Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Driven5:
It's been an hour. The money is still there. Time for the obligatory meme:
hmmm... yes, but... i'm not sure... to be honest
A bigger truck is a good idea, but i can't imagine another car instead of... i love this Toyota. She's already done so big work 
If there's time I'll give her a wash, but I don't want to lose the hand prints we got from the kids in africa
Those hand prints are a big reason as to why I haven't washed the truck
i'm crying... this touched my heart 
You must have the strength and determination of... Well, of a Ukrainian!
Each of us is more stronger inside ourselves than we think about ourselves 
each of us!!!
A little bit about the Ukrainian spirit and the life we're living now...
This singer and this band reflect well this spirit and soul of Ukraine - feel it - subtitles on.
such sad mood today... i've been crying all the evening...
DarkMonohue said:So here's a question I wasn't expecting to ask. Since the GFM goal has been met and then some, should we continue to contribute to that, or redirect that money to the PayPal account for all the other ongoing programs?
Disregard. Time is tight and I don't want to miss the window. Funds are inbound.
VikkiDp said:A little bit about the Ukrainian spirit and the life we're living now...
This singer and this band reflect well this spirit and soul of Ukraine - feel it - subtitles on.
such sad mood today... i've been crying all the evening...
Good grief, that was powerful.
Thank you for sharing.
DarkMonohue said:So here's a question I wasn't expecting to ask. Since the GFM goal has been met and then some, should we continue to contribute to that, or redirect that money to the PayPal account for all the other ongoing programs?
100% up to you, sir. If you kick it to the GFM, any remaining balance we have will be transferred to the Rehab center. They can buy anything they need after that.
If you kick it to the paypal, I'll kick it to Kisgorbo and they can use it to ring in the new year. 
Edit: SOrry! I was a page behind! Don't mind me, still catching up
84FSP said:People like you are keeping this atrocity at the top of the internet. This kind of situation happening in 2022 is really making a lot of people wonder what they can do to help. Keep up the awesome work and don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Thank you, and 100% concur. It was there. It sat. It transfered to the bank. The donor donated as "anonymous" and that's the way it'll be.
The cash hit my account today. We're buying everything on the list. Price be damned. Carolina (who wanted warm PJ's) is getting extra sets AND her backpacks (also multiple).
We bought so much stuff at the mall today, we had to keep running back to the car to dump our bags. Mrs. Hungary went shopping after she got the boys from school, and I went back out on my lunch break. My mom and grandmother have been wrapping gifts non stop since we got back from the mall 
VikkiDp said:So if it's real then I have some thoughts - let me share them.
1. can i add more kids to the list? i'll find about 10 for sure - i need 1-2 days for that.
2. can we buy some papers for the ECG and test strips for the glucose meter? I guess it can be useful for the rehab center.
3. my neighbor came home this weekend and asked me if it's possible to help him with some things.
4. i have one more idea...
The one thing i'm worried about how to cram everything into the truck... the higher level exam for Bill - master Yoda in tetris-packaging
100% in for your neighbor. Anything he needs, but we'll have to take the funds out of paypal.
100% in for the EKG paper and glucose test strips. Should I buy more glucose meters as well?
The only issue we will run into at this point is shipping time. I need to be able to find everything we buy in the local market or it wont make the trip. Other than that, it's a spending free for all, and we'll figure out the packing as we go 
Soooo what does it take a get Bill a little Trailer?
I am in amazement to what your able to do with a little help from friends and a lot of love.
java230 said:Soooo what does it take a get Bill a little Trailer?
I am in amazement to what your able to do with a little help from friends and a lot of love.
Hold the trailer,send more wrappin' paper! We ran out 
I still can not believe this is happening.
Every. Gift. On. The. List.
BOOM - another awesome task done for the kiddos! Keep it up sir.
84FSP said:BOOM - another awesome task done for the kiddos! Keep it up sir.
100% on it, sir! We are squeezing some shopping into every free second of our lives. I went out on my lunch break yesterday and scored big. Mrs. Hungary just went out and picked up some much needed art supplies.
Here's some quick pics from our second big shop this afternoon:
Of the whole list. 38 children, with at least two gift ideas each, there is only one child we still have to buy a gift for (his wish list item wasn't available locally, and no vendor I talked to could get it to me fast enough). We're reaching back to him for more ideas and will 100% make sure he gets something!
After this, we're hoping to get those additional 10 children VikkiDp mentioned. She's on her phone right now getting the info.
