Trabant in Longmont

I saw this Trabant driving down Hover street in Longmont the other day.

Never expected to see one of these on the road all the way over here!

Baby Raccoon in our backyard

Another project I had for myself while Rosemary and the little ends were away was to get the garage reorganized, so we could fit both our cars in at the same time. We moved into the house over a year ago, and our garage was our main staging area, so for over 12 months one of our cars has always been parked outside - in the rain, snow and sin, which are all taking their toll on our aging Acura.

Balázs and I worked hard for a few hours and successfully moved things around enough to make room for both cars.

As we were taking some things to our shed in the backyard, I almost stepped on a ball of fur - which I soon realized was alive. At first I thought it was a mole, but as I looked closer I realized it was a baby raccoon, sleeping in the middle of the yard.

We figured out that he was probably only a few days old, since his eyes were not yet open and he was just learning to walk.

However cute he was, it was a bit concerning that he was out in the open like this, unprotected. I called animal control, and they said to wait overnight, to see if the mom came back for it. When morning came, the little guy was still sleeping in the same place in the yard, so I had animal control come out and get him. They said the mother either abandoned him or died, and that's why he was alone.

He was certainly cute, but I'm not interested in seeing any grown raccoons around, although according to animal control, there are a ton in our area.

 

Camping on the Middle St Vrain River

As part of our marathon of male-bonding, Balázs and I went camping last week Monday-Tuesday.

Balázs would have been perfectly happy going somewhere like a pay campsite, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I asked around and heard that there was good dispersed camping along the Middle St Vrain river, up above Allenspark.

In my reading, I also found out that there is a Middle St Vrain 4x4 road, which is for "high clearance Four-Wheel-Drive vehicles only, which - I figured - is exactly what my Toyota Sequoia is, right? ...Wrong...

So my plan was to drive the Sequoia up the 4x4 road and then camp in the wilderness. When we got to the trailhead on Monday and the beginning of the 4x4 road, we realized that our Sequoia was going to have a hard time. The test pile is at the beginning of the road, which basically is there to say: 'if you can drive over this, then you can handle this road'. We were pretty sure we would hurt the car if we tried to take it over the pile, but the road on the other side looked totally do-able.

While we were considering our options, some guys pulled up in Rubikon Jeeps. One of the guys said he thought we could handle the test pile and the road if he spotted us. He did, and while I was on top of the pile with me truck, he asked me: "You don't mind if your car gets scratched up on the bottom do you?" Um...

So, we got over the pile, but not without bending the stairs on the side of the car a bit. I was able to drive up the road about 300 yards/meters before the engine began to overheat and we got to the next big obstacle. Realizing I had made a bad decision bringing the truck up that road, we decided to park it, leave a note that we were coming back for it the next day, and hike in to hike, carrying our gear.

We had to leave behind a lot of things we had brought for camping since we knew we would be hiking in over a mile, and couldn't afford to make more than one trip. We finally made it in far enough, found a good spot off the trails and near the river, pitched our tent, and went out to fish for food.

The river was running really high, so we were not able to catch anything, so we ended up going hiking - and found an awesome place with a 40-50 foot cliff overlooking a waterfall. It was breathtaking, and we could see the peaks in the Indian Peaks Wildernesness just beyond us.

After going back to camp we spent a lot of time shooting Balázs' air rifle, doing target practice with a tin can, and we ended up going to bed early after eating a meager dinner.

During the middle of the night, I woke up and went outside with a head-lamp on, only to see two shining eyes reflecting rig back at me. I knew we were in bear territory, so I was a bit concerned, but the animal moved away from me slowly and didn't make a sound. I'm still not sure what it was, but I think it may have been a mountain lion, since its eyes faced forward and it was so silent.

In the morning, we packed up, hiked back out to the car and, with Balázs' help, after about 20 min of work, we were able to get the Sequoia over the test pile with minimal impact to the car. It was a huge relief! I had lost sleep the night before, worrying about how we were going to get the Sequoia out of there.

