2017 JKU Big Bear - Stock to Overland Build

[TTEPHOTOS]

So. It has been a super long time since I have updated you guys.. I am now home from a year in Turkey and from the trip I last posted about.. here is some of what happened!



This is the misadventure of my "sixty-day" trip to Turkey turned five month COVID surprise. In March 2020, I was set to take a month-long trip leading multiple trucks with my organization Tents+Tread into Morocco. Following that, I would break away solo and zip over to Slovenia. From there, I planned to continue along the Trans European Trail for another 25-day journey into Turkey. Once I arrived, I was due to start work in Izmir and use it as a base for travel in-country. In early March, I snapped the above image around 24 hours before departing on my planned adventure. Mainly to show what the Jeep looked like for such an undertaking and because I had just wired up the new Baja Designs lights and was rather excited. You can actually see the water tower on base in the background. I slept in the truck that evening, counting it as "day zero." You see, at this time, I had already had movers pack all my things weeks prior and was now moved out of my temporary living facility. The following day I would depart my local command and head south to meet the ferry in Portsmouth. From there, I would connect to Santander, Spain, a regular connection made by British Overlanders.

I can still remember how excited I was in this shot. I had not only managed to secure 63 days of leave (something relatively rare in the US Military). I was finally actually on that leave, starting an adventure I had spent months mapping and planning. Most importantly, though, I finally saw Spanish land. After 20hrs of sloshing around, getting my first taste of seasickness, no one was happier to see that the journey was ending. I had opted to take the ferry to save time. I wanted a few nights in the Picos De Europa or Portugal before meeting with the other trucks to make our way into Morocco. This seemed like the best way to go about that; I could sleep the whole way even! I had not been informed about how horrible conditions were prevalent along the route through the Bay of Biscay and was apparently due to get first-hand experience. Going back, I would have gladly driven as it was hell. I took this quick shot and headed down to prep the truck. I was very excited to load the Jeep off the boat and hit the road into the mountains, blissfully unaware of the storm coming in less than 24 hours!

After offloading the truck, I wasted no daylight exploring the Picos De Europa. The area is stunning, and even along its paved roads, I found myself stopping to snap photos like this one.

Undeniably a favorite shot of my entire trip and right at the start of a track that would end up unknowingly securing me away from a world collapsing around me. The day in this valley was a perfect traveler's bliss.. the Instagram version of Overlanding, made completely real for a day. No signal, unaware of anything outside this valley, and with great light and weather for photos, I spent a few hours exploring its hidden gems...


This little spot before a small abandoned village would later become camp in the dead of night. I ended up discovering the hard way that snow was still rather deep on the trail a few hours after I took this and would need to backtrack here.


The village before the ascent.



I must have sat here for the entirety of sunset. The light coming down the valley produced excellent colors for the evening golden hour. I couldn't stop shooting and was probably a third of the way down the track at this point, and more than halfway from where I would need to decide to push deep snowdrifts on a trail solo in the dark was a bad idea.

It was worth "wasting" daylight to take this in, though... and in my head, I figured, hey, why spend the money on enough lights to turn zero dark thirty into mid-day if you're not going to use them, right?

This shot was taken the following morning back at that stream; it seemed the day already knew what it had in store for me. From here, I packed up camp and backtracked all the way out of the track. Shooting into a town looking for some local grub to try before deciding if I was going to shoot east along the Spanish coast (Asturias Region) or simply go dead south to Portugal and use my extra few days along its shores and trails. Well, that was my thinking then, at least...

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

COVID ADVENTURE CONT.

I managed to find food and enjoyed this dish of Fabada Asturiana, local comfort food in a small restaurant. What I also discovered now that I was back in civilization was that, well, simply put, I had come out of those mountains into a completely different world. I had texts and calls from no less than 40 people. Command was reaching out, my other trucks were contacting me, friends from all over were exploding. You see, today was the longest day of a lot of our lives... European countries were closing their borders by the hour. Moroccos ferry had already shut.

Any route I had back to my previous base was soon to slam shut as well. I made some calls and started to head north before doing the math on borders and the likelihood of getting anywhere far. Once that set in, I decided I needed to stop driving and consolidate to determine what really to do and inform who I needed of what was going on...