In related news, we were having trouble getting the payment through to Kyiv for the UV lights (I kept getting flagged as a scammer). VikkiDp knocked that one out of the park, and set up a system that was so easy that even I could follow along 
And every item on VikkiDp's neighbor's list has been ordered and is headed this way! It's going to miss this trip, but we'll send it in the post just like we did last time.
This may not be McDonalds, but I am LOVIN' it! Merry Christmas you guys!
Hi, everyone
Bill, Sarah, i and one person incognito (yet) came through all difficulties and our Christmas' mission have almost done.
There's a small part left and i'm going to do it tomorrow
I think that a lot of exciting stories from Bill are waiting for us - i'll add my little part of course
One thing is for sure - it was INCREDIBLE!!!
Bill and Sarah are still on their way home and some gifts already received and kids' eyes shine with joy
Thanks everyone
Safe travels home sir!
Time to bump this back to the top.
My December payment is on its way tonight. I decided it wouldn't hurt to do something nice for myself, so I stopped on the way home and found this. Tonight I'll raise a glass to Bill and Sarah and the Hungarlings, to Mayor Kozma, to Vikki and her neighbor and all of Ukraine, and to all the people here who make this work.
May the war end before the bottle runs dry.
Hey everyone! Like Vikki said, WE MADE IT! and yes, of course there are lots of stories to tell. Right now we're resting, and the poor truck needs a good working over. Running Africa and Ukraine back to back has really taken its toll, and a good massage is in its future.
DarkMonohue: A mutual friend of ours (GRM included) in Ukraine gave us a bottle of some good stuff. Let's raise a glass!
May the war end before the bottle runs dry.
Trip report #1, "Here goes"
Those familiar with my usual reports will probably notice that this one gets a little light on details in some areas. In the beginning, and again at the end, I was able to jot notes down in my notebook as things were happening. But there in the middle? Oh no... That was easily that toughest run we've done yet. Delays, car accidents, weather.... You name it and it was stacked against us. There was no time for anything but gas and go (and "go" we did).
But enough of that, let's get this party started!
Shortly after going radio silent, we were still SMACK DAB in the middle of hauling gifts. You might remember that my mother and grandmother flew to town to watch the kids while we were gone. Well, they also took it upon themselves to wrap EVERY present, which meant they were literally spending 10-hours a day shopping with us and then wrapping. We thought we just about had things finished with one day to spare (for packing, etc) and my mom noticed that 9 more names were added to the list.
Much frantic shopping followed. My grandmother stayed behind in the hotel, and my mom and I split our efforts and went in separate directions. We had all the new gifts bought in about 3 hours. Which only left one kid left on the list. "Yaroslav".
"Yaroslav" is a 13-year-old boy who was asking for a VR headset. It's not your typical set, but more of a sort of headgear that you put your phone in, and a lens magnifies the image until it looks like surround sound for your vision. By this point we had exhausted every option available to us (basically 2-video game stores about 45 minutes away), and every online vendor reported the same thing "we couldn't possibly post it to you soon enough. The system is just too slow this time of year".
But Vikki was already hard at work on it. She reached back and was able to get a follow-up option for the kiddo. A soldering iron, and accessory set...
I was immediately in heaven. Did I mention I was an electrical engineer? Not only do I know exactly what this kid needs to get started, but I know exactly where to find it in town (I may have spent a bit more than normal on this one, but I really wanted this kiddo to have all the basics he would need to get started).
Once everything was in-hand we got back to the hotel room and the family went back to work wrapping. We didn't get the truck loaded that day, but we were sitting at a nice round number of 50-children and we had just bought every item on thier wish list. Things were looking good.
The next day, it took us two trip's in Mrs. Hungary's Saab kombi to get all the remaining gifts to our house for packing in the truck. When we did, this is how it looked:
I was now beginning to get a bit concerned with space in the truck...
Speaking of the truck, I did mention that it had just returned from Africa. Well, we had been so busy that we really haven't had a chance to clean the poor thing! The entire interior was covered in red-dust, and a leak in the sunroof (one of the drains got plugged) meant that water intrusion had turned it all to mud!!!
My mom got to work cleaning, while I got to work getting it running and ready for the trip:
(light bar got ripped off on the Africa run, almost none of the connectors survived but the dang lights did!)
Anyhoo, I mentioned "getting it running" well I noticed that when I got back from Africa the battery in the Toyota was spilling out of its vents. If that wasn't bad enough, it didn't have any charge left either. Initially I put it on the battery charger, but thinking better I eventually just pulled the Optima Red-Top out of the Mazda. I figured if the battery was spilling out the vents, then some of the cells must have gotten damaged during the rallye and I did not want to run a road-trip with that risk.
