VikkiDp said:Wowww!!! Continuation is here! Love your stories man
It seems like Bill was already very tired and exhausted. What day of the trip it was?
A couple of teams are definitely lucky to have you around
What's next?
Officially that was our 9th or 10th of driving, but only the 8th stage (out of about 15)
Next update with start stage 9 (no spoilers, though!)
lownslow said:You are much braver than I am.
Your story is very engaging.
Thanks man! It's crazy to see how fast this goes when I'm just looking over notes. It seemed SO MUCH LONGER when we were in it...
Really enjoying following along, thanks for documenting it all so well for us.
Sonic said:Really enjoying following along, thanks for documenting it all so well for us.
Thanks, man! You know, in that spirit I really should show you what was going on in the background while we all licked our wounds in camp. To give a little background, there was another potential border crossing point at a city called "Rosso". However, it's mentioned several times in the roadbook (in BIG red letters) "DO NOT CROSS AT ROSSO!"
Here's the discussion from the whatsapp chat:
Seeing Misha's posts about people wanting 10-euros at every bridge in the 2020 Rally (for which she was a participant) gives us a little more insight as to why she and Lukas were so adamant about not paying that man the 10-euros he was asking for, but I do have to say that I don't think we would have won if we tried to fight it.
On the Budapest To Bamako Facebook page, things were similar but there was some pushback from other participants:
Like I said though, our data connection at this point was so bad that only the whatsapp chat was coming through. The facebook page only worked if you stood in one area of camp (kind of near the bar building) and we only discovered that late enough that all the good posts were deleted 
You can see some common themes developing though. None of them pretty.
Good times.
There I was... Still in Africa...
Up at 4:45am and there's no message from Jack about turning around. Looks like I better get ready to keep punching south...
It has to be stress that's waking me up this early... I mean back home I would habitually wake up at 4am to do stuff, but that was after 6 or so hours of sleep. I got less than 4 last night. There's no reason I should be up this early.
Anyhoo, yesterday the driver's and passenger side windows quit rolling up and down. In the silence that is this morning I can hear that the relays aren't "clicking" when I hit the switch. All the fuses and circuit breakers checked good yesterday, and the switch for the windows is getting 12v today... No idea what's going on here.
I decide to take the door card off, but don't feel like unpacking the truck to get to tools, so I use my swiss army knife and find a broken connection near a splice on one of the wires. It's not terrible or sloppy so it must not have been put there by the previous owner. I swear, everything that guy touched was bodge-city.
The wire is red/white and I dont see it on my drawing...
The wire I show on my drawing should be black/brown... Just for giggles I jumped it back into the circuit and nothing changed so I put it in the "later later" bin. I'll figure out in a minute that it goes to the power door lock circuit that doesn't work in the truck (I never needed power locks, so I never bothered looking into why the switch didnt work).
I went to look at the back side of the door switch again to pull 12v from pin 1, and the back of the switch fell off.
Well THERE"s your PROBLEM!
Unfortunately my headlamp picked this exact moment to die... It's a cheap-o unit that takes 2-AA batteries and I really cant believe I killed them this fast. But I digress.
Ok, so I work my magic on the back of that connector and get everything back into place. Once it's plugged back in, the windows work so I put the door card back on (yay!).
Unfortunately there's no positive restraint holding that connector on so there is a chance that it'll fall back off if things get too vibratey today (like they were yesterday, which probably caused this problem). There's also no spot for an eskapasko (zip tie, but you already learned that word) so I don't think I can bodge this one. It's just going to have to hold.
all in all, I had it done up by 5:50 with nothin but a swiss army knife
The sun is coming up now so I can take pictures of the camp site:
Jeeze... All those beer bottles laying around, it looks like the Slovakian van team had a party after I zonked out last night. I must have been REALLy out of it.
anyhoo, I take care of a few more items with the truck and spend a little time cleaning it out of all the trash from yesterday. Once that's done, I open the road book and read about today's adventures. "Expect to spend 12-14 hours driving..."
berkeley that. Not just "no", but "hell no". I am way too tired of having my teeth beat out, my head hurts, and I need a beer and an ATM machine (in that order, preferably). I decide that the off-road section is not in the cards for us today and instead we'll probably travel to Louga -> Touba -> Kaffrine -> Tampacounda. All roads, so things will hopefully be easier. All in all, it should only be 384kms.
People were up and the camp was packed by about 8:45.
In that last picture you can Andrew Szabo's "00" car off to the right. He gets stuck in the sand and he's not the only one. LOTS of people in 4-wheel drive vehicles are getting stuck as well. A LandRover Defender winches itself to a tree, but the tree really looks too small to be of much use. A Toyota LandCruiser steps in to help Szabo.
Team Slow-Vakia is the first of us to be ready, and we all push their Pajero to get it going. Once it's got momentum, it doesn't stop. We'll catch up later.
In our truck we're getting seated and I'm excited to show Lukas that I fixed the windows for him. I roll it up, and then I roll it down. Woo-hoo!
I'm kind of overcompensating by being sillier than usual, so I inform Katka that I fixed something for her too and point to the digital clock on the dash, which I've set to the correct time (it's been bothering her OCD). We're really not getting a long very well at this point so I'm trying to make an effort to get the day started off on the right foot.
The Slovakians have a term for this: "Ponorka" and it means "Submarine" (your Slovakian word for the day!). Just like in a Sub, we're all stuck together and tired of each other and there's nothing we can do about it. We're not being mean to each other or anything, but we're all annoyed. I made some notes about some of the other things we're not doing:
1) We're not even bothering with the GPS coordinates or route planning anymore (too exhausted)
2) We're not bothering following along with the roadbook (it never seems to be what everyone is doing every day anyway, as things are always changing or being interrupted)
3) We haven't been to a meeting since that one the night after I lost my temper about the Slovakians speaking Slovakian.
4) We didn't even stop for lunch yesterday. And this was weird once I realized that it happened. Back in Morocco you'll remember that I was getting anxious that we were stopping for HOURS to eat lunch... This time none of us even noticed.
Anyhoo, time to set off and I still have the hubs in from yesterday. We dig in a bit, but get out of camp without any issues. Thankfully this should be the last day we have to deal with sand.
Out the other end, I unlock the hubs and put the truck back in 2wd before we hit pavement. When we do, the window doesn't roll up. What's worse, is when we try then it kills the radio.
Must be a bad ground?
No time to troubleshoot now, we're on the road and headed for the first gas station. Once there, we ask for the usual "sans plomb" before what might be the last remaining brain cell surviving in my dead brain yells "STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I relay that brain cell's message to the attendant who's pumping gas, and he complies.
We've just pumped 9000-francs of fuel (about $15) and I ask Lukas and Katka how much money we all have.
It's not enough. Katka bought those beers last night, and I didn't have much of ANYTHING to change at the border. Luckily Bananas was with us, and Roman covers the difference. Good guy, that Roman.
Ok. So we still don't really have fuel, and now we KNOW we don't have cash. The team is still kicking around the gas station so I have a look at that ground wire for the window. I give it a little wiggle and tighten the screw holding it down. It works!!!!
and then it doesn't...
Sitting back in the truck, Katka goes to sit in the back and notices the clean passenger floor.
"Bill, when you cleaned the truck this morning, did you throw away a tissue?"
"I might have. If I did, then it was dirty for sure"
"I think it had my rocks in it from Mauritania"
oh ffuuuuuuuuuuuuudge.
There was a moment of silence and then she just got in and sat in the back seat. That last brain cell of mine is working overtime trying to think how we're going to fix this. I mean, it's not like any of us are going to travel back through Mauritania ever again in our lives...
Except i AM!!!! I'm driving north! It's going to be the same route since we took pavement the whole way. There's no reason I cant just stop at the same place and grab rocks and send them to her back in Europe!