I chose the northern coast; it was close, and a middle distance for the Spanish border to France or a shot south to Portugal. The weather fit the day perfectly. The rain was coming down hard, and the waves slammed the coast. I was so tied up calling contacts that I didn't even pop the tent that night. My entire night was spent contacting command to get any information they could offer on what was coming. I had unknowingly made myself perfectly prepared for this modern-day apocalypse and placed myself directly in it. I say this because I had a capable vehicle, sure. Still, I also have to say never undervalue your network. Friends with connections all over allowed me to quickly start making judgment calls on what rumors I thought would soon become facts.

"Quarters" while sorting everything out on the Spanish coast. Basic but effective. I had a need to stealth camp in a city in mind when designing it, but when the weather is thrashing you, and you can't be bothered to set up in the rain, it is just as valuable.

A basic rundown of the evening/next morning was this.

Germany had announced that they were shutting the border. Spain and France had done the same, and a contact in the Austrian government let me know that they would be following Germany's lead. When I Combined all this information with the situation in Italy, the decision was made for me. My way west to easier-going countries was quickly turning into a risky adventure or all-out pipe dream. Command had nothing to offer either; my Captain and Chief could only say the situation was very "fluid," and nothing was the same one hour to the next. I was instructed to do my best to make it to my next posting as soon as realistically possible and to track expenses. I was now off leave status and on Temporary Duty status as far as the government was concerned. This is because if it were at all possible, I would have returned to my previous command until logistics could be sorted to get me into my next. This was probably the most grounding moment as it's not often someone in the military is told candidly, "cowboy it and keep us updated on your situation." If I am honest, it was great to hear. It meant the situation was actually quite serious. However, because of this seriousness, I just needed to focus on the actual situation and not on what the military would make of it; they would not be interfering.

Anyone with experience serving will know what I'm talking about here. With all the trucks headed to Morocco accounted for and no one else departed, the trip was officially canceled. Some conversations were had with folks local to my area about "worst-case situations." Still, mostly it was me explaining that this is happening, and I think it's serious, so prepare while you can if you're not locked down already. Should things worsen, we will chat over Satcom and determine a meet point. The closest truck to me was a friend in Lisbon who had a Defender. After a bit of research, it seemed that Portugal was not in a rush to lock up, so this made it my best candidate for refuge.

I put the truck in drive and informed him that I was headed his way. On the phone, during my drive South, I was told he had his vehicle in the shop still to prepare it for the trip. A frank talk about why he might want to get his truck and food for an extended stay occurred. I made the 8 or so hour drive to him, and then we would sort out a game plan based on what had developed in that time at his flat in Lisbon.

Lisbon is a gorgeous city, and I came at a perfect time... HAH, we ended up pretty lucky with a few days before the city went totally dark. It took Lisbon about three days to really lock up and go "ghost town," so I got to see a Lisbon basically with only locals about and limited even in that aspect. Guy and I decided we didn't really want to be in the city if things got really weird. Due to both having already been prepped to live out of our trucks for at least a few weeks, we sorta said, hey ******** it, let's hit Portuguese tracks and camp it out till things settle. We can sort out what to do then; if nothing weird happened, I would be able to head to Turkey, and Guy would return to work.

Look! People outside with no masks. I will say, though, even for the few locals out and about at restaurants open, there was just kinda this something in the air. You could just tell everyone was aware that cities and countries were locking up all over the world; Lisbon had an immense "calm before the storm" vibe at this time.

The weird atmosphere didn't deter us from enjoying our new ability to stop and snap pics in the middle of what is usually a traffic-filled busy street, though... Erie but awesome...

We kicked off pretty quick, hopping between tracks on the coast and inner parts soaking in the sun while our friends hit us up about their apartment's dire depressing, and stale vibes. It was great to be out and about, and I can't shy away from saying that we were enjoying the privilege. Sure, it wasn't Morocco and the trip we had been excited to do for months, but it was something. With all the messages we were receiving, it wasn't hard to remind ourselves that this was better than being locked up like others back in the UK or just across the border.

