Off Road Adventure Romania
Perhaps one of the most unique attributes of the off road spirit is that of helping each other, on and off the tracks, whether it's giving a sprocket or a knob to another contestant or people around us who have been disadvantaged, who live in remote areas of the country and have no access to food, water or phone lines. Just the kind of people we could make a better Christmas for. So with these thoughts in mind, the Off Road Adventure Romania Team sets off every year before Christmas to a designated area where we give away food, water and presents for the children.
This year, 46 off road cars and SUVs parked outside one of the biggest shopping centers in Bucharest to get loaded. Some of the people who attended for the first time were rather surprised to see all the cars gathered under one roof (literally one roof, the roof of the parking lot). If there was a car you could think of, it was almost certainly there, from Mercedes SUVs and Land Rover Freelanders to Highly modified contest cars and the surprise of the day, a Hummer H1.
We loaded the cars and set on the way. The night before, some were rather worried that the ice, mud and snow would jeopardize the action. Some of the cars had nothing more than the factory specs and somebody behind the wheel.
We went to Buzau, an already known location from the Musaios Adventure Trophy. The only difference were a couple of dozen degrees missing from the thermometer, perhaps more.
We set on our way, departing from the comfortable paved roads to the off road tracks we got so used to. We rode on mild off road tracks for about 40 kilometers, all cars coped with the terrain beautifully. Everybody enjoyed the ride, some got stuck, some scratched their rides and some just tested the cars. At some point, a voice on the CB Radio said This is a first. The convoy is spread over 7 kilometers!
We managed to get to the village where the mayor and officials were expecting us. We unloaded all the supplies, bread, sausages, detergent, soap, shampoo, cereals and everything that one needs for the house under the careful eyes of the team's mascot, Zara the Berna Sheppard dog. The news spread fast, and everybody helped with the unloading, sorting, packing and sending off the supplies.
Each convoy carried roughly 25 bags, destined to be handed to one single person. The bags contained a unit of everything we carried. Mainly, the people that received the goods were old people. Some forgotten by their families, some poor, some sick, but all unreachable to the world around.
Thank you very much. Nobody comes here anymore and the closest place to buy some food is some miles away.
Are you representing a political party? Nobody brings this much food just out of good will these days! And ruin their cars in the process
I have never seen such American carriages around here in the 78 years of my life.
These are the words that local people greeted us with. Everybody stood in line to receive their ratio of free food. The pleasure and gratitude on the peoples faces was the reward for our effort so far. We had a good time delivering goods and then, tired came back to the camp. Here, the locals waited for us with fresh pig roast, polenta and homemade plum brandy. Everybody enjoyed a lovely weekend out, the good time and the opportunity to help someone close to us.
Radu Tudoroiu
Radu Tudoroiu is a photographer and an editor for 4x4 Off Roads and other publications as well as an off-road enthusiast. Radu lives in Romania.
