Cameras and batteries...
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Got stuff?
And if you want to just give money - there's a PayPal Donate button to the right! You would be giving your money to me (not a random African village or a suspicious "we'll take 70% for overhead" organization) and Mojca and I will go buy medical supplies or school supplies and deliver them for you. So your money will not dissapear into a big black hole of charity donations, AND you get a picture of the actual donation taking place as a thank you! :)
Mission update!
Dear reader (you know who you are),
Mission control has decided that it is time to provide you with an update of the current status. It is as follows:
- The passports have started their mysterious journey from one embassy to the next, and shall hopefully return in the not too distant future adorned with visas which will guarantee that we never have access to the USA again.
- The car (excluding the f*cking airconditioning that I still haven't had the time to get serviced) is ready to go - the new stereo and CB are in, I have the GPSes ready and the kit is starting to come together. We'll start the initial packing this weekend.
- I still need to get a spare full-sized tire...
- Top tip: Jerry cans take up more space than one might think.
- The Wife decided that she wants to give the natives photos of them, so (even though my heart broke while doing it), we bought a new "Polarioid" (okay, Fuji) instant-film camera. This should be fun.
- The GPS company released new maps for the 2013 race, which I need to go get this week...
- I still haven't figured out how I'm going to attach the spotlights to the car. I'm hoping that the "fix-it all" mechanic that a buddy knows can think of a way to do it.
- The new headlight bulbs haven't arrived yet either, and it annoys me.
So, that's where we are. I'll get some photos up this weekend!
Mission control has decided that it is time to provide you with an update of the current status. It is as follows:
- The passports have started their mysterious journey from one embassy to the next, and shall hopefully return in the not too distant future adorned with visas which will guarantee that we never have access to the USA again.
- The car (excluding the f*cking airconditioning that I still haven't had the time to get serviced) is ready to go - the new stereo and CB are in, I have the GPSes ready and the kit is starting to come together. We'll start the initial packing this weekend.
- I still need to get a spare full-sized tire...
- Top tip: Jerry cans take up more space than one might think.
- The Wife decided that she wants to give the natives photos of them, so (even though my heart broke while doing it), we bought a new "Polarioid" (okay, Fuji) instant-film camera. This should be fun.
- The GPS company released new maps for the 2013 race, which I need to go get this week...
- I still haven't figured out how I'm going to attach the spotlights to the car. I'm hoping that the "fix-it all" mechanic that a buddy knows can think of a way to do it.
- The new headlight bulbs haven't arrived yet either, and it annoys me.
So, that's where we are. I'll get some photos up this weekend!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Car!
Ladies, Gentlemen, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri that live in our garden shed!
It gives me great pleasure, satisfaction and joy - aye, joy! - to be able to present to you on this glorious day (okay, it's actually turgid and rainiy, but let's not go there), the car that will be taking us to Africa in all it's truly insane glory.
Of course, there are a few things which I haven't dared put on yet - mostly all the little wind-powered LED lights... Hell, we need to take it to Slovenia this weekend to pick-up the roof box, and, well, I'd rather not expose myself to too many police officers while doing that.
This, of course, won't be a problem on the actual rally itself, seeing as we can breeze through the entire country in 3.5h :D
It gives me great pleasure, satisfaction and joy - aye, joy! - to be able to present to you on this glorious day (okay, it's actually turgid and rainiy, but let's not go there), the car that will be taking us to Africa in all it's truly insane glory.
Of course, there are a few things which I haven't dared put on yet - mostly all the little wind-powered LED lights... Hell, we need to take it to Slovenia this weekend to pick-up the roof box, and, well, I'd rather not expose myself to too many police officers while doing that.
This, of course, won't be a problem on the actual rally itself, seeing as we can breeze through the entire country in 3.5h :D
Monday, October 15, 2012
Did you know...
You need a SatPhone and a CB permit for Morocco (at the competitive price of 50 EUR)?
That you need to pay 90 EUR if you want to take a 5+ year old car into Senegal?
That additional insurance is needed the moment you drive out of Morocco - 220 EUR for 2 weeks?
You do now. :)
That you need to pay 90 EUR if you want to take a 5+ year old car into Senegal?
That additional insurance is needed the moment you drive out of Morocco - 220 EUR for 2 weeks?
You do now. :)
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Uhh...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19938905
If they accidentally shot at their own dictator, er, president...
I just hope they know NOT to shoot at the card with the Budapest-Bamako logo on them :D
If they accidentally shot at their own dictator, er, president...
I just hope they know NOT to shoot at the card with the Budapest-Bamako logo on them :D
Monday, October 8, 2012
Car, part 2.