Something to be said about being ready to enjoy the apocalypse like a dream vacation, right? The trucks had fridges for our food, solar to power them, and our other electronics. We had satellite and local radio comms just in case, air compressors for our tires, recovery gear in case we got into a pickle. Hell, I had enough medical supplies to sort out a small squad after a firefight in my truck alone. We had the complete works fancy roof tents, awnings for shade, you name it. Our trucks could go anywhere and sustain ourselves there for as long as we had food.

I can honestly say I remember jokingly justifying a few of the above purchases with that doomsday "prepper" mentality when building the Jeep over the past years. I think every man does this from time to time to justify some new adult toy they want to their wife or themselves. However, none of us honestly believe we will be in that situation, right? The answer here was that actually, in a sorta-kinda way, yes, I was using it for that scenario. It made this situation all the more ironic. I couldn't help but laugh and go, "well, I guess I was right."

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

COVID ADVENTURE CONT.

I mean, my command was briefing up the chain about my situation, and the initial reaction to "this guy is living out of his truck" was apparently very interesting. More interesting had to be following that statement with "don't worry about him at all." I wish I could have been in the room when they went about explaining how I was good to go and even enjoying myself more than most of them in the room. My Instagram/social media became a source of morale for my old unit for a fair long while, and we enjoyed the daily jabs back and forth.

"Hard times" lemme tell ya..

I remember passing two hikers that took issue with the fact we had our engines running. We were part of the climate change problem etc. The irony that this woman who resides in a whole house in a city is complaining about the two homeless dudes in their trucks had us both a little giggly...

So after a while camped up and scouring the news, it became increasingly obvious things were not going to return to normal. Guy was still employed and would soon need to be returning to his zoom meetings. The only issue was he had taken advantage of the Airbnb refund ordeal and got out of his lease in Lisbon. His original plan was to head to a camper he had in France after our travels, but that relied on things becoming more regular, not more extreme. In the time we had spent out on the trail waiting for normal to return, things had gotten worse.

Actual lockdowns had begun. Checkpoints had sprung up, legal travel restrictions had started, the whole ordeal we have all become accustomed to had begun. So, we needed a solution, especially with the country soon on the lookout for anyone outside their homes; we were in a weird spot. If you approached a border, you were asking for a fine or jail, and travel even inside the borders was iffy or risky depending on how you read the advisements. So.. What do you do in that situation? Sure we could carry on camping, but that would make work hard for Guy and explaining fuel runs, etc., all the more difficult. So Guy suggested reaching out to Airbnb properties and securing one at a negotiated discount. He could work, and we could chill a bit more to sort out something long-term.

I didn't mind camping, but with him heading back to work, doing it alone would be a different situation altogether.

We hopped on Airbnb and shot messages to all the holiday homes asking if they were open to negotiating on price now that those tourists would not be showing up. I was cool with locking down a place but had some reservations. We would only do it if it was an upgrade to our current situation. Additionally, my background instilled a growing concern over the number of unemployed humans. No paychecks for a large part of the population coupled with news from larceny and protests starting in pockets of Italy began to make me crave a bit of extra security. After all, we were parking 50+ thousand dollar vehicles in a town or city, basically the worst place in that situation.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

COVID ADVENTURE CONT.

We went big, hitting up the most excellent, clearly "holiday home" properties only. We figured these folks would be the most likely to negotiate, and it was the most significant upgrade. It is a bit ******** to be hitting up 500$ a night properties offering to barely cover their mortgage. Still, the way we saw it, you're not negative on income at least, someone is there to watch the house if things get really bad, and we get a nice luxury spot. Considering they usually pull in thousands a month off tourists, I didn't feel too bad lowballing them.

We wanted to secure a pool and some excellent views. Still, most importantly, I wanted off-street parking with a preference for high-security walls to hide our vehicles and multiple exits to exfil if needed. Basically, I wanted a compound or as many features of one that I could find. If you don't have an embassy, secure one, right? That thinned the heard to basically only the most luxurious spots. Still, apparently, it wasn't that big of a ******** move or that hard either because we had enough replies to actually be picking what places we wanted to go with.

We ended up staying a month here in this incredible, and I mean like, never will stay somewhere this nice in my entire life astonishing villa on the Douro River. Stocked wine bar, 4 bedrooms, pool table, infinity pool, jacuzzi, an on-site vineyard like the complete works, a dream spot. Subpar of an on-site armory, it checked all my security boxes to boot.

