Road Trip in an old Toyota

[911 Rod]

Does the back window still work?

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Does the back window still work?

Was working perfectly, right up to the point we started loading it up for the trip
To late to fixed it so we worked around if. Think it just needs the lift gear/track cleaned and regreased

On the flip side, both front windows weren't working but decided to go up and down the evening before we left

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Evening before departure, the truck needed packing, that's when the rear window stopped working which meant the tailgate couldn't be dropped so 25 boxes had to be loaded through the rear passenger doors



Guess now I need to explain the purpose of the road trip Mrs Ahab and I were about to set off on. Like everyone on here we've been shocked by the news coming out of Ukraine and we decided a a few months ago we really needed to help in some small way.

I found out earlier this year a local business man had been taking 4x4 trucks/vehicles filled with humanitarian supplies into Ukraine, we had a chat, it sounded well organised, the chairty more than legitmate ie not fueling the black market

Without a moment of hesitation we offered to donate our old Toyota but with one previso, we drive it over and hand over the keys ourselves. Once we convinced the charity that we we're experienced travellers, wouldn't be a liability, they agreed!

Before each trip, a brief description of each vehicle is sent over and the guys organising everything out there decided where best to send each vehicle. We were more than pleased our old truck was to be driven over filled with medical suppliers, given to a unit near the front line and will be used as a 'snatch ambulance, evacuating injured troops to field hospitals

We stickered up the truck and then all signed it for good luck



Like any good road trip, it was early start, we left our house in convoy with one of the trucks towing a 3.5ton trailer which was part of a 4 truck convoy



We met the other trucks and drivers at the motorway services, brimmed the tanks and then straight to the Eurotunnel to jump on the next heavy goods train.

I managed to drive straight past the French customs window as I hadn't spotted it was a 1st floor window due to the height of the big rigs, no harm done, Mrs Ahab and I ran back, passed our passports up and jumped up and down so the officer could see our faces

Not like the usual car carriages we use where you can sit in the car walk about, we had to park up the Toyota and jumped on the truckers carriage



Our convoy was made up of 2x 2007 Nissan Navara's, a 2007 Mistubishi L200 towing a trailer of truck spares and our old Toyota. Our little motely crew of drivers were a great bunch, a local brewery/pub MD, an ex-drinks company MD, an ex-accountant now property developer, a mortgage adviser, an ex-close protection police offcier who has kept Prime Minsters, MP's and Royality safe, myself and Mrs Ahab



We assumed our positions in the convoy order, we were 2nd, our job was to keep the momentum going by pulling out in between the gaps in the traffic to help the lead truck with trailer with it's over taking of slower traffic. Just like an IB convoy but much slower, Mrs Ahab was exceptional at this, I just drove like an Italian, pulled out as I liked which at times didn't go down to well with our German friends



1st day was longish, drove all the way to a town near Koln, 550 miles or 15hrs of travelling, we would stop for fuel, food or just to rest the trucks and stretch our legs every couple of hours or so. One of many fuel stops



A bit of modern Porsche eye candy at an autobahn services somewhere in Germany, colour matching coupe and targa, hope they maxed out both cars



A beer, hearty meal and then straight to bed as day 2 would be a long day too!

[herr_oberst]

That's fantastic! This is a wonderful thing you're doing.

[oldE]

Excellent!
Good on you.
Best
Les

[thingmon]

My sister just came back from Uk. Good on ya. Mind if I PM you her contacts? They are doing similar work.

[Billiam 911 2.8]

I shared your post with my wife who is half Ukrainian. She says, "God bless you." I am glad that many are stepping up to help these brave, courageous people.

[Racerbvd]

One of the Vintage BMXers is doing a trip into the Outback, here is his rig.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks, herr and Les

thingmon, yes, please message me her contact's, there are many, many people in the UK supporting this, by doing their part in making sure there is only a positve outcome

Billiam, please say hello to your wife from the both of us

Byron, As your buddy's rig is Nissan he should be ok! There is an old Austrailian saying 'If you want to explore the outback buy a Land Rover but if you want to come back buy a Toyota'.

Day 2 - another full day of driving ahead of us...

Through out our trip it was a good feeling being shown some postive support for our little convoy, thumbs up, waves, toots, even a van passenger cobbling up a Ukrainian flag from some blue card and a bunch of bananas

As for UK support, just for this one trip, someone in our village laid on a full packed lunch, an elderly 80yr old lady donated all her old holiday money Euros's, a family donated €600 for fuel. another £200 for a UK fuel fill up.

