tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30639116484484159252024-02-19T09:20:27.463+01:00Final JourneyWe´re a team of three IT engineers, who are going to drive an old Cadiallac hearse in the 2011 Budapest Bamako rally. We´re the Final Journey team.Kristianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044317734010732812noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-41677035387930193272011-02-04T00:30:00.001+01:002011-02-04T00:32:01.194+01:00Finalizing the journey.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEtgTVQ0qVRGfe7S6husG9_bzG7bRLNFFtQ1nlJmPjjh7lGFB3AEG6OWWmOmBYVcOOqwB8HEMSxNTC6Rj5QfNfaPnfiQ4JWcgSIKDoXZUO82slaWX1ZKP-bupdkec4eqA4AELpx9ri2yTy/s1600/mekke.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEtgTVQ0qVRGfe7S6husG9_bzG7bRLNFFtQ1nlJmPjjh7lGFB3AEG6OWWmOmBYVcOOqwB8HEMSxNTC6Rj5QfNfaPnfiQ4JWcgSIKDoXZUO82slaWX1ZKP-bupdkec4eqA4AELpx9ri2yTy/s320/mekke.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569610123967844898" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswCzVvkKi_7smJolReabLaGbLnQEPc9jTcopx7DYg71SMsTOLVFW8c-cKriLtCnmU6udp_dKWaqbMBLgVHk1tUBTUjIWAK9imlRg3hbvl4D9gxFGQjVz0E3Irinx3bM1Bgdngwa9qzCi5/s1600/finish.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswCzVvkKi_7smJolReabLaGbLnQEPc9jTcopx7DYg71SMsTOLVFW8c-cKriLtCnmU6udp_dKWaqbMBLgVHk1tUBTUjIWAK9imlRg3hbvl4D9gxFGQjVz0E3Irinx3bM1Bgdngwa9qzCi5/s320/finish.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569610122158821218" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvd4HqKzP-tmkCQflPIMgVGmVHYLvEzSZm6USO95LN5TeCuyAAtphOOX5qhPp1mXIN4h9ymYgRCC8L3JupBzqI5na-q3TkBK3-EOhDQvgKoLDDc5XUAvalKh7zaADCrKkVzB_JszV8ndo-/s1600/driving.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvd4HqKzP-tmkCQflPIMgVGmVHYLvEzSZm6USO95LN5TeCuyAAtphOOX5qhPp1mXIN4h9ymYgRCC8L3JupBzqI5na-q3TkBK3-EOhDQvgKoLDDc5XUAvalKh7zaADCrKkVzB_JszV8ndo-/s320/driving.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569610115585327538" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0BbHeeownpftNvSrJJWWqHQOYEio_bGIaBVZS4Fo7MdQAmCbRHCuiDoYNpc7cR37zcIWLaaNnAuzHlgGZS02VtNMCAD081jWDrzJji8jkjqo22o8yr4G5vVHZo0oubWBKhW_ZUV9rMFHs/s1600/console.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0BbHeeownpftNvSrJJWWqHQOYEio_bGIaBVZS4Fo7MdQAmCbRHCuiDoYNpc7cR37zcIWLaaNnAuzHlgGZS02VtNMCAD081jWDrzJji8jkjqo22o8yr4G5vVHZo0oubWBKhW_ZUV9rMFHs/s320/console.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569610114506355842" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnDxJ17BntcP_A-3NWnWYM9DHYTZExXoYFEAUXUetQdiKDvYnOuNS1pY5mclMH5Z33bz3nk3ge0aSYmJ85k49RMB7M7McFQPA_CqwEj5hrZvcCWiSfGCiP-v2ulekeM0mBtKoRMZbf7iP/s1600/window_down.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnDxJ17BntcP_A-3NWnWYM9DHYTZExXoYFEAUXUetQdiKDvYnOuNS1pY5mclMH5Z33bz3nk3ge0aSYmJ85k49RMB7M7McFQPA_CqwEj5hrZvcCWiSfGCiP-v2ulekeM0mBtKoRMZbf7iP/s320/window_down.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569610129532930642" /></a><br />the next morning we donated the rest of our stuff. Tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, our large bug zapper - everything we did not need for the last stage to Bamako. The last stage made people take the top of their cars off - lowering the front windscreen. The airflow would be nice. No such luck with the hearse. We still have hour heater set to full heat - and even if we got to change the direction of the fan that blows hot air into the car it still gives off quite a lot of heat. As we were driving along I believe the highest temperature we measured in the car was 56C. That is hot, even in black suits.<br /><br />Along the way we stopped at a gas station. Of course we got swarmed with kids that wanted gifts. We really had none - saying "Cadeaux fini" did not really work. As we were about to go off and I got into the back seat they kept pointing at a bag of trash. This mostly consisted of empty water bottles, baby-wipes, wrapping paper and such. I gave our trash to the oldest looking girl there and she took it away ripped open the bag and the rest swarmed around grabbing... Stuff. I am not sure what they found in our trash that was worth it. It was surreal. Then I made the great mistake of thinking that I could leave the rest of our trash right there. I opened the car door and put it on the ground. The car got charged by bunch of kids. Crashing into each other and the car. Ripping the bag apart. Fighting over the scraps of the white man. It was heart wrenching.<br /><br />The car was falling apart as we were driving. Our center console was all but collapsed. We expected the windscreen to fail at any moment. Our cooling fan had to be turned on with a switch, but it could not be kept running as it would drain the battery. Our extra lights went out when we hit a huge pothole. The power to the gps and other electronic gizmos got caught in the breaking pedal and got cut. Our radio had lost its juice. The right tail light was taped in place after the road to the first Diema. The shocks had all but died in the Atlas mountains. The springs had given up keeping the car up and we had once again the ground clearance of a racing car. And a fine layer of dust covered everything.<br /><br />The car limped into Bamako. I got up on top of the coffin. I was going to ride the car across the finish line! And I got to ride trough a lot of the detours we made trough various parts of Bamako. Heads were turned. Finally we found the finish line. The journey was finalized. We had made it. All the way. Everybody kept gratulating us for making it - we even got cigars (thank guys!). It felt great. And we could not quite believe it ourselves. We kind of expected to have to go on the next day.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-69403319457683040522011-02-03T11:34:00.003+01:002011-02-03T11:42:25.516+01:00The other other Diema<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5Z_R3Snsqk4ZAW7BKO-J74gu96dZFGyLELYkNF7a3ri0eNsI_D_PqbBCwMwvtQDErNdOGv19U-QYXFbERuqYDscQK5IV0hPwd3NRm8PCZANXHvmSKmjz8EeOuihQLA0_lBj1ZKGVGaBg/s1600/camp.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5Z_R3Snsqk4ZAW7BKO-J74gu96dZFGyLELYkNF7a3ri0eNsI_D_PqbBCwMwvtQDErNdOGv19U-QYXFbERuqYDscQK5IV0hPwd3NRm8PCZANXHvmSKmjz8EeOuihQLA0_lBj1ZKGVGaBg/s320/camp.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569411481303542882" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9HZnSCeIpDCdkWsNknc5l9B7yqRodbeTcYhbyE-zfBP6NZCQ9FwBUI7befWGfeWmie0pOCxFM0IYciBxh1dFgCeUCe_pmtOYaGnjyJigEownJTJO4WsDNNIxQvwREqhHkqf7GJFApNYU/s1600/the_crowd.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9HZnSCeIpDCdkWsNknc5l9B7yqRodbeTcYhbyE-zfBP6NZCQ9FwBUI7befWGfeWmie0pOCxFM0IYciBxh1dFgCeUCe_pmtOYaGnjyJigEownJTJO4WsDNNIxQvwREqhHkqf7GJFApNYU/s320/the_crowd.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569411474790228482" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-dAYsI6IMeUwt8PAqsoqdSHlwLyZ0OnHrGLux_sQ9KAzCP9r2zl9VxZaz097AupGcjhLuTseIu6Z-AtNlbekSp9XDQUCC-rL0eweR_sNN291GZn-0bK3D6XrLi4fiov1IQlI_li50Cgl/s1600/the_goat.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-dAYsI6IMeUwt8PAqsoqdSHlwLyZ0OnHrGLux_sQ9KAzCP9r2zl9VxZaz097AupGcjhLuTseIu6Z-AtNlbekSp9XDQUCC-rL0eweR_sNN291GZn-0bK3D6XrLi4fiov1IQlI_li50Cgl/s320/the_goat.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569411467258511682" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuxs5eZtbtNqGjmsQ5i0dDcQ3nbTEDdG0D7-nm2YtI5W8gtkQyJ8BZxgrabsO55qrBuXK1LAJSpZ2k78KUe9g8dz2H0B6Sf4l8yiV80mQsn8UL7P23HMc99GyRScyK0kL80N7j38PNPGy-/s1600/dance_dance_revolution.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuxs5eZtbtNqGjmsQ5i0dDcQ3nbTEDdG0D7-nm2YtI5W8gtkQyJ8BZxgrabsO55qrBuXK1LAJSpZ2k78KUe9g8dz2H0B6Sf4l8yiV80mQsn8UL7P23HMc99GyRScyK0kL80N7j38PNPGy-/s320/dance_dance_revolution.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569411460381910706" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMO2yEOIjDEqLXre4yAWXDPpbMmoGoLftcYD2haCvwG6bE3f2XRRHgkjjeSv0sFeXtLlfvWLey3h6nAqD0392PDiNabVZI6xBmjQKSprtFYhCuD7l2JyW7dDudLmlYqGpi5f425ps2-IV/s1600/in_the_bush.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMO2yEOIjDEqLXre4yAWXDPpbMmoGoLftcYD2haCvwG6bE3f2XRRHgkjjeSv0sFeXtLlfvWLey3h6nAqD0392PDiNabVZI6xBmjQKSprtFYhCuD7l2JyW7dDudLmlYqGpi5f425ps2-IV/s320/in_the_bush.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569411477877569570" /></a>The next stage was not very long and went pretty smoothly. The only problem we had was with the fuel filter. We had to change it along the way. As we were just done with the fuel filter and in the process of repacking all of our stuff (of course the fuel filter was in that least accessible box of stuff at the very bottom of everything), Honky Tonk pulled up besides us. They had stayed at the official camp and Andrew (the organizer of the whole rally) had told them that the village where we were staying that night had gotten us a goat for dinner, but that we should bring some more. So we set out on a goat-quest.<br /><br />A little further down the road we came across some people with a rather huge goat heard, so we all got off the road. We were immediately surrounded by kids. As the others started negotiating the price of goat I got our compressor and out one of the footballs that we had bought in Agadir. The second it was inflated it was ripped away by some kid who ran away as fast as he could with a small tail of other kids following him. The rest expected more footballs. But none were given.<br /><br />It is really, really hard to give and not give gifts in Africa. It is rather horrible to feel like a huge broken gift dispenser. I try and refuse to give gifts to the ones that keep asking for them - the plan being to only give to the ones I feel like giving to. It is quite obvious that people need stuff - but giving it away only really adds to their problem.<br /><br />The price for goat got settled. It got butchered there and then and carried over to our car - where we had pulled out a body bag (the body bag had came with the car). The bag was really made for humans and even if the goat fit - the bag got punctured by the goats horn. We put the bag into the coffin and drove off. Finally the coffin had gotten to be used for something it was not really meant to be used for.<br /><br />We got to Diema - a small village where an english lady has (amongst other things) a schooling program. A lot of the donations from our rally went there. And all of ours. We gave away a lot of things. We had just brought too much food. And we gave away tools and cocking gear and clothes. It was a _hard_ task to get those things sorted. A bunch of kids gather closely around us. They only ran away as some police men came and chased them away with sticks. It was quite surreal.<br /><br />The villagers had prepared a nice party for us. With food and music. We got attention and people were impressed that we still were in suits in the hot-hot-sun. A lot of pictures were taken. The suits were quite OK - well that is until Andrew made us dance. It was a quite forced dance - but we got applause as we threw our hats up in the air and other great party tricks. The night ended in a small party in our camp.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-77946307824371509102011-02-01T11:18:00.003+01:002011-02-01T11:48:20.753+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_FaXiGuPM-Ml94w5qp3FeHtol8pJdLARR1LJBl_KXMf2jIJ8IwW1Iz_OzPCzwCt4v4_02CJA1RgxjCD7X4wuZV8E5R9-2DbipAJvs33mTFAmnO0P5F6A2752WVIagU15eJBeidig71vz/s1600/at_the_border.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_FaXiGuPM-Ml94w5qp3FeHtol8pJdLARR1LJBl_KXMf2jIJ8IwW1Iz_OzPCzwCt4v4_02CJA1RgxjCD7X4wuZV8E5R9-2DbipAJvs33mTFAmnO0P5F6A2752WVIagU15eJBeidig71vz/s320/at_the_border.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568665114643096098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-tue3FMQKKkjimF1tQoNOLl-q9v7SFid71T9CTXVzSZB91C4FRO7qakQbm8vG-wSthTtFMHRlaJ2RVvQdT-UcM-w_BA1os0NKox6SNQKoG4g4-is84-q_kkmLhuEsoJJsotGeEYTznXp/s1600/cadeau.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-tue3FMQKKkjimF1tQoNOLl-q9v7SFid71T9CTXVzSZB91C4FRO7qakQbm8vG-wSthTtFMHRlaJ2RVvQdT-UcM-w_BA1os0NKox6SNQKoG4g4-is84-q_kkmLhuEsoJJsotGeEYTznXp/s320/cadeau.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568665120570321586" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwxI3i6qcrjeQxk_QZUwy2QCL-05XTtinRTDHztwKwyAphIb0tfFfkPcO-hjqX19WGm8MewHsdrZpGJK0edgZv8y5kheNYVCkgcOnRfRw91YViTVb_512CKAI1WmZx66-uSQO9Lm_LDlB/s1600/vehicle_maintainance.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwxI3i6qcrjeQxk_QZUwy2QCL-05XTtinRTDHztwKwyAphIb0tfFfkPcO-hjqX19WGm8MewHsdrZpGJK0edgZv8y5kheNYVCkgcOnRfRw91YViTVb_512CKAI1WmZx66-uSQO9Lm_LDlB/s320/vehicle_maintainance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568664092063911858" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwjhoc2LH5FSEgjXwLoG5cCLjqSloCtsELYPNA2APRzjuRcMoYC4MNF4j0kEy240VDDmUsl7eTiD-HpYAg46lbV5tBJbWlNb34h9ro6gzhPukIs47VItoi-tDPA3XtzLYoOtpxH7Oym-Z/s1600/bumpy_2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwjhoc2LH5FSEgjXwLoG5cCLjqSloCtsELYPNA2APRzjuRcMoYC4MNF4j0kEy240VDDmUsl7eTiD-HpYAg46lbV5tBJbWlNb34h9ro6gzhPukIs47VItoi-tDPA3XtzLYoOtpxH7Oym-Z/s320/bumpy_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568664084544268322" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Izj_hm_fgOQgh5VA724sKDGNrnTLFgFtL9vrsKU-G8n58hpiml3nDTEha4PglHqQ4gngQAZlJTeQXHRilXEyocqBPdV71eEzKsRZSS4728AzKW_kv6bWaZZ-lfjvnDCTOAVElhXUC4Vi/s1600/bumpy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Izj_hm_fgOQgh5VA724sKDGNrnTLFgFtL9vrsKU-G8n58hpiml3nDTEha4PglHqQ4gngQAZlJTeQXHRilXEyocqBPdV71eEzKsRZSS4728AzKW_kv6bWaZZ-lfjvnDCTOAVElhXUC4Vi/s320/bumpy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568664077131377266" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe-SKf4GMXKxW4z2WCK4CgfF_B_uFG9jFpFC2uWwg_DeVBWlB8vthfffVLOeoTMAgOxIwwxk4-iCyrFeXmAS9lHy5Jo9glgZUXkD03543-gy12mVyOXCkhuoWG9ezdB_0TLCNrv6D3ogP/s1600/morning_has_broken.