Hey folks,
It's been awhile since I last provided an update. Things are progressing (as time requires), and we've had a couple hiccups:
- Shipping proved problematic. Our first shipper tried to nearly triple the price w/in a week of us delivering the ambo for shipment. This caused us to dump this fellow and go in search of a new shipper. Time got away, and by the time shipping got arranged it was too late to get it to the UK in time for the launch, which is a shame, but as there's nothing we can do about it @ this point, it's just a loss we'll have to absorb. Now the ship, the Texas, is scheduled to arrive into Bremerhaven, Germany on the 25th with our ambo. They've given us a date of the 27th for pick-up, but because we're still hoping to make the Czech event in time, we'll push to see if we can't get it a day early, the 26th. Cross your fingers...
-The other sorta big thing also has to do w/ delivery date, sorta... Max had timing issues wrt visas, and so of the Central Asian countries only will have a visa for Kazakhstan. This means that the ambo and I will likely be alone from the Azeri border till the Kazakh border. I'm hoping to meet up w/ a team doing a similar route @ the Czech event that I can travel with through Central Asia. Again, this'll have to be a wait and see sorta thing. Worst case, I'm going to be pissing into the wind, and going it alone. I can almost picture it now: me w/ a couple months of beard, a cowboy hat, and a massive American ambulance bounding though the desert plains of Turkmenistan w/ "Party in the USA" blasting on the radio. If so requested, photos and video may be taken of such happenings.
- More minor things: the ambo I don't think ever had its A/C charged (Max?); we have no spare wheels; I'm not sure what our status of vehicle recovery equipment is (Max?), but my present impression is we have none; we presently possess no roads maps (this'll probably be addressed, but maybe not)
This'll be interesting...
I'm presently hanging out in northern Netherlands, doing what prep work I can, and looking forward to the Netherlands largest semi-truck festival this Saturday. Bremerhaven comes this Sunday, and we'll see what we can do about getting the ambo early. Till then...
It's really happening.
We have all the paperwork in w/ California DMV, and are now just waiting for title, registration, and plates to arrive in the mail. Had to go the Willows DMV to get it done. Folks in the North State will know why...
We got the VIN verified for a second time. We'd allocated an afternoon to get the weight certificate and 2nd VIN verification. The certificate was a breeze. Down and back to Dumfries on I95 midday was a breeze. Then the VIN verification... we first went to the McLean station of Fairfax PD. The desk agent said no. We told her we were there less then a month before, and it had been no problem. She said no again, so we left. At her insistence we went to VA DMV. Waste of time, waste of time, the DMV was a fucking waste of time. They had no police officer at site (why would they?), so they were of no use to us. We then headed to Vienna PD, hoping that a smaller PD would be nicer. They were, but I made the mistake of saying we were from McLean, and as it turns out, they'll only help residents of Vienna. We headed back to McLean station hoping that after demonstrating our efforts at an alternative that they'd just help us out. It ended up that we didn't have to explain anything. When we walked in, an officer was helping a woman who's neighbor had skinned her cat and left it on her porch. After he was finished with her, he asked if he could help us. We told him what we needed, and 15 minutes later we were out of there with our verification filled out. That was the last piece we needed before submitting our complete packet to DMV.
Shipping's coming into line. I sought quotes from a number of different shippers. We have one for sub-1500, which was the best of the quotes I've received so far. I'm going to call them tomorrow, and see if they'd be interested in lowering the rate in exchange for some sort of sponsorship promotion. We'll see... If anyone has any transatlantic shipping connection, please get in contact.
On that note, we have a small wishlist that if anyone is interested in helping out w/ we'd be very grateful and/or be happy to work out some sort of sponsorship promotion deal. On the table right now: 2 60-inch x-treme hi lift jacks with associated winch kits; spare tires (i think they're 170/75 r16, but i can't confirm at this time); a small generator; and insurance both domestic and abroad. Anything else is also welcome.
Tickets are booked (well... mine are at least) and visas are applied for (again... mine are). A rough schedule has been hammered out. I dunno... in less then a month, I'll be leaving DC for good, and all better be set by then cause it'll only get more difficult working w/ max from thousands of miles away. Once I leave DC I won't see the ambo for almost 2 months till I pick it up at Southampton port.
Anyway... we'd love to hear comments or suggestions (just to know someone's reading this, if for no other reason), so get in touch. yup yup
We have all the paperwork in w/ California DMV, and are now just waiting for title, registration, and plates to arrive in the mail. Had to go the Willows DMV to get it done. Folks in the North State will know why...