Next up was the packing! it started off simple enough:
The idea was simple: Put presents in trash bags to protect them from the leaking sun-roof and from any remaining red-dirt (that stuff was impossible to completely get rid of!), and stuff them in the back Tetris style!
(Hey, Santa may have a magic red bag to put his toys in, but here in 4-Runner land we have to use what few trash-bags we got)
Except we instantly realized we were going to run out of room (it wasn't even close). We briefly considered bringing a second vehicle, but decided to pull out the 4-Runner's secret weapon instead (I've been hoping I could do this for like 3-runs now )
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the "First Gen 4-Runner's party piece":
ooooooh yeah. The sky was the limit, and we were DETERMINED to get there. And if you thought Vikki was shocked the last time she saw this thing loaded up, you should have seen her when we pulled up to the curb this time! But I digress. First things first:
Inside the truck, the driver's seat was still VERY WET. I had no idea the roof was leaking, and I haven't had a chance to even open a DOOR on this poor truck for weeks now. Instead of worrying about it, I just decided to line the driver's seat with trash bags as well.
I gotta head to work shortly after this, but ultimately we were able to get everything in the trunk. We even added candy bags for each kid and a box of christmas candy for each mom. Going back over the list, we also purchased more diapers (we figured about 2-packs for each child) and some baby formula (we bought 3 boxes each for the two children who needed them).
Unfortunately my appropriately sized tarp is being used at a house we currently have under construction, so I had to use our GIGANTIC sized tarp to cover everything (this involved several tricky folds to get it to fit within the truck's footprint):
Um, quick note: What you see there on the back of the truck was directed at the two team members who decided to hop in the truck with me and drive down the west coast of Africa, despite the three of us having never met each other (Stranger Danger!). It was a running joke, and I didn't have time to scrape stickers
Anyhoo:
That's that. We're loaded up and ready to go. I work till 11pm, and the alarm is set for 3:30. By 4-o'clock tomorrow, we're Eastbound and down!
Wish us luck, y'all
The alarm goes off right on time, but even with all the prep from the day before we're still running late.
Coffee is made and snacks are packed. A few last minute items are tossed in the bag, and of course we grab a few more pieces of winter gear. I'm from the Pacific Northwest and Christmas crossings across the Cascade mountain passes to visit family were a regular thing throughout my childhood. Every time we went we brought lots of extra clothes, food, water, and lots of extra blankets. This time we're packing the same way (If we break down, we want to have a way to eat, drink, and stay warm). Normally bringing extra bulky items like this would mean less space available for our delivery, but with the roof off it just means we have to stretch the tarp and net a little further.
Easy peasy.
Speaking of the tarp, when it was originally installed we used some SUPER strong duct tape (seriously, if you put this on your arm it'd take the skin off) to tape down the leading edge of the tarp to the cab of the truck. The idea was to keep rain and cold air from getting under neath of it and coming in the truck. Well, I guess that tape (which I used to some pretty serious success in Africa) wasn't rated for "tarp" as it had come off completely during the night. Looks like the bit of drizzle we got was all it took. Still, with everything in bags (and with us positioning everything to keep water out, since we were expecting a roof leak) all the gifts were kept dry. Success!
To get around the tape/tarp/leading-edge issue, we tucked the leading edge of the tarp into the cab and used a chain of zip ties to hold it in place. There was a pretty big air gap above the tarp and below the roof that was going to let cold air in (and vent warm air out) but really there was nothing we could do about it now but to head out on the highway and see how our setup holds up...
Well, not quite so "fast" (pun intended). First it's 45-minutes of twisty and narrow B-roads before we hit the M-way. We'll be stuck at 60 or 70kph until then... Which wouldn't be a problem, except we forgot the folder with all our entry paperwork back at the house and of COURSE we didn't realize THAT until we were RIGHT at the M-way...
That means it's been 45-minutes to the "forgot spot", 45 minutes more to get back to the house, and 45 then another minutes back to the M-way... Add in a stop for fuel and we are now 2-hours behind our planned schedule.
Drat.
No problem though because once we're on the highway we can really start cooking, right?