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe-SKf4GMXKxW4z2WCK4CgfF_B_uFG9jFpFC2uWwg_DeVBWlB8vthfffVLOeoTMAgOxIwwxk4-iCyrFeXmAS9lHy5Jo9glgZUXkD03543-gy12mVyOXCkhuoWG9ezdB_0TLCNrv6D3ogP/s320/morning_has_broken.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568664096990185714" /></a><br />It was a beautiful but all too early morning - Kristian took a walk and got some nice pictures. If we had gotten up earlier we could have taken a trip on the river and watched some hippos - we prioritized sleep. Sleep gets very high prioritization on a rally like this. If the choice is to get up half an hour earlier and get some breakfast or sleep a little more - sleep trumps food.<br /><br />We transformed and rolled out. Onto the bumpy thirty-something kilometer road back out of the national park. It was actually easier to navigate in the daylight - who would have thought that? At the bottom of the road we did some minimum maintenance on our car. Like changing the air-filter and checking the oil. We experienced that there were always things we needed or should check or fix. There was simply no time to do it. And often when we fixed one problem - that caused another. Like when we adjusted our throttle a little higher - this resulted in our accelerator getting stuck from time to time. The car took on more quirks and becoming more and more complicated to drive - one had to know how to manipulate all the controls in the perfect order just to keep it running.<br /><br />We set out for the Senegal-Mali border. Rolling trough Africa means a lot of kids coming running towards the car shouting "cadeau" (meaning gift) - it is quite scary how deeply embedded this reflex is in the african children. Some are extremely aggressive - close to the Mali border there was a bunch that simply would not move and when we slowed down to a crawly to slowly plow trough them they started hitting our car with sticks.<br /><br />Getting out of Senegal was not a problem at all. Though. I can probably not go back to Senegal on my current passport - we never got stamped out of the country. We just drove up to a rope that cut of the road. As we where debating if we should back up and find another way some guy in a uniform turned up and lowered the rope - we just drove on. As we were crossing the river we realized that we had crossed into Mali. We started laughing and saying 'Well, this was too smooth'. And yes - it was.<br /><br />We got stuck in-between a lot of trucks that were waiting to get past the border control of Mali. They where obviously not expecting to cross anytime soon as many of them did vehicle maintenance - some even seemed to do an full engine overhaul. It took a while before we figured out how to get trough. Luring the car off the road and onto he side. Finding the table where we could get the customs declaration for our car. And where to get our passports stamped. The whole thing only took about two hours. It felt longer. In the heat. Not understanding the whole process.<br /><br />We entered Keyes in the darkness. Stopping at a hotel that looked to be close to the camp. And we got told that the camp had moved. Nobody knew where. So we ended up staying at the hotel - that is in our car at the hotel - there was, of course, no vacancies. We entered the restaurant of the hotel. There where people there who had not seen us since before Agadir. We got a spontaneous round of applause. It felt good. It felt like it was all worth it. Team FUG let us use their shower. It was magnificent - our standards have been lowered but it was just great to stand in some hot water and get a nice shave after. Thanks a lot guys. <br /><br />Me and Per decided to check out the local nightclub - it was right next by the hotel. We were going to spend the night between a nightclub and the road where quite a lot of trucks where driving. A quiet night of sleep was what we were in for. Outside the Nightclub we were greeted by "Night Club" - that is what their nice little badge said. We had to pay some money to get tickets. Then we got taken away from the entrance to what we thought was the nightclub and up some stairs - the guard (some guy in some sort of uniform) let us past. Per and I seriously wondered what we actually had paid for... But it was just entry to the more vip part of the nightclub - a place packed with the life and joy of about 5 - at least two of them guests. We had a couple beers and left the club - even tho our hostess was promising us all the hot women would come in an hour.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-43706702456874480282011-01-31T14:43:00.001+01:002011-01-31T14:44:23.999+01:00New pictures.Have updated with pictures for all the postings that had none.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-88493557024166509342011-01-31T02:26:00.003+01:002011-01-31T02:39:44.691+01:00Into the national park.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi64FzKAqylvtkNHkUoi5IogWnswq4XLjiCvh3lCZ-vSLEIPsKR9uaX8g3zGBnMhoLRZY_z3E2qjyN4Ka7XzrwnG47-IUpAtdRTJKIJWBk4yKnbDWfA2dY9BC1PenMN2tFFx52evzDW2y6t/s1600/caught_up.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi64FzKAqylvtkNHkUoi5IogWnswq4XLjiCvh3lCZ-vSLEIPsKR9uaX8g3zGBnMhoLRZY_z3E2qjyN4Ka7XzrwnG47-IUpAtdRTJKIJWBk4yKnbDWfA2dY9BC1PenMN2tFFx52evzDW2y6t/s320/caught_up.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568157561581876290" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DVRHBszzdG8W6q1JQEi0kJbITO7ZKabrMZw1JuSGbXV-IBPpq2M7MTld5xhcOYTQGgeSn70MKw9UkyF9UF7qZJuSn1OwL2aI_PDUJIKT0uxep573Sl37RMsrD-_v0at62k2MZl3igsVg/s1600/night_driving.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DVRHBszzdG8W6q1JQEi0kJbITO7ZKabrMZw1JuSGbXV-IBPpq2M7MTld5xhcOYTQGgeSn70MKw9UkyF9UF7qZJuSn1OwL2aI_PDUJIKT0uxep573Sl37RMsrD-_v0at62k2MZl3igsVg/s320/night_driving.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568157565120158850" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0l5kRsB5leyjo47wR4Q0GlgJgu0b1w5SCnyLHvVe9RT6i979k3z2oQOZmiqdTDfthBCu0nuX7UW2mA5st0eKi0Oh3Xg9tzpa0Qg-Gun7-RNIO-DM1bn12yTjQtDti-xUhIA8tRutYMlR/s1600/tent_on_top.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0l5kRsB5leyjo47wR4Q0GlgJgu0b1w5SCnyLHvVe9RT6i979k3z2oQOZmiqdTDfthBCu0nuX7UW2mA5st0eKi0Oh3Xg9tzpa0Qg-Gun7-RNIO-DM1bn12yTjQtDti-xUhIA8tRutYMlR/s320/tent_on_top.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568157560167599394" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikomW8jD3ugtdhL4BjsEJQ0smbkd7e9K8CO5hoh4BtBsWwfTWWkeGKcsSeHC6FfVRxxTTSiaQgcEBFX-JW8DiOwrhgUgv-x5Nk047TxeFAQ7TTYLawMGhKVJAFftc6_R6O5FYFswRox2Jm/s1600/per_tired.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikomW8jD3ugtdhL4BjsEJQ0smbkd7e9K8CO5hoh4BtBsWwfTWWkeGKcsSeHC6FfVRxxTTSiaQgcEBFX-JW8DiOwrhgUgv-x5Nk047TxeFAQ7TTYLawMGhKVJAFftc6_R6O5FYFswRox2Jm/s320/per_tired.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568157554637545794" /></a>06:00 is obviously prime time for aggressive souvenir sales men and women. We were attacked as soon as we stopped the car. Aggressive aggressive aggressive. A real strain on our already strained nerves - this resulted in Per raising his voice for the first time this trip. That scared them away - for about five seconds...<br /><br />We relaxed for a bit and met up with the Brits. They thought that they where hallucinating when they found 3 Norwegians in suits outside their tent. There was much rejoicing. We set out for the stage that ended in a national park.<br /><br />On the road we got to experience an Senegalese hamburger. This is something that contains all that you expect from a hamburger meal and a little extra. A bun (sweet), meat, something salad-like, ketchup, fries, an egg - all in the bun. I am having a hard time to decide if I think this is an good idea or not. Being starved makes any food rather delicious. Two snickers-bars can taste like haven on earth.<br /><br />The road up to the hotel in the national park was of the same kind of quality as the road we had driven towards the Senegalese border. When we asked what the road was like we got the answer 'not so good' - now we know what african-not-so-good-road is like. We had to drive it in total darkness. It was really something we had gotten used to - the hearse got up there. No problem - even tho we all agreed after 5min on the road that this was not the greatest of ideas. Siting inside the car was like being in a washing machine on a spring bad. People were quite surprised to see us at camp - shaken not stirred. A surprise that held for several days. I do believe that a lot of people had counted us out of the game.<br /><br />Of course there where no vacancies at the hotel so we had to sleep in the tent on top of the car. First time since we had nearly frozen to death in the Atlas mountains. This time it was a more pleasant temperature. We got a rather short night of sleep as we had gotten into camp at 2AM and of course we needed to kick back with a few cold beers before we went to sleep - the first cold beers since Agadir.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-14473720709907833042011-01-30T19:12:00.001+01:002011-01-31T14:41:50.395+01:00The great catchup.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PXCalDorg30rrhUvN0my20NoG827HiAwpGHihoyTXQbIsC-2aT6cBzBOtl-snvnLFGR98jkL2xjNJ4B-unw-METRzEHugnK8-wW-81q6OAO5OVwxt3dME66yDxlFgE41Y9K4zBuALpzH/s1600/driving.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PXCalDorg30rrhUvN0my20NoG827HiAwpGHihoyTXQbIsC-2aT6cBzBOtl-snvnLFGR98jkL2xjNJ4B-unw-METRzEHugnK8-wW-81q6OAO5OVwxt3dME66yDxlFgE41Y9K4zBuALpzH/s320/driving.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568344356717808450" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydzDZBOiKWCQ_pJ4v2R5hU4V7z4nkDOMK62JSS3rVFcZ5mxSe3R97drhUvLvJVOWK9ntqv6QO6V4oY8Q5H7B54qOPZEiP5XvZgXsAEdyFO_nEYVKdqsPyqohbtHi18xm0N5kqLw67Vw9p/s1600/120_euro_happy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydzDZBOiKWCQ_pJ4v2R5hU4V7z4nkDOMK62JSS3rVFcZ5mxSe3R97drhUvLvJVOWK9ntqv6QO6V4oY8Q5H7B54qOPZEiP5XvZgXsAEdyFO_nEYVKdqsPyqohbtHi18xm0N5kqLw67Vw9p/s320/120_euro_happy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568344352350612450" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuWrcEbwABrkzTei70xP8oBY-CDS53saQEl80Vy0-lkJ8l7pziZCIJ6stte1TBgMrgFGD_Ec70MRajuekr72zAk-bz2ig84uQhPEnwRAlZuoPHDO1Cad4nya5PCVUbr_4iboS32Swc0P7/s1600/stuck_in_nomansland.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuWrcEbwABrkzTei70xP8oBY-CDS53saQEl80Vy0-lkJ8l7pziZCIJ6stte1TBgMrgFGD_Ec70MRajuekr72zAk-bz2ig84uQhPEnwRAlZuoPHDO1Cad4nya5PCVUbr_4iboS32Swc0P7/s320/stuck_in_nomansland.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568344346747547490" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdoXb8b8eDgYt8H6V5TBzR61TjIPt5aezLxH24SK31oAdlhUtBhnYdsjAxOUBqL0SAKulzVMNc3Sh6kMZuepy8jd5bw0LC9ZPEEfa7VAcygFtYN1VscDSKUlKlYkiqZPAmhMR-OugVn0QQ/s1600/driving2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdoXb8b8eDgYt8H6V5TBzR61TjIPt5aezLxH24SK31oAdlhUtBhnYdsjAxOUBqL0SAKulzVMNc3Sh6kMZuepy8jd5bw0LC9ZPEEfa7VAcygFtYN1VscDSKUlKlYkiqZPAmhMR-OugVn0QQ/s320/driving2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568344361843363858" /></a><br />The sun had yet to rise above the desert as we where getting up from our humble hotel room. There where none showers taken - if you had experienced this hotel experience - you would do the same. We where first in line to cross the border and after some creative shuffling of passports we got to leave Morocco. We headed straight out into no mans land - where the no men live. We were first in - so we had nobody to follow. Confident we went by the guides offering their services - saying "no" - confident we where saying "this would be no problem to cross at night" - confident we got stuck in the sand. For about 10 seconds. The no men were at our car in no-time - looking for the possibility to help and for euros. And euros we paid.<br /><br />The crossing into Mauritania was unspectacular - we did not have to bribe a soul. All in all getting into Mauritania cost us 3 hours - 3 precious hours. The process is in some 3 steps at each side of no mans land. First passports - getting them stamped - then the police - more stamps - then customs - even more stamps. There is always the possibility for stamp tax. As some other teams experienced there is a possibility to get every and last page of your passport stamped. There is also the possibility of tax tax, just to dig the knife a little deeper into your flesh.<br /><br />But. We were quite surprised how smooth the crossing had gone. And we were laughing as the border guard explained to us the concept of potholes. "Yes, yes, we know that there are potholes." We kept that in mind for about 10 seconds. The roads were straight and smooth and traffic was non existent -our deathmobile cruised along at 130. Then. The mother of all potholes. There was no going around - there was no breaking - there was just a loud crashing and grinding sound that shook the very core of our being. We stopped and expected carnage under the car. But. Nothing. Absolutely nothing had happened to the car at all. Our bash-plate saved the day. As it did time and time again that day. Now let me tell you about potholes in Mauritania - normally a pothole is just a hole in the road. In Mauritania you have nice straight roads of surprisingly good asphalt. The surprise is even greater when the road seizes to exist for 2-3m and instead of the road there is a 30-40cm dip. The first pothole we got to claimed at least two cars from our rally. Amongst them a 4x4 mobile home - a car laden with equipment and gear. We commented on it in camp earlier - saying that this was the way to do the rally - travel in style.