This place was north of the 500 a night mark, and I won't list the actual cost out of respect for the hookup, but I can say it wasn't even triple-digit. We made out like some real bandits, to say the least, and when things totally locked up, it was perfect for keeping us sane as the vineyard was a massive space for hikes views, etc..

I mean, come on... What an absolutely INSANE spot. My guys back at the previous station lost their ******** when they saw what I secured in Portugal. I was already a celebrity there for my exploits up to now. My command couldn't even begin to understand what the hell was going on or how I had in the course of a few weeks gone from camping like Bear Grills to living like I was Hollywood. I found out later my gaining command had apparently nick-named me Jack Reacher already because of the situation.

We used our time to kick it back and enjoy life and, frankly, a lifestyle that neither of us will ever return to. Despite getting some W's on Modern Warfare for a month and living it up, we were still going a bit nuts.

My daily routine of "Jamisons in the Jacuzzi" was growing stale despite how awesome that was. We eventually started using our time more productively. We developed a workout schedule, swapped turns cooking meals to keep us busy and not simply on a wild vacation. We started to sort out how we could get moving again eventually, and that became the goal. It started slow because, well, we were living it up. Despite that, examining what exceptions, stipulations, etc., could be utilized to get back on some trails or on the road became my "day job."

We either needed to both get to England or to France for Guy and Turkey for me. Guy connected online to his job; I connected to the news and across calls with my various connections.

The Itch grew stronger every day for me. I had contacts, not in our exact situation, but close enough shooting reports of their lives and cases. Still, similar folks like us were ignored mainly, passed along, or made to be someone else's temporary problem. It just fueled our fire. Plans started to develop to test those rumors safely and determine our level of risk to get somewhere else or to make it all the way back to some sort of home. Our time at the Douro villa was fantastic. Still, both of us were ready for something of a change. The news that pushed us over the edge was when Portugal decided on closing all hotels. Even the legality of what we were doing was in question now, by us and, more importantly, our host.

Left with the reality that no matter what we did, we would be "illegal outcasts." I decided to take a risky venture to scout a few potential border crosses. If even the rural country roads were blocked up, we figured we could use the trail network well into France. We didn't want to do that as it would basically guarantee a fine if caught. I like to stay in the bending area of rule-breaking, not the outright busting category. From France, though, Guy would simply need to negotiate his way onto a ferry or through the Chunnel or shack up at his camper. My plan was to link up with other contacts on the Eastern side of France before scouting my next crossing in the direction of Turkey.

This was the crossing I scouted. Due to rumors that folks were being stopped even on minor roads, I didn't want to risk a flat-out attempt at a crossing until we were ready. So I took a few notes out of the military skills book and conducted a few hours of recon on this and a few other crossings. In the hours I was there, I didn't notice patrols or any checkpoints. That was good news. Hope grew that we would not need to totally ragtag it out and could simply avoid highways out and be, for the most part, minus an unfortunate encounter or two good. I headed back to the villa to report what I found and explain our options. I got Guy's opinions on our chances and worse/best-case scenarios, and then we tossed the dice on the decision.

As you could tell, we packed up. We left early while it was still dark and shot just one or two hours away for a small border crossing and... bad luck! Checkpoint right off the kicker. I think we were at the stop for probably an hour, maybe even two negotiating our passage, explaining the situation, showing passports.. the works. Eventually, we were basically told, "look, if you're going straight through Spain to France, then we can write you this note for other police." Ok, officer, that is what we are doing. Thanks for the help. They explained a few things, made a few calls (assuming someone else's approval to let us through), and sent us off with our passes and instructions.

These instructions boiled down to "show it to them, and wait." Every checkpoint after went a lot like the Star Wars scene with the Jedi on Tatooine. I was Obi-Wan, and Guy was Luke. "These aren't the droids you're looking for." Let them pass. They are France's problem. This was a relief because we were clear to travel but also because we basically had our answer for getting anywhere. Get stopped negotiate and explain for an hour or so and eventually be ************ off to be delt with by someone else.

Jedi mind tricks do work in the real world. We continued on through Spain, gasping as we slipping through downtown San Sebastian at nearly 55 Mph due to zero traffic or people at all. Once a traffic-ridden mess, the city was now empty enough to be the set of I Am Legend 2. We were stopped on highways, at gas stations, in the cities, and finally at the French border.