I tell her as much, but really she's too beat to care. I don't push the issue any further, and Lukas eventually hops in the passenger seat.
I guess that's that then. We're off and headed down the pavement and the road is much nicer here. The houses are tile (instead of whatever scrap they were built from in Mauritania), there are lots of small villages, people are well clothed (lots of "Lakers" and "Chicago Bulls" jerseys), and women are carrying things on the tops of their heads! (Katka takes lots of pictures of that).
This whole trip just sounds wild.
We get to the next big town but have lost Bananas. We try to navigate with our GPS anyway, but it's just cutting us right through the center of town and doesn't show anything resembling a bank...
Katka was able to get a messsge through on Whatsapp, and it turns out that Bananas parked right in the middle of 4-banks! These guys are either dang good, or the luckiest guys I know. They share their location and Katka navigates us to them from the back seat.
Unfortunately since the windows wont roll up, someone needs to stay with the truck at all times. I volunteer to stay and Katka goes into the bank first. This isn't me being a gentleman, I figure if she goes in first then she can do the work of figuring everything out and then I'll get instructions and wont have to think. 100% self preservation at this point.
While I waited, I took a few pictures.
When Katka gets back she tells me where the ATM is, and that I'll need the help of a man in yellow standing near the machine.
ooooo-kay, here goes.
I get to the machine and put the card in. Everything starts normal and then goes blank. I start looking around for this guy who's supposed to help me and like magic he's right there! he pushes a few buttons on the screen and then 200,000 francs spits out.
Sweet!
I get back to the truck and Katka wants to swap to go fruit shopping. I decided the truck would be fine for 2-minutes and went with. Again, I'm noticing that the girls are getting a lot of attention and I'm not really a fan of it. The attention turns into cat calls ("Kat calls"?) which makes me feel like it was a good thing I went with.
"Such a beautiful girl, old man!"
"Old man, you have such a beautiful girl"
They're from behind us, and only start after we pass on this dirt road we're walking down. We continue on and ignore them.
We find a shop with cold water and buy some. It comes in bags now 
After we got our water, I tell Katka that I want to find a shop that sells beer. She want's to wait until we get closer to camp, but I'm dead serious about wanting a cold refreshing beverage tonight and don't want to wait until it's too late to buy some. I get the attention of Julius who's driving the Bananas truck. "Yo. Can you guys work your magic and find a beer shop?"
"Sure can!"
"Beautiful. We'll follow you"
done.
We walk back the way we came and the buys doing the cat calling were gone. Back in the truck we're off and driving, this time I'm in the passenger seat.
We're beyond the edge of town now, and there was no stops to attempt to buy beer. This has me more than irritated and really the root cause isn't the beer but the fact that I'm getting no sleep and not eating right, but that's not what my brain tells me is wrong. Right now my brain is hung up on the fact that I'm up every morning with coffee for everyone, I'm fixing the truck, I fixed the windows, and I'm constantly driving while everyone else is hung over. I'm tired of not being a part of any conversation since they're 90% in Slovakian and I have no idea what's going on or being said. Maybe I'll get on the radio and speak Hungarian until I find someone with palinka (home made liquor) and not share. Maybe I'll queue up a bar or a liquor store on my phone and detour there when its my turn to drive next. you know, take matters into my own hands.
But while my brain is heated, I'm not 100% stupid yet. Buying palinka and not sharing would be the wedge that split the log and could break the team for good. So would detouring the truck while the others protested. I spend the next hour or so in my head and calm my brain back down. I'm not the only one helping, everyone is in different ways. Katka cooked dinner yesterday (those freeze dried camp meals), she also made sandwiches when we were working on the truck in Mauritania. Misha had coffee made for us that day, Julius just helped fix the exhaust leak (which the plug we made is holding, by the way) and two of the Bananas (Roman and Peter) don't even speak english. What would the situation be like if the rolls were swapped. Would they be different if it was one Slovak and 20 English speakers? Would we all magically speak Slovakian?
no. of course not.
A show I used to watch called "Firefly" had an episode that covers situations like this pretty well. It's called "War Stories" and involves a husband who gets jealous because his wife and the captain of the ship they're on served in a war together and had lots of exciting war stories and experiences they reminisced about. I wont spoil it, but it does a good job of pointing out that exactly none of those stories were at all fun when they were in the middle of them (they were SCARY). Plus what makes them so great is the fact that they didn't know they were going to survive when they were in them.
So here we are and I'm positive I'm not the only one who is miserable. We're all panorka here, and there's no getting around it. And we're not finished yet. We have a long way to go before we reach that finish line, and if we're going to make it then it's going to take all of us to get there.
Besides, how many people do I know that have been immobilized in Africa? How many people had the "search for a tow truck and trailer" experience we did? How many people made a tent from two trucks and sat in it for 7-hours? How many people changed a hub in an African dirt parking lot? How many people got a war story from a Mauritanian road?
Shoot. How many people saw a Senegal scam at the border the size of the one we did??? I mean that was some damn thorough scam work right there, and they took every team for at least 100-euro. Those guys made OUT!
ok. so we're exhausted, but calm again. The window even decided to work for a bit, and then it quit again. Maybe the relay is overheating? I mean it is HOT down here... I dunno.
We still get waves from kids as we drive through towns, and of course we wave back. At one of the towns there was a small group of children and Bananas pulled over to hand them some stuff. Candy and other small donations, really. Nothing spectacular. But then a crowd gathered around their truck and it started getting BIG. We and team Slow-Vakia got back in our trucks but Bananas was still handing stuff out. When they did get back in, more people came to the passenger side with their hands out trying to reach in and then some of them started singing and dancing. Adults too! Clapping and then they'd spin around real quick. I didn't know how they were going to drive forward without hurting someone, but they did.
Then it was our turn, and we got crowded too. Lukas was still driving and the seas parted for us, but dang if crowds like that don't make me nervous. Especially when the energy level in them gets dialed up to 11 that quick.
With that behind us, and me having rested a bit since we got out of town my brain cell was back at it and reminded me that back in Morocco there was a Hungarian team that had "gallons of palinka" and was willing to trade for a second vehicle to go with them through Mauritania at high speeds. I got on the whatsapp chat and contacted them directly. If they had "gallons" they must have some left, and if they had some left then this would solve our "Bill needs a damn drink" problem for tonight. I offer them money if they'll part with a liter.
Having sent the message, I brag to the other two that I have a secret plan and if it works out then they'll call me a hero. They're well used to my nonsense at this point so a "yeah, ok" is all I get.
The response I get back is disheartening. Apparently they partied pretty hard these last couple days and are down to their last liter or two.
oh well.
I break the news to the team and Katka replies with "You thought you could buy palinka and we would call you a hero?"
"Um, yeah!" I say back
"Bill. I like beer. You're going to have to try harder than that".
This does break the ice though, and we're talking like we used to. Katka starts it by saying that we don't have to worry because this "Magical Bivouac" we're going to tonight is going to have (insert dream here). This gets all our imagination going and Lukas and I contribute.
Pools.
ooh! With pool side bars!
No, an ocean dip!
Laundry service!
A masseuse!
(this goes on for quite a while)
And just like that all seems normal again.
Our lunch stop is in another big city. When we park, Misha walks over to a man running a stand selling stuff and gives him some money. "You watch our cars?" she asks, and he agrees.
We stopped because Bananas thought they saw a sign for a restaurant on one of the big buildings. We have to cross a busy street with a divider to get there, but we do. When we do, there's nothing there but stands all along the sidewalk. A quick conversation happens and then we're walking down dirt back roads again. Again the girls are getting a LOT of attention and again I'm very uncomfortable.
I'm not just uncomfortable because of the girls, but they certainly complicate things. Us being outsiders, we stick out like sore thumbs and there's just no hiding it. Plus we're walking down a road with only one exit I know of and that's easily blocked. Any other direction takes us away from our vehicles.
I don't like it.
