glad someone made it out of this. Now to set up camp.
Once camp is struck the firetruck team makes hotdogs and canned chili. And dear berkin god, is it the best hotdogs and chili I've ever had!!! Afterwards we take inventory. We have 6 bottles of water between our two teams and two filter bottles (Including mine). There's a stream up ahead where the trucks were stuck so we can top those up in a pinch. Out comes the bug spray and I remembered that the truck team calls theirs "hore tranquilizer". Come to find out, they bought bug spray meant for a horse and were using that.
Ah, what the heck. Why not give it a try. I join in the festivities
The truck team pitches their tent between the vehicles and I opt to sleep in my driver's seat.
Goodnight, and get comfey everyone. Looks like we're not going anywhere for a while...
man, this is really wild stuff! I love reading it!
Thanks for picking this back up.
Wow! This is one of the best write ups I've read!
I feel like I went on the adventure with you!
Fantastic!
So there I was, waiting on the next entry...
In reply to Lof8 - Andy and Aaron_King:
Thanks guys, and absolutely happy to do it! This is the fun part and I really wanted to get it typed up before life knocked me flat on my ass again
Northbound +4
There I was... Stuck for the second night on a Guinean highway.
So I woke up at 5:30, and despite a lot of tossing and turning I'm actually felling well rested. Not leaving the cab, I hop on whatsapp to catch up on messages (it's too dark to do anything else, really). I get to thinking about the situation we're in, and decide that whatever happens with the semi-trucks is out of my hands. Instead I'm going to focus on my vehicle so it'll be good to go when the time comes. Nothing too maintenance intensive. Mostly just fluid checks, check my lug torques (I brought a torque wrench with me), top up the ATF in the power steering reservoir, and for good measure I check the zip ties holding my swaybar up and out of the way so it no longer makes noise over all the bumps.
I also switch back from sandals to boots. It's just beyond the rainy season here which is why the roads are so washed out and awful. There's mud down by the trucks and I'm sure I'll be back and forth, so my hiking boots would be better suited all around. Anyhoo, it's time for coffee (and since we're not in a rush, I'm making it "Katka style", that is: the lowest flame possible for smoother taste)
As I'm unpacking and getting ready for the day, I hear a diesel engine approaching from behind so I turn around and look. It's a white hilux with a man in a vest on the back. People are letting the hilux through, and you can see it in the below video where I pan around a bit:
I decide that this might mean action, so I head down to look at the trucks.
meh. Same as the night before.
I decide to walk back and see that a big box is being unloaded from the hilux (maybe tools?), it's being carried down to the truck area and the hilux leaves
By the time I get back, all the guys are up so I start making them coffee
Back down at the stuck truck site, I hear angry diesel noises. I don't bother going to look and instead I finish the coffee and pack up the jet-boil in case things started moving soon. Pretty soon the angry diesel noises stop, and nothing changes.
I should mention at this point that there are four of us guys drinking coffee here and we only have my cup to drink out of. We're at that level of "DGAF" right now.
No rinse, no wiping of the rim, just drink the coffee, hand it back to me for a refill, and the next guy grabs it, and the whole process repeats. (oh, I forgot! You know Max, Dan, Alistair, and Jack, but Fraiser is here as well. He's been in pictures, but if one singles him out I'll point it out to you)
I walked around a bit and noticed the B2B participants I saw last night were sitting behind their vehicle. It's an orange 4-Runner that's prepped similar to mine (tire size, etc). They're Hungarian I introduce myself. We talk about the situation and talk about alternatives. For that, I gotta pull up a map (we really do spend a lot of time looking at GPS on these trips)
"What do you guys thinking about dropping back to Labe and grabbing the N8 to the N9 to get to labe" I ask
"Which category did you come down in" the lady responds
"er, 4x4 touring?"
"Ah, so you know that was the 4x4 route on the way down. We did it in a LandCruiser Prado and it was absolute hell. I wouldn't even try it in that 4-Runner" she replies gesturing at the orange runner.