No, we cant... That tarp is making a WHOLE lot of drag for our poor underpowered truck. It's loose in a few spots around the sides and near the tailgate and it is catching a LOT of air. Furthermore, the weather conditions on the highway tell me that we're at a serious risk of hitting black ice (which we do in a couple different areas) so I try to keep things semi-slow-ish in case I need to reign things in under super slipper conditions (which we do, in a couple different areas).
We stop at the first parking/rest area to tuck in the tarp in a few places add a few zip ties. Mrs. Hungary and I have been watching our mirrors like a hawk, and neither of us like how much the air makes the tarp bulge once we're at speed. So the process repeats once we're back on the highway. We watch where it's catching air and pull back over to tuck again and shore things up appropriately. This continues (and continues to delay our progress) until we eventually stop at a fuel-station and switch to bungee cords.
Double drat..
Once sufficiently shored up, things are MUCH better. The truck still seems down on power but I can't tell if it's because of the load, the tarp's aerodynamic drag, an issue with the engine, or all of the above. Fuel consumption is down though and we're drinking to the tune of 15mpg (down from our usual 20-22mpg). I'm not worried about it as long as we keep moving, but shortly after the last picture was taken the roads started to get pretty bad...
That'll be the last picture I take on this side of the border. It hasn't yet snowed where we live and running into it on the highways (which are usually kept pretty clear) was a bit of a surprise. Shortly after the picture was taken, the tracks in the left lane disappeared and we were forced to stay in the right lane (with the semi-trucks, slow traffic, and everything else that impedes progress). 80kph would be the absolute upper limit of what we were able to do from here on out, and even then only in short duration.
I do occasionally pull left to pass slow traffic on the right, but the BF-Goodrich AT KO2 tires I'm running (while amazing tires) aren't a dedicated snow compound and they do get a bit slick when they're on the snow/ice mix. I do try to be careful and only pass when I think it's necessary and also safe to do so. I am beginning to get a bit worried about what the road conditions will be like in Ukraine, though. With everything going on, will they have snow plows out? Should I lock in the hubs now? With the speed we're stuck at, will we make it to our drop spot in time? I decide to wait and see.
It's nearly dark by the time we hit the border.
Drat, and double drat, and triple drat.
Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:The truck still seems down on power but I can't tell if it's because of the load, the tarp's aerodynamic drag, an issue with the engine, or all of the above.
Probably a combination. The two big chunks of brass in the driver's seat add a lot of weight, plus the aero drag from your big red cape...
If you ever have to buy your own beer again, there's no justice in the world.
DarkMonohue said:Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:The truck still seems down on power but I can't tell if it's because of the load, the tarp's aerodynamic drag, an issue with the engine, or all of the above.
If you ever have to buy your own beer again, there's no justice in the world.
It's official: No justice. Not only did I have to pay for the case of beer in my fridge, the darn price keeps going up! 
We cross the border and sure enough, it's dark. Dark and foggy. The snow on the road is clearing up, but we're still not making good time. There's only one lane in either direction and the road is so clogged with cars that passing is impossible. More kms at 60kph...
This is where Mrs. Hungary really shines. She is hands down the best co-pilot you could ask for. Here's the situation:
We had planned on driving 6-hours in country at about 90-100kph. That would put us pretty far east before the 11pm curfew. We have a city that's only 4-hours in country that we set up as our backup stay over but when she's looking at the numbers, neither are going to be anywhere close to being possible. Mrs. Hungary sets to work on the GPS and starts calculating speed vs distance. None of it is good.
We try a few towns along the way and all of them are either way beyond the 11pm curfew time, or too close to cut it. I mean if we only hadn't wasted those 2-hours back in Hungary forgetting our paperwork, we might be able to save this, but dang it. The next and last best option is a big-city that will have us stopping just before 10pm (and we really REALLY do not want to stop that early). Worse, stopping here means we wont get to Dnipro until 5pm the next day at the earliest...
So we chat.
The first thing out of my mouth is "The smartest thing we can do now, is hire a courrier service (like NovaPost) to get these items to Vikki. They'll still get there in 24-hours and she can get them distributed from there"
Aside from feeling like we were absolutely giving up, the devil was still in the details. "What about the EKG machine? The stuffed animals and the baby blankets? How will those get sorted to the families that are supposed to get them? How do we get the rest to the clinic? What happens if things get lost or damaged? what if? What if? What if???
Eventually we get to something productive "What if we punch through that city and just cross our fingers that we find a motel along the way and on the other side? I there's no Motel then we could always just push as close as we can to 11pm and pull into a truck stop. We can sleep in the truck."
This becomes our plan.
