We made it to TRV…
Internet is 2G only thus, it only gives us speeds of a poor dial up modem in the Tiny Russian Village. But since I have received several emails asking if we are alive, I will make a small post…. Lets hope internet gets working today. It is 4 a.m. and Boza has had his eyes done, we walked and he is sleeping soundly by his mommy. They are both so happy to be in the village….. Me to!
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- Sammy Volga broke…
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- Time for lunch…
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- Mr. Mechanic…
All the images (resized) that would work for now… Later will post many more images…
We were tooling along and doing good. But I had an uneasy feeling, Sammy was acting good, but I kept stopping and checking. I have a sixth sense about such things. I never can always pinpoint exactly what the issue is, but I know something is up…
Well we hit seven kilometers outside of a truck stop area, along our road to the village and I heard the hydraulic lifters in the engine start clattering slightly. Idiot oil light came on then and I shut her down, fast. Clutch in and off to the shoulder of the road. No oil pressure at all…
Now the beauty of having a Svetochka with data on her phone. Yandex is the most wonderful search engine system in Russia, to us the whole world. Sveta got online asked Yandex who was nearby and what they could do for us and wallah wallah bing bang…. We had a tow truck and a shop at the truck stop who specialized in GAZ vehicles. Sammy is a Volga GAZ… Yippy…
It basically went like this…. Yup, no oil! Yup, no oil even in the bottom end! Yup, pull the oil pump and see if that is it… Nope…. Oops, the oil pump drive shaft is snapped in half! Oops… Okay gotta find parts… Oil filter, 5 liters of oil, antifreeze, used oil drive shaft, gasket set for top end of engine and lots of knowledge in Volga 406 engines…. And we waited… Power went down for about four hours…. Ugggghhhh…. How this happen? Oil pump ceased!
We waited all day and finally figured out that we would not get done that day. The power shortage set everything back too far to overcome. Hotel time. Take doggies? Yes! Lets go, call taxi and off we went to a trucker hotel…
Beauty of Russia…
Restaurants like doggies inside, hotels like doggies and we got a good night sleep. Next morning at 10 o’clock sharp when the guys opened up. They pulled our car out and it was ready to go. They worked late until it was finished. Total bill was less than 15,000 rubles, including hotel, meals, parts, towing and labor…
I have to thank several donations that just came in. They paid for Sammy snapping a oil shaft drive rod. Thank you all very much…. Just so people know what the donations go for…. I tell about that when I can…
Just the beauty of Russia…
By the way…. The hotel was very nice and accommodating…
Therefore, we are in the Tiny Russian Village safe and sound. We will try to get the internet working better? Try is the keyword and I will post more later tomorrow sometime…
Have a nice day and I have to say, “The Tiny Russian Village is beautiful…”
Boza already had a fish head and he is one happy doggie…
Hey Guys! Is that fish dudes?
WtR