Everywhere it was the same. "Hey were homeless living in these trucks till we can get somewhere that we are legally able to settle for a little while," France instructed us that we could not leave the highway and sent us off.

Eventually, we bent the rules a bit, as we do, and stopped up at the Dune of Pilat for a night's rest. We had been driving non-stop all day and knew that area from previous trips. We had at least another day of none stop driving ahead of us. This shot and the couple after were from that camp. Beaches had been made illegal in France to avoid anyone wanting to go out. We knew this far into the lockdown it would be a ghost town. No one is really looking for a few weary travelers stringing up a hammock and grilling a few sausages on a beach that long was locked up.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

The biggest dune in Europe was empty, and nature was quickly reclaiming some of the helipads and shops. We enjoyed a lovely sunset and planned for the following day. Guy was going to move to a camp he had a camper sat at in northern France and then reach out for an exemption to travel back to his home country of England. I would shoot East to a friend who had offered his "family home" as a place to crash for an evening or however long I needed.

He was crashing there with a few friends from Paris because it had open pastures, a little pond, and some land to stretch and work out on instead of their flats in Paris. Sounded good enough for me, at least for a few nights while I figured out my best way through Switzerland and across. My thinking then was a bit more rag-tag. Trails are limited in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, etc. I knew this, but if I could just get through to Slovenia, I could easily, if I had to, take trails and tracks all the way to the Turkish border. Once I was in Greece, I could touch base with command on my gaining side and get a SITREP for border crossings in Bulgaria. Remember, at this time, the Greek border was just not a brilliant idea even before the COVID panic.



And then I pulled into my friend's "family home"... Josselin, you crazy bastard, what an incredible country chalet. I ended up getting along with everyone pretty well and took another month-ish to relax. With the time I would touch base with command and try to figure out the best way forward, I know terrible idea. France was much heavier on restriction. Trips to a grocer even required a pass, and you could bet on being stopped by roaming groups of police to verify your papers and your story. Once, we were even hassled for going as a group of two to the local butcher. I found it so ironic at the time.

Here I was, A US Citizen in France who had been moving about Europe for the better part of two months in these lockdowns now. Being hassled by a group of three French cops in a small country village for not having this particular piece of paper and being a party of two instead of one at a grocery market, priceless.


Stunning charm to the place though, honestly a real treat.

BBQ, French cooking, laughs with the lads and land to roam.. not bad for my second luxury camp.

It was a great time with the guys. Regardless of the situation around us, we made the best of the time. While I was here, my command had stepped in and informed me that the border was totally shut in Turkey. I explained that well according to intel, and the news, so was the French border and the Spanish border and the.. you get my point. They had me stay put while they tried to decide what they wanted me to do. Have me risk it east and still push for Turkey or backtrack and risk going West to the UK. My argument was that a push West was more complicated. It left me less room for negotiations due to my orders stating my final destination was Turkey. I had not had to use my orders yet, but if I did, it sounds weird telling a patrol I am going to turkey when you're driving West instead of East, right?

On top of that, England is across a body of water. That's a natural border and one I can't just float like the others. I would be negotiating with a massive border with established policies and one that had been using those policies for months now. After some time, the decision came down. I was to attempt a return west using a commander's memorandum. If I made it, I could shack up on base at a temporary living facility until borders reopened, or we sorted something different out. If I did not make it, I would push for Turkey.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

Orders are orders, so I set off for the UK border. Command figured I would be there in 3-4 days. Given that timeline, I could have stayed a few extra at the Chalet, but I wanted to know what the next month looked like, so I made a line straight for it. To my surprise, I didn't even need the memorandum. My usual method of chatting about my travels and situation/about the truck etc., worked so well that I don't think anyone bothered checking my credentials. I was simply told to load my ******** up, and they will get me "home" to England. It was bittersweet. I had grown accustomed to my winging it and was getting attached to that sense of adventure and risk. After all, that drive is what inspired the original 60-day trip. That all said, It was not all bad in the slightest. England's version of lockdown was MUCH more relaxed than in France, so I was excited to meet back up with friends much sooner than I had expected.

