It had been a long time since we had seen some of our relatives, who lived above the Arctic Circle in Norway. It was time for a visit. That was a long way to go, and as explained our second van was showing signs of wear and tear. Vehicles can only stand so much abuse from poor road conditions.

Looking at the map and our limited resources, we concluded that the best way would be to go by car through Belorussia and the Baltic's.

We managed to obtain a transit visa for Belorussia, and so we set off on the long trek. After we had passed Minsk we noticed an ominous vibration coming from the van’s driveshaft. In West Europe they have truck stops. Providentially in East Europe they have regular concrete ramps along the roads. Finding one we drove up on it so I could have a look at the driveshaft. It turned out that the rubber in the front bearing had started to disintegrate.

Call me a rag-man, but I happened to have an old inner tube from a truck tire in my odds and ends box. I was able to cut strips of rubber from the tube, roll them up, and push them in where the original rubber was falling apart. This way we could keep the vibration to a minimum. Every 200 kilometres or so I had to replace the rubber strips, as they would eventually wear out. At least we were able to make forward progress.

We crossed the border into Latvia where we filled our tank from a truck that was heading East. Going on from there we spent a night with friends in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. The next morning we caught a ferry to Helsinki visiting long time friends there.

Continuing up through Finland we crossed the border into Sweden where we located a spare drive shaft in a junk yard. By this time I was getting the hang of climbing under the van, so it was relatively easy to replace the drive shaft.

So far so good!

We kept going North and filled up at the last Finnish gas station, before crossing into North Norway about 600km above the Arctic Circle. From there is was a short way down to one of the largest islands in Norway, Senja, which is connected to the mainland by a tall bridge.

It was a nice reunion with our relatives there and a refreshing time of relaxation and rejuvenation. To breathe in the fresh air, fish by the shore of the beautiful lake in the green valley, take a walk down to the sea and feel the sand under your feet, and climb up to the waterfall from where the cool clean mountain water feeds the pipes to the property.

One of the things I especially enjoyed there was the peace and quiet. You could get up at two in the morning with your cup of coffee, sit on the veranda basking in the midnight sun and... quiet... Complete and utter stillness!

You don't realize what silence is until you experience it, you forget what it feels like when living in a big city. Occasionally the quiet was interrupted by a faint bell from a sheep moving up on the hill - it's just heavenly - and you can hear that still small voice!

After days of rest and visit, we took the long and beautiful trip down the narrow part of north Norway's west coast. A breathtaking journey with 30-some tunnels, 20-some bridges, several mountain passes, and a ferry past a stretch where there simply are no roads. In one place you exit a tunnel seemingly flying straight into thin air on a high suspension bridge - it's spectacular!

We eventually made it past Trondheim. From there turning south west towards Molde to visit more relatives. On the way into town we passed a Mercedes dealership, which I made a mental note of.

Next morning we turned into the workshop with our faithful but battered van. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a Mercedes van, the longer model with a tall roof, and sporting a “for sale sign” in the windshield. It was the dealership’s old service van that they were going to upgrade to a newer model.

Looking at the price my heart sank. First of all the price was twice as much as I had hoped, secondly I did not know how we were going to be able to sell our old van that was registered in Denmark, and thirdly after such a long trip our finances were dwindling :-)

Anyway, back to the story at hand…

We sat down with the folks at the Mercedes dealership and explained our situation. After hearing about our work, they said that they would be ready to let us have the van for close to half of the listed price – wow! Basically the van was an empty box, but it had windows all around and I could just see in my minds eye how it could be outfitted perfectly for our needs.

Long story short, we unexpectedly received a gift large enough to put down a deposit on the van, and after just one week we were able to make our purchase. Where God guides He also provides!

Friends helped us drive the old van back to Denmark, where we left it to be sold, while we made our way back to Dnipro with a much improved mode of transportation.

Fun fact... We had painted our logo on the outside of the old van, and that gave us a bit of goodwill with Ukrainian authorities, traffic cops or border guards. However as time went on there was less goodwill to be found for “Friends of Ukraine” outside of Ukraine. So on the new van we painted our logo on a plate behind the back window. Once we left Ukraine we would turn the logo around and put the black side out in order to not upset anyone with a bias :-)

On the picture you see Joy with a happy recipient of a Videx hearing aid from Norway.

I'm sorry to keep droning on about all our car troubles. Those things are just very clear in my memory. One thing for sure, it would have been virtually impossible to accomplish all we did without these means of moving around.

I have always been tinkering, I wanted to find out how things work - to invent things. Mechanics has been one of my great interests - I could tell you stories! Perhaps I got it from my machinist Grandpa and perhaps the Lord was also using some of my practical skills to accomplish his purpose - just maybe :-)

Here is a picture of me, after we had put a lot of kilometres on the odometer. A friendly former Hells Angel in Denmark helped me renovate the engine on the van that eventually carried us for about a quarter of a million kilometres (the equivalent of six times around the equator :-)

Chapter 19 ~ The Happy Clappy Church   ( TOC )