We stop to eat at a place that is cooking food on their back patio. It's fenced in on three sides, and the remaining side is attached to their building, and inside of that is a picnic table we can sit at. And that's what we do:
Lunch is going to be fish with rice and cabbage, and ordering it is as easy as telling the lady who's doing the cooking how many plates we would like (and negotiating price). Seeing how casual everyone is being really makes me think that Bananas has zero situational awareness ( mean, you don't just walk down side streets and alleys when you've got a reputation as a portable ATM machine!!!). I'm leaning against the only door frame into the place and am scanning the street outside. About 50-feet away is a man in dark sunglasses and a briefcase with a clear window into it. It's made to display the gold bracelets and other trinkets he's got inside. He's staring right at us, and I'm staring right back at him with my "I'm really not amused" face on.
This goes on for quite some time.
Eventually he breaks eye contact and walks down the street we walked up to get here. "We've just been cased by a salesman" I tell no one in particular.
"What does that mean?" Katka asks.
"Probably nothing, but if he comes back with other sales people we're cornered in this place."
I look back out and notice that I'm not the only one watching out. There's a similar doorway into the patio section where the food is being made, and Roman is leaning up against it basically doing the same thing I am ('cept he much better at looking casual about it, but I catch him scanning the crowd periodically). This makes me feel loads better. Roman is a big guy, I'm not. Did I mention that he was in the military?
Anyhoo, food is served and it's not bad! It's pretty good, actually. Except I've been to Dehli, India before and I am VERY aware of the effects that street food can have on our tummies so there's another thing I'm worried about. But we eat, and are even joined by another patron who is eating by himself.
Back out the way we came in, and again it's AWFUL with the attention. One guy who was walking straight towards Katka and is basically trying to look down her shirt RIGHT in front of her (you can see in the pictures that no one is dressed provocative, and he certainly cant see anything). When he looks up he sees me glaring at him and scurries off. And again, I pick up on the cues that Roman was in the military. When the crowd stops to look at something, he naturally comes to rest at whatever bottleneck there is. If I'm near the front of the crowd, he's near the back (and vise versa). I like this guy.
Back at the trucks, Misha finds the guy who watched our rigs and gives him a little more cash. Just like that, it's off we go:
Jokes are sparse now. We can tell it's going to be another late night... How in the world does 384km take all day to drive??? Funnily enough, we've all been drinking water but none of us have gone pee all day. Katka was the first to bring it up, and we joked about it for a second before falling back into our current stride.
I officially mark this as the point where my denial ends, and acceptance begins. I dunno what I was expecting, but this wasn't at all anything like I saw on youtube.
The Baobab trees we're seeing are getting a lot of interest from the group and eventually we see a team stopped at one. We decide to join them:
That's all the time we had for tourism though, and I know the guy in that video said the Baobab fruit "smelled good" but I 100% do not remember being able to smell it... To quote two pieces of music, we're "on the road again" and (from Robert Earl Keen) "the road goes on forever"...
The rest of the drive is completely uneventful, just LONG. Darkness settles in, and again we've got the KC Daylighters going. We're pretty good at getting the covers off at our last fuel stop before dark, and then putting them back on in the morning. Not always needed though, as Bananas have spotlights on their truck as well, and we're usually following them.
Randomly in some one-street town, Bananas pulls over and we do to. We all go in a store and they ask "Beer?"
The guy at the store counter doesn't have any, but the shopper inside takes us around the side of the building (all shacks, really) and down an alley. As we go further down, the sounds of futbol (soccer, to you and I) grow louder. Oh my god.... We're going to a bar!!!!
We enter and there's only a couple people inside. The owner of the establishment takes us to a chest cooler that's not plugged in and opens it up. He gives us the prices, and we buy a fair amount. Not enough to really "tie one on" but enough that everybody should get one or two (there are a lot of us, remember).
I am floored at the luck (or skill!) these Bananas guys have, I tell you what. That was some random-ass amazing stuff!
This definitely lifts the mood, but even that can only do so much. Close to the turnoff for camp, Katka and Lukas are on their phones checking messages. Apparently the camp has moved.
Some vehicles head out and away from the turnoff, so we follow them. A little later on, there's a call for help. Someone is broken down, and the Landcruiser that wants to go rescue them needs a tire.
I mention that our spare may work, but it's kind of a long shot. Lukas was about to message, but didn't. We've reached a new point in our trip. We are now too tired to assist anyone else. Even Katka's quit picking up rocks "I'm done doing stuff for other people right now" was her answer.
Not long after, we reach the turnoff for our new camp. It's an airport that seems like a pretty popular overlanding spot. And by airport I mean a once "packed gravel" landing strip with zero facilities and the weeds aren't too tall so in theory an small aircraft could land...
It's 2100 when we arrive and we set up camp in the dark, and even pitch the shelter we bought as a "poop tent". It sets up in 2-seconds, but has no floor to it. The idea was that we could use it to poop in or shower in, and the latter is what we do.
There's no service on my phone here, and as you can see in the picture, no one else has reception either (otherwise they'd be staring at their phones). The mosquitos are also bad. I've got some strong repellant and a few candles. We take turns spraying each other down. ( One of the lamps you see in the picture is a bug zapper, we use that too. )
We also need to take a minute and do our covid testing for the next border crossing tomorrow (we kind of missed that at the last one and don't want to press our luck again). After all the stares, and attention we got in Senegal I really can't wait to be out of it.
If there's one plus to this place, its that there are vendors selling souvenirs, food, and beer. We stop in and try to buy food, but only the beer was available. I know we had some from our previous stop, but I really need a brain break. I buy a 12-pack of 1/2 liters and carry it back to the campsite. The seller was only worried that I needed to make sure to bring the plastic rack back to him with the empties so he can get his cash deposit. No problem man, because when I get back I buy 12 more.
Too tired to cook, and all of us on an empty stomach, the beer hits hard and the mood lightens accordingly. When it's my turn, i take a 2-liter water bottle with me and head to the shower tent to scrub my stinky and itchy spots. It's been days at this point and I am RIPE. This was hands down the best 2-liter water bottle shower ever. Back at camp I melt back into my chair and don't move anything but my beer holdin arm for the rest of the night.
84FSP said:This whole trip just sounds wild.
oh man. we're not even half way in!
There I was.... Looking at a spider the size of my fist, standing next to a termite mound that's taller than Lukas, and... are... are we being directed down the 4-wheel drive section of this road 
Up at 6:30 and I'm the first to be awake again. At least I got more than 4-hours of sleep last night. I go over the notebook and the key takeaways are as follows:
1) no offroad section today
2) short drive (FINALLY!!!!)
3) A whole bunch of warnings about not going anywhere there's a crowd. (read the warnings. This will be important later)
Looking around the camp as the sun comes up, it's prett apparent that a LOT of people arrived after we conked out at midnight. I always wonder how people who leave after us always seem to beat us to the next camp but it looks like I'm forgetting just how many people there are in this run, and just how many people take way longer than we do to get to the destination.
LOOK!!!!! Jack came to visit (He's talking to Lukas there in the background).
I did get a minute to talk to Jack, and we're both doing mildly better. His suspension is still collapsed, but we weren't the only ones drinking beer last night. I'm not at all saying we're "refreshed" at this point, but it's possible that we might have "just enough" to get through the day.
In other news, my KC-light covers are looking a bit "bloodied" from battle
Some combination of bug guts and African red-dirt there huh?
Breakfast is the last of my peanut M&M's and we attend the morning brief afterwards. Nothing special, but we did get our team's covid test results (negative).
Back at the truck I did a quick fluid check. Oil, water, and the air filter were all checked (all good). I also tightened the battery clamps as they had vibrated loose. I tested the windows, and they were working (it really must be this heat that's killing those relays. I bet it's much hotter in the engine compartment).