The next few months were a whirlwind. I spent the time camping on old favorite spots and sneaking around for takeout between lockdowns. I even managed to link up with a pretty gal who has become my wife and is soon-to-be the mother of my first child. I was essentially still useless to the base as I had nothing. Being unemployed with a paycheck was very weird. I took turns living in a hotel on the base and my truck, determined to always make the most of the situation.

Eventually, because the hotel on base filled, a sort of emergency arrangement was struck with a small bed and breakfast off base to house a few of us for my final month. It was great to see all my English friends again, even if the circumstances sucked. I can not explain how grateful I was to still have my Jeep, and it had become my entire life. All my household goods and minus about two weeks' worth of camping attire were already in Turkey waiting on me to join them.

We filled the time we had stolen together with nights around a fire like this one. All while the world outside became stranger and stranger... Due to the nature of lockdown and England in particulars on and off attitude, we kept meet-ups relatively small between close friends with similar opinions on the situation.

To clarify, I do feel covid is a real thing and dangerous. At this point, I was also made very aware through experience that, well, we were not the type to "get it." We were out camping alone or in small spread-out groups in the outdoors. Most of us could see the political wheels turning and understood why things were so harsh but still seized any opportunity to get out when allowed. I have dealt with plenty of judgment on this from a slew of different places, so I will simply say, hey, if you think this was irresponsible or wreckless or whatever. All I can offer is that no one I interacted with has yet to date had COVID.

Meanwhile, we all know folks like you who somehow, while locked up entirely and following all the rules to the tee... managed to get it... it's something to think about is all I am saying. When you think about it, we were social distancing before it was mandated.


Suddenly all that money spent had a return on investment none of us ever expected to capitalize on...

We stayed off the usual spots, camping in little forests, exploring little hikes, and keeping our distance from our neighbors. No harm, despite popular opinions at the time.

I snapped this photo on one of those weekends that the government said, ok, please go out, get food, restart the economy. Only to lock up again the next week and then unlock again the following. It became a household joke to see things like this. Signs saying stay away, stay home, etc., with people eating ice cream cones and going about everyday life as if nothing happened in the background. I think it summarized a lot of folks... frustration with the wishy-washing policies that have become normal even still now for a lot of people.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

We carried on with our little camps when we could, using them as an escape. We enjoyed the lakes, peaks, or little unknown spots that a friend or colleague had to show us to refill and help us get through another week of unknown.




Without this Jeep, I would have been stuck in a hotel with no way to get out during the moments we were able or allowed to for nearly three entire months.


I think the most challenging part of these months was that I was constantly in limbo. Command wanted me to ship the truck, but with no way forward to even fly into the country, I won the argument against that. Consider this, it was my only means of living. Everything I owned was gone except it, and it was the only thing keeping me from deteriorating my mental health into the ceiling tiles of a hotel room.



It was undoubtedly all good, given the situation, and I made the best of every moment.

Still, the constant "limbo" was weighing on me even more so because of my developing relationship with Hannah. It sucked, never knowing if tomorrow was the day things opened enough for me to hit the road, but it also made me appreciate all that time even more.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

I also took the chance while back in England to refit the storage system in the truck for the current version. I had spent months relying on the first test version. Hence, it was easy to go back to my buddy Ty and say, hey, I've tested the hell out of this. Let's take this time and knock out the "final" version.



Ty did a fantastic job on it. We shot down to Dorset to test the new version on another escape. This time with two other trucks to find some camps and show Hannah the prettier coasts of England. I didn't want to go too far up to Scotland or something due to the limbo of when I could have to leave. Additionally, the limbo of how long that freedom the government had granted again would last also weighed on decisions. Hence, a few hours to the south coast was perfect.

Chasing castles in England.



After this trip, I finished up the review for Roofnest and dumped that tent. It was not a bad tent, but it was a bad tent for my truck. If you want the details on why I will leave that to the review. I was eager to start the review process on IKampers new offering, the Mini, and it was what I had originally really wanted for the trip. Still, at the time, it had not been released yet, so again luck sorta struck in this aspect and allowed me enough time to go up and grab it while still in England before the truck had to depart.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

The South Coast is a gorgeous area of Enland.


Especially with her in it.



