13-VIII-2018.: Man, the van
It took a few phone calls, but we got there eventually. Driving to Ada to get the new old van. Took Arpi to drive the saxo back. I sort of memorized the road by shortest path, over the new bridge, having grown bored with the old route via Bečej, which had a nasty part between it and Ada, where the pavement was very wavy and unevenly patched, gets you nauseous within minutes. This was more interesting, and even nice looking during the last part. I didn't even get lost - except for about 10 meters in Bočar. But the road is treacherous, with surprise potholes and then pieces of roads missing. The bridge at Miloševo is just as bad as I remember it (though not as narrow) - the same old rough and uneven cobblestones, worse than what Turks were making, and then a missing piece at the last railroad crossing, with completely unmarked 20m of nothing, just dirt and holes, which we had to cross slower than walking.
We got there, I found the place right away, found the guy, kind of negotiated, though there was nothing to haggle about - the price was right, the vehicle everything he promised it would be. They went to have a coffee while we exchanged papers, and then we went to the hotel to eat. The hotel being the only obvious eatery around, and the gulaš was actually quite good. Except we never ate it with young cheese among the noodles, which turned out to be good too... still I wouldn't like to have cheese every time, it's kind of too much.
When we left the hotel the street stank. A garbage truck just passed, reeking of animal rot - dunno whether pigshit or carcasses, awful. But it kind of cleared while we walked the 200m to the guy's carwash. Arpi took the saxo, and I drove the van out. The hand brake wouldn't release, the button just won't budge. Then I found a way - you pull the button out and the handle goes down. Except that I didn't pass more than 40m until I realized that the brake didn't disengage. So walked back and got the guy at the gate - he was just leaving - and he showed me that you have to pull slightly up to free the button. Ah, one of those... haven't seen that since fića, or perhaps lada.
And then we got behind that stinking truck. The ventillation already pulled the stink into the cabin. Out of town (road to Bečej, fixed smooth!) there was wind from the river, so... where the fuck are the buttons to open the windows? She was looking around and couldn't find anything; then we passed the next village and I had more time to look for myself, and eventually found the buttons on the ceiling, next to the light.
The rest of the trip was quite uneventful. Nice.
It sits rather high - pretty much like we sat in the matrix, except there's another 15cm to the ground. But the butt is not so close to the floor. The steering is rather hard while on low revs, but going over about 800 rpm it gets quite smooth. Not as nimble as the saxo, but hey, this is 1,5 tons compared to 1,1 and the distance between axes is larger.
Mentions: Arpad Gunaroši (Arpi), fića, lada, saxo, in serbian
15-X-2021 - 15-I-2026