I mentioned we had no data, but when I checked my phone I saw I had a whatsapp message from Mrs. Hungary. It's not good, and she writes that she's feeling neglected. It has been a couple days since we've had a phone call. I can't text back, but I do make a mental note to fire up the sat-phone when we get to camp tonight (the book says we'll be sleeping in a grassy field. I doubt I'll have cell reception).
At this point I'm trying to find an analogy to describe my expectations for this event VS reality and "I feel like I signed up for a trackday and got entered int he 24-hours of LeMans" is the best I can come up with. I jot it down in my notes.
Fittingly enough, when we fire up the truck my phone is still connected. Hank 3's "Low Down" starts drawling out of the speakers. I let it play.
The race sheet says there are supposed to be hippos in the next village, but we didn't see any. Instead my mind wanders while I'm again in the driver's seat.
- I wonder if I could cover all of Senegal in one day. Just one big push north from Gambia's camp to St. Louis...
Pavement turns into dirt, and cars turn into donkey carts... At least the roads are mostly flat and not trying to vibrate our brains out of our skulls.
The roads are a little wet, which keeps the dust down. There are puddles and mud that we do try to avoid.
Not being with Bananas, we're mostly alone for this drive. We cross paths with Slow-Vakia sometimes, but aren't really traveling together (just same route, at roughly the same speed).
Kind of quiet and lonely really.
The termite mounds are also starting to get higher. Katka mentions that she wants to stop if we get an opportunity to take pictures. So we do.
I'm being yelled at to park in the shade, and luckily there's a tree where I can do exactly that.
I've come to learn that I'm pretty heat-tolerant. It's weird because when I moved to Texas, none of my vehicles had AC and I never minded. I give Mrs. Hungary grief constantly because she IS from Texas and the heat just absolutely wipes her out. Well, it turns out it's not just her. Lukas and Katka aren't appreciating the truck's lack of AC, and neither are our electronics. The windows are being buggers again (which is why we're avoiding mud. It does come in the truck when we roll through it), and the phones are overheating if left in direct light too long.
Back on the road, we make it a point to take some pictures of the GIGANTIC spiders we're seeing. We probably stop 20 times for photos:
None of the photos really do them justice though. There's just no good size reference to capture when they build their webs across almost the entire road! But lemme tell ya, if you punch one of these it'd probably bite your fist before you ever got around to hurting it...
Eventually all this stopping means that Slow-Vakia catches up with us again (they're traveling slower, but stopping less).
We'll stay together-ish until the border with us in the lead.
When we do reach the border, there's a line. We park in it and Linda hands out a few donations she brought to the children that have gathered:
I'm able to get the windows working again by jiggling the ground wire to one of the relays under the hood. Looks like an intermittant connection might be the issue?
There's not much to this crossing really. By now we're getting used to the formalities. Customs papers, visa papers, is the truck making a return trip (yes, yes it is). Pay here.
Once out of Senegal, there was a road that seemed to be a couple kms long before we got to the Guinea side. It was weird as we were driving cautiously expecting to run into the border at any time, but the road just kept going... No idea what side maintains it, but they do a good job
That's Katka there handing out hair clips to some little girls on the Guinea side of the border. We have more lines to stand in so we all find ways to kill time. Katka later tells us that her friend is a hair dresser and wanted to send hair clips into Africa to hand out to children. She's got a whole bag full, and these are her first recipients.
I didn't bring anything similar with me, but I do have my "Dnipro Express" stickers. I slap one on the back of "Team UFO's" car and on the back of a Volvo wagon I know from work. This guy's name is "Martijn" and he works in the next building over from me. When the organizers announced the second running of the rallye this year, he signed up (and since COVID clumped both runs together into this one big one, we're both running at the same time). I briefly ponder tagging some other vehicles with my stickers, but decide not to. I kind of know these two teams, and don't want to irritate anyone. I'm sure we're not the only people who are having a rough go.
I do take time to exchange money (I pulled out a LOT the last time we were at an ATM) but opt not to buy a sim card. They're about $50 and you only get one gig of data (which we burn through quite quickly as things get updated to your phone). We've never had an issue getting cards once we're in country, but Lukas and Misha buy one here anyway.
Anyhoo, eventually we're through the lines and back on the road. Without an offroad stage today, I lose the feeling that I'm missing something and find it's actually nice to be rolling down pavement (even if the speed bumps aren't GIGANTIC!).
Not too far after the border, we arrive at a city. No idea what the name was but we basically hit an intersection with a bank on one corner, a gas station on another, and a sim card shop across the street.
Hitting up the bank first, I use my ATM card and pull out another wad of cash. The currency here isn't very valuable so everything costs tens of thousands of local bucks. The problem is, the ATMs only dispense 100's as the largest denomination so you need a literal stack of cash to buy anything more expensive than a coke. Martin uses the ATM next, and ends up with the last of the cash. Luckily the bank is open, so we can sit inside (in the AC) while they fill the machine back up.
With that out of our way, we head back out to the truck and Katka gives another little girl a hair clip. She was super shy to approach but really liked what she got (not being able to communicate, Katka clips it on her hair to show how it's clipped on before handing it over). We head over to the Orange sim card store where we need to wear a mask and show our passports to the security guard to enter. He gives us a tag with a number on it, and we wait to be called. I think we're number 9,999,999 and they're only on 357 when we sit down (there are other teams waiting too) and service is not what you would call "fast".
After an hour of waiting, and realizing it will be many more before we get any sim cards, we give up and return our number to the security guard. We're approached by an old man who is all smiles, but not asking for anything so we don't pay much attention to him. The truck doesn't have a central locking system so I usually unlock the passenger side first. When I do, the man reaches to open the door for Katka and I step back and let it happen. As she's getting in, I'm walking around the front of the truck and he reaches out to grab a feel of Katka's rear end and that gets sharp shouts from me and the security guard who i guess was watching from the store front.
The man scurries off, but I make note that I should have been more diligent. Even if it is just an old man... Constantly being alert is one of the many straws that makes this trip absolutely exhausting. Nothing ever goes to plan, you're never in your comfort zone, and any time you aren't looking then something (like this) happens.
Anyhoo. Back on the road and we skip the gas station. The destination looks close and we have over a half tank left. Lukas is with Misha in the Team Slow-Vakia Pajero, so it's just us two for the last little leg. We talk about the trip and how much fun it is NOT, and wonder if it would have been better if we had driven to all the coordinates on the race sheet instead of always truing to take it easy. Eventually this again turns into talk about what we're going to have in the truck before we do our next trip (because that's when we'll follow the race sheet):
Katka: AC and a freezer!
me: 4-inch suspension lift, bigger tires, and lockers!
Katka: Lockers?
I try and fail to explain open differentials and how, even with 4x4 engaged, we're really only powering the wheel with the least amount of traction. This goes into AWD vs 4x4 and I fail at that too. I really am terrible at explaining things.
and again, pavement turns to dirt
There's not much to it, and again we're avoiding the mud holes to keep from getting sprayed with muck inside the truck. Some of the mud holes are pretty big and thick so "windows up!" becomes the warning we yell before we hit those.
At one particular point there's a police officer directing traffic. He points the vehicle infront of us to continue straight, but has us make a right-hand turn down a much much MUCH smaller dirt path.
"um, are we sure this is the route?"
We drive passed some seriously small villages. We're talking 4-huts inside walls that are smaller than our garden type of villages. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but maybe we can walk back this way and meet some locals after we set up camp.
I'm seriously thinking about turning around, but continue anyways even through the path isn't more than a foot-path at this point. I'm really not sure if we should be driving on it, so I'm kind of trying to exaggerate politeness by having the music down and the RPMs low. Its about then that the road widens and we come to a river crossing.
It's longer than the truck but not super deep. We see other teams crossing, and make it through ourselves without any issues. I don't have a snorkel on the truck, but back home I had thought about such things and am pretty sure I could raise the intake and air filter box if it's needed. The water doesn't come up beyond the tops of the tires, so I quickly put this all back into the "later later" bin.