Anyway, it was a good trip. I'd recommend the Middle St Vrain for people who want a hike-in camping experience. Go up to Camp Dick off the Peak to Peak Highway, and keep going until the parking lot, which is the trailhead for Buchanan Pass.

Sequoia Rear Hatch Repair

Back in December of last year I took Balázs and Nate skiing up at Eldora. While we were in the parking lot, ready to get out our stuff to go ski, the handle on rear hatch of my Sequoia busted right off in my hand. It was probably because it was so cold that the plastic handle became brittle, but after doing some research, it turns out this is a very common problem with Sequoias of this age (2002-2005 or so).

The rear window rolls all the way down, so we were still able to use our trunk, but it was a hassle. The other day I helped Balázs move the lawnmower, and lifting it through the back window, I finally had enough.

A whole back Rosemary asked a mechanic how much he would charge to fix it - he said $300. After reading up on it online, that's a pretty reasonable offer for a mechanic; most I read about were charging between $350 and $500.

So, I went on YouTube, the should-be first-stop for any do-it-yourslef-er. After watching this ridiculous and disheartening video, I found this great video, explaining the process.

Since Rosemary and the little ones were out of town last week, I headed over to my dad's house, and together, we followed the instructions in the video and were able to successfully replace the handle on the hatch, and now it works!

I picked up two things at Autozone: a replacement handle ($50) and a "panel rivet puller" ($10). The replacement handle is aftermarket and is METAL, which is awesome, since it's not cheap plastic like the original. The panel rivet puller is used to remove interior and exterior cosmetic panels without breaking the rivets that hold them on, so you can snap everything back into place when you're done. Definitely worth the money.

The first step is to remove the broken pieces of the old handle, so that you can open the hatch, since there is no other way to open it from the inside (a great oversight, btw). The key to this is to get in there and look for the lever that you have to push down with a screwdriver. It's not very far up inside there, and is totally visible with the help of a flashlight. I spent 20 min frustrating myself, feeling around in the dark, thinking the lever was way back there. When I finally put a flashlight on it, it took me 10 seconds to figure it out and open the hatch.

Next we removed the interior panels, and then hand to take apart the inside of the door. The difficult part is that you have to work around the rear window motor. The good thing is that there are 2 holes punched in the inside of the door to give access to two screws that hold on the handle from the inside.

The hardest part was hooking up the new handle. There's no easy way around it - it's hard to do, but not impossible. You have to hold it on both sides of the hatch at the same time and press the cable into a notch, much like on a bicycle brake lever.

But, after 2 hours of labor and $60, I have a hatch that works. It was worth the difficulty to save myself hundreds of dollars!

 

Farewell Dear Dacia

In June 2010 we bought our first new car - a 7 seater Dacia Logan MCV.

Today we said goodbye to our dear car, which we loved very much. It really was a great car. We had hoped to take it with us to the US, but it would have been too complicated.

The car sold very quickly - within only a few days of us putting it up online, and amazingly, we actually got more for it than we had hoped :) God is good, and he keeps using things like this to confirm that our move to Colorado really is His leading.

Farewell Dear Dacia! You will be missed.

Cars 2

Nate is a huge fan of the movie Cars. He knows the whole story, all the characters, and has assigned everyone in our house a car name. He, of course, is Lightning Mcqueen, I am Tow Mater, Rosemary is Sally, Balázs is Doc, and Felicia is "Low and slow"

So when when Nate saw the advertisements a few months ago for Cars 2 he was pretty excited.

Over the last few months we've been building up to it - grandma and grandpa have sent a few toys and today he got a special Cars 2 hat from them to wear to watch the movie.

Today was the big day - the opening day in fact, for Cars 2 in Hungary, so we took him to see it. It was his first time at the movie theater, and he had a great time. Nate has been counting down the days since before English camp, and when I went into his room this morning, I asked him: "do you know what day today is?" - to which he said: "it's Cars 2 day!"