Hours tick by and eventually we're through big city. Motels are sparse and eventually it gets close to 10pm. "There are WAY more vehicles on the road this time than there were last time I was here" I note. "Last time, I felt like I was the only car on the road at 10pm..."
We chat some more and observe that there is definitely more traffic than there should be this close to curfew. It's about 50/50 commercial vehicles and passenger cars. Also, we haven't been through any military check points... (this is where we both grow devil horns).
What if we just keep following this semi, and see what he does? Truckers tend to know what they can get away with, and if we're stopped by the police or military then we could always just play stupid.
And this is what we do. We're seriously holding our breath as the minutes tick by. Every fuel station we wonder "is this as far as we're going to push it?" and every fuel station that the truck passes brings a bit more temporary relief.
At 11pm, almost on the dot, the trucker pulls into a fuel station and we follow. We're still motivated and still don't want to stop. We seem to be getting away with this, and we want to keep pushing it. So when a group of three more semis pass by the fuel station, we grab the back bumper of the trailing vehicle and start following. We are now 100% sure we're violating the 11pm curfew, and we just don't care. We run that convoy until jsut before 1:30am and by then we've made up almost all of our lost time. We're just an hour shy of where we wanted to be today, but neither of us have an ounce of energy left to keep movin'. Mrs. Hungary's crunched the numbers again. Looks like Dnipro might be possible by 3:30pm. We're good with that.
We don't leave our seats. We just shut the truck off, lean against the windows, and fall asleep.
We wake up just before 4am the next day. It's cold.
Normally curfew lifts by 5, but since we were able to push so late last night, the idea of moving before it officially lifts doesn't bother us a bit. At one of our fuel stops last night we filled both Jerry cans we brought with us. On my last visit, I noticed that fuel stations didn't really open until 7 or 8am, and I didn't want to waste time this time waiting for fuel. Having the extra 40-liters would mean it wouldn't matter how full our tank was when we stopped, we could pour from the cans and easily get 3-hours of driving in before the fuel stations opened if needed.
At the station we slept at, there was already an attendant (and a customer!) at 4am, so we went with it. We used the bathroom, stretched our legs a bit, did a quick "engine fluid check", and dumped one of the fuel cans into our tank. Mrs. Hungary went to work organizing the cab. Empty water bottles, energy drinks, spent cans of cocacola were strewn everywhere. We're pretty big on recycling so most went into a bag to be taken with us, and things like food wrappers, etc were tossed out in the gas station's trash can.
We noticed that a couple vans had parked in behind us that night, both had "Humanitarian Aid" written on stickers on their front windshield, just like we did. Ukrainian plates though, so unsure if we would have been able to communicate. They took off about the same time we did.
With the fuel and fluids topped up, and a clean cab to sit in, we were able to make good time pointed east. The first thing we noticed was that everything was open. Has the curfew been lifted? The next thing we notice is that the truck is DEFINITELY down on power. It's most noticeable when you go from zero throttle to full throttle in one smooth, slow, sweep.
For the first 5/8ths of throttle transition, the truck sounds like the timing is just a bit off. I can't tell if it's too advanced or too retarded, but it's definitely not firing when it's supposed to be. Then as you transition the throttle through 5/8 to 7/8ths, it has a noticeable miss. Like the timing got worse, or the fuel mix just isn't right (too lean, it feels like). THEN, when you hit full throttle, especially around 2500rpms, the truck clears its throat and runs like a TOP.
It's most noticeable in 4th and 5th gear, as it's the slowest to accelerate through the RPM band in those gears. Thinking back I remember picking up on something being "not right" on my northbound trip through Africa. I guess I put it in the "later later" bin because it didn't feel as bad when the truck was loaded. Having all the stuff in the back really exaggerates things.
It doesn't get worse though, so I decide to push through. I do make a mental note to check my spark plug wires and ignition coil connections the next time I stop (spoiler alert, nothing is found).
All is still good though. Fuel mileage is still suffering, but we're able to stop as needed. I'm in a weird position because of the shift I usually work (1400-2300) where I'm downing coffee and energy drinks to get me through the morning, but come night time I'm wide awake. And that's how it goes today. I'd just finished sipping on Monsters and had just switched to my first couple liters of sparkling water when we decided it was safe to text Vikki.
"We're on our way! ETA at our meeting point is 1500"
(Side note: We each bought a Ukrainian SIM card and topped it up with 300UAH, but neither are working. Instead Mrs. Hungary uses our Tom-Tom GPS to find an Okko or a WOG gas station, where we can use their WIFI. Otherwise, we did discover that our SMS texts still worked).