Each hotel offered discount room/food rates and all the drivers in our convoy donated their time freely with finding vehicles, driving and paying their own expenses ie fuel, food, hotels flights etc.

I'm always dubious of handing over money to charity's but the one we had joined up with is different to most charity's ie for every £1 donated it was easy to see a lot more than £1 goes into their worthy support work 🥰

The following morning we found this under the wiper blade of one of the trucks, nice way to start another long day of driving



Another convoy at the motorway services picture



Mrs Ahab and I keeping ourselves from getting bored by the 65ish top speed due to a trailer in the convoy, I spy with my little eye, something begining with 'C'



We made a fuel stop and a fuel station with a difference, can't remember where though, somewhere in Germany



It's a little different to other fuel stations as it's located where East Germany bordered West Germany, car park full of what I think must have been ex-communist machine gun towers over looking what was no-mans land



Even had an old observation tower, quite a timely reminder of what we were trying to stop with our support of driving our old Toyota across Europe



Been following the same truck/trailer for 100's of miles now, I spy something beginning with 'T' and a new country beginning with 'P' and ending in 'oland' for both of us



More vital support on it's way, not sure from who/what it is but I checked the chassis tag. Capacity was 2500 gallons, with V Power gas, that's $19000 fill up, hope there isn't a max. $150 fill up on the pump

[911 Rod]

Cap. You and your wife are good people.

[thingmon]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Cap. You and your wife are good people.

I concur. PM sent. Hope you get a chance to visit.

[matthewb0051]

Best wishes for a safe journey. Seriously, getting shot at sucks.

I'm hoping you have body armor and/or the drop off location is at the border.

There is a reason the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and your spidey senses feel something is wrong.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks Rod, we just felt we needed to get involved, give some support

Thanks thingmon, thanks for the contact, if we go back I'll try and meet up

Thanks Matt, our trip kept us a very long way from the fighting, there was no need for any significant extra precautions beyond how we normally holiday to some of the less travelled destinations we've visited.

We've visited a few countries which has local areas of 'do not travel' warnings but this was a 1st for us to travel to a country that both the UK and US Governments advise 'do not travel' for the whole country but we fully trusted the the people working for the charity who had done multiple visits



Day 3 - last day of driving but it all starts getting a bit more real!

A few hours drive on the motorway and our last service stop, didn't think much of a police van parked up but then the penny dropped when the van blocked the service exit

A couple of armed policeman jumped out and said 'no photo's', then a high speed convoy of 40 ton trucks with an armed police escort/tail gunners came roaring past???



Then we took to the back roads to the Ukraine border, queue of vehicles was long ie hours and hours long, quite suprised to see many, many damaged, newish cars on transporter trucks, guess they're being canabalised to keep exsisting cars running

As a humanitarian convoy we were given priority, so straight to the front of the queue for us, still took 2 hours to get through as both border controls were really interested in checking our vehicles weren't stolen

Most pleasant surprise of Ukraine, I know what a few of the Victoria Secret Angels fashion models do for day jobs, they're border guards, hubba, hubba, sorry no pics for the 'Beautiful Women' thread 🥰

Border formalities completed and the beginning of another new country for us!



Not many miles into Ukraine we spot a car on the side of the road that had been involved in what I can only guess was an extremely violent shoot out 😬

Was probably not the right time to say to Mrs Ahab who was taking her turn as a passenger that I'd read that RHD trucks are preferred on the frontline because Russian snipers shoot at the driver normally sat on the LHS

Then after this we came across a dismantled anti-tank road check point, ok, everything is starting to get a little more serious looking now

Time to turn off the music, wind up the windows, drop the sun visors and carry on 💪

After driving now for 30 mins in a country at war everything looked normal, as in nothing scary going on, with everyone going about there normal day, doing their normal stuff ie shopping, outdoor market, people relaxing at outside cafe's, football matches, drunk old dude staggering, dog walking, road cyclists etc

Bright church on the outside, gloomy church on the inside and visa versa depending on which religion built them



We passed DIY outlets, garden centres, car dealerships, supermarkets, petrol stations, garages, builders merchant etc, etc all looked like they were open for business

Only real giveaway that all is not well were quite a few injured military personel, a lack of fighting aged male adults and graveyards with lots of fresh tributes to loved ones 😔