Command had decided they were going to military air a few of us into a base in Turkey at this point. From there, we would sort out internal, domestic flights in line with the local policy to my posting. As for the Jeep, we would ship the truck into port at that post. That meant I needed to prep to depart, but at least the limbo was over. I had a date, even if it was sorta soft and dependent on the shipment process of the truck...

I can honestly say this scared the hell out of me. Not only was I living off base in the emergency hotel and cooking out of my truck. I was storing and cooking food in it due to not having a stove or any actual fridge/pantry in the room. Given the current flippy floppy situation around the world, I was so worried I would ship it, the flight would bounce, or the opportunity would close. This would mean leaving me stranded minus the Jeep and way worse off for an indefinite time. I had limited time to prep the truck, ship via USPS all the loose stuff inside it to my Turkey base (a couple hundred dollar endeavor..), and prep myself for that trip...

Still, with things returning to normal around the country and the IKamper fitted, I could not help making time for a few extra adventures. I wasted no time squeezing in two last trips with Hannah around England to break in the tent and enjoy some final moments together. It was fantastic; we took our first trip down to Salisbury plains and shot around the area, enjoying the training grounds and waving at tank crews. After that, we worked out one last trip onto some lanes in the lakes we had never managed to run. I wouldn't change a thing about those last two or so weeks.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

This was our last run. From here, I shipped the truck and hopped on a plane to Germany, where I ended up sick as hell and stuck in-country at a base for a week waiting on military air. Once the plane finally arrived, we ended up living in the terminal for three days due to a busted window; the journey just never really ended right! Finally, I touched down in Turkey and managed a civilian air domestic flight up to Izmir, where I resided last year. COVID was treated like a joke for the first half of being in the country, then treated like the plague for the second half. However, that's a tale for another thread, as this has gotten to be well long enough.


This shot is in Turkey, Jeep showed up about 20 days after I arrived...

More on that year later. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Advice and your own stories? Post them below. I posted this, mostly because I still can't believe it happened even with all my photos. What an absolutely incredible time made out of the worst circumstances... for those wondering, though... I'm still salty I missed out on Morocco and the coastal tracks from Slovenia to Greece.. I'll make that trip sometime before I hit the dirt...

 

[SlickRope]

I'm Just shocked you found places in the EU to get off-road and camp. I'm getting back in to a wrangler this week (can't wait). Being stuck in Germany and Covid we couldn't do anything since camping out of a camp ground is illegal and we couldn't leave the country. Seems like an awesome story for sure. If you are ever in the Germany area let us know we do have a somewhat active off-road group hopefully we can start doing things again soon. This might be a little off topic, but how do you like your AEV lift and 4:88s? I was thinking I might go with metal Cloaks 3.5 lift with 35s and 4:88s, but just not sure what the good combo was.

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

I'm Just shocked you found places in the EU to get off-road and camp. I'm getting back in to a wrangler this week (can't wait). Being stuck in Germany and Covid we couldn't do anything since camping out of a camp ground is illegal and we couldn't leave the country. Seems like an awesome story for sure. If you are ever in the Germany area let us know we do have a somewhat active off-road group hopefully we can start doing things again soon. This might be a little off topic, but how do you like your AEV lift and 4:88s? I was thinking I might go with metal Cloaks 3.5 lift with 35s and 4:88s, but just not sure what the good combo was.

No issues with the 4.5 lift and the 4.88s brother! If your in Germany go east man Romania Bulgaria etc are a ************** free for all of offroad loving and camping! I will say I am on a manual so if your auto you may wanna go 4.56!

 

[billiebob]

An incredible venture. You definitely represent the best in us. Thank you very much for sharing and all the best to you and your wife.

Curious, were there any language issues, ?

 

[TTEPHOTOS]

An incredible venture. You definitely represent the best in us. Thank you very much for sharing and all the best to you and your wife.

Curious, were there any language issues, ?

Language is always a barrier for sure but learning the basics and going off gestures/broken english and google translate often gets you much farther than you would think!


Currently moving things from this build to this new venture on the East coast of the USA

 

[SlickRope]

Language is always a barrier for sure but learning the basics and going off gestures/broken english and google translate often gets you much farther than you would think!


Currently moving things from this build to this new venture on the East coast of the USA
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GETTING RID of the JK? NOOO lol. Let us know how you like the bronco.