<br /><br />We drove trough Mauritania that day - the control posts not asking for bribes - or trying to rip us of by finding some excuse to fine us. Just as the light totally disappeared we got to the border crossing at Rosso - the crossing that had been described as rather chaotic and the chance to get ripped off or just robbed blind was not something we really wanted. As we were leaving Rosso we got called up on the CB by some teams that had their passports and money taken by the police in Rosso... So we got out on a dirt track going towards Diema. A dirt road. In Mauritania. In total and absolute darkness. Living in western countries you never truly experience absolute darkness - the darkness of Africa. The dirt road is rather close to an off road experience - an experience we had to endure for 96km. About 10km in we were driving on the dirt track as it suddenly changed to a river of mud. And we got stuck. The car halfway into the mud. The car stalled and would not start as the batteries had almost been drained of our excessive use of power for fans and lights and electronics. We almost expected to stay in this big mud-hole for several days. But as a miracle the car started and as an even larger miracle we were able to back out of the mud. The rest of the trip was agonizing with bumps and our bash-plate and various other parts of our car hit various parts of the ground. But we puled trough. We got to the border at midnight - and it should have been closed for a couple hours. A 100euro got us trough it though. 2-3times what most had to pay to cross - but less then what some had to pay.<br /><br />We were in Senegal. It was smooth sailing towards Dakar - just some police that did the whole highway robbery in uniform trick as our tail light had rattled a little out of its socket on the dirt road. Another 70euros. Finally we were closing in on camp. We were soon to see the other teams. Victory was in our grasp. Then. We chose the 4x4 entrance to camp. Deep sand. And now we got to see how bad our car does on sand. It just got stuck. Not going back or forwards - not spinning but our clutch did not get our wheels spinning. It was as if we where trying to climb a really, really steep hill. We called out for help on the CB and our call was answered by the same team that we had talked to earlier - the team having the nice and pleasant Rosso experience. The cute californian girls from team 94 - they insisted on being mentioned in our blog, but we don't fall for that kind of flattery and nice girls in general. With the extra man (and girl) power we got our car out of the sand - back on the road and into camp. At 6:00 we were officially back in the Rally!Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-49057608794974591512011-01-28T14:18:00.003+01:002011-01-31T14:31:58.713+01:00Running for the border<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzUGHfUWn7F-W5rOlkThpbu7KjKg3gT9Bn-941og2m4vUV9xV3yNR0bqtYhKq4RO1fep3GZq3eAvv8U5kQWF2_LIXhbO6olKqUhtY20B8YWfMrMQi67Wd-2hxbt9T993UMeHWUQbVmPVy/s1600/run3.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzUGHfUWn7F-W5rOlkThpbu7KjKg3gT9Bn-941og2m4vUV9xV3yNR0bqtYhKq4RO1fep3GZq3eAvv8U5kQWF2_LIXhbO6olKqUhtY20B8YWfMrMQi67Wd-2hxbt9T993UMeHWUQbVmPVy/s320/run3.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568342110600043634" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CCgtkD1fTpC7Ou-8psqRGxswC2AdjZzC93IYg7qEra4kPLLsOnFIZheBhUpcuP2sk-zWUM5lhGlZDcKiwoZ7kjDUUJUfUMmoz_yZHUi0rs4Do2iW3PewRjPuvd2-dO1DjZUbbHeZo7Xl/s1600/run2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CCgtkD1fTpC7Ou-8psqRGxswC2AdjZzC93IYg7qEra4kPLLsOnFIZheBhUpcuP2sk-zWUM5lhGlZDcKiwoZ7kjDUUJUfUMmoz_yZHUi0rs4Do2iW3PewRjPuvd2-dO1DjZUbbHeZo7Xl/s320/run2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568342103213508610" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCT0CI4Hztue4NLqrwaOX7ngHmBcYEOaLBHdAQh0Bf3mzuLE1MoIb6Er3Chi3bdiAZPfhZt_VmsUoY8dmLEJsyxLLG1cDmBHMcjCp0MqJSCh5hZTdnbKBPq59pm-JKCeUA91u2XP7XcoK/s1600/run1.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCT0CI4Hztue4NLqrwaOX7ngHmBcYEOaLBHdAQh0Bf3mzuLE1MoIb6Er3Chi3bdiAZPfhZt_VmsUoY8dmLEJsyxLLG1cDmBHMcjCp0MqJSCh5hZTdnbKBPq59pm-JKCeUA91u2XP7XcoK/s320/run1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568342098313302626" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTx_SvDt8ngc98QHvfJ81vB5vM1VF0rU3vwU_Ff5I0C3a90RPQmkTyQ6fDjHbzJcPHFYq-OwtGfvKlnDrHkIOtfFYRVTD_pOgcOXgFXV2OMCsg34dGVRp1lFfLjPC4NxV8RRJy_5vfbN5/s1600/run4.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTx_SvDt8ngc98QHvfJ81vB5vM1VF0rU3vwU_Ff5I0C3a90RPQmkTyQ6fDjHbzJcPHFYq-OwtGfvKlnDrHkIOtfFYRVTD_pOgcOXgFXV2OMCsg34dGVRp1lFfLjPC4NxV8RRJy_5vfbN5/s320/run4.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568342120234735762" /></a><br />Finally the car was done - and there was time to do the test run. Per got behind the wheel and set off. We where all happy. Till he come back in a cloud of smoke and the agonizing sounds of clutch-torture. Apparently fifth gear did a bad job as a double for first gear.<br /><br />Time went by and gear-lever-rods where shortened and made longer and finally we had all gears. Even fifth - top gear. It was late, and dark and we got presented with the bill. What we had extremely loosely agreed upon and what we got presented was not even in the same ballpark. It was expensive even for Europe. Rather close to what one could expect to pay in Norway. Oh well. Ripped off again. Skinned alive and hung out to dry.<br /><br />We had a border crossing to catch. We just did not know when it closed. So we ran from Agadir like bats out of hell. Well past midnight. Driving trough the night was rather uneventful. And at the light of day we where in the desert - rushing past all the small cities - deserted and not. It was quite uneventful too - just the straight road trough the desert - for miles and miles. That and checkpoints. Some where nice. Some asked for gifts. Some where highway robbery in a uniform. Pretty much as expected.<br /><br />We where happy to go fast trough the desert. Keeping a high pace was all important. And we where happy with the car even if some stuff had stopped working while the it had been fixed. Like the windscreen whipers. Nobody needs windscreen whipers in the Sahara now do they? Well. We did. Our little part of the Sahara was hit by the mother of all rainstorms. We did not fix the whipers (it was raining too much for it to be pleasant to do anything in the engine compartment) till the rain was over. <br /><br />We had 18hours straight of driving - covering over 1700km - and we failed - we hit the Mauritanian border at 18:30 - and the border closed at 18-sharp. So. We got to place the car as first in the line for tomorrows crossing at 9:00. All ready to hunt for the next border crossing to Senegal - which also closes at 18. If we make that border crossing we are able catch up with the rally in Dakar and there will be much rejoicing. <br /><br />As I write this I am laying on the extra bed (which is really a flimsy matures on the floor) of our hotel room. We drew for who got to sleep on the floor and I won. We could have gotten two rooms - they where only 20euro each, but after being ripped off so many times in Morocco I decided that we had to save some money. I am so smart. Once I was laying on the floor I started thinking about all the small creeps that I will share this floor with tonight. Oh well, it is all a part of the rally spirit. And I am all stacked up on spirit.<strong></strong><strong></strong>Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-37372891040928867752011-01-24T15:59:00.003+01:002011-01-24T16:03:37.324+01:00All of the kings horses and all of the kings men...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBR1Qb86e5phaNkm3dYHrbSE0Okykn5WXKGcS1Z5wTIW5JU80aLao2QGFVRiXiCZaGZDNOGoy63X4ADNQ-VqEWbsxb8cWWK0DiiuK-6pK9RqyGOprOv8U_R-neESuRG76nQdS0aKpSAqE/s1600/push_the_tempo.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBR1Qb86e5phaNkm3dYHrbSE0Okykn5WXKGcS1Z5wTIW5JU80aLao2QGFVRiXiCZaGZDNOGoy63X4ADNQ-VqEWbsxb8cWWK0DiiuK-6pK9RqyGOprOv8U_R-neESuRG76nQdS0aKpSAqE/s320/push_the_tempo.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565768017955278594" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyofX_kmpWZYJ2id4qdUf5xbbQ6x03moi9RVBx8BO92f7q2xmkuEySWv20VcFHE_B-k5IFyUs5W8o0kcsXimAvQJ5-zpF1rCecxydSaI0qO27oyxseLeegmDAG2G_HPJOvTRNuLCehHWi/s1600/all_jacked_up.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyofX_kmpWZYJ2id4qdUf5xbbQ6x03moi9RVBx8BO92f7q2xmkuEySWv20VcFHE_B-k5IFyUs5W8o0kcsXimAvQJ5-zpF1rCecxydSaI0qO27oyxseLeegmDAG2G_HPJOvTRNuLCehHWi/s320/all_jacked_up.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565768020864461730" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhwjGuc4QjQ4SRiqymP22ZYoZAF5V2E4Gdpzxt6FQLSkFJ1j5rjbWbZyrn4gPox0gT2UsQvNUGSLY3mxbyGCzi-1i2ydS4vrRcjDTDZ2bOcWH1PmwBJ2Vzgo40Bz_OuL-9o6UE5B8Npgi/s1600/zone.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhwjGuc4QjQ4SRiqymP22ZYoZAF5V2E4Gdpzxt6FQLSkFJ1j5rjbWbZyrn4gPox0gT2UsQvNUGSLY3mxbyGCzi-1i2ydS4vrRcjDTDZ2bOcWH1PmwBJ2Vzgo40Bz_OuL-9o6UE5B8Npgi/s320/zone.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565768016703762162" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYOoxbepp_4wB6L3Yww-Th86Ku10Gz_ndNf_PUgjNbEt1cspej3la53CYyYA1PIt8J43CbC3o3N3P5I8cOKPTV9M7cMXf3A2pvAIk029wHir2MOlh_Laeq-zF6UlQr3foNGZkL8_VZnhp/s1600/anglegrind_bonanza.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYOoxbepp_4wB6L3Yww-Th86Ku10Gz_ndNf_PUgjNbEt1cspej3la53CYyYA1PIt8J43CbC3o3N3P5I8cOKPTV9M7cMXf3A2pvAIk029wHir2MOlh_Laeq-zF6UlQr3foNGZkL8_VZnhp/s320/anglegrind_bonanza.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565768009858448562" /></a><br /><b>(A short update on our progress - going on a hunt to catch up real soon - so next update may not come for a while...)</b><br /><br />... they really could put humpty dumpty back together again. It is really a small army working on our car right now. It has been pushed out from the ally and onto the broad sidewalk right next to a machinist shop. Our seats have been ripped out and they have used an angle-grinder to make a hole for the gear-lever. Our break pedal has been removed and we have gotten a new smaller welded in. We are joking that Kristian - who have proven to be a little heavy footed on the break - will break off the pedal and that the resulting carnage is something he will have to explain himself - only helped by the pocket dictionary (Per will try to sleep on).<br /><br />We are slowly getting there. Hopes and spirits are higher than ever!Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-63678044091915093722011-01-24T12:40:00.001+01:002011-01-24T12:42:11.443+01:00Manual is the new black!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfMiqVrCkoQQXlrKyBWW03S1P535lWTpNKiDVPm3ivmTDKzZRXRGcxAG2L3TVRbgX_0LOEhVOkoSTXTv3EqNJY9rFVsqmBrm4eP5ogtr2GNrRQiqy0vz_cggR1YpiiXKXCvsYEgCbBNKw/s1600/axles.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfMiqVrCkoQQXlrKyBWW03S1P535lWTpNKiDVPm3ivmTDKzZRXRGcxAG2L3TVRbgX_0LOEhVOkoSTXTv3EqNJY9rFVsqmBrm4eP5ogtr2GNrRQiqy0vz_cggR1YpiiXKXCvsYEgCbBNKw/s320/axles.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565716290412057410" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWDTsiWBIS59v8-WcVHl1raVjanBbQjQudAr-Yu-C3AM65XRu7NiBoqXyw72lI65326pTMlPx7f8183aYqLNuAIyoFLcmfRpWIA9pZtOZK17R12zbpgqfTTNbWstl9CZG3-I0kFkvlFEw/s1600/mikal_blogging.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWDTsiWBIS59v8-WcVHl1raVjanBbQjQudAr-Yu-C3AM65XRu7NiBoqXyw72lI65326pTMlPx7f8183aYqLNuAIyoFLcmfRpWIA9pZtOZK17R12zbpgqfTTNbWstl9CZG3-I0kFkvlFEw/s320/mikal_blogging.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565716285974229426" /></a><br />So. We came to the mechanic early in the morning and got to sleep in the car for about an hour as the mechanic arrived just as the sun was rising. The gearbox-man came about the same time and they had a short discussion before the gearbox-man left. He came back. It was quiet apparent that the buzz about automatic gearboxes was dead - automatic was totally out of fashion and the new black was the manual gearbox. The gearbox-guy also brought all the hottest bling-bling on the market - a gear-change-lever and a nice clutch pedal. With all this stuff we would rule the streets.<br /><br />The mechanic summed it up for us. Showing how we could shift into first, second, third, forth AND fifth! gear. This is really two more gears than we expected - as we where expecting an automatic - and one more then we could hope for with a manual. All great! If you count reverse as a gear we have a gear for everyday for the rest of the rally. We may be backing over the finishing line in Bamako.<br /><br />Today there are even more people involved in the whole gear-change process - the dysfunctional gearbox was out by the time where they normally started real work on the car. There are people running back and forth with various axles - we need a longer axle for the manual gear box. It is all looking promising at this point.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-39486333725395260102011-01-23T23:29:00.003+01:002011-01-23T23:37:25.035+01:00More pictures of gearbox work and failure.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6ZvJ9SQi1PjjyP2bxTjG4hfmbRlGQoL513081xX8HEL7rBplMHBa3FSI333l5gxv2gMTkCZg2MyGXYrVE0gk3FOSj9DEQKXUybUCZiSR5o6xBZvSBaBjv1j4Ikcx7WKOarzpT4gbfSiZ/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h50m43s132.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6ZvJ9SQi1PjjyP2bxTjG4hfmbRlGQoL513081xX8HEL7rBplMHBa3FSI333l5gxv2gMTkCZg2MyGXYrVE0gk3FOSj9DEQKXUybUCZiSR5o6xBZvSBaBjv1j4Ikcx7WKOarzpT4gbfSiZ/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h50m43s132.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565513065381009554" /></a> The gearbox<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE3l8lbjmHBuPSycNTO7KCtcZUhgTEJuUgpLxfmq6lwbUya5Eb3F0Ab9EYrb00UdgwhL6zZlajUMAGzxh_GdkWyQCq-mzuoBQFgmANMGlTVNXDUvUa2Qindua3DqY0wq5JShmA8DuKDjy/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h54m56s139.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE3l8lbjmHBuPSycNTO7KCtcZUhgTEJuUgpLxfmq6lwbUya5Eb3F0Ab9EYrb00UdgwhL6zZlajUMAGzxh_GdkWyQCq-mzuoBQFgmANMGlTVNXDUvUa2Qindua3DqY0wq5JShmA8DuKDjy/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h54m56s139.