A lot has happened in the past days preparing for the expedition and I would like to bring you up to date. We are 29 days from leaving Abidjan.

The camping gear has been taken out of storage again to be checked, cleaned and completed. Shopping lists are being written and the first emergency rations of instant noddles have already been bought.

Last week I went to the government agency that is responsible for the vehicle papers and driving licenses. Fortunately we have one of their offices in our neighbourhood. As in 2020, I require an international driving license apart from my Ivorian one and Eeyore, needs to its international car papers called “Certificat International pour Automobile”, essentially, like the International driving license, a translation of the car papers into various languages. Both documents are officially required, often not needed but if you meet a greedy officer who wants to see it in the hope that you don’t have it and he can exhort some money out of you, it is good to be able to present it and cut a discussion short.
I am always baffled at the amount of bureaucracy in this country. For the request of both documents you have supply a number of items in copy as well as the original. Both get scanned into their computer system, once duly processed the original are returned to you and the copies stapled together onto a massive pile to file. Why do they need photocopies if you have the originals and scan them anyway.
Anyhow, both documents should be ready for pick up on Tuesday.

A couple of days ago, I brought Eeyore to one of the stations in town where they do the annual obligatory roadworthy test, called “Contrôle Technique”. Eeyore’s certificate was still valid until early December, but I thought better safe than sorry and start the expedition with a fresh certificate. Promptly I was asked why I came so early and I explained to the lady that I would take the car to Morocco. She was speechless at first and then started asking all kinds of questions. I guess they don’t get many Ivorian overlanders ;-).
Needless to say, Eeyore passed the scrutiny with flying colour and the obligatory “your headlamp beams are too low, but nothing to worry about, just have it checked” comment, that I have been getting on any of our cars since a year.

A while ago I noticed that Eeyore’s brake fluid was getting old and needed to be replaced badly before the trip. While replacing the fluid and checking the brakes today, I also had good look around the suspension and other body parts. Unfortunately, I noticed some leaking grease at the top ball joint on both front control arms. It looks like they are on their way out and should be replaced before we leave. Sadly, Toyota only seems to think that you need to change the entire upper control arm with it. Therefore, I will check with my trusted Lebanese car parts shop tomorrow if he has good quality aftermarket ones in stock. So, another job on to the to-do list before we depart.

Tonight, I tackled the repair of the camping chairs. The arm rests are fastened with screws which enlarge the hole in the fabric over time until they slip off. Fortunately, the fabric is almost identical to the one from my roof top tent. Quickly all four arm rests were taken off, the seems opened, extra pieces of fabric cut and sawn in. Now the screws hold much better and the arm rests will certainly not come off again. One item off the to-do list. Happy days!