To the Arctic Ocean via the Dalton Road

[geovalue]

Great story, love the titan... if you dont mind I want to share this in a titan forum titantalk.com

it looks like beside the airbag and leafspring nothing else went wrong with the truck... Glad you guys made it home....

Yes nothing went wrong with the truck. The after market Firestone airbags needed replacing after 40,000km and at that time we added an extra leaf spring as additional support. We did regular scheduled services along the way, (oil change, air filter, check all fluid etc.) as well replacing brake pads once. We were really amazed at the Nissan's off road capabilities. It is great to drive both on the highway and off road.

Yes please do share our experiences with the Nissan Titan on any related forum.

 

[seahaul]

Tom and Janet, did you consider the tundra at all, and if so why did you choose the Titan? I thought I remember you saying that size was a factor.
also did you consider the four wheel campers and what was your opinion there? I think you camper "looked" better?
thanks!

 

[beartrap]

emigrating to canada question

followed your trip and commented previously how great it was.....you mentioned that both of you were from South Africa and had emigrated to Canada.....do you mind elaborating on why you left South Africa?(given recent history there I certainly understand if you prefer not to)...

 

[geovalue]

Tundra or Nissan

Tom and Janet, did you consider the tundra at all, and if so why did you choose the Titan? I thought I remember you saying that size was a factor.
also did you consider the four wheel campers and what was your opinion there? I think you camper "looked" better?
thanks!

Actually when we first considered our Alaska to Argentina trip we considered a Land Cruiser with roof top tent but very soon realized that would not be a good decision for the Americas. So had to look at other options.

We seriously considered the Tundra and also the Ford 150 and the Nissan Titan. All trucks we considered were clearly capable of doing an Alaska to Argentina overland trip. So it came down to the best deal. The Nissan Titan had the best stock off road package, so we did not have to incur extra cost to enhance off road capabilities. It had the largest payload of the 3 trucks. It met all our criteria. It was also most affordable. Having now completed our trip we can say, "It was the right decision."

The Nissan Titan has 2 small design features that irritated us. The central console opens up towards the driver so when the passenger is trying to get something out of the console it is pain. It is driver friendly but not passenger friendly. When opening any of the truck doors the cargo bed lights came on automatically, this draws a strong current from the battery (5amps) which can drain a battery in a couple of hours if not switched off. There is no easy way of permanently switching off this automatic feature.

Yes we considered other pop up campers including the Four Wheel Camper. We visited owners of both FWC and Outfitters. We were in contact with both manufacturers.
The FWC interior design was not as functional as the Outfitter in meeting our needs. We wanted some small modification done based on our African overland experience. FWC told us they were unable to meet our needs whereas the Outfitter worked closely with us to modify the camper to fully meet our needs.

Our research was all done in 2009 and things may have changed since then with regards to both trucks and campers. If we were starting from scratch we do the same research ask the same questions to dealers and manufacturers as products change.

Below is a link to a write up we did on Expo Portal about choosing the truck.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/vehicules/57-nissan/311-nissan-titan-as-an-expedition-vehicle.html

We will add some photos of the inside of our camper when it arrives back in Canada, showing some of the mods we did.

 

[seahaul]

Actually when we first considered our Alaska to Argentina trip we considered a Land Cruiser with roof top tent but very soon realized that would not be a good decision for the Americas. So had to look at other options.

We seriously considered the Tundra and also the Ford 150 and the Nissan Titan. All trucks we considered were clearly capable of doing an Alaska to Argentina overland trip. So it came down to the best deal. The Nissan Titan had the best stock off road package, so we did not have to incur extra cost to enhance off road capabilities. It had the largest payload of the 3 trucks. It met all our criteria. It was also most affordable. Having now completed our trip we can say, "It was the right decision."

The Nissan Titan has 2 small design features that irritated us. The central console opens up towards the driver so when the passenger is trying to get something out of the console it is pain. It is driver friendly but not passenger friendly. When opening any of the truck doors the cargo bed lights came on automatically, this draws a strong current from the battery (5amps) which can drain a battery in a couple of hours if not switched off. There is no easy way of permanently switching off this automatic feature.

Yes we considered other pop up campers including the Four Wheel Camper. We visited owners of both FWC and Outfitters. We were in contact with both manufacturers.
The FWC interior design was not as functional as the Outfitter in meeting our needs. We wanted some small modification done based on our African overland experience. FWC told us they were unable to meet our needs whereas the Outfitter worked closely with us to modify the camper to fully meet our needs.

Our research was all done in 2009 and things may have changed since then with regards to both trucks and campers. If we were starting from scratch we do the same research ask the same questions to dealers and manufacturers as products change.

Below is a link to a write up we did on Expo Portal about choosing the truck.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/vehicules/57-nissan/311-nissan-titan-as-an-expedition-vehicle.html

We will add some photos of the inside of our camper when it arrives back in Canada, showing some of the mods we did.

Thanks for the feedback guys, again great great trip, info, pictures etc. etc.

regards,

 

[geovalue]

followed your trip and commented previously how great it was.....you mentioned that both of you were from South Africa and had emigrated to Canada.....do you mind elaborating on why you left South Africa?(given recent history there I certainly understand if you prefer not to)...

Yes we were both born in South Africa. We were married, had kids and worked in Southern Africa before immigrating to Canada. We both loved South Africa, Tom loved being a exploration geologist and we loved our lives exploring and living in the wilderness of Southern Africa.
We immigrated to Canada in 1979 because we did not support the apartheid system. We still love that country even more so now that apartheid is gone. We are actually hoping to get back there next year to see family and friends.

 

[Bad Karma]

We are actually hoping to get back there next year to see family and friends.

ship the truck to London and drive down!