Camp is coming up to the right and the book was right. it is one BIG grassy field.
We try a few spots to park before finally settling on our location for our tents. We're one of the first to arrive for a change and take the time to enjoy all the festivities. We quickly notice that this place has a lot more to offer than the last few places and note the following
- Dancing! Locals are out and they're drawing a crowd
- outhouses! well, kinda. more on this in a second, but let's just say the bucket will remain unused tonight.
- Bananas! They've found us and are joining us in camp.
So I have to retract my "locals are dancing" statement here, and instead say "there's a dance team...", as what we're seeing aren't just "people dancing" but performers "performing". All good though as they have a table set up and are selling beer. I buy a cold Heineken from the cooler and it is just wonderful.
I also run into team "UFO Hunter" and get a sticker from them (as they seem to have noticed my sticker on their truck by now)
They have an app available to play and I make note to tell the Hungarlings. They love videogames and I want to share part of the adventure with them.
We've got the mensa-engineering shade being set up (blankets and tent poles with strings tied to random heavy stuff) and Katka heads out to use the port-a-potties. When she gets back, she tells us that if we have to "go" then we should probably do so now because they're going to be absolutely disgusting later.
I take her advise and go investigate:
Back at camp, I fall down into my seat. Having done my business I figure it's time to relax. This another day we didn't stop for lunch and that half-bag of peanut M&Ms is all i've eaten. I've got a packet of chili-mac made and proceed to chase it down with a gin and tonic (but I 100% can not remember who had the gin. I mean it's not like we're passing by liquor stores here...)
Bananas are doing something with their truck and I find out they're driving back to that river crossing to go jump in. Do I want to go?
Well, initially I was about to decline. I'd rather be in my own truck, but I've been drinking so driving my own truck is out of the question (Bill has a zero-tolerance rule when it comes to alcohol and cars). Plus, I don't want to squish in their truck or sit on someones lap...
And then I realize I've been WAAAAAAAY to responsible lately and I need to go blow of some steam.
"You know what? I'm in!" I say and I grab beer #3 and a bar of soap and I climb up onto their roof rack. Martin joins me on the roof and we're off!
I'm pretty good at anchoring myself down onto things in such situations, but Martin is finding the ride a bit "slippery". We're still having a blast though as we're waving to locals, and I'm sure to shout "Izirajder Ocsem!" at any Hungarians I see along the way. It means "Easy Rider, brother" and is a battle cry for a motivated (but comical) character from a Hungarian movie that came out about 20 years ago (Uvegtigris, if you're interested. it's on youtube with english subtitles). Some people laugh, but others don't get it.
One Hungarian car in particular has a blonde lady that's always posing on things and taking pictures when we see them. She's near her truck and posing now. I change the battle cry to "Izirajder Hugom!" (Easy rider, little sister) when we pass by to try to get a laugh, but she either doesn't get it or is very confused at what's going on.
meh. Either way.
Back across the crossing now and it's noticeably deeper from all the traffic.
We hop off the truck and then hop in the river. it is HEAVEN!!!!!
Again, none of us can really communicate with the exception of Martin and Patrick, but we don't need to. This is exactly what everyone needed and it shows. I nurse what's left of my beer and scrub down with the bar of soap. We stay for about 15-or-20 minutes, scrub up, watch a few 4x4's go through the crossing, and then it's back the way we came. Bill and Martin on the roof hooting, and the Disco bouncing along the bumpy road. Good times.
At camp the truck is parked and we're visited by some locals with their hats out asking for donations. I figure they're from the dance teams so I throw a couple bucks in before I excuse myself for my date with the sat phone. Tossing my stuff in my tent, I break out the telephone and wander off into the grassy field. Are there venomous snakes in Guinea? I have no idea...
It takes a while and a fair bit of wandering and pointing the antenna but I eventually get my GPS lock. A call is made and Mrs. Hungary picks up. It's worse than I thought.
See, there's a few things going on:
Back at the beginning of the trip, calls weren't possible as she was in the Czech Republic with the Hungarlings so it wasn't a big deal that we couldn't always chat. She's been back home for quite some time now (and we haven't had a chat in god knows how long)
Next is, I haven't told her how miserable this trip has been or what it's like out here. Entry into the rallye was a 40th birthday gift from her, and I don't want her to feel bad by telling her I'm not enjoying it. So she thinks everything is peachy (narrator: But everything wasn't peachy).
The phone call is short, and I get a brief moment to chat with the boys but the message is clear. She feels ignored, and there is a voice message waiting for me on whatsapp. It looks like I'll be visiting that sim card shop again tomorrow.
Phone call over, I need to do some laundry. I fill a foldable bucket with bottled water and dish soap and scrub the stinkiest of my clothes. Once done they're hung on my tent lines to dry (underwear and all). Katka, Linda, and Martin all decide this is a good idea and do the same. We're a bit low on water when we're all done, but figure we still have enough for the night.
The evening turns to night and those with cell service are STILL staring at their phones (I guess 1 gig is lasting longer than I thought?). I pull out mine and make the following video:
This does two things:
1) releases stress. I'm more than a little stressed and everyone staring at their phones while the rest of us sit in silence is part of it (again, we're in Africa!!!! Look at Africa, yo!!!!)
2) Creates a joke that we will ALL repeat for the rest of the trip
Good night everyone.
Having lived in Africa for 5 years, this blog brings back the sheer exhaustion that comes to us travelers from doing the simple daily things that most of us take for granted. There is a pace and an acceptance level that you need to find and adjust to if you don't want to burn out; a combination of Budism and a lot of "inshallah".
I used to describe life in Nigeria as thixotropic in that if you moved and thought at the right pace, it could be easy going, but if you tried to rush things to happen on a North American pace you will run into a wall and exhaust yourself.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
A combination of Budism and "inshallah" indeed. It's absolutely mind boggling now that you bring it up, the millions of things you have to pay attention to that you're not used to paying attention to. And the millions of things you just have to accept that you might not be used to accepting. I constantly feel like I'm doing everyone a huge discredit by not remembering all of these but you really DO have to just not care or you'll go insane.
Some examples:
- That coffee stop we had in Mauritania when the disco broke down and we went to the first truck-stop gas station to look for help. The coffees that we ordered were 100% poured into dirty cups that looked like they had just been used. No point in getting squeemish now, though. After all, we've long since learned to not ask for anything with milk in it as we've yet to see refrigerated milk in this African heat...
- Getting fuel: Sure we can say "full" and "sans plomb", but every gas station we go to fills the tank until it is absolutely OVERFLOWING and spilling all over the ground. So our fuel stops go something like this:
1) Pull up and the passenger says "sans plomb" to the guy at the pump.
2) Driver exits vehicle and hands attendant key to gas door
3) Attendant pumps while whoever is in the back seat gets out of the vehicle and tries to squeeze between the pump and the vehicle
4) Someone cleans window, someone goes to the bathroom, and someone has to watch the pump guy but before we go do we need anything from inside (quick, think! How many water bottles do we have left? Snacks? When was the last time we ate? How much further do we have to go before our next stop?) Oops! Too late, here it comes!
5) pump, click! pump, click! pump, click (splash)! pump, click (splash)!, pump, click! (splash)... See. You weren't paying attention for 2-seconds again and now there's fuel all over the ground. Now you get to tell the attendant "stop stop stop!" while he looks at you funny and tries to pump more.
- Cash: HOW???? How how how, can such a cash based economy have so few places to get cash out of???? Mauritania's capitol city yielded exactly ZERO visible ATMs when we went through. It's 100% the reason none of us had cash in St. Louis, Senegal. But WHERE do these guys get their cash from, if not a bank? Mind you, you're stressing about cash while you're constantly watching your fuel gauge... Maybe if we can JUST make it to the next big city, there will be an ATM there. No? then maybe if we can JUST make it to the next big city, there will be an ATM there...
