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Old 11-22-2008, 07:40 AM
BlueGerbil BlueGerbil is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Germany
Posts: 89
November 05-08, 2008: Berlin

The expedition quintet moved into a small but lovely summer residence at the Spandauer area in Berlin. Since we arrived late there was only one last task, to arrange a ?wake up call? from the colleagues in Limburg and to go to bed for a good night?s sleep.

But there were six other Extreme Event employees who did not get any sleep tonight, because they were on their way to Berlin with the Roka-trailers, the emergency float system for the Bering Strait together with additional materials. At 6 a.m. sharp the team got the ordered wake-up-call and got out of bed. This day the Meilenwerk in the heart of Berlin was supposed to welcome the project within its classy ambience. The ? in former times ? biggest tramline depot has today ? as forum for driving culture ? more than 450,000 people per year. Our partner Chrysler booked the atrium for us where a real expedition feeling was generated with requisites of the Babelsberger Filmstudios, a bottom plate and objects of our project. A field kitchen offered goulash for everybody.

This afternoon we were accompanied by Dr. L?hrs, who especially came from R?gen with his Jeep Grand Cherokee to the ?Pariser Platz?, to take photos and film shoots with us. But: We should come back. Just this evening the German Press Agency called to invite us to make some film shoots at the ?Brandenburger Tor? which was broadly distributed and published by e.g. the German magazine ?Stern?.

The second home of the team became the Chrysler garage in the ?Seeburger Stra?e? where our vehicles got a last check. Cooling fluid for the coldness in Siberia was filled in and break pads exchanged. The most tricky work was it though to optimise the undercarriage. Since it turned out on our way through Europe the shock absorber and spring system - which got mounted instead of the original - were not sufficient. The too weak spring system caused a strong bouncing, even without loading. Already in Bratislava we were, together with Chrysler, looking for a solution while our Team in Limburg organised all the necessary materials. The Rubicon Express undercarriage is now additionally supported by six ?Eibach-Springs? per vehicle to stabilise the vehicle when it is loaded. The worklight in the garage was visible till late at night and the technicians were working till the last drop of sweat dropped ? finally it was done. Friday evening, the vehicles were back on the street, together with their trailers.

On Saturday noon we headed from Berlim via Frankfurt/Oder towards Poland, where we once more refuelled bio-ethanol from our partner Alcosuisse. The approximately 2,652 litres were delivered just a few days ago to the company ?die Werkstatt? where they unloaded the 16 barrels with manual work. Great thanks for the enthusiasm and helpfulness to the men from ?die Werkstatt?. Also waiting for the expedition at ?die Werkstatt?: 160 litres of ISO HEET, an additive for the bio-ethanol which extracts water from the bio-ethanol and therefore lowers the freezing point. Fully loaded and full of pioneering spirit we turn towards east and the next station in Warsaw.





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