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565513063757269650" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn33ZD_XnwMiPz1Dw4i3Bd07va2RZTGsA_C9Lw4DaeYLPWiOTQn6lucKvLIYJZ17bwwCxisqkYniCb3opJGpK15cmRepJTlQNLc6ZN1uUkOT8hUKh4oIrxHiYryslQ6DDRKvHJcuRZs_3r/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h56m01s38.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn33ZD_XnwMiPz1Dw4i3Bd07va2RZTGsA_C9Lw4DaeYLPWiOTQn6lucKvLIYJZ17bwwCxisqkYniCb3opJGpK15cmRepJTlQNLc6ZN1uUkOT8hUKh4oIrxHiYryslQ6DDRKvHJcuRZs_3r/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h56m01s38.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565513048464555538" /></a> The discussion<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_7NtnHKrvzhXhif-i8KHCjRYC0jY4vRSIOT2_W6soGP0QxjEoeA4jQyGi8GCJ3lEOIV93NMPeZ-d7rjAS9Mu9GpobHXpOn_RujNMU8xN5XHu9ECWaSml3SovyEXut8fhoN-Djf4flmGYD/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-20h00m01s119.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_7NtnHKrvzhXhif-i8KHCjRYC0jY4vRSIOT2_W6soGP0QxjEoeA4jQyGi8GCJ3lEOIV93NMPeZ-d7rjAS9Mu9GpobHXpOn_RujNMU8xN5XHu9ECWaSml3SovyEXut8fhoN-Djf4flmGYD/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-20h00m01s119.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565513013433886882" /></a> The disappointment<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimik_QOlDRXlHucZ58kS0qzbZ7CVD350CFCcuO5JogF1lIkB7htOnhD3aDj5fUi9iZL05JbNewztayl37R845Pk8H2vhLEjlkNTZSjR9qwObStyxdRqW1mjxfg4yM4rGS0deh0wSt0Hgm_/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h58m25s196.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimik_QOlDRXlHucZ58kS0qzbZ7CVD350CFCcuO5JogF1lIkB7htOnhD3aDj5fUi9iZL05JbNewztayl37R845Pk8H2vhLEjlkNTZSjR9qwObStyxdRqW1mjxfg4yM4rGS0deh0wSt0Hgm_/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h58m25s196.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565513012432806546" /></a>Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-64935165354363758652011-01-23T18:45:00.003+01:002011-01-23T23:18:34.312+01:00101 ways to get ripped off in Agadir<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99B5aMus9i3CZ6TBL-HAbtAnB3p2-0dPi-2IxzD68Enk42FvbFMDMV28QulX45WGNF9XqsWJTMdzXF7zFeuxvI_NmAjcYiHohmY-BnRiRoxmxOcDjSsqvqm_RYQ4UQSjUM1UfQ2loqCAC/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h20m20s131.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99B5aMus9i3CZ6TBL-HAbtAnB3p2-0dPi-2IxzD68Enk42FvbFMDMV28QulX45WGNF9XqsWJTMdzXF7zFeuxvI_NmAjcYiHohmY-BnRiRoxmxOcDjSsqvqm_RYQ4UQSjUM1UfQ2loqCAC/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h20m20s131.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565509250529925346" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29WgTGRN8vDA78k8cZUnW5JCIJ2O2gLeOFeIUJYX8i5o6CY5Y_dHKmH8I01ZrKnp8L75Wa9QHwY-KPhXQbT1J1g2HhjuIraZfh5vuEWRAKM7tkiI3vSLPGjUEfoiDZgvKs9nN_SNemAKZ/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h18m06s61.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29WgTGRN8vDA78k8cZUnW5JCIJ2O2gLeOFeIUJYX8i5o6CY5Y_dHKmH8I01ZrKnp8L75Wa9QHwY-KPhXQbT1J1g2HhjuIraZfh5vuEWRAKM7tkiI3vSLPGjUEfoiDZgvKs9nN_SNemAKZ/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h18m06s61.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565509250178886738" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilwDg2mvGqL16WN5YuDF9oN-4Jt4jRNq6naSOVo_mllZ1wOlXmEK7N_8gGgSO3NjVPxiSF7-zQGdYwOpXRq_lB8s1tbOvB29l1hCXqJ-j8akfBSq5x0bTAvx1tBUMPEKSCJSSzhqWXeklN/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h12m02s128.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilwDg2mvGqL16WN5YuDF9oN-4Jt4jRNq6naSOVo_mllZ1wOlXmEK7N_8gGgSO3NjVPxiSF7-zQGdYwOpXRq_lB8s1tbOvB29l1hCXqJ-j8akfBSq5x0bTAvx1tBUMPEKSCJSSzhqWXeklN/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h12m02s128.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565509246322151778" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCn7FahjCaJcnU2mIhtEoA3v4wOszHeoTvpLU13y296EYHN4H0ZwHRFDg-lDyLDgUpJWdqdQdksmAjRjahGnXNwhzv1ZIe1yisExd0jRFtQtRBM9OQCKWfnClGHPHEtXELiAKAlCvVIzmN/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h07m56s85.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCn7FahjCaJcnU2mIhtEoA3v4wOszHeoTvpLU13y296EYHN4H0ZwHRFDg-lDyLDgUpJWdqdQdksmAjRjahGnXNwhzv1ZIe1yisExd0jRFtQtRBM9OQCKWfnClGHPHEtXELiAKAlCvVIzmN/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-23-19h07m56s85.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565509242583302274" /></a><br />Today was a day of total downtime. No progress on the car. So. We had a good dinner at the hotel restaurant yesterday and went to bed early. And we slept in. Sleeping for about 12hours was not a problem. We really need to recharge our batteries for the crazy drive we will have soon enough. Trying to catch up with the rest of the rally. We are looking at all the shortcuts we can get.<br /><br />Today our plan was to go to the local market and try to find some small gifts we could give to people that are nice to us - but also for bribes. We took a taxi from the street outside the hotel - it just stopped and picked us up. There where already 4 people in the car, but we got stuffed in there all three of us - its important to make use of all the space one can. Once you arrive at the local market you get a guide - if you like it or not. And sure enough we got a guide. We were lucky, he was not extremely pushy and guided us to look at stuff we wanted to check. In the end he guided us to some shop for tea. We expected to be ripped off. And we got ripped off. Of course we got ripped off. They were quite nice about it. The ripoff came served with some nice tea that did not have a metric ton of sugar in it and long lectures about ointments and spices and all that. Really designed so that we could not refuse to buy expensive coffee, tea and soap afterwards.<br /><br />After the shopping we walked around for a bit before we found a café. The menu was all in french and Per had great success using a pocket dictionary. Well. There was one thing on the menu that was not in french. Per asked what it was and the waiter pointed to his thigh and said 'vache'. We did not know what that was but ordered it together with some banana, avocado and unknown (was not in the dictionary) juice. Basically what we got was cow thigh knuckles and bones that had been stripped for meat and boiled for a long time - a nice rich souse was the result - together with the bones. We ate it with bread and it was quite tasty - a new experience.<br /><br />Tonight we are having dinner at the hotel-resturant again. It was rather excellent and the service something you can expect at michelin-star restaurants. They truly speak a lot of languages. Trough our dinner we went trough french, english, german, polish (a big surprise to me who got rather dumbstruck) and norwegian (the guy had been to Norway for half a year). Going to bed early and hoping that tomorrow will bring us a functioning gear box - inch'allah - if god wants it so.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-74564357232226610102011-01-23T11:59:00.005+01:002011-01-23T18:37:23.517+01:00Another day, another gearbox.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUO0Bb5P_OGiPOwShyphenhyphenE0SFfPqsuwjotOigTV0nR4dYsbQt1HXTY2hzWtQxDZ0japDBwVWO7InNael3CEizha7HQLEiOCTmP3HaR5vnJrYspr8bzIRDkVFSJ_nufqHRE6PxgLPEg5rWrgb-/s1600/engine-sit.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUO0Bb5P_OGiPOwShyphenhyphenE0SFfPqsuwjotOigTV0nR4dYsbQt1HXTY2hzWtQxDZ0japDBwVWO7InNael3CEizha7HQLEiOCTmP3HaR5vnJrYspr8bzIRDkVFSJ_nufqHRE6PxgLPEg5rWrgb-/s320/engine-sit.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565341649745514754" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYk5YWpyCDNTXlQHz7paosERNT2t5voGH6F_4IO65b7AR_HW1a-GOjdSj8-ai7vd8bZPR1b5Lkni_I8VegcWKrk6H-xGvL4-8KS1rTbswX7x9LZNJ26ZxXbdcNiNqltgmPRQrZyZK4xDB/s1600/low_clearance.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYk5YWpyCDNTXlQHz7paosERNT2t5voGH6F_4IO65b7AR_HW1a-GOjdSj8-ai7vd8bZPR1b5Lkni_I8VegcWKrk6H-xGvL4-8KS1rTbswX7x9LZNJ26ZxXbdcNiNqltgmPRQrZyZK4xDB/s320/low_clearance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565341644707040802" /></a><b>We have problems with sms - twitter - we will try and fix that.</b><br /><br />Once again experiencing the agonizing comforts of hotel life. Going to the mechanic to change the gearbox once again. It was business as usual. Us standing around watching other people work. This is actually rather hard work. One need to look stylish and appear to be interested in that is going on. Actually it is quite nerve wrecking. What if the new gearbox does not work?<br /><br />We did a little sightseeing in the area where the garage is placed. It is really a somewhat industrial area. Lots of various workshops. Walking down the street in suits and top hats makes us stick out. We are wondering in what way people view us. Are we seen as arrogant European assholes or are we just a curiosity. A small girl that waited in line at the small kiosk we bought cigarettes was staring at me, but smiled back as I smiled at her. I also came across the only white person I have seen in this part of town. I was walking down the street in my regular outfit - with the expedition sun-glasses. An outfit which make me look like something taken straight out of Mad Max - to add to the look I was wielding a green tire-iron I had just bought. The guy was sitting at a cafe - eating something. He noticed me. Stopped chewing his food and just stared at me.<br /><br />Today we also got to know the kids that help out the mechanic a little better. Some barriers where broken and we talked about Norway and Morocco and football and everything a young Moroccan kid wants to know. All in a mix of small parts of French, a tiny bit of English, and a lot of finger language and drawing in the sand. We have a small polaraid-like printer and took some nice pictures of our new friends that we gave them.<br /><br />Finally the new gearbox had been installed. We tried it out. We were able to go backwards. And forwards. We were getting ready to depart. Everything was looking good. I took the car for a last test drive together with the mechanic. And. The gearbox did not shift up. I maxed out the car at 70kmh at rather insane revs on the engine in first gear. It is not possible to get a new gearbox on the Sunday - so we are stuck till Monday. This sucks big time! But what can we do but wait? There will be a lot of catching up to do. A lot.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-7793390838330240662011-01-22T16:41:00.001+01:002011-01-22T16:47:11.376+01:00Moroccan Dr. Frankenstein at work on the monster hearse.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEwuOIaJx9PVunhczerdONT-VmZVLhe1uw_F8Iqv7tTBLhPV0j6H4qTZImYDR2liXkFY4HO-TOlduFJ4-2GPL3aAbP4PPAws836we1nLIXYUfCZ5W9RRNWE9gNMHaqRDnO3s6Zxl4hRIjW/s1600/00-on_engine.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEwuOIaJx9PVunhczerdONT-VmZVLhe1uw_F8Iqv7tTBLhPV0j6H4qTZImYDR2liXkFY4HO-TOlduFJ4-2GPL3aAbP4PPAws836we1nLIXYUfCZ5W9RRNWE9gNMHaqRDnO3s6Zxl4hRIjW/s320/00-on_engine.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565037193497388850" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidc27yuUOGwChxK4Cyxv0xg9YIFuST4A14uGn5nRiH7EsB4VnRcV2p1a7a5uw8wXtxwCIzStpDjG1TckAZ6iBH1tBQ1Uj4IYwokp6ae1lxpwhtGB2hUHWKETp1FZb_fmRHZkpu9jVX0fKu/s1600/00-gearbox.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidc27yuUOGwChxK4Cyxv0xg9YIFuST4A14uGn5nRiH7EsB4VnRcV2p1a7a5uw8wXtxwCIzStpDjG1TckAZ6iBH1tBQ1Uj4IYwokp6ae1lxpwhtGB2hUHWKETp1FZb_fmRHZkpu9jVX0fKu/s320/00-gearbox.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565037186597259266" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTe1IXjQAVIhnU3FWFpgzNMVjPu5GfrS2AN_KgcHZxDMfPoeUp-7T-WyehdSp60zDM5PYAFbK6bZRx2eJUJCrNQqr7byeyqFxskIM2kHLWAwzpRE-yioNrafuAR7fLdqFmu4OTabQaQFYi/s1600/00-kristian_at_market.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTe1IXjQAVIhnU3FWFpgzNMVjPu5GfrS2AN_KgcHZxDMfPoeUp-7T-WyehdSp60zDM5PYAFbK6bZRx2eJUJCrNQqr7byeyqFxskIM2kHLWAwzpRE-yioNrafuAR7fLdqFmu4OTabQaQFYi/s320/00-kristian_at_market.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565037178501221682" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PtfJkkoJjwSGeUbz0eoiqPbRcIRcku4iekrZU9lQIGcF_lQQ4doD7dC58Y2sDzvbIoP2wrhQ-2_iV5wcRbextH_mtKqHkeMukqBSdE9Gy5ILecenzSGA4hfqS4cFLIcmIepSh2kCXJr2/s1600/00-standing_around.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PtfJkkoJjwSGeUbz0eoiqPbRcIRcku4iekrZU9lQIGcF_lQQ4doD7dC58Y2sDzvbIoP2wrhQ-2_iV5wcRbextH_mtKqHkeMukqBSdE9Gy5ILecenzSGA4hfqS4cFLIcmIepSh2kCXJr2/s320/00-standing_around.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565037177382433074" /></a>It was hard to get out of our nice and comfy beds early in the morning to go to the mechanic that was going to change our gearbox. We dropped of Kristian on the way so that he could try another attempt at mission impossible - getting sleeping mats, blankets, hot sleeping bags and/or an inflatable instant hotel.<br /><br />The mechanic got to work on our car and we did what we do best. Stand around in top hats and suits - watching other people work on our car. Communication is as usual a bit complicated, but using hand gestures and Pers latte-french got us both insight and confusion to the whole gearbox change process.<br /><br />It is really interesting to see how people do their work here. The crew working on our car had it jacked up so that the wheels where barely touching the ground, but it was enough of an crawlspace for them to get out our gear box. It is a great amount of can-do-attitude and easy and small fixes to more or less complicated problems. (Technical warning) When a socket was too short to reach a nut that needed to be loosened the mechanic popped over to the welding and cutting shop next door and had the socket cut in two and welded a pipe in between the two parts - getting a long socket.<br /><br />As we were standing around we got to watch everyday life in Agadir. Right next to our mechanic there is a vegetable-repacking service. Watching how they stacked insane amounts of crates onto the trucks was quite interesting. A load of cucumbers (or something similar) was stacked up some 6 meters - a couple meters above the top of the truck. This explains the slow moving overladen trucks we meet on winding mountain roads.