- Driving: I was just talking with Mrs. Hungary about how in Europe or the US you can scan the road and look away to do something else (check mirrors, change the music, check GPS...) You absolutely can not do this in Africa. You are constantly scanning and scanning and scanning the road, and somehow you still missed that guy walking down the center stripe and that goat off to the side of the road. Where DID they come from???
But you're right. If you stop being a westerner, and just sit down then funnily enough things just take care of themselves. It's goes against everything we're taught to do, and it takes a lot of work to make your brain accept the approach.
There I was... Unpacking my backpack, getting ready to make another camp dinner. The man with the machine gun is still sitting outside, and yo... Do I smell WEED?
Up at 6am and my cell battery is completely dead. We're still having issues as we mount it to the RAM mount on the windscreen for GPS use, but having it in the direct sunlight (and subsequent heat) means it's shutting down and not charging through most of the day. At night, there aren't exactly any outlets around for us to plug the thing into...
Looking around it seems like everything is wet, and the entire camp is a mess... I didn't bring in all my laundry last night (as the thicker clothes still needed time to dry) and now they're soaked.
The camp wakes up not long after, and Patrick, Julius, and Roman make scrambled eggs with onions in a pan over the jet-boil (and my god, does it hit the spot).
That's Roman there with the balloon (Patrick with the phone camera), and he's having a big laugh with the local kids that have gathered at our camp site. He'll blow the balloon up and then let it slip out of his fingers. The balloon flies through the air going "pbt pbt pbt pbt" much to the delight of the children. He does a few other tricks like blowing it up and pulling at the sides to make a big "squeeeaaaaAAAAL", which also has them laughing. This goes on for some time, and everyone enjoys it.
Oh, and that's my yellow egg crate again on the table. It got a few laughs from Bananas when I brought it out, but becomes a key player these next few days.
Once breakfast is done, we duck back in our circle and eat our food. Scrambled eggs and baguettes and just looking at those pictures now makes my mouth water all over again. I think this was the first fresh thing I've eaten, since...
damn. I really don't know!
(Roman, and Julius pictured standing. Peter is sitting)
I met a timid pup and got it to approach by squatting down to its level, looking down directly at the ground, and sticking my hand out. Once it got comfey, I gave it a few scratches and then I gave it a tin of meat paste. Poor guy, he's had a rough go at things by the looks of it. Julius and Patrick take some really good pictures of me with the dog, but I can't seem to find them now.
And just like in every other campsite we've visited. It's time for us to pick it up, pack it up, and head on out
Katka did the dishes, while we packed but since we were low on water she had to use a combination of baby wipes, soap, and then a water rinse. When we did all our laundry last night, we hadn't planned on cooking a big breakfast this morning...
I offer Lukas the keys to the truck to take the first leg today. He hasn't had a turn at the wheel in a while, and the last off-road stage (the first one in Morocco) was driven completely by me. I'd like to give him a chance at playing in the dirt a bit. He declines and explains that he'll be riding in the Slow-Vakia Pajero today, and you can imagine my confusion when he hops in the back seat immediately afterwards. But at this point, I just shrug and take the first stint at the wheel.
Just like on the way in, we have the river crossing on our way back out. There's a line on that one-track road that's backed up nearly to the camp, Katka decides that she's going to hop out to take a video and Lukas hops out to stretch his legs.
When it's my turn to cross, I do so slowly. I don't know where Katka is while she's taking the video, but I figure the exhaust would have been a dead giveaway. I'm glad I slowed down though, the crossing is WAY deeper now and the water comes over the hood. I'm through the water and into the mud on the other side when the truck starts coughing. I think I got the filter a bit wet.
She pulls through though, and I park it off to the side to pick up my passengers.
Katka comes running up and reports she 100% missed my crossing (ah well). Lukas shows up just after and we watch some of the others make their attempt:
Oof, there's a lot going on in that one. The first you'll notice that the first jeep makes the crossing where the second, nearly identical Jeep, doesn't. A Landcruiser was already on it's way to help when we decided to punch out. The second is on the right side of the screen, there's a winch being drawn out. It's been discovered that the right side is much shallower than the left side so those with lower clearance are making their attempts there. It didn't go well for this team, but I can't remember who it was. Someone else approached us after the video and handed us our front license plate. Looks like it came off while we were nose down in the water.
We're back on the dirt track and somehow it is 100% not the way we came in (I mean, let's face it. There aren't a whole lot of roads out here...). This one is much much wider and has many MANY more mud puddles, without telling anyone my intentions I immediately throttle up and make a splash.
Katka: "Bill...."
Bill: "Nope. I've been way too good for way too long. Windows up, I'm doing this"
Julius is on the roof of the Disco and gets it on video. I play it up a bit:
Unfortunately, youtube muted the music that Julius put on there to go with the video. Thoughts on that aside, if you want to hear it how it was sent to me simply start this next video at the 2:00 mark and let it play in the background while you re-watch me splash through mud puddles 
All the Bananas in one shot. That's Peter there in the truck, Julius stretching, Roman drawing, and Patrick with the evil grin
You can see Lukas looking at team "Mud Dogs" as they approach Misha. I have no idea how these guys get through the European TUV inspections with 33's and that lift, but somehow they do.
When they drive by, I can't help but notice that their 4-Runner is much cleaner than ours
"no no", I shout. "Your truck is too clean, you have to go back and do it again!"
(No reaction)
Back in town we need to fill up with fuel and snag that sim card. We all stop at that intersection wtih the ATM and gas station and do our "Sans Plomb" routine. We lose focus, fuel is splashed, Lukas heads out with Misha, and Bananas will wait with Katka and I while we get our SIM cards.
Back at that building it's masks and passports again. We take our number and wait.
and wait
and wait.
It's not as crowded as it was yesterday, but one or two teams join in the fun after us. After an hour or two (probably closer to 2, if I'm honest) SIM cards are purchased and we have 3 gigs available to us. I wont check that message from Mrs. Hungary now, but will wait until I can wander off somewhere private.
Back outside we're following bananas.
Since Lukas is going to ride with team Slow-Vakia all the way to Kinda (this is beyond tonight's destination, which is "Labe"), we pull over in a village to transfer his items into their Pajero and also chat a bit wit locals.
Now, I have two things written down in my notes and I have no idea what they mean:
The first was "smelly feet", which might have been a joke. If it was, then it's the perfect segeway into the other thing I wrote down which is "after while cant even remember why mad".
I remember how it felt following Bananas again, after our previous day of taking separate ways and that was nice. I remember waiting in line at that river crossing and having the car to myself, and that felt "free". I remember the absolute brain numbing stress headache that was near constant at this point. I remember Katka and I not having much to say to each other, but I don't remember being "mad".
I mean, it makes sense now and I don't think there's a better term for it than "Ponorka" (Submarine) because that really is what it's like. The three of us (Katka, Lukas, and I) are around each other constantly. Not "near constantly", mind you. We do not get ANY time away from each other. If we're not sitting next to each other in the truck, then we're looking directly at each other across the camp table. There are only so many stories we have, only so much life we can talk about, only so many jokes we can make before we just dont have anything to say to each other anymore.
That last part about the jokes was driven home last night when we were setting up tents. Katka shared a story about a mishap setting up a tent with a drunk but still very competitive significant other in her history. Apparently the guy had the same tent I did, and he touted it's superior quality despite being completely unable to set it up in under 30 minutes. Well, in a futile effort to get a chuckle I made the "my superior tent" comment about 10-times too many on this trip (I'm deliberately exaggerating that number for effect) and got the stern comment from Katka that I had longe overdone it.