Of course, no sooner did we send that message, did we hit traffic. It's backed up quite far and is all stopped because of a NASTY construction zone. We're taken off the pavement and on to a pothole filled road with puddles that would absolutely swallow a sedan. Good thing we didn't bring that second vehicle, Mrs. Hungary's Saab Wagon would have had a rough go at this bit.
The truck doesn't mind and we follow an aggressive van driver that seems to know what he's doing. Every time there's a hole in the oncoming traffic, the two of us use the opportunity to pass whoever is in our lane. I could move faster if I were empty, but I'm afraid of those mud puddles. Our entire system of tarps, nets, and trash bags, is set up to keep water falling down on to our gifts from getting in. I have no idea how it would work if water was splashing up from underneath. I practice my breathing skills and proceed with patience (even if it IS killing me to go so slow). At the end of things, we send another text.
"Delayed due to construction, new ETA is 15:45".
We do stop to take a picture though:
Pulling up to the agreed meeting spot, and we're a bit early. We figure we'll have a minute to take the tarp off the truck and get started before Vikki arrives, but when we stop guess who's running up!
It's Vikki, and she has her neighbor with her!
We greet, and then we all look at the truck. I think for the first time we're all realizing how much of a mad-dash this is going to be.
Everything in the truck needs to be unwrapped from its trash bag, sorted so it's with the rest of the gifts to the same family, taken into the office, and sent with the appropriate courier to get it to the family it needs to go to. This needs to be repeated for all 34 families (50 children) and we have exactly 1.5 hours to do it.
Mrs. Hungary had already been thinking of a strategy in the car while we were finishing the last stretch of our drive. Every family has a number on our list (1 through 34). Every gift has the child's name on it, as well as their family number. We'll simply sort families 1-10 in one pile, 11-20 in another, and 20-34 in the last. We can use the GIANT tarp we brought with us as a working surface (we just cant walk on it, for obvious, muddy, reasons...)
From there, Vikki can grab each family number, and take it to the couriers one family at a time.
This is all explained quickly to Vikki who still looks like she's in shock, and we get to work. Our efforts are made more difficult as not each family gets a baby blanket, and we need to make sure each kid gets a bag of chocolate we packed, and every mom is supposed to get a box of candy.
We do the best we could. But after few visits to the office, Vikki comes back with bad news. The attack on Dnipro the day before has knocked out the data network to the facility we're at. They're in there doing everything with a pen and paper. There's no way we're going to get everthing sent by the 1800 deadline, even if we DO have it all unpacked and sorted.
It's already getting dark...
We have less than an hour now, and the truck has been completely unloaded when the news comes in. What do we do??? Staying overnight is absolutely not an option, and even if we did the office wouldn't open back up until 9am. We wouldn't leave Dnipro until almost NOON, which would mean we wouldn't be home until well AFTER our family was supposed to be on a flight home.
We talk.
Vikki says there's another office just up the road we can use, and their network is still up and running. We decide to divide our efforts and load the truck back up. Every family's presents go in a plastic bag. Notes are made on Vikki's spread sheet for families that have multiple bags. Mrs. Hungary and Vikki's neighbor will stay behind to finish the fight with this office, and Vikki and I will head to the next to start the push there.
Once at the new office, we have just over a half-hour and almost exactly 30 families to get sorted. She grabs the presents for one and heads in.
Back at the truck I sort through and grab as many bags as I can. Usually 2 or 3 families at a time (plus the diapers and baby food. Sorry chocolates, you're going to have to wait). From there I wait at the glass-door entrance of the facility until I see Vikki send off her last bag. When she does, I swoop in and drop off the next load. In this way, we're able to make constant, steady, progress.
After at least a dozen of these "ship and reloads", Vikki looks at me and asks "where is the END???"
"There is no end" I reply, and head out for another load.
On one run I get the news I've been dreading to hear: "we have 3-minutes left"
Crap...
I run back out to the truck, and grab everything left. When I look at what's in my hands, I realize it's nothing! I've grabbed a bag of chocolate that we need to find a new home for, and a trash bag full of empty trash bags! (we've been keeping all our trash bags for future use... we're kinda hippies like that).
I run back in and tell Vikki the good news. We're done. We made it, with 3 minutes to spare. Every family's gifts are officially on their way. There's nothing to do now but pray we didn't mess anything up. We head back to the first office to pick up Mrs. Hungary and the gang.
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