<br /><br />When our old gear box was out and was laying gutted on the table Per held a short service for it. Looking back on all the good times we had together and we had 10 seconds of silence before the gearbox was sent off to gearbox heaven. We hope it has lived a good life and will be resurrected as a spare part with an elusive third gear for the Moroccan market.<br /><br />Finally lateish in the afternoon came 0-hour. Our gearbox has been changed. Oil had been filled into the new one. We were ready to transform and roll out. I got into the car. Started it up. Put it in reverse. And. Nothing. Gunning the engine did nothing either. Just the whining noise of failure. The car was simply not moving backwards. Going forwards was no problem. After a short discussion about if we could do the rest of the rally without reverse we came to the conclusion that - no - we really could not (picturing a border crossing - guns pointed at the car - a border guard shouting "BACK UP NOW OR WE WILL SHOT"... not a good thing). We needed another gearbox. It was getting dark fast and since the mechanic we use operate out on the ground in an ally there was no light. The quest for a functioning gearbox had to continue the next day. There would be another painful night in a hotel-bed and an agonizing hot shower the next day.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-60407670562721432902011-01-20T23:48:00.005+01:002011-01-22T17:12:45.094+01:00A night to remember...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDW4KJ13upgvb285tUJ3Xpjkt229sJYl1FZRTjEHETIGUIU9TOjk0z9B72wWkUiQjLLJ-P-yrpFQM6IkXGfD_ak3YEk2xIb-YP0E0OJRwTwWKCDq9_KWw2lgg253Chj23ihTsqxAcAP5kd/s1600/000-gps.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDW4KJ13upgvb285tUJ3Xpjkt229sJYl1FZRTjEHETIGUIU9TOjk0z9B72wWkUiQjLLJ-P-yrpFQM6IkXGfD_ak3YEk2xIb-YP0E0OJRwTwWKCDq9_KWw2lgg253Chj23ihTsqxAcAP5kd/s320/000-gps.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565043391628014674" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23xqNxoxlufn6ry6Ih-ek3M8vVoiIo8DDUhMFR1B4GunHpzf2AjacTFqSCFvYs29lInxfzPrzcOF1dJdczczud1hPnJFt3CG1zCn5C4TmzdUE73jqJDvb0zq7c32IZdA1iEHdrBOV3Itp/s1600/11-mountain_road.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23xqNxoxlufn6ry6Ih-ek3M8vVoiIo8DDUhMFR1B4GunHpzf2AjacTFqSCFvYs29lInxfzPrzcOF1dJdczczud1hPnJFt3CG1zCn5C4TmzdUE73jqJDvb0zq7c32IZdA1iEHdrBOV3Itp/s320/11-mountain_road.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565043384821914386" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkdJgRvnoNJ04oR5hgTG-zSqX8WgiJ7_ATPfYRo8mCgeEQ3iiA6oTFyx9hw40a7t6kfx_cNg7JWYl8OEba-HV_B0wdw7e7vMRWtIOM9GH4X8Qv7_0JrVTeA1IFIVSg0ShGZfHzipsZzk8/s1600/02-angle_grind.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkdJgRvnoNJ04oR5hgTG-zSqX8WgiJ7_ATPfYRo8mCgeEQ3iiA6oTFyx9hw40a7t6kfx_cNg7JWYl8OEba-HV_B0wdw7e7vMRWtIOM9GH4X8Qv7_0JrVTeA1IFIVSg0ShGZfHzipsZzk8/s320/02-angle_grind.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565043380115717762" /></a><br />We had a good night of sleep at the Apartment-club. We had quite a few things we wanted to fix before we left the camp... Repacking the car so it is more balanced was not a small task. The area around our car looked like an disorganized landfill. We took of the wheel to angle-grind the wheel-arch. I got quite a few looks and people taking my picture as I was angle-grinding in my suit, top-hat and expedition sun-glasses. All this messing about made us rather late out of camp.<br /><br />Another day of driving trough Morocco - still not quite used to people who do not seem to care if you crash into them, their car, their donkey or their entire family. It is also interesting to see the volume of the loads some of the cars are able to put on top of their cars and trucks. Often stacked twice as high as the truck itself. We also stocked up on some alcohol - a greek lady had an entire bar filled with the stuff. It was somewhat expensive but we got some beer and a bottle of rum.<br /><br />We went up into the Atlas mountains. Now the fun really started. The hearse climbing up hairpin turns like a champ. It did not have the acceleration of the Honky Tonk car, but really showed of as the little hearse that could. Well, actually it was the rather huge hearse that could - get up the narrow mountain passes. The road was not always there. Either the asphalt had been chewed away by nature making it a whole lot worse than anything we had encountered so far or it had been dug away by road workers. I got to say that I got more and more impressed by the performance of the hearse.<br /><br />We stopped by a very high waterfall with a fall of 110m as light was fading away. We had still most of the stage left before we could go to sleep in camp. We decided to eat some local food at a local restaurant. Clay cocked lamb and chick stew. It was delicious. There was a guy selling different trinkets and clothes right next to the restaurant - Kristian and Per, and some of Honky Tonk ended up buying some headscarf-thingies - getting the real beduin look and getting ready for the sahara.<br /><br />The road took us on a real good climb. All together that day we climbed up over 6000m according to our GPS. At what we thought was the highest point in the mountain we released some chinese lanterns - colored paper mini hot air balloons. They drifted of into the distance as some UFOs.<br /><br />We got to camp some time after 3AM. The drive trough the mountains had taken its toll on us all. There was little time to sleep so we set up camp real quick. This was the first test-run of our tent-on-top-of-coffin-rack. That part worked out fine. Kristian was too tired to make a real bed in the car and crashed in the back seet. Me and Per got up on top of the car and went to sleep. We soon realized that it was way to cold. Our sleeping bags were just not hot enough. Per ended up retreating into the cabin of the car while I opted for an lot of extra clothes. My clothes were in my bag, which was in strapped in at the back of the car. I finally got the bag out in the darkness, but in the process I also got our table out. When I tried to force it back in a huge chunk of it broke loose. And as it fell out again the tray or beer fell down and hit something sharp - causing one of the bears to rupture and make a nice beer fountain all over the stuff we keep in the back of the car. I really could not do anything but start laughing like a mad man by my self. In the dark. Behind the car... After that I got back up into the cold tent and finally fell asleep - rather exhausted.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-13426067584272801952011-01-20T23:48:00.004+01:002011-01-22T17:08:10.478+01:00The great white hunter - hunting for transmissions in Africa.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8LtgeMDRXnlhWJaOmJeOS2VP0xy3D3S-kVo25GwIkhBrhyKL_B_661kj1XnVweDRruTLcE4XB5WpDtXJeAZtjtaPvOLYd0-QEXMSen2kuikroNO63AH2dugkkCpnRQcwkg7dtUmtj1xr/s1600/11_per.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8LtgeMDRXnlhWJaOmJeOS2VP0xy3D3S-kVo25GwIkhBrhyKL_B_661kj1XnVweDRruTLcE4XB5WpDtXJeAZtjtaPvOLYd0-QEXMSen2kuikroNO63AH2dugkkCpnRQcwkg7dtUmtj1xr/s320/11_per.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565042510841708098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmrmbUZ90rL1OH0T3wjqA9EF7n2PwrMl3P4YinlzKFgn-VnPiTGAiL0C63HoTQbPYUvJ0EpjiNZXqzu9iPclqN5PgiW8lp4y4qEo63kbRYmLMHbOvH8iUGZ6sB_PeZF7HMcsXeu4osxNd/s1600/market.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmrmbUZ90rL1OH0T3wjqA9EF7n2PwrMl3P4YinlzKFgn-VnPiTGAiL0C63HoTQbPYUvJ0EpjiNZXqzu9iPclqN5PgiW8lp4y4qEo63kbRYmLMHbOvH8iUGZ6sB_PeZF7HMcsXeu4osxNd/s320/market.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565042501962411442" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO7BDesKa94gnvtp7oI4_MN5PFvPIi9G4WyQ9S1Wz_mmSD07zRTHtDhywoUi12y7b7N3N5ktGEJEdE3A1WVHLcbD2NjxXeBZjwTk5lSKzTFZLZExOpZ2rLKcHrhc6eElIbBmo3aLFbkXA/s1600/02-getting_help.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO7BDesKa94gnvtp7oI4_MN5PFvPIi9G4WyQ9S1Wz_mmSD07zRTHtDhywoUi12y7b7N3N5ktGEJEdE3A1WVHLcbD2NjxXeBZjwTk5lSKzTFZLZExOpZ2rLKcHrhc6eElIbBmo3aLFbkXA/s320/02-getting_help.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565042491628299762" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVrG60uXymUwl_xFYKHvDbZ8RD_pp6bQUHtSBbbOQGNlkfOsMCL5hCeg2wD0cPElqmZuA1_TguV_1lfRkvNZKgtwUoYGJQ6jb0BISYDM4yh18dOqxrx9KHZkAGQvRMx8cVDwSiXKOOs1w/s1600/11-camp.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVrG60uXymUwl_xFYKHvDbZ8RD_pp6bQUHtSBbbOQGNlkfOsMCL5hCeg2wD0cPElqmZuA1_TguV_1lfRkvNZKgtwUoYGJQ6jb0BISYDM4yh18dOqxrx9KHZkAGQvRMx8cVDwSiXKOOs1w/s320/11-camp.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565042485204949106" /></a><br />Today I woke up after some 2 hours of sleep - chilled to the bone. The clothes I had put on last night had helped. But not enough. I was shaking from the cold, but getting a nice warm cup from Tom in the Honky Tonk team got me started and we where well underway packing as the morning briefing started.<br /><br />After the briefing we packed up quickly and started out on todays stage - which was going close to Agadir. Where we had a mission to get some sleeping mats for the Honky Tonk and some new sleeping bags for me and Per (which later have decided that his super-underwear will be enough to keep the cold away). Other then that we were supposed to follow the rally course. We soon realized that we had packed a little too quick that morning. I had left the rest of the beer on top of the hearse. Killing off 14 of the 21 we had left. So. I got to say. Hi. I am Mikal. And I have abused alcohol. Some alcohol. 15 cans. I am ashamed.<br /><br />After that I tried to sleep most of the time. So I am really not sure what was going on to be honest. I think we where just driving. All I can remember of the first part of the day is being tired, and cold and that we stopped at some random village and had lunch (which was nice). I know we pushed on towards Agadir. Outside of Agadir we decided to split up. Our gearbox was just getting worse and worse - engaging second gear was really a lottery game. So me and Per went on the hunt for a mechanic while the others went on a hunt for sleeping comfort.<br /><br />We both failed. Kristian and the Honky Tonks did not find any camping equipment. If they had wanted huge beds - no problem. If they wanted huge floor rugs - no problem. But no sleeping mattresses. No sleeping bags. No blankets to sleep in. Me and Per went to the Mercedes garage. They told us that our gearbox needed replacement. One could see small shavings of metal in our transmission fluid (oil). Not a good thing. They could get a new gearbox from Casablanca the following day. A new one - not exactly what we wanted. We wanted old and cheap - not new and somewhat expensive. And we did not want to wait.<br /><br />We all linked randomly up at a petrol-station outside of Agadir, where we sadly decided that our teams had to split up. The Honky Tonks headed south for the rest of the stage. Some shipwreck at the beach and other goodies. While we went on hunting for a gearbox. This was an extremely hard task. Per is the only one speaking any French - and he is quite capable of ordering caffe lattes, but to explain that an gear box needs to be changed... (Not change the oil, not change for an manual, no it is not electronic, yes it is automatic... etc). Chaos. We met a lot of nice people that tried to help us out. A big thanks to them all. Specially the ones that offered their english speaking services to us like Raehid - who got our card and hopefully will read this blog entry. :)<br /><br />Finally in the evening we found a service that where willing to change our gearbox. They just need to get it - and we have an appointment to have it changed tomorrow at 8:30 in a smallish town a little outside of Agadir. We have retreated to Agadir and a apartment hotel.<br /><br />As I said. These blog entries may be revisited. I am rather tired and smelly and in dire need of a shower and comfy bed right now.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-62866995004717168472011-01-20T21:58:00.005+01:002011-02-01T11:38:12.875+01:00We love Africa!We all got a OK nights sleep on the ferry. OK - not great - sleeping on four-seater-thingies with plastic in between each seat. We also got use the shower in Team FUGs cabin. Nice and warm and we were happy with the start of the day. Once we got off the ferry we were hit by the chaos of Africa. First the border crossing and later the traffic patterns. The traffic patterns are not quite something that is thought at Norwegian driving schools. It seems like all of the street is an gigantic zebra crossing - people are acting like Norwegian pedestrians (which are much like holy cows that the cars avoid and stop for at any cost) while the traffic is something similar to what one can find in Rome. We feel that the value of our lives decreased drastically.<br /><br />The border crossing was actually not as bad as expected. A lot of helpful people and even a Moroccan living in Norway on holiday in the old country helped us - speaking Norwegian. We later heard that people crossing to Tanger spent an hour and a half and some fifty euro getting trough the customs. We felt quite lucky with our experience after hearing these tails of horror.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSR27pmpXZeTqnW8pAPaENMMnfV19j6TqjnJsAwW-y4idixucWPmJ7uog8zvotW6FwBu5OStx8J3UJecluojF8DzSFTaxQ8dOHfDHQQPaltVL1pAeBdSEJSl_T1RFuGw-Dc-tFLLypWyS/s1600/team_honky_tonk.