Sisua Rajalle - Part 3 - The Baltics

After a night of short but good sleep, we headed south, down the Via Baltica. With so many vehicles, there was a great risk that someone would be left behind in a restroom somewhere when the rest of the group departed, so we developed a startup procedure where each vehicle was given its own number, and before departure, everyone reported their readiness (or lack thereof) over the radio. Initially, it didn't go smoothly, but when one of the vehicles failed to start and was left stranded at a gas station while everyone else had left due to these issues, everyone understood why it was important to follow the instructions. However, the stranded vehicle was soon started again, and caught up with us after about half an hour or so.

When we arrived in Riga, the fire truck and a smaller car made a detour to a company that sells firefighting equipment. It happened to be Latvia's Independence Day, but the owner was kind enough to come and open up for us anyway. One thing I've noticed is that most people are very helpful when they hear that what we're doing is volunteer work for Ukraine. People really want to assist and be a part of it, whether it's small things like coming to help change winter tires or acquiring entire cars, often from completely private funds! Anyway, we got about twenty new fire hoses loaded, as well as some various adapters and a proper water cannon. Not everything we had ordered was available at such short notice, but we agreed to order items in advance for possible future deliveries, so they have the chance to get everything for us. After the little detour, we drove out to a predetermined rest stop where the rest of the convoy had eaten lunch and were waiting for us. After we also had a bite to eat, we journeyed on.

Besides picking up another driver in Riga, not much happened during the 670 km journey from Tallinn to Suwałki where we then spent the night. We had quite heavy rain all the way through Latvia and Lithuania, but that too ended by the evening.