So that's that. We're not mad, but I think if you gave any of us the choice we would probably take a small break from each other.
but still. The mood is lifting, and that's good because we're talking again. First about food and rests (both of which, neither of us are getting), but more on that later. Here's some more photos:
That's Julius there on the roof rack. Looks like our seating arrangement from yesterday is catching on!
Anyways, the road out here is very much not pavement anymore and it is very much not smooth. Someone told us that they have begun to understand that the "Touring Category" here doesn't necessarily mean "car". But instead "you won't need 4wd, but you might still nead the SUV clearance". This road very much emulates that definition.
It's not so much the "dirt" part of the road, but the fact that it's washed out in so many sections. The rainy season here goes on for 6-months, and I think we're just on the other side of it, because it doesn't look like anything was cleaned up or resurfaced afterwards.
The bumps and vibrations are again fixing to vibrate our brains out of our skulls, but the lifting of the mood has gotten to the point where we're renewing an old joke:
Making up song lyrics...
I don't know who broke the ice and started it, I only know that before long we were both singing the chorus with our own lyrics:
"I was drivin'! Through the Jungle!"
"Jungle"
"Jungle"
"Through the Jungle"
"Jungle"
(our feet stomp in all the correct places)
"WHERE DO YOU THINK WE ARE????"
We decide to change the band's name to "Imagine Wagons".
"Through, the Jungle. Jungle"
"Jungle"
"Through the Jungle"
Out of the woods and hills and back down into the flat-lands, and it is KIDS KIDS KIDS!
They are lining the streets in the villages, and running alongside the vehicles. I can understand now why the roadbook very specifically says "do not throw gifts out the window...". I mean the humanity aspect of it aside, someone could get seriously hurt here.
The closer we get to camp, the bigger the crowds get. Adults are there too, and police officers as well.
I've been pondering something I'm now giving a lot more direct thought to: Are people seeing the race-cars drive by and coming out to see something interesting, or are they being told to be outside so we see them? Something about the police presence and the crowds stretching across the side roads makes me think it's the latter... I'm not sure I like it.
Thicker and thicker the crowds get, as we get closer and closer to our GPS destination. "Kadu?", "Kadu?", Kadu?" they all ask with their hands out. More and more police are present, and again we don't think it's to hold the crowds back.
Eventually we get to our final turn:
Yup, you saw that right. We Nope'd the heck right out of that one... You gotta play the game though. If you tell the officer "yeah, bro. No way are we staying here in this mess" then you're not going to get far. It's times like these I like being around people that don't need to say much to each other to be on the same page.
I mean, we can't be the only ones who remember those warnings we got about "not being in crowds" and that whole "military coupe" thing that we just read about like 2-days ago, can we??? Because this seems to violate every one of those rules.
Out the other side, we find a store-front to stop at. We're outside of the rally now and this is uncharted territory for us. We need to come up with a plan, and fast. Look at how long those shadows are getting, we don't have much in the way of daylight left at all...
Such an amazing and so interesting run, but i'm not sure if i could have participated in something like that 
Bill: "Nope. I've been way too good for way too long. Windows up, I'm doing this"
Julius is on the roof of the Disco and gets it on video. I play it up a bit:
Wooowww, man!!! i like it - it's really COOL!!! some relaxation for Bill 
and it's ok with music on the video
What an Adventure!
Did the hungarian Saxo do the Water crossing??
VikkiDp said:Such an amazing and so interesting run, but i'm not sure if i could have participated in something like that
Bill: "Nope. I've been way too good for way too long. Windows up, I'm doing this"
Julius is on the roof of the Disco and gets it on video. I play it up a bit:
Wooowww, man!!! i like it - it's really COOL!!! some relaxation for Bill
and it's ok with music on the video
I'm glad youtube unmuted it! I was rather irritated that a non-monetized channel couldn't use a song clip because of "copyright issues".
It was nice to blow off some steam and having the music in the video really fits
Gzwg said:What an Adventure!
Did the hungarian Saxo do the Water crossing??
Negative. At least, I don't think so.
There was a large group of people camped where the video was taken (mostly touring cars with insufficient clearance) and I think they might have either stopped there or somewhere before.
Ok, here we go. "Plan-B"
We're in Labe now, and the last we heard the team Slow-Vakia Pajero was headed to Kindia (The next "large" looking city). We look at the estimations for time and don't think we'll be able to catch up with them. Google has it at something ridiculous like 5-hours to get there, but even if that were accurate then we still wouldn't make it...
We decide instead to try for a city called "Mamou" that's about at the half-way point and to try our luck there. Maybe we'll get a hotel. Here goes:
We grab a few groceries from that store front that we parked at and talk briefly about trying to hit up some waterfalls that the roadbook mentions are nearby. Ultimately we decide they're too far out, and we don't have enough daylight left to be dealing with such things. Bananas asks the store owner for beer and of course he doesn't have any. There are some people along the street that are paying more attention to us than I would like. There's nothing we do about it, but this seems a bit more than people staring out of curiosity. It's more... stern.
Back at the truck I duck my head under the chassis because the "crunching" from the front suspension is now making its noise when the passenger side front tire takes a big hit and notice that the passenger side swaybar bolt is broken...
The front swaybar is now completely disconnected from anything resembling the front suspension. And that right there should give you an idea of how bad these "roads" are right now. I mean, I'm not even horsing around at this point...
Anyhoo, we're off and on our way and almost immediately run into a police checkpoint.
It's at a small coffee hut just outside of Labe and we're told by the police there that we need to wait for the "Big Boss". He's coming and will be here shortly. We're instructed to sit on a bench, and we do. The view isn't bad.
Katka hands out hair clips to some of the children that are present. There are no more waving crowds on this side of camp, which makes me think I was right about the police being there to keep people out and festive. I definitely do not like it.
The "Big Boss" walked to this checkpoint from wherever he was and us guys are still sitting. He asks Katka to sit and she simply replies "No thanks"
I think the photo sums up how much "I'm not in the mood" she was at that point. The issue isn't pressed further and she remains standing.
"Big Boss" has to radio his boss and let him know about us. It takes some time and we use it to check messages on the whatsapp chat. Apparently there is some confusion about the camp today
Another "camp" with a DJ... Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate facilities that offer a cold beer but DJ's and parties going on into the late hours of the night wasn't what I was expecting when I was planning for this trip. I guess it's a diverse group though, because there was definitely a crowd of participants back in Senegal who turned out for the music.
Also of note: That "4x4 Sprinter Van" that's gone missing is the Slovakian van team. Someone is looking for them...
We eventually get the "go ahead" from the Big Boss and are on our way. I think we might have lost an hour or so sitting here and it will be nice to cover ground.
The road is still paved through these hills, but the potholes are HUGE!!! There are also some pretty decent washed out sections. Not what you would think when you're looking at google maps and it shows it as a "highway".
As if it wanted to remind us, and as if broken swaybar bolts weren't enough, the road lets us know how bad it is by dropping the shoulder bolt to my seatbelt completely out of its mount while I'm driving! Still following Bananas at this point, and not knowing which hotel they have cue'd up in their GPS, Katka grabs the wheel while I use both hands to get that bolt back in finger tight. It works well enough, and I make a mental note that I have to tighten it back down when we get stopped.
The window wire starts acting up a little while later and it's getting a bit chilly now as it's completely dark. I can't exactly stop and play with intermittent wiring so again we continue and I make a mental note.
Lukas and Misha write Katka and toss her some info. They stopped before Kindia and found a hotel. It's awful but they want to know if we want a room
We decline. The place looks awful.
Lukas and Misha write Katka later and ask if they can drive to us and borrow the jet boil.
We discuss this a bit but still aren't sure what we're doing for the night. If we have to stay in a different place than Bananas, then we would have no other burners. We say "sorry, but no. We don't know what we're doing yet and we're going to need it".
Much much much later (and much much after dark) we finally bounce ourselves into town, It's not the town we were heading for (Mamao) but it is "a" town (and it's very very dark).
