dmwil

Wow, hope you are OK.

I just popped in here to wish you a Merry Christmas and saw this! I pray you'll be back up and running quickly with minimal damage.

hornetman

Grecy

Hi All,

I spent a few days cleaning out the broken beer bottles and eggs, and have most things back in order.

I had a bunch of plastic clips on board, and after pulling the rear flare apart I put it all back and it's as good as new.

The front inner fender is all cracked, so it has some Gorilla tape to keep it mostly solid.


I found some guys on the side of the road that were able to "weld" the rear view mirror back together. Driving on the wrong side of the road without it was more annoying than anything, and it must be dangerous.
The guy heated up the aluminum with an oxy torch, then just pushed around the slightly liquid metal with a rod.... it works well enough and the mirror seems very sturdy again.



You can read the full story here: Disaster Aftermath | The Road Chose Me

The front axle is now leaking a bit, which it has never done before, so I'll keep an eye on that.
After a couple of hundred miles of driving the Jeep appears to drive OK, though I have not found a paved road yet to be sure.

A major lesson I learned is to keep my winch controller and recovery gear in a storage location that is accessible no matter which way the Jeep lands. It was in a cabinet only accessible from the drivers side - so if the Jeep had flopped the other way it would have been impossible for me to use the winch!

Onwards then.

-Dan

dmwil

One of the things I love most about Africa is how easy it is to find extremeliy resourceful people. My friend was a missionary for a few years in Tanzania. He lost a transmission in his Land Rover in the middle of nowhere. He found some guys who went to a village, found some parts, then came back and rebuilt the entire transmission on the side of the road (more trail than road). He said they charged him a ridiculously low price for it. He said it held together for the rest of the time he was there, with no issues.

Glad to see you are ok and your Jeep is operational again!

hornetman

dmwil

Yep, time for an update and to know all is well!

NoVA Family Guy

Whew, looks like he's OK. Must be a pain in the a$$ updating all these different forums, social media pages, etc...

https://www.facebook.com/theroadchoseme

Grecy

Hi All,

I've been super-busy lately moving through Kenya.

Without a front driveshaft I managed to slide into a ditch, and had to pull out the winch for the 2nd time in a couple of weeks.

Story here: To Lake Naivasha | The Road Chose Me

The I spent time in the Masi Mara National Park - WOW, WOW, WOW, so many lions I stopped taking photos!
Yep - I get close to the action - this is five male cheetahs out hunting

And this big guy

More here: Masai Mara National Park Part 1 | The Road Chose Me
and
Masai Mara National Park Part 2 | The Road Chose Me

I replaced the CV Joint on the driveshaft with a HD unit from Terraflex designed for the high-angles of my lift, so I'm really happy to have 4x4 back:

More details here: Nairobi Jobs | The Road Chose Me

And now I'm driving North to Ethiopia, along the shores of the extremely remote Lake Turkana - easily the most isolated I have been in all of East Africa. I love it!


More: To Lake Turkana | The Road Chose Me
and
Loiyangalani, Lake Turkana | The Road Chose Me

-Dan

dmwil

You are getting near to familiar terrirory, for me. I spent 10 days in Nakuru a couple years ago and have some wonderful friends there. Will you be getting into Nakuru at all? We also went west of Nakuru into the tea growing area. Beautiful!

Grecy

Hi All,

After taking the extremely remote Lake Turkana route up into Ethiopia, I immediately bumped into these guys

This is the first country I have seen civilains with AKs (or really any guns) and suddenly they are everywhere.

After all this time on the continent, I finally got to hold one too. Much smaller and lighter than I expected. It was loaded while I was playing with it too.


More here: Into Ethiopia | The Road Chose Me

I made a stop at a Mursi village before driving myself into a huge gas shortage that is impacting all of Ethiopia. I manage to find some, and a few times I buy from the black market out of containers. It does the trick, the Jeep doesn't seem to complain no matter what I put in the tank



More here: The Mursi People | The Road Chose Me

After swinging through the capital of Addis Abba to pickup a couple more visas I have driven into the seldom-visted country of Djibouti, and I immidiately feel like I have driven onto another planet.
This is like nothing I've ever seen before






More here: Lake Abbe Part 1 | The Road Chose Me
and here: Lake Abbe Part 2 | The Road Chose Me

Although I'm getting close to the end, it feels like there is still a lifetime of adventure in front of me.

Next I go back into Ethiopia before pushing through Sudan and into Egypt, the final destination!

-Dan