9785 kms traveled so far
60/200 kids sponsored. Send a rural child in India to school by making tax deductible donations at http://happyharriet.co

Today was the much needed “dust, fix, rest, and harass people for donations” day.
It took us a good hour to dust just our belongings in the car (a small crowd gathered just to gawk at our squalor 😂), changed out a flat tire we seemed to have developed overnight, and took the car to a mechanic two streets away. The mechanic was recommended by the crowd. The crowd also helped change the flat. All with no translation. I tend to speak in Telugu because it makes no difference 😂
The mechanic turned out to be a Russian fixing fancy cars, but they were excited to see a beat-up one with a lot of stories. So a bunch of them descended on it and did a thorough check. Found the sump guard on the oil sump side all caved in with the rocks hitting and was now chafing the sump. Unbent, re-welded, and bolted it back in place, changed out the ball bearing on the left front, unbent the rim of the spare, and were all done in 4hrs for a princely sum of $50.

Went to a car wash place where Harriet was cleaned inside and out. I’ve never seen anyone pressure wash the inside of a car, but this little Russian woman with the high pressure wand was a force to be reckoned with 😱

Rest of the day was spent printing car papers, buying supplies and harassing people via email and messenger for donations. All in all, a quiet day.

(Zoom in to see how bent the rims are 😂 These, btw, were brand new 2 weeks ago)