Driving through, Bananas takes us on a route that goes through back roads. I swear I used 4-wheel drive to get up one of the short (but steep) dirt hills. Eventually we arrive at a pink, well lit, hotel.
The hotel is pretty nice for what we've seen in the area. Very much like the one we stayed at in Mauritania (the type that would have rooms, but brown water). They have a TV room and a pool, and we all wait outside in that area because the place is full and they have no rooms. One of the employees knows another spot, and will take us there on a motorcycle. Bananas asks if he also knows where we can get some beer and he literally walks out the gate and points at a tavern. We take our vehicles and tell him we'll meet him there.
Inside the tavern it's pretty dark and quiet. Soccer (futbol?) is on TV and there are only about 6 patrons in the place and only a few of them are sitting near each other. The bar tender and his wife are both very short, and one of the solo patrons (probably inebriated) tries to shoulder up with us at the bar but we don't pay him any mind.
We're shown what's available and I offer to buy 6 beers. A couple other guys buy a few, and we load back up in our trucks. At this time a motorcycle that was parked nearby takes off, and Bananas follows. They think this is their motorcycle man, and that we're supposed to be on his tail.
we're not...
Katka works her phone to contact the REAL motorcycle guy and relays our position the best she can. The motorcycle guy we were following disappears and now we have no idea where we are. it's a dark road and there's nothing on either side. It heads down hill to what looks like a dry river crossing and then there's a gate. The guy on Katka's phone can be heard saying "You should not be going ANYWHERE in this town without me. Stay where you are and I'll find you!"
The place we're at shows up as a "museum" on Katka's google maps, but the gate is mostly closed and there are no lights on the other side. We're paused for a second but still in our vehicles. Despite Katka's warning to Bananas about what the motorcyclist told her they drive inside (slowly) and I follow at a healthy distance.
Once both vehicles are inside the gate, a man with a rifle walks out and tells the Bananas vehicle to stop. I don't see anyone anywhere else, so I watch what happes. The man is in some cheap store-bought camouflage short sleeved t-shirt and is carrying an AK. His muzzle is pointed down, and his hand is nowhere near the trigger but I still tell Katka that we're looking at a man with a machine gun.
He's talking to Bananas, and it doesn't seem stern.
Now I have to pause at this point because the mere appearance of a rifle isn't enough to scare me. I'm American and guns have been in my life as long as I can remember. I've even owned an AK at one point in time, but I digress. What bothers me about this person is 3 things:
1) the recent military coupe. We don't know the details. Are there pockets of resistance? Are we in one now? Are those pockets friendly towards westerners? Towards strangers?
2) The man's store bought t-shirt. This is not a uniform a military person would wear. It's literally a t-shirt with a camouflage print.
3) I can't run him down. If anything happens, then the healthy distance I was keeping from Bananas means I can't hit him with the truck OR escape out the gate before he has more than an ample opportunity to start lobbing rounds our way.
"ok, this is a bit out of my comfort zone" I tell Katka. "He's got the jump on us and there's no good options if this goes south".
I'm postured with my car parked at a 45 degree angle to the road. It's a LONG left to get to the gate, and it's a straight shot if I gun it and head for the rifleman. Still though, he's got good muzzle and trigger discipline. Nothing's being pointed and they're still talking.
this goes on for a while.
Katka is again on the phone with our motorcycle man, and he instructs us to "wait for him" and "don't move".
Eventually they're waved to follow and I'm still not sure of the mood. It wasn't a command, and it wasn't friendly either. If we follow and we run into more rifles then the situation is only going to get worse. If we punch out, then Bananas is on their own and we still don't know what's being said up there.
I wait and let them drive about 20-meters and then proceed at a slightly slower pace. I watch and they're directed up a driveway. It looks like everything is good. The driveway leads to a yurt (a hut) and as our headlights splash over the rest of the facilities, we can see other yurts. It's a hotel complex, and the yurts are the rooms.
When we get out, Bananas explains that the man was a guard, and that the governor of the prefecture was staying in one of the buildings. As if on cue, our motorcycle man arrives and speaks to the guard and they're super friendly. Looks like we found ourselves some darn secure facilities!
We're given a tour of the yurt and it's a big round building with 3 bedrooms and 2-bathrooms. The ceiling is very decorated and looks amazingly cool
We park, pay and "enjoy the facilities" (Katka brings a shoe with her when she goes. For bugs..). We really don't want to unpack any more than we have to, so I just grab a baguette and a beer and slink into a folding chair.
Lukas and Martin stopped by almost immediately afterwards and I was surprised to see them (and greeted them accordingly), but didn't get up. I've kind of glossed over it lately as I'm used to it by now and just crawl into my head, but Slovakian is still the primary language and English is few and far between. Lukas does ask me if he can get some stuff out of my truck and I give him the key. When he's done he brings it back and that's when I notice the man with the rifle is still hanging out on our porch. Except now I smell weed
Ah well, whatcha gonna do. Again, I'm from Washington state and marijuana is about as normal as riding a bike up there. I no longer partake, but I don't see it as any different than the beer I'm drinking (Patrick will later tell me it was pretty good stuff though).
(Looks like the Slovakian Van Team got stuck in a river?)
Lukas and Martin leave and Katka decides that skipping dinner is out of the question. I give her the keys (still determined not to get up) and she heads out to the truck to get her jet boil and some of those camp meals. She wasn't gone long when she came back in red-faced mad.
"Lukas took the jet boil" she reports
WHat???
"Lukas took the jet boil. I told him we needed it and he just took it when he and Martin were in the truck!"
This pisses me off, and I am "raging mad" at this point. If you want to get me as mad as I can possibly get in as short of time as possible, then the surest way to do it is to violate my trust. In this case, Lukas KNEW we said we needed the boiler, he KNEW it wasn't his, and he took it anyways.
I can't trust someone like that, and I tell Katka so. Because at the end of the day, none of us are on our home turf. None of us have any resources. ALL of us need to work together to get through this. And if we can't trust someone to pick the team over themselves then I can't have him in the vehicle.
(we talk about this, and I make sure Katka is sure she told him "no". )
So that's that then. I'm pulling the "I own the vehicle card" and absolutely can not believe I'm doing this. For the entirety of the prep, and for the whole race, I have been adament that this is a "team vehicle" and that any one of us should drive and treat it as such. If I wasn't absolutely certain in my abilitys to restore it back to it's pre-run condition when all this was done, then I had no business entering it in the race in the first place. But still, that truck DOES have a life beyond this rallye. People are depending on it, and I made a promise (to deliver humanitarian aid to refugee children in Dnipro, Ukraine). If I can't trust Lukas to not steal a boiler, then I can't trust him to be in the vehicle. He's out.
Unfortunately the rage has my adrenaline going and that means I won't be going to sleep anytime soon. I tell Katka not to bother messaging him tonight because nothing good will come of it, and we grab a second beer. Some of the Bananas cook us two dinner, and Katka, Julius, and I head out to the front porch to cool off in the night air.
Outside the conversation is mostly in Slovakian, but it's relayed to me that Julius is telling Katka about some "panorka" issues they're having in the Bananas truck. Apparently it's about to come to a head. People are on other people's cases about the way they drive... Someone thinks they're the best driver and won't take suggestions from others... She thinks maybe we could all benefit by changing things around a little. Would it be ok if Patrick rode with me tomorrow, and she rode with Bananas?
Well, yes. Of course it would. I trust Patrick. Patrick is in, and it will be just us two.
Dinner is eaten, and the lights are turned out. It's midnight.
I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow morning.
To give you an idea of how far we made it:
Again, you saw the daylight when we left Labe. Maybe 5-o'clock or so? Pitch black and near midnight by the time we made it this far. The whole trip to Kinda was supposed to only take 5-hours by google's estimation... You really do just have to drive with that inshallah attitude.
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