A dream of mountains and beaches. Now come true! Vancouver to Patagonia 2016

[ofmountainsandbeaches]

Hey everyone!

The story is, me and my girl wanted a 'different' type of vacation. After many late night conversations we noticed the trend of wanting to hike mountains and explore beautiful beaches.. then the question came of where and how and it became obvious that we didn't want to backpack as a couple(not that there is anything wrong with that!) so we opted for the overland style of travel.. then I found expedition portal and with countless hours of reading, we're now prepared as we'll ever be and at the start of our adventure! :wings:

We're Dane & Penny ~ of mountains and beaches

Below is a picture of our rig (Diego) on our way through Oregon. A 1998 Mitsubishi Delica Spacegear (PF6W-LWB/Hi-Roof/V6 Petrol)



I'll try to do my best to keep this updated when we can find wifi. You can also find us on Instagram: @ofmountainsandbeaches or on our webpage www.ofmountainsandbeaches.com

Hope you enjoy the feed!

Cheers,

 

[dougemmett]

GOOD LUCK!!!!! If you're in California and need a cup of coffee I'd love to hear how the trip is going. 917-238-0904 doug

 

[andysgreenxj]

Sounds like a trip of a lifetime! Have fun you guys. Looking forward to many, many trip reports!:coffeedrink:

 

[ykphil]

Our path might cross...if we drive fast enough. we will catch up...wife Midori, myself Phil and Speedo the cat will be leaving Yellowknife in our 1995 "Delicat" turbo diesel 2.8L at the beginning of September. I have the whole summer to get ready, now deciding between building a bed/storage or getting a Roof top tent...a couple of people from here also left last year in their westy, and should be crossing the Darian gap as I am writing this. All the best. I am looking forward to your trip reports especially a general overview of the itinerary you are following!

 

[keko_jones]

:smiley_drive::costumed-smiley-007:victory:

 

[Toyo4Runner]

:26_7_2:

 

[ofmountainsandbeaches]

Thanks for the love guys! Currently set up for a slow down in Antigua, Guatemala. Tourist Police have a secure yard in the middle of the city that allows overlanders to camp for free while we take some spanish classes. Here is a link to show our routing (Password: diego). Basically straight down the pacific coast to the Baja. Ferry over to Mazatlan then the coast again to Escondido, up through Oaxaca and the Yucatan, down through Belize and now here we are!

All has been good safety wise except one sketchy angry mob who took over a toll booth in Chiapas where the 100 stick totin locals demanded 100 pesos (5USD). The actual toll was 50 pesos. Big deal.. stayed calm and paid the pesos for safe passage.

As for the van, it's holding up.. Although, we did blow the radiator in California. Ordered a new one so that delayed us a week or two. No biggie, but wasn't going to risk the big trek south with a patch job. Next up we splurged(500 pesos!) and had mosquito net sewn up so we could have the tailgate open at night in an attempt to stay cool at night. Shortly after we toasted the rear upper control arm bushings(The only bushings we didn't replace in the first place ) on a dirt track road near Puerto Escondido. Now (or should I say since we left fully loaded) the Heavy duty coils we installed are sagging. We've ordered in some airbags to cure this as the bumpstops have punctured holes in the frame. Doesn't look too bad, but it certainly doesn't look good! Lastly, our dual battery set up is failing. Rookie mistake hooking up a deep cycle in parallel to our starter battery. Not sure how I'm going to fix this, but right now I have an Optima Yellow Top that lasts 4-6 hours when it should last 3-4 days. Do I toss it and buy another new then hook it up solely to my 150W solar panel or buy another yellow top as my starter battery? Any wisdom would be appreciated!

Oh yah, I almost forgot that we picked up a mutt in Mexico! Wyatt, a now 6 month old Mexican brown(Perro de Calle). What a beauty and great security!

To sum it all up, here's the good stuff. What we all do it for

 

[ofmountainsandbeaches]

Our path might cross...if we drive fast enough. we will catch up...wife Midori, myself Phil and Speedo the cat will be leaving Yellowknife in our 1995 "Delicat" turbo diesel 2.8L at the beginning of September. I have the whole summer to get ready, now deciding between building a bed/storage or getting a Roof top tent...a couple of people from here also left last year in their westy, and should be crossing the Darian gap as I am writing this. All the best. I am looking forward to your trip reports especially a general overview of the itinerary you are following!

Hey ykphil, great question! I'll post some photos of our set up soon, so you can see but on ugly days and after a busy day it's nice to sit in the bug free area of the van. We have a VW style rock'n'roll bed and have made the front passenger seat swivel however it's not ideal as when the bed is out you can't really do anything but sleep as it blocks the fridge etc. What we've found is we have more than enough storage and packed too much. You can roll in a simple set up, but you would appreciate a bug free hang out area where you can comfortably sit. As we can't really comment on a roof top tent, we do like the security of being locked into the van with the peace of mind of being able to move to the drivers seat to drive away if need be.

 

[calicamper]

Bummer on the springs. Hey your south of the boarder slow down! Ha ha
I just heard about your trip. Sounds like a great adventure.

 

[Explr]

In!