We were curious how he would like it, and if he would be scared by the dark room or the loud speakers, so we tried to prepare him for it as best we could. In the end there was no problem at all - in fact, I think we may have just turned him on to a new and expensive interest!
We went with our friend Leo and his son Alex. Balázs also came with a friend, but Felicia stayed home with Kristen, a friend of ours from California who is staying with us for few weeks here in Eger. It was nice of her to watch Felicia so we could both take Nate out for his special day.

Nate got to know some new cars today: Finn, Pacer and others, and Rosemary got a new car name. She is now called Holly Cady (the girlfriend of Tow Mater :-)

Here are some pictures:

How to Use a Dacia

A while back I wrote a post called "Why I Love My Dacia".

Over the past few weeks my beloved car has been put to the test, and I am more satisfied with it than ever.

A few weeks ago I got a call in the middle of the night from a friend whose car had broken down in Füzesabony and needed me to tow him to Debrecen. His car had actually broken down while he was towing someone else. Dacia did great towing his car 100 km to Debrecen.

Last week we took a family trip - and put almost 3000 km on the car.
It ran great and fit all our stuff comfortably. It had no problem in the alps, even with 6 people and a bunch of stuff weighing it down.

Here's how the trip went:

Day 1: Eger - Millstatt, Austria. 775 km.



Day 2: Millstatt - Freilassing, Germany - Millstatt. 312 km.
Went to pick up my friend who came by train from Germany.



Day 3: Millstatt - Gmünd, Austria - Tarvisio, Italy - Millstatt. 191 km.
We went to a Porsche museum in Gmünd, and then went to Italy to eat lunch and visit a scenic lake in the mountains.



Day 4: Millstatt - Salzburg - Millstatt. 317 km.
Taking my friend back to the train station.

Day 5: Millstatt - Grado, Italy - Millstatt. 448 km.
Went to the beach in Italy. Had a great time, with great weather.



Day 6: Millstatt - Eger. 775 km.

Total: 2818 km (1751 mi.)

It was a good trip, but we're glad to be out of the car...

Why I Love My Dacia

We have had our Dacia Logan MCV since June of last year, and we love it.
In fact, we even often tell each other how much we love our car, when we are getting into it or driving it.

When we started shopping for a car last year, we didn't plan to buy a Dacia, but after weighing our options we found that it was exactly what we needed and the best deal for the money. I don't regret it at all.

Here are some reasons I love my Dacia:

• 7 full-sized seats.
  We looked at a few cars that had 5+2 seats, with those ones that fold down in the back - but those seats are usually quite small and uncomfortable. I actually find the 3rd row of seats in our car to be one of the most comfortable places in the car, and sometimes choose to sit back there on long trips so I can relax.
• Off-road Capabilities.
  The MCV is not a 4-wheel drive car, but it was designed for Eastern European roads. So, it sits up quite high off the ground, and it has 16 in. wheels with 185 cm sidewalled tires. Sleek design was obviously not the main priority - but I love that I never have to worry about driving off-road with it, or on bad roads. I have taken this car to Ukraine a number of times, and on many bad roads and dirt roads in Hungary and have never bottomed out - whereas the others with me driving Fords, Peugeots and Opels bottomed out and got racked by pot holes.
  
• Cargo Space.
  By removing the 3rd row of seats, I have had 5 adults and 6 full-size suitcases in the car before - comfortably.
  I often also take 6 people with luggage, comfortably.
• Shelf.
  This may seem trivial - but it is one of the things we like about the car: The ceiling is high and there is a storage shelf above the back seat. It's the little things...

What do I not love about the car? Only a few things:

• The fuel consumption isn't great: 8-8.5 l/100km (28 mile/gal). It's not the best, but it's not that bad either.
• The button to roll down the window is not on the door, but on the center console. I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

We have put about 17,000 km on it, and are really satisfied with it, and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a maximally practical but yet affordable car.