(I don't have the heart to tell her that we didn't 4x4 at all on the way down, but there's no point. If it was hell in a Prado, then its going to be worse in the firetruck)
We shrug it off and part ways. I'm going to go peak at those stuck trucks...
A little convenience store has popped up on some blankets just past the trucks, but there's nothing we need to buy now. I also head up hill a bit while following a river until I get to a good spot to fill our water bottles. I'm saying hydrated early, in case we run out of the bottled stuff we used to make coffee this morning.
It's about 9am now, and I decide to walk past our camp in the direction away from the stuck trucks to see what's going on at the other end of things. When I get about 200 meters from camp I see a man on a 3-wheeled motorbike with baskets upon baskets full of baguettes! I bought 6 from him and take them back to camp to share (I think I might be the only guy in our group with local paper currency right now)
Back at the camp site I decide it'd probably be a good idea if I walked around and picked up a bit of firewood, and when I'm done it's about 10am.
Max and Alistair are tinkering with the firetruck at this point. They have the same idea I did earlier this morning. They've got a grease gun out and are squirting grease in any zerk fitting they can find. I hear Max talking and he's saying that they should just get the tools out and put a wrench on every bolt they can find. I make a mental note of this. My suspension may be better, but my truck is still taking an absolute beating. Something is bound to be vibrating loose by now
(and if you follow my Ukraine thread, you'll know I ran into issues with exactly THAT earlier this month)
Still trying to stave off boredom, I walk back up the line of cars and run into more participants parked behind us. They're from the Netherlands and I get them up to speed and toured their vehicles/camp site a bit. A little further on there's another store set up on blankets. I decided to buy some bananas (still thinking of those guys) and when I get them back to camp, I can see Max had done some walking himself as he's bringing back some sodas, some bananas, and two bags of water (those little bags you might have seen from earlier in the trip)
Speaking of water, my pee is looking a little yellow. I grab my water2go bottle and make to head down to the river when I see Fraiser is just as bored as I am right now:
Down at the trucks I hear shouting
I have to head that way to fill my bottle anyway, so I go take a look at what's going on.
Language warning: I drop the f-bomb at the very beginning of this video
Couple things here: I was in the Navy and we're trained a bit in "Marlinspike" (rope work. in this case, casting and tying the ropes that keep a ship docked) and the first part of that was watching video after video of the aftermath that happens when one of those ships ropes breaks... It's not pretty. They've got live recordings of entire lines of men dropping, and not having legs anymore. There is no chance I'm getting anywhere near this. Nevermind the idea that someone might slip and have the truck drive over them...
Unfortunately that rubs a few of the locals the wrong way as you can see in the video. They call me "Camera man" and I catch a few gestures in my direction. I'm not worried as I don't get involved beyond "no way" and "that's deadly". No one bothers Max though, maybe it's his grey hair
Honestly though, I have zero faith that this is going to do anything. I was surprised we saw movement on the first attempt, but I think the truck was just rocking itself. After the second try I decide to head back to the truck to avoid a fight if this continues (it doesn't)
So much for filling my water bottle...
gsettle said:Wow! This is one of the best write ups I've read!
I feel like I went on the adventure with you!
Fantastic!
So there I was, waiting on the next entry...
Ah! I wish I had seen your post before I made mine!
Thanks man, it's good to have you along
So there I was. Writing gsettle's next entry...
I have an idea as I'm walking away from the crowd. I'm going to head back to the back of the line on our side and film the entire convoy. To do so, I have to walk by our camp where I see Jack 100% has the write (pun intended) idea. I snap the next picture on the 6th try without him really noticing (or letting on that he notices)
This line is PLENTY long by now. When I do get to the end and start recording, I end up with a 10-minute long video, but kind of interesting to see the mix of ways people handle a situation like this. I especially like the street-like accent of the guy who confronts me in English. Nice guy, but talking to him was like O-G 90's style (I loved it)
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