 

[geovalue]

ship the truck to London and drive down!

Well we might ship the truck to London but head east not south. (done that). We are now looking at Asia and the best way to explore that part of the world. We started our research and learnt this week Iran no longer allows foreign registered diesel vehicles into the country. It is a weird world.

 

[geovalue]

Although we have finished our Alaska to Argentina overland trip, we are still busy completing editing all the video footage we took. It will take a few months to complete them all. Here is the latest release showing the beautiful country on route to and around Machu Picchu.


We want to wish you all a happy new year and safe travels in 2012.

 

[geovalue]

Nissan Titan and Camper Missing in High Seas

It seems as if our truck and camper are off on their own adventures. We bid them farewell in Chile, after securing them into a shipping container and we headed back to Canada to wait our reunion which was scheduled for December 29th 2011. Oops did we get the year wrong did they mean 2012?

December 29th came and went, but no ship and no container. We went online and tracked our shipping container to Panama. OMG the container had been off loaded in Panama. Some of you may recall our Panama shipping experience, when they refused to load our truck camper and after much wrangling we managed to load it ourselves.

We were right to panic, the container was to be reloaded and transferred to another ship but the Panama dock workers damaged the container with a fork lift. Why are we not surprised! The container they claimed, was now too damaged to be loaded onto a ship. Eek what about the contents, our Nissan and camper. No damage they claimed and promised to send photos, we are still waiting for those. The Nissan had to be removed from the damaged container and transferred to new container. We held our breath will they refuse to load it this time, would we need to fly the “Squeeze Team” to Panama to rescue our Nissan?

We breathed a sigh of relief when we received an email detailing the new container number and ship’s name. Except when we tried to track the container, (yes you can track containers and ship on the internet) we found it not in Panama but in Bogota Colombia!!

International phones call were made, emails flew through the ether. Nobody seems to know where our truck camper is. Not very reassuring but we remain optimistic. When shipping our Land Cruiser from the Cameroon in Africa it went off on its own adventures for 5 months, without telling us where it was but eventually made it way home.

We are not sure when the truck will arrive. We have had several dates in fact we have had several names of ships it is supposed to be on as well.

I have a message for our Nissan.

“If you see this post know that we still love you so please come home or just call to tell us you are safe.”

Missing Reward Offered


Please Come Home We Promise to Keep You Warmer This Time


For those who missed the Panama Shipping episode here is that shipping story

We will remain Optimistic
Safe travels all

 

[slooowr6]

Although we have finished our Alaska to Argentina overland trip, we are still busy completing editing all the video footage we took. It will take a few months to complete them all. Here is the latest release showing the beautiful country on route to and around Machu Picchu.


We want to wish you all a happy new year and safe travels in 2012.

Thanks for sharing the video, really appreciate it. It's very well made.

 

[geovalue]

New Video

Here is the latest video of out attempt to make it into the Amazon Rain Forest in Peru, and our visit to the fabled floating villages in lake Titicaca.
Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NTDlO-3pSA

 

[fisher205]

Has the Nissan found you yet? or has it at least sent postcards from interesting ports?

Brad

 

[geovalue]

Nissan Finds Its Way Home After 65,000km and a Month at Sea

Has the Nissan found you yet? or has it at least sent postcards from interesting ports?

Brad

Yes our Nissan arrived back safely in Calgary this week, Tom flew out to Vancouver to pick up the truck and camper. The Nissan was in great shape and after a check up at a Nissan dealer in Vancouver all it needed was an oil change. The camper had some minor damage, such as broken lights but otherwise also is in good shape. Tom arrived back in Calgary after driving over the snowy Rocky Mountains and declared, "That was the most stunning drive I have driven since we left Calgary in June 2010" Yes folks it is true, Canada Rules!

We are thrilled to have our Nissan and camper back, however we have our world map back out even before we have finished unpacking.

Vancouver Port


Nissan In Canadian Customs


Road Closed Due to Avalanche. Dont you just love Canada!


We have Come a Long Way


More travel plans are in our future. Asia we hear you calling!

We have updated our blog
http://www.adventurouspirits.com/nissan-finds-its-way-home-after-65000km/

Safe travels all

 

[AmericaOverland]

Wow!! What a journey! It took me nearly three days to get through this thread! I read here, watched the videos, and read the blog entries on your web site. A question for you, though... Did Overland Journal provide funding for the trip? I couldn't help but notice the advertising on Tom's head in some of the photos! LOL!

You know, this being a VERY long trip, it must have been hard to come home. How did you handle it? I don't handle that part of a trip very well these days. On my last trip out of state, I was gone for over two weeks. It was a crushing disappointment to see the trip end, even though I was getting home three days later than I planned. I cried the last 30 minutes, in fact. I was very thankful for the extra 3 days through planning with work. I couldn't and still haven't entirely readjusted back to being home once again 5 months later. I'm still e-mailing mainly from the phone, even though it's faster on the computer, and I download mail every four or five days to the computer instead of every hour or so like I used to. I turned away mostly from the financial research I used to do during the trip. It made me realize that the memories of a trip and the experience of traveling are far more important to me. I was contacting my sources and closing down the relationships as I traveled each day.

It looks like Tom has the right answer. Get back out on the road soon. Give yourself time to rest and plan out your next trip. It's kind of like how my Mom handled the loss of a pet; she got another one right away.

My suggestion to you is to reconsider buying that house, unless you need it because you need a place to stay warm during the winter. Remember, you can't take the house with you when it's time to go. You could take your memories, though.

It's stories like yours that keep me sane during the winter, when I have to be close to home for work and saving money for traveling in the near future.

Thanks!