woodienut
New member
First off I had a great time at Overland Expo 2014. Made new friends, ate well, drank just enough, found cool new parts at the vendors, Yada, Yada, Yada
This story starts Sunday night after leaving Overland Expo and going for my second trip the The Grand Canyon. My last time at The Grand Canyon was 50 years ago, I know it's hard for me to even say that! As all of you know that have had the pleasure, it's BIG, beautiful, and more that worth the trip.
After checking with the front gate for camping areas and finding out the park was full I started looking for somewhere outside the park to spend the night.
Heading south on Highway 64, I came up behind a tan camper that was driving slowly and looked to be also searching for a campsite as well. When they pulled off the road I pulled behind them the drive got out the same time I did, I asked him if he knew any place to camp?
Thanks for following along this far in the story, it gets better I promise!
The young man's name was Erich he was traveling with his wife Armguard (that's her name, I double checked the spelling) They were from, are you ready for this? AUSTRIA! Fortunately his English is better than my German/Austrian. They had some notes scratched on a piece of paper, "Fire Road #688" I spotted the fence post with a small sign that said FR 688, bingo! He said he was told that he could camp down this road, so he followed he in to some awesome campsites!
After spending some time getting to know each other, looking over their very cool camper, he checking out my trailer. We decided to eat dinner together and talk about our travels.
As I mentioned they're from Austria right? They left Austria 1.5 years ago starting IN Austria, driving south thru Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria (had his pocket picked in Bulgaria, keep in mind this was the ONLY issue the rest of the trip). On thru Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, OK you get the idea. They crossed Africa, twice, all the way to South Africa.
Putting the modified Toyota Land Cruiser on a boat and sailed three weeks to Uruguay South America. At this point my mouth is dropped open permanently! Driving south to Ushuaia, then heading north thru Chile, Peru, on to Columbia, across the Darien gap to Panama. Continuing north thru Costa Rica, Nicaragua, on to Mexico, in to the USA.
The plan is to continue north to Fairbanks, Alaska, back down thru Canada, south thru Minnesota, around Chicago, to DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Maine, back into Canada, Nova Scotia. Back on a boat and on to Europe.
Now the punchline...this "young" couple are 70 years old!
How's THAT for a trip of a lifetime!!
See the photo's of the camper he built HIMSELF, ALL of it, stainless front bumper, cases inside, outside shell, Armgard sewed the canvas popup sides...
This story starts Sunday night after leaving Overland Expo and going for my second trip the The Grand Canyon. My last time at The Grand Canyon was 50 years ago, I know it's hard for me to even say that! As all of you know that have had the pleasure, it's BIG, beautiful, and more that worth the trip.
After checking with the front gate for camping areas and finding out the park was full I started looking for somewhere outside the park to spend the night.
Heading south on Highway 64, I came up behind a tan camper that was driving slowly and looked to be also searching for a campsite as well. When they pulled off the road I pulled behind them the drive got out the same time I did, I asked him if he knew any place to camp?
Thanks for following along this far in the story, it gets better I promise!
The young man's name was Erich he was traveling with his wife Armguard (that's her name, I double checked the spelling) They were from, are you ready for this? AUSTRIA! Fortunately his English is better than my German/Austrian. They had some notes scratched on a piece of paper, "Fire Road #688" I spotted the fence post with a small sign that said FR 688, bingo! He said he was told that he could camp down this road, so he followed he in to some awesome campsites!
After spending some time getting to know each other, looking over their very cool camper, he checking out my trailer. We decided to eat dinner together and talk about our travels.
As I mentioned they're from Austria right? They left Austria 1.5 years ago starting IN Austria, driving south thru Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria (had his pocket picked in Bulgaria, keep in mind this was the ONLY issue the rest of the trip). On thru Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, OK you get the idea. They crossed Africa, twice, all the way to South Africa.
Putting the modified Toyota Land Cruiser on a boat and sailed three weeks to Uruguay South America. At this point my mouth is dropped open permanently! Driving south to Ushuaia, then heading north thru Chile, Peru, on to Columbia, across the Darien gap to Panama. Continuing north thru Costa Rica, Nicaragua, on to Mexico, in to the USA.
The plan is to continue north to Fairbanks, Alaska, back down thru Canada, south thru Minnesota, around Chicago, to DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Maine, back into Canada, Nova Scotia. Back on a boat and on to Europe.
Now the punchline...this "young" couple are 70 years old!
How's THAT for a trip of a lifetime!!
See the photo's of the camper he built HIMSELF, ALL of it, stainless front bumper, cases inside, outside shell, Armgard sewed the canvas popup sides...