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSR27pmpXZeTqnW8pAPaENMMnfV19j6TqjnJsAwW-y4idixucWPmJ7uog8zvotW6FwBu5OStx8J3UJecluojF8DzSFTaxQ8dOHfDHQQPaltVL1pAeBdSEJSl_T1RFuGw-Dc-tFLLypWyS/s320/team_honky_tonk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564376189337292194" /></a>We left the port with the Honky Tonk team - the Brits are getting under our skin. We are still convinced that they are MI6-agents, good ones, extremly deep under cover. Now it is actually us that are on their tail all the time. We are a nice little convoy. Having lunch together high up in a atlas mountain pass - eating Moroccan mystery meat sausage. Driving trough lazy and buzzy villages. Avoiding blind one-armd men (who probably did not kill Laura Palmer) in the middle of the street.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVUZ_pBEUPIfHHlzfqWS0pCk3WFVWjK42MhgFIBqNj6LfKrW45TKfWhxGBcsyK-HvWHObihetYeusWm23rDbrGnxifHJzI7g7na80BVX263IMDOcbGE_b9F48jATwvOaM0DU6xSMIzOWw/s1600/lunch.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVUZ_pBEUPIfHHlzfqWS0pCk3WFVWjK42MhgFIBqNj6LfKrW45TKfWhxGBcsyK-HvWHObihetYeusWm23rDbrGnxifHJzI7g7na80BVX263IMDOcbGE_b9F48jATwvOaM0DU6xSMIzOWw/s320/lunch.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564376180556314930" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFpA8m0BfonhifBrWHIcwz-9ZjfKzlZMxaHC8z85uGgaRQG_tqRQDz-eSPs0F7uFv36G_F81W5EQIRoRSPxXdiGCbAHTAnUJNCXEUFF6AwOyQuy2fOmbPAL2dyzdGhmE5yBnXehtn-a6H/s1600/yet_another_car_problem.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFpA8m0BfonhifBrWHIcwz-9ZjfKzlZMxaHC8z85uGgaRQG_tqRQDz-eSPs0F7uFv36G_F81W5EQIRoRSPxXdiGCbAHTAnUJNCXEUFF6AwOyQuy2fOmbPAL2dyzdGhmE5yBnXehtn-a6H/s320/yet_another_car_problem.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564376198909884402" /></a>Our car is handling OK. We realize that we are a little heavy loaded and not quite balanced either. This results in one wheel rubbing against the wheel-arc - not a huge issue really, by our standards. We need to take it a little easier in left hand turns and on bumpy roads. After me and Kristian swapped places and 40kg shifted we realize that repacking is a good idea.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGgXDZ3yD3QRUQVVlJ6kRscyTQXgS5CNwZCW079m2LYFWuSAubhaTmQODZ2gzjElsZq1PcUFFXWJ9q14lhVSU4oA0FnnauGrGZUDYofNweGfp0GVDgjw2fFos4YfxzBdVsuI4DJJGcVx9/s1600/fez.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGgXDZ3yD3QRUQVVlJ6kRscyTQXgS5CNwZCW079m2LYFWuSAubhaTmQODZ2gzjElsZq1PcUFFXWJ9q14lhVSU4oA0FnnauGrGZUDYofNweGfp0GVDgjw2fFos4YfxzBdVsuI4DJJGcVx9/s320/fez.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564376177543940658" /></a>We did not have too many major stops, but we stopped in Fez - to go to the toilet and stack up on supplies. A nicely chaotic city where we also got do drink halal cola and see life unfold around us. When we were nearing camp we stopped in some small town, where we ate something kebab-like with fries at a local restaurant - we were offered free samples and like with heroin - the first shot got us hooked. The food was amazing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6gUv_n3NJGH11jmfIcpp_lguhC9l0nQ62FbiDCt00X2v1NgTLirdybE061xM7rYASkEPapLzlV_iO0I4W0fEOzFZRoE9oNk_agk4MortHO3cbDKChZR9K3O_4T5Bp7HAfwxL9XnxVdUz/s1600/two_cars.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6gUv_n3NJGH11jmfIcpp_lguhC9l0nQ62FbiDCt00X2v1NgTLirdybE061xM7rYASkEPapLzlV_iO0I4W0fEOzFZRoE9oNk_agk4MortHO3cbDKChZR9K3O_4T5Bp7HAfwxL9XnxVdUz/s320/two_cars.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564376193219941426" /></a>We got to camp at eight thirty. There were no vacancies, but I turned on my superb grave-digger charm and we got an apartment for fifty euro. The rules of apartment club was: First rule of apartment club is - you don`t speak about apartment club. Second rule of apartment club is - you don`t speak about apartment club. Third rule of apartment club is - There are only four people staying in the apartment - even if both the Final Journey and Honky Tonk is staying in the apartment... The apartment was awesome - much because we expected to camp out rough that night. There were quite a few other teams asking for rooms, but they did not have the God granted grave-digger charm and got none. The people running the camp were super friendly and helpful. We asked where we could get beer and where told "This is a muslim country, you are not allowed to drink alcohol here, but you might want to check out the green van on top of the hill - it says `beer` on it". A great day all together!<br /><br /><b>Falling a little behind on the blogging :( - being late. I hope to catch up a bit tonight.</b>Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-32086082590586938912011-01-18T22:57:00.004+01:002011-01-18T23:09:36.459+01:00The 24hr getaway.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyuK0Kwt1Xe27cMLjJqJkI3dE1_HODeSylPWWWVxpX5UUyvA51tz5nzPYOPL5XZhv8RILmDXK9GaWy5_kU0fupcZQeUknJA418Mdgh96TwRGao0gXZntAY6CQ2q0uBSK4IVS4yc0lmvKtl/s1600/00police.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyuK0Kwt1Xe27cMLjJqJkI3dE1_HODeSylPWWWVxpX5UUyvA51tz5nzPYOPL5XZhv8RILmDXK9GaWy5_kU0fupcZQeUknJA418Mdgh96TwRGao0gXZntAY6CQ2q0uBSK4IVS4yc0lmvKtl/s320/00police.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563651374507207890" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU6m7zL_nYFVfbieTbCMNXC2WhfQIYkWS2FkzN9Wu0tJkWoZTOLffhg0g0zCgW1euEWG6sAoOdRsFhFNAazQ0leDFzh1Qt_753vvaCrFpnEldjfkeqB9zFGWXcLkXOpCfeZn2VHeKM9Hv2/s1600/00kristian_og_mikal.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU6m7zL_nYFVfbieTbCMNXC2WhfQIYkWS2FkzN9Wu0tJkWoZTOLffhg0g0zCgW1euEWG6sAoOdRsFhFNAazQ0leDFzh1Qt_753vvaCrFpnEldjfkeqB9zFGWXcLkXOpCfeZn2VHeKM9Hv2/s320/00kristian_og_mikal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563651360140608706" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw2VZdJB7FXid6UEQ7xBanX76nqq6Wbid51uY_wCj2GlCE0_Y0k525WoYxiyqdaAWHgdYv2spySE2ZRpyXFE2Ih-8JLvxV_b-mfnB06kqGKUzM1E2PO5pon6AYDA2Ww0efH7Jgnm1YzFyz/s1600/00could_be_any_breakdown.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw2VZdJB7FXid6UEQ7xBanX76nqq6Wbid51uY_wCj2GlCE0_Y0k525WoYxiyqdaAWHgdYv2spySE2ZRpyXFE2Ih-8JLvxV_b-mfnB06kqGKUzM1E2PO5pon6AYDA2Ww0efH7Jgnm1YzFyz/s320/00could_be_any_breakdown.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563651353115880370" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLCEVEVmo47TmrD8DfKDpAta5A5M1EmDhkRyveze-7NQg-hjJiR5igji7rvUCVfgOBqOK5klDhJE4SEplhvAWjh7j0BmwVcpK0TBw5zRmbrhR3c-_cdUmgeMfgy5dwPMtraq6r1srIard/s1600/00_low_clearance.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLCEVEVmo47TmrD8DfKDpAta5A5M1EmDhkRyveze-7NQg-hjJiR5igji7rvUCVfgOBqOK5klDhJE4SEplhvAWjh7j0BmwVcpK0TBw5zRmbrhR3c-_cdUmgeMfgy5dwPMtraq6r1srIard/s320/00_low_clearance.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563651351608122914" /></a><br />We took off from Genova in the rather early morning hours *yawn*. The first waypoint was Monaco where we wanted to do the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. We aimed to show the world what an amazing racing machine our car really is. Unfortunately we could not break the land speed record as the police came and put an end to our devious plans. We were quite innocently parked by the casino plotting the gps-coordinates (and for world domination) when they showed up. They told us that if we wanted to do any “funny stuff” we should have applied to the city months ago. We had not, so we were forced to drive off. <br /><br />We went on to a quick stop in Nice since it is such a nice place and pushed on towards Barcelona, where we had hotel reservations. We had somewhat loose plans to push on a little further than Barcelona though. We even had plans to go all the way to Malaga where we wanted to depart Europe by ferry. We pushed on rather hard. Somewhere – late in the evening we realized that we were leaking coolant again. It was a radiator hose that we had recognized as something that might become a problem™ - something we needed to get changed in Malaga. It was the little hose that could not. We went through our big bag of hose-mysteries that we had gotten from the guys in Nowy Sacz and we hit paydirt! A hose that fit our needs perfectly – with the exact 90 degree angle we needed. After changing this hose we are pretty sure that we will not have any problems with our radiator hoses. *knock on wood*<br /><br />The rest of the night was really rather uneventful - actually so uneventful that our Garmin GPS tried to make it more eventful for us. It sent us off the highway and into nice cities like Valencia – which Per could tell me was a really beautiful place, with great architecture, nice streets and some 25 stoplights to stop and enjoy the scenery at. And instead of taking the flatish route along the coast it took us up into the mountains with a lot of climbs and descents – perfect for our gearbox.<br /><br />At nine in the morning we were in Malaga. We wanted to get a little sleep in the car – tired from the night of driving. We pulled into the parking lot of a shopping mall and drove under several car-shade-roof-thingies – our antenna hitting them all. As we came to a full stop and out of the car we realized that we only had a clearance of some 5cm to our coffin.<br /><br />The day in Malaga was rather uneventful. We got our shirts dry cleaned and when Kristian went over to the drycleaners to pick them up he was told that my black shirt was not done and that he could get it “manjana” there was no way to get it cleaned or not. So he gave up. You will be missed in Africa Black Beauty.<br />The other teams came and joined us at the ferry docks. The MI6 also caught up too – we all slept in longue chairs on the ferry – envying the Norwegian team Froland who had gotten a cabin. Lucky bastards.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-67910990211858448292011-01-17T20:53:00.003+01:002011-01-17T21:00:00.455+01:00The undertakers are overtaking on the highway!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnLNaeqjHYkQwU4q1LhKrVf-MC3DC6xk5jD9yk4UgoRF1pcqY74HiMi3zPfJKxfknOt0_4K4kWiRF9XFlXUO-BVy_v5dNr20-g-9TwF838iuHyJNMBkrmdfzS-R7_9yLeNKtEL1US01Y_/s1600/washing-702468.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnLNaeqjHYkQwU4q1LhKrVf-MC3DC6xk5jD9yk4UgoRF1pcqY74HiMi3zPfJKxfknOt0_4K4kWiRF9XFlXUO-BVy_v5dNr20-g-9TwF838iuHyJNMBkrmdfzS-R7_9yLeNKtEL1US01Y_/s320/washing-702468.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563245384742341618" border="0" /></a>We got up early and made our way over to Park Ferme. Our car was already surrounded by fans. People taking pictures with us and wishing us good luck and/or telling us that we where mad. We are getting quite used to it though. We spent a couple minutes giving the car a last little sponge-bath before blastoff. It looked kind of almost clean - it was still not a good idea to lean against it in a suit. That is if you care about the suit. After a little discussion with the security guards we were allowed to move our car away from the racing/touring cars and together with the rest of the spirit cars.<br /><div class="gmail_quote"><br /><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xsRJthIH-FTUj__uc1klMYNphkcnultdfYrzUZWKST1RA7bs9up_Us9CiUAlrizXc8kN22vTVGjN9ZUo2PI2gRB5GIdk5_0mfXPfeanRpSwK_SgwJEmFE8LiQHdKudjpfi1RdMRI1MBX/s1600/sendoff-797637.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xsRJthIH-FTUj__uc1klMYNphkcnultdfYrzUZWKST1RA7bs9up_Us9CiUAlrizXc8kN22vTVGjN9ZUo2PI2gRB5GIdk5_0mfXPfeanRpSwK_SgwJEmFE8LiQHdKudjpfi1RdMRI1MBX/s320/sendoff-797637.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563245361091350082" border="0" /></a>Our friends showed up in funeral outfits and sent us on our way with (fake) grieving tears in their eyes. We drove up on the podium blasting the theme to Adams Family and got asked a couple questions. The answers was something I had been rehearsing for years - so that went as smooth as broken glass. But. We were on our way. The race was on!<br /></p><br />After messing a little about in Budapest plotting GPS-coordinates and all that we got onto the highway. The car was running amazingly and it did not take long till the undertakers where overtaking on the highway! This is what our car was made for. Cruising on the highway. We are a high way star!<br /><br /><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKnU2XNwLtpi-HmiwGSRiPKgv7gqIicjwlXLzLOPlZxMZJQCoNJ08Ltk8Nj8AZbkgZwdDUslvpn16XMV3SreVJ42ILBjJ-hJuC3Ar_4OnpETRHSoN5lm1QW_D0l8b_h9xoGy74OPKkdHu/s1600/Szekesfehervar-700294.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKnU2XNwLtpi-HmiwGSRiPKgv7gqIicjwlXLzLOPlZxMZJQCoNJ08Ltk8Nj8AZbkgZwdDUslvpn16XMV3SreVJ42ILBjJ-hJuC3Ar_4OnpETRHSoN5lm1QW_D0l8b_h9xoGy74OPKkdHu/s320/Szekesfehervar-700294.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563245375809746210" border="0" /></a>Our first stop was a tea party at Szekesfehervar. We had real fans. There where people who had seen a spot about us on Hungarian TV and had come down to the tea party just to see us! Apparently the spot had made us out to be "The funniest team." We gave them the show they came for. Shaking hands left and right - telling jokes about the engine and the car and Italian food. We also got to sign signatures. It was really quite bizarre. Oh, and the tea was good too!<br /></p><br /><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpaqd8jrscjRkpLwN03WtWIwQzidPQwCbpHthc1Kmu2OT4d0S6iZ2GjQ0sH_uqjCQVHGJ4o04Jsw07PLSTqW7M00onmBN3LbbtBsjYmozbFZt8t0vqUmaQgEJCiXu1mFMYAVp07lkxxHd/s1600/world_smallest-708302.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpaqd8jrscjRkpLwN03WtWIwQzidPQwCbpHthc1Kmu2OT4d0S6iZ2GjQ0sH_uqjCQVHGJ4o04Jsw07PLSTqW7M00onmBN3LbbtBsjYmozbFZt8t0vqUmaQgEJCiXu1mFMYAVp07lkxxHd/s320/world_smallest-708302.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563245406785028482" border="0" /></a>Back on the highway we stopped at a gas station and found the world smallest man. He is in the race in team number 10. Apparently the worlds smallest man had the worlds smallest fuel reserves. He had ran out of diesel, even if the gauge was showing half full or half empty - I guess it depends on what kind of person you are. The fuel gauge was not the only problem. Earlier his team had been working on the car all night to be sure not to have any wheels come loose on the highway. The car, a Mercedes seems kind of flawed - even by our standards. The organizers had given him the car he is in, and he was not too happy about it, but quite happy with us as we helped out with jumper-cables and with the extra power they got the car running. Breakdowns are a part of the Budapest-Bamako, and he might have gotten a slightly larger piece then he ordered.