New Car

With our growing family we've been feeling the need for a bigger car for some time now. When we first bought our Peugeot right after we got married, we felt like we had a really big car - but now cramming all 5 of us into it we feel like sardines - and like fried sardines when its 38°C (100°F) and the air conditioning isn't working.
I started out looking for used cars, until someone told me to check out the Dacia Logan MCV, a 7-seater that costs new only slightly more than the used cars we were looking at. We we a bit hesitant at first about buying a Dacia, but after reading consumer reports and talking to 'car guys' about them, we started to think more seriously about it. Dacia is assembled in Romania but owned by Renault, and they have Renault motors and parts. A friend of ours in Eger owns the 7-seater that we were interested in, and he let us borrow it for a day to try it out, and we really liked it.
We found the one we wanted in Székesfehérvár, and are picking it up on Monday on our way to Vajta for the Foundations Conference. We're really looking forward to it - and now we're trying to sell our Peugeot. Hopefully we can do that soon.

Here are some pictures of the car. This is the actual one we will get. It was in the showroom, so that's why there's no radio in it, but there will be by the time we get it.


Here's a diagram of how the seats can be moved around:

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Last week I got to do something that I haven't done since I left Colorado - go camping.
Not the kind of camping that you do at some fenced-in place with paved parking spots and bathrooms with hot water - real camping, in the middle of nowhere, where you just walk until you decide that you've found a good place for your tent, where you have to do your business in the forest, and you have to bathe in a creek. Now that's good stuff!
In order to do this kind of camping, we went to Romania, since "wild camping" is not permitted in Hungary or Slovakia. And "wild camping" is a good term to use about Romania, which is one of the few places I've been in Europe where you can still get the feeling that you are in the wild.
We went to the Bihor/Bihar Mountains, to a place called Padiş/Pádis (everything has a Romanian, Hungarian, and often German name in Transylvania), which is like a high plateau, close to many cool places to hike and things to see.
Getting up there was no easy task. There are 2 roads that lead to Padis - one from the north and one from the south. Because of picking up John, we took the road from the north on the way there. This was one of the worst roads I've ever been on. I don't even thing this should be called a road - it was more of a series of pointy rocks and car-sized puddles. We went 20 km in a matter of 1.5-2 hrs. A lot of the time, everyone had to get out of the car and run alongside to help me not to bottom out on the pointy rocks.
At one point I saw a line of oil running down the road, and it took me a moment before I realized it wasn't from my car, but from the guy in the Dacia who had come the other way going about 40 km/hr. In one of the travel books someone had for the region, it said that you should only take the northern road to Padis if you are driving an SUV or a Dacia! Our Peugeot did a good job though, even though it wasn't a Dacia. Go Dacia!
On the way back home, we took the southern route, and left John in Oradea/Nagyvárad. Praise the Lord, that way was a great road and totally uneventful.
This was originally planned as a church camping trip, done together with Calvary Chapel Cluj, but both of us had almost everyone back out at the last minute, so in the end it was just me, 3 people from our church in Eger, and John - the pastor of the Cluj church.
It was a great time. The mountains there are karst, so they are full of caves to explore. The people from our church kept asking if it reminded me of Colorado, but I had to explain that although the Bihar Mountains are beautiful, they are a completely different kind of mountain than what I grew up with. But, that said - I really liked Pádis, and it was my first time climbing around in caves like that.
It was good to get back home to Rosemary and Nate, and I'm looking forward to going back, and looking forward to when Nathaniel will be a bit bigger and I can take him out camping and doing man stuff like starting fires and peeing outside. I guess I could always teach him to do that stuff here in Eger too, but my neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate it very much!
If you're interested in seeing pictures of the whole trip - shepherds, caves, horses, etc..., you can click here, or just watch this slideshow.