Ilmajoki

 by Wiebe

Day 141 | Ilmajoki to Tampere

Day 141 | Tuesday August 2

In Finland the weather can change quickly, yesterday it was around 25 degrees and deep blue sky, today I woke up the sound of thunder.

Goal for today: Kangasala, close to Tampere, one of the biggest cities in Finland. A 210 kilometer drive which I couldn’t make on one charge. My host Michel had a friend in a town under the smoke of Tampere so he called him if I could charge there. He seemed interested in this project so it was oke to go there. He told Michel that he was at work till 6 o’clock so he couldn’t meet me but his wife was there to receive me.

When I got there around 3 and ranged the bell I was surprised that he opened the door. He left his job earlier just to meet me, cool stuff. Marcus, originally from Amsterdam, had been living in Finland since 1998. He met his Finish wife who worked at the embassy in The Hague. Together they got 3 daughters which where about the same age as the 3 sons of Michel. Marcus used to work for Nokia, the infamous Finish mobile phone maker who are nearly dead. He now does the same work for another big international company, designing electrical parts. I joined them for lunch and had homemade blueberry pie as desert, that was already the third time I had that. It seems like it’s part of the daily routine here and if you ask me it should be introduced everywhere.

https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/ms.c.eJwzNTQ3NzQ3MLUwMTY3NjPUMwXzjSxMDQ1MDAxMoXxjAwjfGADkaglv.bps.a.466370933571974.1073741835.211949022347501/517717058437361/?type=3&theater

Then on to the final destination, Kangasala. There was bit of miscommunication, my host entered his address on the map and left a note that this place was still under construction but I could sleep there or at his current house. I forgot that and drove to his under construction house. I didn’t had enough battery to drive to his house but luckily he had an open CEE-red 16A socket so within 30 minutes I had enough to reach his house. My host was Jarkko, a Fin who lives here with his wife, daughter and son. He told me that the house he is building is supposed to be near zero emission.

Jarkko works as an programmer and seems to be very interested in all kinds of technology. He has some gadget in his house which I had never seen before. He was cooking chicken in a pan with some kind of device which keeps it continuously on the same temperature. He doesn’t drive an electric car yet but is very interested in the technology and developments. Sometimes he has to go to Estonia or Sweden for work and than rents a Tesla to get around and he already pre-ordered the Model 3, he is a wise man.

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 by Wiebe

Day 140 | From the beach to the countryside of Ilmajoki

Day 140 | Monday August 1

So July has passed now and in just a month it will get autumn. To only reason that I have to think about this is because I need to be ahead of the winter in Russia. It will get very cold there and it might not be possible to charge the bar then. But I’m right on schedule.

I thanked the nice people from Hotel Seurahoune for their hospitality and left to Ilmajoki, again more into the countryside, my route through Finland has been zigzagging, just as I like it to be. It was about a 170km and here in Finland I am sure that I will make that every time as the roads are very flat, so no range anxiety.

My host was Michel, a Dutch man who found me through a Facebook post of the Dutch Embassy in Helsinki. He lives here with his wife and 3 boys. All big football fans, when I drove up on their road they were playing a game and wearing a Barcelona and Ajax shirt. I felt at home. Michel met his wife in Amsterdam were she was studying for doctor. While in Amsterdam they got their first kid and when she got her master degree they moved to Finland. first they lived a few years in Tampere and later moved to Ilmajoki.

Michel works as an English – Dutch translator. He mainly works from home and tought me how to do this to. Might be useful when I need money some time because you can do this from anywhere you want. Michel does this work fulltime and earns a decent income by now.
His wife just finally finished her doctoral study after 15 years with an specialization in genealogist. 

They life in an idyllic place and they space they have here is unimaginable for me. They believe living sustainable is important and are thinking about getting a wind generator in the garden. The heat in the house they produce with pellet fuel, biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Once a year a big truck comes by and fills a huge storage room with these pellets. A cilinder pumps up the wooden pieces and makes heat from it. There is a tiny amount of co2 released by this but its sucked up by the trees surrounding the house so this makes it carbon neutral, an interesting system.

After dinner we played a 2×2 football “match” with the kids. It was a long time ago I played and enjoyed doing it. I realized I really need to start working on my condition, it’s getting worse every week. I lost 4 kilos though but just because of not eating regularly. Russia is going to be topsport so better stay sharp!

Pictures of today

The Fam's house
from the side
Fam. De Ruyter
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