<br /></p><br /><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHWlfz2Rl9GgH7j6xWaF_pAfSQ2V2Z8ZIuSQpaWWKica1xC7zCFg2_1Jxd0EN6m2sYP5_XTVSmIAJE2mP8b0xm-NrK9nQMMobtRmM_fukVm-HScG9h_JWewwBvKUWni-ZnlSlwR5U_Icg-/s1600/bridge-705145.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHWlfz2Rl9GgH7j6xWaF_pAfSQ2V2Z8ZIuSQpaWWKica1xC7zCFg2_1Jxd0EN6m2sYP5_XTVSmIAJE2mP8b0xm-NrK9nQMMobtRmM_fukVm-HScG9h_JWewwBvKUWni-ZnlSlwR5U_Icg-/s320/bridge-705145.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563245395213339330" border="0" /></a>-We drove on to Ljubljana to do some of the recommended sight-seeing. We got to see the dragon bridge. Quite honestly it was rather unspectacular. As we where hanging out admiring it we heard some familiar voices. It was the brits from team 92 that we had gotten to know in Budapest. The ones partly collaborating in the big conspiracy that made Per knocked out most of the previous day. Trough out the day we met them 3-4 times. On the road. On the bridge. On gas-stations. It was quite eery - they seem to show up where ever we are. We started suspecting that our car has gotten some tracing device attached. We will be sweeping for bugs later.<br /></p><br />After Ljubljana we pushed on for Genova and made good time. The car cruising along the highway at about 100-130kmh. It is running quite smoothly. We just have a slight problem with the gearbox. Engaging third is a small challenge. But we are learning new gear-leaver jiggling and juggling methods all the time.<br /><br />The descent to Genova was quite interesting - twists and turns and tunnels. Our car is not awesome at twists and turns as it is fully loaded. We got to the hotel just minutes before the brits - it is quite obvious that they had been hard on our tail. Are they the MI6?<br /><br />Posting rather late. In Malaga, have problems with finding internet cafe.<br /></div>Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-50931674822652886432011-01-16T00:30:00.005+01:002011-01-16T00:46:36.546+01:00Ready or not...Yesterday was a bit influenced by the previous night. Per more then the rest of us. He got the joyous occasion to get a rerun of his breakfast - in reverse. A quite uneventful day really. Kristian went on a hunt for spare keys. A quest he had to give up. We have an extra ignition key and that is it. There might be some hot-wiring in the future.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_1L7y_y62lvaeSloCrx4Jg5voeGKTz0wc5F4mzjCAu_0fAeZDCT_lhK-wgMB26OU3lEFoWKXc01JYqRv6JhCEFqdcxQJ3Gp8PQr_UNvLZ9Njc5dvsZ4M8vbogWyZepkzFc81Lp39QEtU/s1600/sandladder.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_1L7y_y62lvaeSloCrx4Jg5voeGKTz0wc5F4mzjCAu_0fAeZDCT_lhK-wgMB26OU3lEFoWKXc01JYqRv6JhCEFqdcxQJ3Gp8PQr_UNvLZ9Njc5dvsZ4M8vbogWyZepkzFc81Lp39QEtU/s320/sandladder.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562563016253541282" /></a>In the afternoon we went out to sandlader.com to buy a hi-lift-jack. Sandlader professionally modify vehicles for off road use and they participate in professional rallies like the Paris-Dakar, but also in Budapest-Bamako. Their workshop is in the middle of nowhere outside of Budapest. Our arrival gathered quite a crowd of sandladder people - mechanics and drivers. They where standing around our car and giggling as we explained our modifications. There where a lot of thumbs up and we actually got a sense that what we are embarking upon is doable.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHcq5XuYdWIweiYpSc4v9WB5HafP619nF6YysnWZzqd7Xb7V8Hil_gPk4Y4febi-3yUxePqo2T6T2tVwrM6bGWIhSiLpBSEnkv2Dzni4tOWBh0kqoju2WHSc_P-M6GeTADkJ10MgnEbMq2/s1600/hero.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHcq5XuYdWIweiYpSc4v9WB5HafP619nF6YysnWZzqd7Xb7V8Hil_gPk4Y4febi-3yUxePqo2T6T2tVwrM6bGWIhSiLpBSEnkv2Dzni4tOWBh0kqoju2WHSc_P-M6GeTADkJ10MgnEbMq2/s320/hero.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562562618360334354" /></a>The car got parked on Park Ferme - the security guards did not understand that we where in the spirit category (they must have seen our 4x4-racing badge on the back and probably thought we were the most hardcore racers ever) and put us among the 4x4s.<br /><br />In the evening we met up with some friends that came down to Budapest to see us off. We had a huge dinner enjoying the luxuries of Europe - luxuries that will be fading away soon enough...Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-36791640115863309222011-01-14T23:55:00.005+01:002011-01-15T00:09:32.099+01:00“We got an American car, with an German engine, surrounded by Italian spaghetti.”<i>- The line Per used every time we showed off our car and engine. It worked perfectly!</i><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRAFllQhxYuB4lhK0wNE8xgoz0ljN8g7JoW1fVthQmkzS7UFN4IxKXbpl1nutsPPpHbuXizg0As-bRcZjrmGdIn6N37GCu181ytYIhEb-pijlMyfFjyCp-TBIMdbtaS14OW1EPlN-9-StA/s1600/pressekonf.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRAFllQhxYuB4lhK0wNE8xgoz0ljN8g7JoW1fVthQmkzS7UFN4IxKXbpl1nutsPPpHbuXizg0As-bRcZjrmGdIn6N37GCu181ytYIhEb-pijlMyfFjyCp-TBIMdbtaS14OW1EPlN-9-StA/s320/pressekonf.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562180744667755122" /></a>Waking up in Budapest. Rushing off to breakfast and on to the press conference. We made Hungarian TV + quite a few newspapers - hopefully we will get a link to the spot we are on. The hearse and we where getting a lot of attention. Making new friends that will be struggling with us trough the desert. I specially want to mention Attila a Hungarian that is going to drive a Zastava the east European version of the Fiat 500. He helped us out a lot trying to figure out where we could fix our car. The press conference was quite a spectacle. The worlds smallest man got a lot of attention and really overshadowed us. We where supposed to follow him to some mechanic, but he probably got enough of all the attention and took off without us tailing. So we ended up following Attila to the highway and drove down to find a Norauto.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gNhSJmzS-beDrHVeug6mBOBDgEetDBoyFCOe965H55GBDhjfKv9ct6KYIC0ZF2fydGCikUajYwCWa2gI5G5SxGVviQ035wrp2hHmPPmtB9AFO0YsT46-DFWE6ywaLK4YVn__ZC9YBcld/s1600/shocking.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gNhSJmzS-beDrHVeug6mBOBDgEetDBoyFCOe965H55GBDhjfKv9ct6KYIC0ZF2fydGCikUajYwCWa2gI5G5SxGVviQ035wrp2hHmPPmtB9AFO0YsT46-DFWE6ywaLK4YVn__ZC9YBcld/s320/shocking.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562181615442623522" /></a>The people at Norauto gave as a rather awesome service! This even if fixing our car is not the kind of thing they usually do. Hopefully we have gotten rid of our overheating problems as we fixed a leak in our cooling system. We got a good look under the car to see all the magnificent rust that is supporting us. We also found that one of the shocks of the car had come loose - that is a thing that could cause truly serious problems. We got all that fixed.<br /><br />The Norauto people did not have the parts to fix our exhaust and sent us searching for an exhaust repair shop. Armed with an address and a description of where to drive we set out on the hunt for the thick tubing needed for our exhaust. Kristian was left behind to get our GPS updated - so we missed the misdirection of Garmin. Trying to figure out the house-numbering system in Budapest was a small challenge and at some point Per said, “Turn left here”. I had a real quick glance in the mirror - saw nothing - the mirror was, as usual slightly out of alignment and almost broadsided the police. They pulled us over. They looked into our car seeing two guys in top hats and suits saying “We are, so, very, very sorry.” - they let us go with a warning to follow the traffic laws.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN4TQY9W5HFzMp-LjKxN08Qo9hFZ4DhXHeQudq4pjOxncPT5z0PpqL73cUTAO0rtxu1WhHyLJ70qVHXxhOxhCqgE5rHFjWI7s91sb9UvGRTvfOtBYq7TdiA0M58QcLfq5aRK1OnAhoLdJU/s1600/norauto.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN4TQY9W5HFzMp-LjKxN08Qo9hFZ4DhXHeQudq4pjOxncPT5z0PpqL73cUTAO0rtxu1WhHyLJ70qVHXxhOxhCqgE5rHFjWI7s91sb9UvGRTvfOtBYq7TdiA0M58QcLfq5aRK1OnAhoLdJU/s320/norauto.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562182163852510018" /></a>We finally got our exhaust fixed by the second exhaust place we got to and got back to the hotel using the good old map-navigation trick - Per complaining that I am just as bad as Garmin when it comes to navigation. It was time for a quick rest and on to the meet-and-great. Me and Per who had been standing around in garages all day watching people work had only eaten the hotel breakfast and two snickers bars from our supplies. The beer hit Per a little harder then me and he is still a bit knocked out from last night. I am hoping today will be rather uneventful (famous last words?).Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-17191656856006464672011-01-13T02:10:00.003+01:002011-01-14T09:51:38.532+01:00Nowy Sącz, we have a problem.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcv0MZ_8oIziwo4924mNfod3MswJxP9Oj7-hV7USk7iCk_M1Zmz4lEP5olJptlRht68eeE4mFrHiFH9OrbfRyuWtep6NyMoDNAVNyxCOzCVw3IJHY1gNpArtFK_djFEWbFef4FNOZNBfGl/s1600/per.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcv0MZ_8oIziwo4924mNfod3MswJxP9Oj7-hV7USk7iCk_M1Zmz4lEP5olJptlRht68eeE4mFrHiFH9OrbfRyuWtep6NyMoDNAVNyxCOzCVw3IJHY1gNpArtFK_djFEWbFef4FNOZNBfGl/s320/per.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561955102589137442" /></a>I thought that today would be a good day to write a little about yesterday - yesterday being only slightly eventful. We expected today to be rather uneventful - just fixing the last, few, minor issues with the car and drive down to Budapest. We expected the evening consist of checking into the hotel and to go out and get a nice dinner and relax. Boy, oh, boy was I wrong. <i>I inserted a nice picture of Per - being all smug and confident.</i><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE_-ewpz2mdUIq1iK9Hd4Y1a_i3Z6sR-oGfAlr6BfymFvFbbuuRv9vHxXWkACju52KOLfTRYxO-hCtIFP8GI08VmNwFNWnz2a9fQl4iXly-qJHpr7NnbTvid4JdbT-_NFHpg_fzxSgosTD/s1600/bil.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE_-ewpz2mdUIq1iK9Hd4Y1a_i3Z6sR-oGfAlr6BfymFvFbbuuRv9vHxXWkACju52KOLfTRYxO-hCtIFP8GI08VmNwFNWnz2a9fQl4iXly-qJHpr7NnbTvid4JdbT-_NFHpg_fzxSgosTD/s320/bil.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561961286244245314" /></a>But first - let me tell you about yesterday. We drove from Krakow to Nowy Sącz. where we got our car washed (and caused a small scene when they realized what we where all about). And most important we put stickers on the car. The race number, 152 - the official race sponsor stickers - our only official sponsors stickers (greetings to all the great people at Best Practical) - and a big sticker for the mechanics that have been working on our car (a huge thanks to you guys for making all this possible for us!). A rather dull day really. We had dinner at a rather nice restaurant attached to a BP station. Rather awesome food compared to what one can expect from a restaurant at a gas station. The hotel was. Um. Cozy. It was clean. And. It had two stars. Our toilet however could not flush, but we had a bucket we could flush it with. The shower was really just a hose, but the shower was really just a hose.<br /><br />Today we got up early. Got all the minor issues with the car fixed and got underway towards Budapest - just a little later then planned. We got about 50m from the mechanics when the car broke down. Well, to say broke down is rather harsh - it was only the accelerator wire who had fallen out of its little thingy. We fixed this quickly ourselves, but still - this counts as the first break down. Yes. First.<br /><br />The second came 28km later - we where going up hill and I said something like “Oh, look, the temperature gauge for the car <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyTbTrD9GqFY_P5_QjWbGTcy7nznYwz-eiID5wfI2CEjB0BDoOlmc6WOpkOe9586-NfoZlRmKAqMH7vnAdIa451rRr1jxLEGfuddxMyu9Yf7KjzBvUy-Ms18lbe_2GPhVtDHHEFIYI8cB/s1600/slange.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyTbTrD9GqFY_P5_QjWbGTcy7nznYwz-eiID5wfI2CEjB0BDoOlmc6WOpkOe9586-NfoZlRmKAqMH7vnAdIa451rRr1jxLEGfuddxMyu9Yf7KjzBvUy-Ms18lbe_2GPhVtDHHEFIYI8cB/s320/slange.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561959019196172050" /></a>actually works!” the next thing was loud pop from under the hood and our windshield was covered in white foamy water. We pulled over and much as expected found our radiator hose burst like an over boiled wiener sausage. We installed a new radiator hose - no problem - we have several spare. Filled up on water and were on our merry way.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNG-uiiuME4TmW8yHPxpf3s4VsqLfgVCkihKj4MTUeotp-hPzTOwksV4VM-9XntncCRBOyjzEKSsNb184M95J_5VXAsl4IUgxEQ4Q6bH4yQAudxk48fPabphQSwFz-0ilto17_PofW1We/s1600/gearproblems.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNG-uiiuME4TmW8yHPxpf3s4VsqLfgVCkihKj4MTUeotp-hPzTOwksV4VM-9XntncCRBOyjzEKSsNb184M95J_5VXAsl4IUgxEQ4Q6bH4yQAudxk48fPabphQSwFz-0ilto17_PofW1We/s320/gearproblems.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561960223054318194" /></a>Straight into break down number three. Well technically we could count nr 2 and nr 3 together as we really just rolled backward back onto the road just to figure out that our gear box would not engage any gear in drive, and reverse did not work and. Well actually we could not engage any gear at all. So. We called our mechanics. They came along to save the day - and that they did. Well, at least that part of the day. The gear leaver thingy was kind of out of alignment and they helped us venting the air out of the cooling system and some other small bits and pieces and sent us on towards our fourth break down.