Sorry! We’ve been a little absent lately. It has good reasons though. We weren’t quiet because it was too hot to type, or too wild to share but our adventures were mainly about fixing the van.
Maybe Alexine had her own version of the Pandemic flue. So from having to change her alternator we went to having to fix the carb. Then while we were driving in these beautiful mountainous area we had to change the spark plugs and after driving to Tusheti we found out the starting engine failed. So we asked our friends from VW Airhouse to send us a big package full with beautiful extra parts.
Impatiently we waited for the package to arrive in Tbilisi. We booked an apartment and had some work done. But the days passed while we heard nothing about our package. After a week in Tbilisi we were craving for nature. So we headed into he parks around Tbilisi. We already made some new friends in Georgia. Some of who own a T3!
Anyway, a couple of days we were surrounded by nothing but nature. Alright and some huge pensioned shepherd dogs! So many dogs here, that we decided to buy dog food to be able to feed them, cause they are very very skinny!
We had the most amazing overnight locations and were able to cook on a campfire which feels very “into the wild”.
After a week in nature we headed back to Tbilisi to work on the van a bit and meet with our friends. The package was still nowhere to be found so we couldn’t really work on the van. Meaning: new plans. We left the city behind and headed towards Signagi and Vashlovani National Park. The lather is a semi desert on the border with Azerbeidzjan. A tiny part of the park is impressive to be honest. The rest is just farmland. And the part that is amazing isn’t made for 2×2. Even though Alexine can handle most roads, this one wasn’t hers to handle.
Thus we stranded in front of a steep hill. Not because it was too steep for her but because the engine felt it didn’t get enough gasoline. Too much dust in the engine?
We got a tow from fellow travellers who got us out of the mess of Vashlovani. We drove back to Tbilisi but not before visiting Lamara, the last silk weaver of Georgia.
She showed us around and we got to see the silkworm! Pretty great. In Venice we bought a silk book, here we bought a silk face mask.
Our package arrived and when in Tbilisi we immediately started fixing Alexine.
So we checked the valves, changed the battery (which we cooked in Vashlovani), had the window fixed, cleaned the carb, cleaned the spark plugs, changed the VC joints, bought new good oil, changed starting engine, changed the oil sensor, installed a new filter, took care of rusty bits due to annoying stones and checked her timing. Two days and we are finally on the road again.
That brings me to today. We take Alexine for a spin. Hopefully tomorrow we will be having a small road trip with the other T3 guys which will be fun. Up to now she feels fine but to be honest, we have some trust issues now. Every strange sound we hear makes us scared. Especially me, Milene, because I adjusted the valves, which is a very critical thing. Too tight is a disaster, too wide is a disaster and I’m not the one for the perfect timing. Perfection has never been in my vocabulary, i just hope I’ve got the valves to nearly perfect.
Georgia is a great country, but full with Soviet cars, not Germans. So any problem on our van and we are kinda screwed.
Love, Milene & Yuri