To far away in the distance to show a photo but we saw a huge solar farm, like massive, a whole hillside of solar panels, all put up in a few months according to the guys that had done a previous trip 👍

Great to know as fast as parts of the country are being destroyed other parts are being built/improved just as quickly 😎



Mrs Ahab and I have enjoyed family driving holidays around countries like Romania, Serbia and Bosnia. Most of these countries looked much poorer the villages and town in the part of Ukraine we'd just driven through. In a good way, it wasn't quite what we were expecting to see

Cross roads with camo netted machine gun position, not manned which was reassuring



By mid-afternoon we'd reached out hotel, a quick freshen up and then it was time to say our good byes to our faithful old reliable truck.

I gave Mrs Ahab the honors of driving the last miles in it and this is where we and our old Toyota go our seperate ways (at least for now)



Best car I've ever owned, most reliable car I've ever owned, a car deep snow, floods and an ice storm couldn't stop, most miles I've ever driven in one car, most countries I've driven in/to in one car and the car I know I'll miss the most

Best way I can describe what driving it was like, is everytime I jumped in it, it was like putting on your comfiest pair of slippers or jeans, it fitted me perfectly!

After 3 days and 1400 miles of driving, mission accomplished, our proud moment of handing over the logbook and keys to it's new guardians

I offered a 100% money back guarantee if they didn't like it and also asked when they're finished with it I would quite like it back



Powerfully built, big army dude, jumped in, drove it off to a crack team of Ukrainian McGyver's who mechanically checked it over and gave it a camo respray, before sending it on to the frontline

I didn't have the tiniest feeling of sadness seeing our truck drive off, just a good feeling knowing we've helped in a small way



Time to let the festivities begin, our hosts gave us the warmest of welcomes and really know how to lay on a good spread, topped with lashings of local beer, vodka and wine



We didn't over indulge or stay up till the early hours as our hosts had a full day of activities lined up for us and we were both shattered 😴

[Steve F]

Well done Sir!!

[herr_oberst]

You and the rest of the convoy made a difference today.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thank Steve and herr you're right all the small gestures of support they're getting is making a difference

Really appreciate all the positive comments

Day 4 - morning

Our Ukrainian hosts had graciously organised a morning of sight seeing around the historic centre of Lviv with a tour guide explaining the cities history while showing us a few of the more interesting and historical buildings.

Apologies for not remembering any of what was said as I'm a country mouse I was too busy enjoying seeing city mice just doing what city mice do ie busy getting on with city stuff despite what was going on in most parts of the country





A taste of the architecture







You had to look hard for any evidence there is a war going, eg., sand bags covering the ground floor of this building



I couldn't see much of what could be described as 'war propoganda', this was the only banner that could be called that, I'm sure cities on the other side of the war won't be shy about displaying messages



Some tasteful street 'graffiti art'



This poster got me, had to walk away and compose myself when our tour guide explained the significance ie someones lost son, husband, brother, dad, nephew, uncle, grand child

There are usally a lot more posters like this every day and the church behind it has all the walls inside covered with pictures of lost people, along with messages from their loved ones.

With the various cemetries we'd past on are drive in I didn't go into the church as I'd seen enough to understand what pain the country is going through



This young soldier joined us for a beer as he was recovering from having a hand grenade thrown into his foxhole while sleeping, a friend lost a leg and another guy was badly injured too

I wasn't the only one in our convoy feeling slightly uncomfortable drinking a beer in the sun with him, in an outside cafe, surround by other people sat relaxing enjoying a drink and lunch

We asked him how he felt about everything around him, just going on normally. His answered suprised me as he said when they come away from the battle field what they crave for is everything just to be normal. Normal helps them forget where they've been and what they've had to do while there

Despite his significant leg injuries, he just want to meet us, to say thank you for our support. A truely humbling experience for me but our day of meeting incredibly brave, strong, proud, never give up people was only just getting started



If Lviv is typical of Ukrainian historic cities Mrs Ahab and I are 100% coming back to see more once everything has calmed down, Ukraine will be desperate for money for rebuilding, can't think of more enjoyable way to help than spend a holiday here looking around more of the country

Next up, our visit to a fire station, again another eye opening experience

[Scott Douglas]

More power to you Capt. for being in a position to help. Stay safe over there.

edit: Since you're leaving the Toyota there, how are you all getting home?