We got the VIN verified for a second time. We'd allocated an afternoon to get the weight certificate and 2nd VIN verification. The certificate was a breeze. Down and back to Dumfries on I95 midday was a breeze. Then the VIN verification... we first went to the McLean station of Fairfax PD. The desk agent said no. We told her we were there less then a month before, and it had been no problem. She said no again, so we left. At her insistence we went to VA DMV. Waste of time, waste of time, the DMV was a fucking waste of time. They had no police officer at site (why would they?), so they were of no use to us. We then headed to Vienna PD, hoping that a smaller PD would be nicer. They were, but I made the mistake of saying we were from McLean, and as it turns out, they'll only help residents of Vienna. We headed back to McLean station hoping that after demonstrating our efforts at an alternative that they'd just help us out. It ended up that we didn't have to explain anything. When we walked in, an officer was helping a woman who's neighbor had skinned her cat and left it on her porch. After he was finished with her, he asked if he could help us. We told him what we needed, and 15 minutes later we were out of there with our verification filled out. That was the last piece we needed before submitting our complete packet to DMV.
Shipping's coming into line. I sought quotes from a number of different shippers. We have one for sub-1500, which was the best of the quotes I've received so far. I'm going to call them tomorrow, and see if they'd be interested in lowering the rate in exchange for some sort of sponsorship promotion. We'll see... If anyone has any transatlantic shipping connection, please get in contact.
On that note, we have a small wishlist that if anyone is interested in helping out w/ we'd be very grateful and/or be happy to work out some sort of sponsorship promotion deal. On the table right now: 2 60-inch x-treme hi lift jacks with associated winch kits; spare tires (i think they're 170/75 r16, but i can't confirm at this time); a small generator; and insurance both domestic and abroad. Anything else is also welcome.
Tickets are booked (well... mine are at least) and visas are applied for (again... mine are). A rough schedule has been hammered out. I dunno... in less then a month, I'll be leaving DC for good, and all better be set by then cause it'll only get more difficult working w/ max from thousands of miles away. Once I leave DC I won't see the ambo for almost 2 months till I pick it up at Southampton port.
Anyway... we'd love to hear comments or suggestions (just to know someone's reading this, if for no other reason), so get in touch. yup yup
We're having a massive fundraising party at Max's vineyard May 15th. Contact us for details.
Not much has happened since the last update.
Max bought new batteries for the ambo (there's a dual bat system, so replacing them is no insignificant matter).
Looks like BOE approval will come through in the next couple days.
The CA "environmental" license plates are waiting @ the Chico DMV. Still not sure it was a wise move to get them, but it'll speed up the amount of time till we can drive the ambo on public roads.
Much more coming up; only a few months left.
For those of you in the DC area, you may see the first legal drive coming soon.
Max bought new batteries for the ambo (there's a dual bat system, so replacing them is no insignificant matter).
Looks like BOE approval will come through in the next couple days.
The CA "environmental" license plates are waiting @ the Chico DMV. Still not sure it was a wise move to get them, but it'll speed up the amount of time till we can drive the ambo on public roads.
Much more coming up; only a few months left.
For those of you in the DC area, you may see the first legal drive coming soon.
Damn, these two things have been major pains in the ass. First, registration:
This is sorta my fault. For various reasons (cough, tax exemption, cough) we'll be registering the vehicle in California. This is possible to do from DC, I did so w/ the Ducati, but it's always a challenge. To register a vehicle in a state that'll never be w/in 3000 miles of is probably part of the problem; I'm not sure how many states would allow you to do that, but I'm glad California does. This hiccup is solvable, it'll just take some time, but we'll definitely benefit from it in the end.
The next problem, I don't see a ready solution for (w/o spending idiotic amounts of money - $1200 for 6 months):
Insurance. I've called over two dozen places now, and not one will register an ambulance as a personal vehicle, w/o a business account, for someone my age. So, what are we going to do about this? Hope. Hope that nothing happens. Hope that we don't get caught. Hope that we don't get totally fucked by trusting in hope. Anyone got a hook-up @ an insurance company, or knows how to get us a decently priced policy, PLEASE get in touch.
cheers
This is sorta my fault. For various reasons (cough, tax exemption, cough) we'll be registering the vehicle in California. This is possible to do from DC, I did so w/ the Ducati, but it's always a challenge. To register a vehicle in a state that'll never be w/in 3000 miles of is probably part of the problem; I'm not sure how many states would allow you to do that, but I'm glad California does. This hiccup is solvable, it'll just take some time, but we'll definitely benefit from it in the end.
The next problem, I don't see a ready solution for (w/o spending idiotic amounts of money - $1200 for 6 months):
Insurance. I've called over two dozen places now, and not one will register an ambulance as a personal vehicle, w/o a business account, for someone my age. So, what are we going to do about this? Hope. Hope that nothing happens. Hope that we don't get caught. Hope that we don't get totally fucked by trusting in hope. Anyone got a hook-up @ an insurance company, or knows how to get us a decently priced policy, PLEASE get in touch.
cheers
Alright, so I've been messing around w/ how to balance the twitter feed, the blog, and the fb fan page. After going though various means of updating, this is what'll be done in the future: fb will be used to be on fb, no regular updates should be expected; the blog will be used for longer updates and posts, and will host a twitter sidebar to show more frequent short updates; and, as suggested before, twitter will be used for short and frequent updates. I think this'll end up being the best arrangement. If modification seems necessary in the future, we can reexamine the situation then.
We have a new logo!!! I'll integrate in to our web materials shortly
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