Operation Ukrainian Rescue - VF

Final stretch in Russia for Rémi! If all goes well, he should arrive at the border between Russia and Kazakhstan by the end of the day. As our adventurer-photographer explained in the previous post, a lot has happened since his hotel adventure in Karkhiv. Since Rémi is on the road and Wi-Fi is scarce, he won't be able to tell you all about this epic episode just yet. But in the meantime, I'll be doing the French version!

It all started on Wednesday. Early in the afternoon, I received a message from Rémi: "Could you please call me back quickly, I've got a little problem". After Barbara's operation, this "little problem" worried me, and I was already imagining the worst: rejection of the transplant. So I call Rémi immediately to find out more. Relief, the engine's fine! The bike, on the other hand, is a bit recalcitrant. Every other time it starts, it immediately stalls. According to Rémi, it's a fuel pump problem. Nothing dramatic, this type of breakdown is quite common and easy to repair... ... but you still need to have a spare fuel pump at hand! Stuck in a gas station in the middle of nowhere, Rémi may have trouble finding a new part...

While I start scouring the net for information on local garages, our Mac Gyver manages to cobble together a makeshift device. Barbara's purring again! Victory! Yes, but it's already getting dark and raining. Too dangerous to finish the day's stage. Rémi sets up camp by the side of the road and instructs me to find a garage in the nearest big city, Donetsk, to carry out a "real" repair the next day. So far, no rescue, you might say. The situation's not critical, Barbara's still running, and even though we've seen better things in terms of comfort, Rémi's settled in for the night. But that's without counting on the Ukrainian bikers and their tremendous solidarity!

Flashback: while Mister Bricolage is fiddling with his bike's wiring, I'm scouring Google for anything I can to help him out. Of course, I don't speak a word of Russian - that would be too easy. I end up on a bikers' forum, Motobratva. With the help of Google Trad, I register and post a message like a bottle to the sea to explain the situation of the French biker. I know that there's a great deal of solidarity between bikers, but I'm afraid that the language barrier will be a real obstacle and that my call for help will go unanswered.

After five minutes of anxious waiting, surprise! An answer! Then a second. Then a third. Then dozens of Ukrainian bikers start talking to each other about Remi's breakdown and how they're going to put together a rescue plan! They give me telephone numbers which I pass on to Rémi, ask me where he is exactly, what model bike he's riding... I fire up Google Trad and post answers in Cyrillic, crossing my fingers not to say too many stupid things. That's when Rémi warns me that he's stopping for the night. The situation's under control, he's got contacts in the area, he'll be able to get Barbara repaired tomorrow.

But that's without counting on the enthusiasm of the local bikers! As far as they're concerned, it's out of the question for Rémi to spend the night out there! They're determined to rescue him, and someone is already on the road to pick him up. Messages continue to pour in on the forum. Where exactly is Rémi? He's already asleep and not responding to text messages. At night and in the rain, the GPS coordinates he gave me aren't much help. The members of Motobratva ask me to call him and wake him up. I do so. After several rings, I hear Rémi's sleepy voice emerge on the other end of the line: "Gnnmgnkesqui s'passe?" I explain that a team is on its way, that he'll have to wake up for good, leave his comforter and pack his stuff despite the rain. "Grmblmgn dormiiiiiir froiiiiiid" "Allez Rémi, il faut se levereeer".

On the bikers' side, the search continues. I warn Rémi to get out of his tent and get closer to the road so he'll be easier to spot. After an hour of French-English-Cyrillian messages and a dozen phone calls to Rémi, it's all over! The bikers had found him! They even came with a truck to move Barbara and bring back the two adventurers. Half an hour later, I receive a final text message that finally relieves me: "Operation Ukrainian rescue successful, I repeat, operation Ukrainian rescue successful! The package has even taken a shower and is drinking some strange alcohol :)".

So much for the episode seen from France. I still can't read Russian, but I've really improved my command of online translators! By the way, I'm off to translate this text for our Ukrainian bikers, to whom I've promised to keep in touch. And I'd like to take this opportunity to pass on a little message to them: Aliance, Vitaliy, Corsar, Visotnik, Zloy, Vlad, Satrier, Ksusha and all the others, thank you again for your support, your motivation and your solidarity!