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

More power to you Capt. for being in a position to help. Stay safe over there.

Thanks Scott, we're all safe, got back last week

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Thanks Scott, we're all safe, got back last week

Great to know, I enjoy your posts.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

thanks, Scott

Day 4 - afternoon/evening

Then is was onto a suprise visit for us, we dropped in to say hello to one of the fire stations and hand over some safety gear

Was shocked to find out around 250 fire stations have either been destroyed or damage and this one had responded to a number of local missile strikes, can't begin to imagine having you deal with this type of call out

First station member to greet us was this handsome fella, not the dude in the blue shirt but the fire station dog, a Golden Springer spaniel with his summer haricut, what a gorgous dog!



The guys proceeded to pull out all their new trucks to proudly show us, this one was built in 2007 and donated from the UK. The UK fire service has donated a number of trucks, even UK individuals have bought fire trucks and driven them over themselves, which I think is a mega thing to do 😎 Canadian fire fighters have also donated jackets, boots and other safety clothing



The guys were just so genuinely grateful for all the support they're getting from so many countries around the world. You can see why as the above fire engine replaced their late 80's Russian made fire engines. I had to ask, did they really mean these were built in the 40's or 50's but no the one on the right is an 1987 model, the other one 2 or 3 years younger 😲



This was a new ambulance donated from somewhere in the EU, was converted into a breathing tank truck for recharging air bottles with an onboard compressor pump



It replaced this late 80's Russian truck that did the same job 😬 all the redundant fire engines will be sent out to fire stations in other parts of the country that have no or damaged fire trucks. With every new piece of equipment 2 fire stations benefit.



This is a new fire truck built in partnership between Belarus and Ukrainian companies, was quite an impressive bit of equipment



A reminder of Ukraine's Soviet past, actually think both are quite cool, in a retro sort of way 😎



We're now looking into supplying a whole fire station worth of protective clothing so if anyone has any leads on where we could obtain this sort of stuff please let me know and I'll make sure it get to the fire fighters that need it

Then it was back to the hotel for a very late lunch with more vodka and to meet some serious, bad ass dudes

Color scheme on this BMW is the same as the Lviv Resistance flag, kind of shows the depth of pride the people of Lviv have and I also liked the colour combination



For me, meeting and talking with 5 of these guys was the highlight of our trip and easily one of the most humbling experiences I've had.

All volunteers on the frontline, all recovering from injuries from their fighting in Bahkmut, the area of some of the bloodiest battles so far, all desperate to get back to the frontline. One has been hospitalised 3x now and still plans to go back to the frontline as soon as he can

Can't think of words describe that level of bravery but they were some of the nicest guys we've had the pleasure of eating and drinking with

Situation is complicated in Ukraine. the elder of the fighters had a Russian grand-dad that passed away years go because he mentioned standing over his grave asking his grand-dad why are they doing this to us? Also many Russian men have come to live in Ukraine to marry the women as they're far more beautiful than back home. I'm happily married but can see the attraction 😇

All the guys had cool call signs, won't divulge any but one earned his name because he did something with a shoulder mounted missile launcher that it shouldn't have been able to have done ie shot a flying missile down

Humbling part for me was how genuinely, profusely, grateful they were to us, for driving over and the support we delivered. I felt quite embaressed so I just couldn't thank them enough for their service. I know I wouldn't be strong enough mentally to do what they've been doing and not have a lifetime of nightmares after what they've seen.

We asked them what we could do to help them further and the reply upset me a bit, they just want a refridgerated truck as they don't want to leave anyone behind 😟😢



Our 2nd and last night gave us a small taste of what life must be like with the threat of war arriving at your front door. We were woken from our slumber around 2.30am by air raid sirens, then church bells and then barking dogs, coming from all directions aound our hotel 😬

As any war zone newbie did I stood in my bare naked best with the curtains pulled back looking for missile tracers in the night sky. Then realised maybe I should put my pants on, grab some clothes and seek somehwere safe to shelter. As no one was running from their rooms to the basement we just went back to bed and waited for the noise to die down. This happened 3x during the night and in the morning we found out why, the alarm was raised due to the Nova Kakhovka dam bursting

As unpleasant ways of waking up go, I'd put air raid sirens a long way below, waking up from being dead/in a coma and just above waking up by an earthquake. None of which I hope to experience again anytime soon