Taking the snakes out of their Temporary Box at our Destination, letting them get some natural sunshine.
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On the 17th we finally Hit the Road late in the afternoon. I drove in the 1987 Renault, loaded to full capacity, all the way to the passenger seat. Kalisya drove in the small Mercedes also loaded full in the entire trunk, brownie on the back seats & the 2 pythons on the passenger side.
We stopped to fill both cars up & then made sure our navigation route was synced on both our phones using the same route. We finally then headed out of Luxembourg & within 20minutes had also crossed the border into Germany. We stopped once during our drive about 2 hours in, since KPHI signaled to me she needed to stop, turned out Brownie needed to Pee. We then resumed our Journey, to then finally about 4 hours in, where we encountered our first challenge & obstacle. Our Fellowship bumped into the Nazgul of Mordor.
I was driving gently at about 100km/h with KPHI driving behind me, when all of a sudden I noticed how a police car overtook me, but then drove onto the side of the motorway and continued driving beside my car for a while before slowing down, whereupon I lost sight of them, since I also needed to be concentrated about not missing the next turn I was supposed to take.
After about a few minutes I noticed KPHI was no longer behind me, I drove slower hoping she would catch up and that she had just trailed a bit further behind. But after about 10minutes in I knew for sure something was off, I felt it, I hoped she had just missed the turn, but my gut feeling told me it was something else. I kept following the route whereupon 10 minutes later I received a call from KPHI. She let me know that the police had pulled her aside, stopped the car & were driving with her to the police station. If she was unlucky she would have to wait 24h before being allowed to drive again, she gave me the address where I could meet with her once she had done her trip with the police.
I immediately got off the motorway, pulled aside and put in the address into my navigation. I arrived at a large public parking area, pitch black though with no lights, except for the large police station 2minutes away situated outside in the middle of nowhere.
I waited for about half an hour upon which KPHI returned in a big police van with another car escorting them. They let her out and I climbed into the police van to carry out brownie, who was chilling on the back seats, which was quite a funny sight to witness, wouldn't have thought I'd ever see him being transported like a criminal in a police van, that sight alone was quite worth the whole shittiness of the situation. Turned out the police woman, had noticed 2 luxembourgish cars driving together on the motorway, and just randomly thought it odd, upon which they decided to pull one of us over which happened to be KPHI in the Mercedes rather than me in the old beat-up rusty 1987 Renault. As they asked KPHI some question they thought she was a little shaky, so they insisted on testing her, unfortunately having had smoked the days before our drive, she tested positive for cannabis. Having that result they asked her to leave the car on the side of the motorway to take her for a blood test. It was after the Blood Test that they brought her to me, and even though the results of the test would take at least a week to arrive, they gave KPHI 24hours driving ban & a fine of 350Eur Cash, which acted as a deposit, should the blood test be normal, apparently they would return the fine, they were slightly apologetic about the situation once they saw how much trouble they caused us with the animals.
My Van was overloaded, with only room for one person to fit in the drivers seat, the dog was laying outside, the snakes we crammed into the car, we both were stuck there, with the mercedes still somewhere on the motorway. Before the cops left we asked them if I would not be able to at least go pick up the mercedes so that we might at least sleep in the car & also be able to put Brownie in the car, since spending the night outside at 3°C-4°C would have been miserable for him. They agreed, but I needed to call a Taxi to take me to the Car on the Motorway. After a pleasant drive with the taxi driver who sympathized with the fucked up situation we had been swept into & another 50Euro less, I drove the other car next to mine in the public parking lot & whereupon we spend the night in our individual cars.
18th of March
In the morning we noticed that this was absolute torture for Brownie who with 15 years the travel as such was already stressful enough.
We were in quite a dilemma, we felt it ridiculous that we would have to wait until 21:00pm in the evening before continuing our Journey which was still another 13 hours of driving ahead of us. We remained true to our conscience, which thought it inacceptable to let the Dog suffer through the wait, it would have been borderline animal torture. We just decided to risk it, and drove off.
This time we didn't follow each other anymore, I drove ahead of KPHI, we simply briefed each other where we would meet up for a break. Our first break was sheduled for Austria which was about 3 hours away. Like fugitives we took for the road & headed straight for the border, praying we would not get caught in the act.
God was merciful & we both safely got into Austria without any further trouble. It was a tremendous relief when KPHI got in touch and told me that she too had made it. We met up at the gas station we had decided earlier, celebrated silently the relief and success to have put that whole spectacle behind us.
We decided to continue another 5 hours before meeting up in Hungary. Around 12pm we continued our drive in Austria, direction Hungary. The Austrian landscape was beautiful to drive through, I had gotten a vignette for the motorway, but turned out the navigation decided to take us through the scenic route, driving us through small villages & little cities and through many farm roads.
The last bit was exhausting since it was quite dark, and the streets in Hungary & Croatia have no illumination at night, it was quite tiring and nerve-wracking at times how black it got on the motorway & how little one could see, but I just made it easier on myself by trailing big trucks since most of them drove at the speed of my renault 90-100km/h, or I would use the tail lights of cars that overtook me to have a visual cue of how the street was bending ahead in the distance.
Around midnight KPHI arrived first, I arrived about 15-20minutes later than her, she had already gone inside, the owner of the property had helped her carry brownie into the house using a wheelbarrow, which was the sight I arrived to into the new house, Brownie chilling inside the Entrance of the House like a King on his Parade in the wheelbarrow.
We spent some time chatting with the owner, who showed us where we could sleep & explained some details, whereupon we all went to rest finally. Exhausted from being over 24hours on the Road, but also quietly Excited to find ourselves safe & sound at our destination.
Everyone had mastered the journey, the snakes were fine & seemed the least impacted by the travel, brownie looked exhausted & I believe suffered the most, me & kphi were tired but just pleased to have succeeded in arriving here with the animals safe & intact.
19th of March
The next day we got up, it being Sunday we all just relaxed. We would only begin the paperwork during the week, we got shown around the garden & house though, and by the end of the day both me & kphi agreed that the property will work for us. We had 2 more options but having burned through quite a bit of money just to get here, we could not afford to make a round trip to visit the others, especially with the animals it was really something we only wanted to consider if this property did not work out.
This property drew us in through coincidence & synchronicity, there were many details from the moment we got in touch with the owner about the offer that just seemed to be signs that this place would be the place. We decided to follow our gut feeling & intuition, so we told the owner that we will buy the house on sunday night the 19th during dinner.
We are only 2 days away right now from signing the notary paperwork,after which we will own the property.
Please remember to check out our Fundraiser, and if you are inspired by our vision, then please consider sharing it with your friends, family & social contacts, or if you resonate deeply enough then every contribution will be a tremendous help to get us started here.
Much Love, AEK.
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Croatia Sunset outside the Property we are in the Process of Buying