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWL9b0ZL1qI-JJGpZESlRoAKpuVjYKlDfC0G9G7a-_pMemcWN-lAYD-3Cfl50vuE1XZwyxnX-je4-J_3PK7IgOCwfXDPA-8wjQ5RvYMtjO1YWE-E-Vfq1GyAk2ixBo_b0Liz8-lbSv5XuE/s1600/exhaust.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWL9b0ZL1qI-JJGpZESlRoAKpuVjYKlDfC0G9G7a-_pMemcWN-lAYD-3Cfl50vuE1XZwyxnX-je4-J_3PK7IgOCwfXDPA-8wjQ5RvYMtjO1YWE-E-Vfq1GyAk2ixBo_b0Liz8-lbSv5XuE/s320/exhaust.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561960799782652546" /></a>The fourth break down came some 20-30km later as a interesting new noise. It was quite obvious that there was something wrong with our exhaust system. And sure enough, so it was. The exhaust pipe is rather corroded, and it had separated from the muffler, so… Our quick fix was to put the exhaust pipe close to the muffler with a piece of wire. Close as in under the same car… I only got slightly poisoned from the exhaust in the process and I am now having an excellent headache!<br /><br />We have not broken down again as of when I write this at 23:00hours, but we have had problems with our gearbox. It has problems engaging the high gear, we will have to have this looked at in Budapest as well as getting a new exhaust system. The car is also having overheating problems.<br /><br />The optimistic (we need to stay optimistic right?) story for the rest of the evening/night is to boringly and uneventfully drive to Budapest and check into our hotel. Where I can post this little entry - though perhaps without pictures.<br /><br />Sure enough we are in Budapest - 2AM - no major breakdowns. We experienced just a bit of overheating - this will work out much better once we get down to Africa. I am sure! Pictures will be up some time tomorrow.Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-78698394864006935102011-01-09T23:45:00.005+01:002011-01-09T23:59:24.058+01:00BBBC – Budapest Bamako Broadcasting Corporation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZDsv9-YS7UGjEPvBr5EPRY2CblL4_nkzQCCMgpEruQKF4fI1OQpLygEMxvTqaPuaVhyphenhyphenU8wfYluWqDAH_FHI9ODv6U9kB7A3eVXDsKpqlkMeR0Vw1pliI_beoWogYHMm6sw4-pRV_IcEC/s1600/bbbc1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZDsv9-YS7UGjEPvBr5EPRY2CblL4_nkzQCCMgpEruQKF4fI1OQpLygEMxvTqaPuaVhyphenhyphenU8wfYluWqDAH_FHI9ODv6U9kB7A3eVXDsKpqlkMeR0Vw1pliI_beoWogYHMm6sw4-pRV_IcEC/s320/bbbc1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560322640352565426" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">And we are able to transmit! Probably all over the globe! We got this great antenna installed and if we ever get hungry we can use it to go fishing for, um, SHARKS (and probably Jets).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"></span>Today we took the car to a parking lot outside a Castorma (building supplies and tools and fusion reactors) to fix the last electrical and mechanical problems. One mechanical problem being the fact that we lost the keys to the padlock we locked the back door with. So. We bought an angle grinder at Castorama and hooked it up to the AC – inverter we have in the car to run power tools. Angle grinding bolts at the back of cars on a parking lot with a lot of Sunday shoppers, well, that kind of draws a bit of attention. We actually did get some work done in between explaining what we where doing and shaking hands of people wishing us ‘The wide road’ and telling us how awesome the car is.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETGP8BXcPs79OAGS07Mol-W7ug-WL4uFKCIJo4U-htD3BxUsju3dCfwfcCiddgHh9QMYrECk-rbKvb0xQE0Lt1dTKc79dIDkeX8zUjZhbRTks_tztYyo4Zw1OymjWrvezfcBDqRne5XTf/s1600/bbbc2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETGP8BXcPs79OAGS07Mol-W7ug-WL4uFKCIJo4U-htD3BxUsju3dCfwfcCiddgHh9QMYrECk-rbKvb0xQE0Lt1dTKc79dIDkeX8zUjZhbRTks_tztYyo4Zw1OymjWrvezfcBDqRne5XTf/s320/bbbc2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560322963433060546" /></a></span>We worked all the day till it got dark. Now all the lights are connected and I really must say. We do look pretty awesome!</p> <!--EndFragment-->Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-68999805535249057322011-01-08T19:32:00.007+01:002011-01-08T21:03:58.410+01:00Armor plating Redux<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhkqV5ouYx8-liixMx_w-8w1dogR1OT2G503ZbcFwlklmj3O88zDzZD45iXdGY7m8OSthSbQZ5-pE0mUq5yX4ncToQjH9KPN5qnYQ6gPG9k3TU_njsqKHkTRF41chkqSSXh9D09TvWh9W/s1600/DSC00352.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhkqV5ouYx8-liixMx_w-8w1dogR1OT2G503ZbcFwlklmj3O88zDzZD45iXdGY7m8OSthSbQZ5-pE0mUq5yX4ncToQjH9KPN5qnYQ6gPG9k3TU_njsqKHkTRF41chkqSSXh9D09TvWh9W/s320/DSC00352.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559885795558491234" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">We went out to the mechanics that have fixed up our car with a two-step plan. First then changed our engine. Then, as they where waiting for the drive train to be balanced out, someone came along in their car, drunk and happy. He smashed happily into our car and gave the mechanics a whole lot of extra work. We are very happy that they where able to make the car road-ready in a rather short time. Not exactly the same look as before the crash but got more of a Mad Max kind of look. Which makes us happy. Everyone is happy!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjsSKg3-JBRRvKaOkToFToYLGk2iAAgUmlobCqTrOIwA6RaJUZDq5xBEwSAIl3FNFcFYUGlCNll1tN7yIMv1bDxqD3PNnn9nx1b9crzSpH-qGOAt5TEG_fge2bMAmXV_FQAo5QgXLpLsh-/s1600/DSC00356.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjsSKg3-JBRRvKaOkToFToYLGk2iAAgUmlobCqTrOIwA6RaJUZDq5xBEwSAIl3FNFcFYUGlCNll1tN7yIMv1bDxqD3PNnn9nx1b9crzSpH-qGOAt5TEG_fge2bMAmXV_FQAo5QgXLpLsh-/s320/DSC00356.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559886045401308994" /></a>We had worked on the whole Mad Max concept and fitted bottom armor plating that probably could withstand a nuclear blast or an Act Of God™. This was a great idea and looked even greater when the car was jacked up. Once back down on the ground and the car packed with all our stuff we realized that we had the ground clearance of a Ferrari. This is probably great for the racetrack, well, actually it is probably not even a good idea for the racetrack, and definitely not for bumpy African roads.</p><p class="MsoNormal">So. We needed to fix this little problem. Our mechanics did not let us down. After a day of welding and angle grinding our armor plating was transformed to something that actually can get over speed bumps and hopefully keep our engine safe trough Africa. One of the mechanics commented on the construction we had made – pointing and saying in Polish “Solidna konstrukcja” – this was something also Per could understand and there where grins and giggles all around.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1XzD9vTPPG4F-AE8CMecHSqsBj1eoi4rDeZVzokCFZwUTMxRVlZS7-emVLAT2hWflxNY83p3dvHpSbJ9t83-UIRsgU7ZQ3eUbdjWn1RAS8jvUY_qabsYnTBfTaYUj9Z04KgqF4PZx5ln/s1600/DSC00354.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1XzD9vTPPG4F-AE8CMecHSqsBj1eoi4rDeZVzokCFZwUTMxRVlZS7-emVLAT2hWflxNY83p3dvHpSbJ9t83-UIRsgU7ZQ3eUbdjWn1RAS8jvUY_qabsYnTBfTaYUj9Z04KgqF4PZx5ln/s320/DSC00354.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559886232033603090" /></a>On a side note we got to see my car. This is the car that I bought after I fell in love with our rally car. This is a car I am going to (ab)use after the rally. She is a beauty. She just needs to be fixed up just right. A coffin bed in the back and all the bells and whistles!</p> <!--EndFragment-->Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-19200939576072463362011-01-05T23:29:00.005+01:002011-01-05T23:45:50.435+01:00In the name of Diesel Power!<!--StartFragment--><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iwEdqKqlJ27pGZNBqDnGUes1yiSyCW9V6enhsZSo2dPjZ5g2dmKKJ4bFZEj-X_pykJTidqNQuIxVFsm196SzH2I1htZbRGkxa8fC89IZPA2nOq49xtvHM_oXGyMrTqL1g5f_-Y6FPH5c/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-05-22h10m37s202.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iwEdqKqlJ27pGZNBqDnGUes1yiSyCW9V6enhsZSo2dPjZ5g2dmKKJ4bFZEj-X_pykJTidqNQuIxVFsm196SzH2I1htZbRGkxa8fC89IZPA2nOq49xtvHM_oXGyMrTqL1g5f_-Y6FPH5c/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-05-22h10m37s202.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558834213549522562" /></a>So we were off to a great start. The car was running perfectly, well as perfect as one can expect. We did some minor adjustments to the car using gaffa, a glove and a sexy jumpsuit to seal various cold air leaks. We almost got the car heated enough to avoid frostbite. Almost. The whole engine protection-rig is so low that we hit all kinds of nice stuff - speed bumps - regular bumps and puppies. OK. That’s enough about the sheer awesomeness of the car.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The trip was rather uneventful. There was only one real near death experience - that is besides the continuous near that experience that is riding the car in the first place. We were cruising along - just fine - on the open road of the Danish motorway. Per was sleeping like a baby. I was driving like the driving God that I am when a small problem appeared. This was really a result of our Optimum Diesel Spending Plan (ODSP™).</p><p class="MsoNormal">Our ODSP was calculated from Internet prices Kristian continuously updated us with. Denmark was cheaper then Sweden, but more expensive then Germany - so we planed to enter Germany with as little fuel as possible. This seemed like a good idea at the time. It did not seem like a good idea as I was running out of fuel. I had been looking for a gas station for a while, I was sleepy, needed to pee and the car needed fuel, but there where no stations in the immediate vicinity of the motorway. So the result was waking up Per: “Um, Per, we are running out of Diesel.”</p><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPMRa9eWf_NCjJ2aNtat5cLsXzBcbt1bsAcPGQoGE0-bfLfKYeWGS43ey3h5SlEZfEnL4aj14FFVSfGJ0OxhfC2KveKNfspjW2AkrNl8cL8Hs29KNi5IhvNEK_I-X_MPtRYCdERfSlHaN/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-05-22h06m15s173.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPMRa9eWf_NCjJ2aNtat5cLsXzBcbt1bsAcPGQoGE0-bfLfKYeWGS43ey3h5SlEZfEnL4aj14FFVSfGJ0OxhfC2KveKNfspjW2AkrNl8cL8Hs29KNi5IhvNEK_I-X_MPtRYCdERfSlHaN/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-05-22h06m15s173.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558833717371533122" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">So there we were - at the all too narrow shoulder out of Diesel with trucks rushing by less then half a meter from our side. I got on a stylish yellow west and started digging out our spare jerry can - 20l of diesel. This was conveniently placed under pretty much everything. Well. Everything heavy.</p><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjff9KHUZb0qgN_Awe2mWrErRtVXDBjg4yCY5C2SKRXj92mTNDk2tVD37UGivPcjiLQPhZTrNwPShN8s2oxRQ7zXlfIYpJ43mhP7qpyv7HO6xhn8l9eVMxhpyXXWbXaJtg967g7Rdr6Zg-N/s1600/vlcsnap-2011-01-05-22h05m02s33.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjff9KHUZb0qgN_Awe2mWrErRtVXDBjg4yCY5C2SKRXj92mTNDk2tVD37UGivPcjiLQPhZTrNwPShN8s2oxRQ7zXlfIYpJ43mhP7qpyv7HO6xhn8l9eVMxhpyXXWbXaJtg967g7Rdr6Zg-N/s320/vlcsnap-2011-01-05-22h05m02s33.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558833307951454898" /></a>Finally we had gotten the car filled up and started and everything was just great. We drove off laughing. We laughed all the way to the first gas station where we decided to fill up. When we stopped we noticed something quite impractical. One of the rear doors was a bit open. When I say a bit open, well, I really should say “wide open”. We realized that we must have lost something™. Something could be a couple cans of Red Bull + some antifreeze or it could be all the passports + camera + a baby seal.</p><p class="MsoNormal">We believe. Still believe. That the only thing we lost was some food + some tool (we heard a metallic clank somewhere along the way to the fuel station). We are still missing a baby seal though.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The rest of the trip was truly uneventful. So uneventful that our GPS felt it was a good idea to send us sightseeing away from the Autobahn and into small German villages - this under the pretense of avoiding traffic. Great. We got to do the scenic route. There is an awesome view from a car running trough German forests in the dead of the night. Thank you Garmin!</p><p class="MsoNormal">There is only one last thing worth mentioning - that is the bumpy piece of ground that is camouflaged as road from the German/Polish border and for all too many miles. It is really the kind of road you can find in parts of Eastern Europe and Africa. Yes. Our engine-protection rig got to hit the ground at highway speeds. Yes. The sound is truly unnerving.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Mikal Gulehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16806974505625726228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063911648448415925.post-26382215155127402882011-01-04T00:46:00.004+01:002011-01-05T18:30:00.024+01:00Departure<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheS9y68ecOqJ5Nlwu9yeeG8rVOgzDTnZX9HDwCLbfecuSbSD2EfMAeqtVNCxFAcsfq6eM0SBqO6JC3z9exOodP5lVG1n6q1629xmM-N8Oy0ROtBCbmsAA_j5BQftHD1bPX-ooCeSjqCGAD/s1600/DSC_7577.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheS9y68ecOqJ5Nlwu9yeeG8rVOgzDTnZX9HDwCLbfecuSbSD2EfMAeqtVNCxFAcsfq6eM0SBqO6JC3z9exOodP5lVG1n6q1629xmM-N8Oy0ROtBCbmsAA_j5BQftHD1bPX-ooCeSjqCGAD/s320/DSC_7577.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558110917851306050" /></a><br />So the journey starts for Per and Mikal. Here just before departure from Carl Berner in Oslo.Kristianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044317734010732812noreply@blogger.com1