For those of you regular blog readers, you have recently been made aware of the trials and tribulations of Bouey’s recent Mongolian horse riding experiences. The truth is that my jealousy abounds over this painful experience. Instead of having wild experiences at a wedding in western Mongolia, I had the opportunity to fly home to meet with sponsors and collect some much needed supplies for the upcoming months through the remote stretches through West Mongolia, Siberia, and the Stans.
This journey home was packed full of so many meetings my head is still spinning. I have been back in Ulaanbaatar for 3 days now, and it is quite apparent now that my home is on the road and Denver was a "vacation" for a week. Although it was a lot of work, seeing friends, family, my dog and my house was a great reminder of all the wonderful things I have to come back to when I return. So what did the week do for TWBR?
One of the meetings was with new sponsor ToyTec Lifts. They helped poor Thundra and Little Pepe in a time of need. After the roads of Cambodia, Laos, China, the Australian Outback and the Gobi, the shocks on both trucks had pretty much seen their last tour of duty. In fact the shocks responsiveness ratings were already noted as a little lower than passing when we had a required safety test for China requirements done on Little Pepe back in Thailand. The trip through the Gobi nearly led Steve B. to roll one of the trucks on our rally north, clearly it was time for some replacements. We started talking with ToyTec and in a little less than a month Doug at ToyTec agreed to sponsorship (light speed in the world of sponsorship). The agreement came just in time to pick up the lifts and new shocks in Denver.
Over the last two days I spent the majority of my time working with our two favorite Mongolian mechanics Davoo and Coche. These two great guys were introduced to us by a generous man named Chenzorig Chulaanbaatar. He runs a company here named Drive Mongolia. They specialize in off road tours of the Mongolian countryside. Since returning Chenzorig has spent nearly all of his time the last two days helping us. With nothing to gain other than simply feeling good about assisting a couple of needy Americans, he has been a true asset and friend to us recently. We could not have accomplished everything we needed for our journey west without him.
The mechanics did not speak English and my complete lack of everything but hello and thank you in Mongolian provided an interesting couple of days as we worked together on the installation of everything. Somehow, even with some cutting of different bolts and work that needed to be done on the installation, around 35 hours of work with little more than a mini jack and a bag full of tools had the trucks ready for some more Mongolian non-roads. If you add to the mix a little rain and cold temperatures the experience becomes that much more authentically Mongolian.
On that note Bouey should give a special thanks to all of them. His butt will have time to rest with some comfortable new suspension and the plush seats of the trucks.
The cutting of the bolts…note the excited mechanic when I gave him permission to use his saw.
The view from the mechanics work yard…downtown Ulaanbaatar in the background.
The work yard.
Much needed installation of new shocks
The yard dog. He was a crazy little bugger.
The tools
The jacks
Safety First.
3" Lifts…Thanks Toytec!!!