Status update:
Car had it's service... 708 EUR, but now I'm confident that it will survive the trip... The only thing I forgot to ask them to check (idiot...) is the AC - and I have the distinct feeling that after 16 years, it's in need of a top-up. (I get that from the fact that it doesn't cool, per se). So, one more thing to do.
Onwards to other things:
Next steps: Detailing tomorrow, so that the car is actually... you know, clean. Then, stickering of the car itself (I hope, it needs to be done by Nov. 15), and after that, electrical and roof box (and AC somewhere in there as well), and we should be good to go! :)
Car had it's service... 708 EUR, but now I'm confident that it will survive the trip... The only thing I forgot to ask them to check (idiot...) is the AC - and I have the distinct feeling that after 16 years, it's in need of a top-up. (I get that from the fact that it doesn't cool, per se). So, one more thing to do.
Onwards to other things:
- Still waiting on the suggestions how the outside of the car will look (remember, we're in the "Spirit of Bamako" category, it has to be... colorful.
- The CB unit and new stereo have been ordered (eBay - gotta love it) and are on the way.
- A large amount of totally non-regulation exterior lighting ordered - we 'll be more of a moving Christmas tree than a car if I manage to get all of it it on.
- On that note, the 4 spotlights, yellow warning light and daylight running lights are on the way as well.
- What I'm missing is an electical guy to install all of this... And replacing the front "lights" (which I'm convinced are hamster-powered) with a nice set of 100W 4700k lights (just need to go see which "H" size it actually has...
- Roof box cross-bars are in the trunk, but we need to pick up the roofbox next time we go home... We might need to mount the spotlights on that...
- Need to go buy a full-size spare tire and a steel rim for it...
- Satellite Phones checked and ready (A Globalstar and a Thuraya one...)
- Radar detector (not that we'll be going fast enough ;)) will be my backup Cobra - just in case.
- Front-facing Camera ordered and on the way too.
Next steps: Detailing tomorrow, so that the car is actually... you know, clean. Then, stickering of the car itself (I hope, it needs to be done by Nov. 15), and after that, electrical and roof box (and AC somewhere in there as well), and we should be good to go! :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
V2!
Dear reader. (Yes you. You're the only one anyway, you know who you are.)
So, yeah, last year didn't work out all that well - two of us made it, one (me) - didn't... But this year... THIS YEAR...
The wife and I are going.
No, really.
No, REALLY.
Stop laughing. And fuck you. :)
Of course, we're recreational drivers and are taking this as a joke, so we're not going in the race category - but rather going as contestants in the "Spirit of Bamako" category, which means that we need to have a crazy car to be allowed to go.
So, we compromised. Crazy, but something that's unlikely to actively try to kill us, that won't be a menace on the road, or doesn't have proven tendencies to die randomly 100km away from civilization (anything made in France between 1975 or so and 2000, I'm looking at you).
So, we have a car... I don't know what we're calling it yet. But it's a 1996 Subaru Legacy 4WD, 4-speed automatic with 190.000km on the odometer. And right now, it's sitting in the shop getting the initial service done, and hopefully that will be it.
But because god doesn't always seem to feel the same way I do, I'm sure there will be another problem that will need to be fixed.
Pictures to follow tomorrow, after we pick it up and drive it back home to Budapest. Call it a test drive. :D
And for the fun part... I just ordered 150$ worth of LED lights from china to put on the car.
We did mention it's supposed to look... crazy? :)
So, yeah, last year didn't work out all that well - two of us made it, one (me) - didn't... But this year... THIS YEAR...
The wife and I are going.
No, really.
No, REALLY.
Stop laughing. And fuck you. :)
Of course, we're recreational drivers and are taking this as a joke, so we're not going in the race category - but rather going as contestants in the "Spirit of Bamako" category, which means that we need to have a crazy car to be allowed to go.
So, we compromised. Crazy, but something that's unlikely to actively try to kill us, that won't be a menace on the road, or doesn't have proven tendencies to die randomly 100km away from civilization (anything made in France between 1975 or so and 2000, I'm looking at you).
So, we have a car... I don't know what we're calling it yet. But it's a 1996 Subaru Legacy 4WD, 4-speed automatic with 190.000km on the odometer. And right now, it's sitting in the shop getting the initial service done, and hopefully that will be it.
But because god doesn't always seem to feel the same way I do, I'm sure there will be another problem that will need to be fixed.
Pictures to follow tomorrow, after we pick it up and drive it back home to Budapest. Call it a test drive. :D
And for the fun part... I just ordered 150$ worth of LED lights from china to put on the car.
We did mention it's supposed to look... crazy? :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)