Finding Fernway on The Pan American Highway

[oakleymiller]

My name is Oakley Miller and I'd like to think I'm an adventurer. In February 2024, after a couple of years of local weekend outings to remote Utah locations with friends and a global shutdown that had eliminated all international travel in my itinerary I felt stifled and bored. I felt the pull to do something bigger. So I called my closest friends over to my house and proposed and idea. We would take two 2004 Tacomas to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska where we would turn around and by the way of 10 day stints shuffle the vehicles south to Ushuaia Argentina. Obviously this is a popular route and at any given moment hundreds, perhaps thousands are driving it. But for us, the idea of international logistics and managing them ourselves was new.

We already had one truck. A Radiant Red Double Cab Tacoma that I had purchased from Kurt Williams my sophomore year of high school then sold in 2019. In 2023 I was able to track it down and buy it back. The search for an identical truck didn't take us long or far. We were able to find a Sunfire Red Peal DC in Bountiful Utah and with the help of a sponsor and some skin in the game from the expedition participants we bought it. This puts us in April with the trucks leaving for Alaska in late July. Truck one we call Stacey and truck two we call Bountiful. Both trucks have a TRD supercharger and factory rear locker.

Stacey needed the following

• Supercharger rebuild
• The entire frame lasered and coated to prevent rust
• New suspension
• New roof top tent
• New batteries
• New winch
• Ham + GMRS radio and antennas
• Wheels
• Tires

Bountiful needed the following:

• A new winch
• Ham + GMRS radio and Antennas
• Bed rack
• Roof top tent
• Wheels
• Tires

Besides that, regular maintenance and stickers were all we did to the trucks for the first leg.

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On July 28, 2024 Talon Patten, myself and our fathers loaded into the trucks and left Salt Lake City for Fairbanks, Alaska where the rest of the team for leg 1 would fly in to join us. Over the next 6 days we drove through Glacier, Alberta, Yukon, British Columbia and Alaska having incredible experiences mixed into our long, heavy mile days. We helped people get their Jeeps unstuck, saw bears and rode boats through the fjords of the Kenai Peninsula. This transit stage came to an end on August 2nd and on the morning of the3rd we dropped out dads off at the same time we picked up our friends. On the way up, on the Alcan highway we experienced heavy rubbing from the front end of Stacey. We had too much weight for the OME springs with the bumper, supercharger, winch, skid-plate, and antennas. Cruiser Outfitters was able to get us heavy springs for a 3rd gen 4Runner and Nelson Brian was able to pick them up, pack them in his carry on and bring them with him. When the team landed in Fairbanks the first item of business was getting them installed which took place in a NAPA parking lot with a spring compressor that barely worked and some Walmart ratchet straps. We used a dog bed to catch the hardware as it ejected from the top hat of the spring assembly.

We took two days to drive up the Dalton Highway and one day to drive down after taking the tour and a dip in the Arctic Ocean. 100 miles north of Fairbanks, Bountiful developed a check engine code that we diagnosed as a faulty engine knock sensor. This was not something we had the capacity to fix but it also wouldn't harm the truck to drive on it as long as we obeyed the limp mode it had put the truck into. This means that we would (and did) drive home from Alaska to Utah with no boost and a max of 55 MPH (which on Canadian highways is not too bad).

Through Alaska and into Canada we traced the route that Expeditions 7 had taken a decade prior with My father leading the way. It was an exceptionally neat experience stopping at the Sign Forest in Watson Lake and putting a Finding Fernway sticker on the Expeditions 7 sign.

We took 9 days to get from Prudhoe Bay to the Expedition Overland Ranch in Montana where we were welcomed by Clay Croft and his son Cyrus. It would be difficult to document everything that we saw, did and encountered on the way. Talon has done a good job of that on our instagram. My favorite moments were those we were able to give someone fuel, or change a tire or help them get their Jeep out of a bog.

We all arrived home around midnight on August 12th, 2024 tired and ready to not step foot in the trucks for a few months.

I would encourage anyone who has thought about driving to Alaska to just get in their car and go. The valleys and landscapes you will drive through have the ability to transport you to a mindset so far removed from the hustle and bustle of the everyday world. You will never regret the decision to Just Go.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Why not recreate your story here ? Post up a trip report with lots of pictures ? Some of us only come here to read the trip reports and unfortunately they've pretty much died out. It sounds like an awesome trip and I'm sure a bunch of us would enjoy reading it. Your post leaves us wanting more.....

 

[oakleymiller]

Since my last post we have driven 4 more legs on our Pan American adventure. The Baja leg, Mainland Mexico, Central America and Colombia/Ecuador. Each leg has been full of adventure, stress, fun, and fernweh. I’ll post updates here for each of the last 4 legs.

Baja 1 of 2

Team members:
Oakley Miller: team leader and driver
Nelson Brian: lead driver - Bountiful
Andrew Wilkinson: translator
Sam Pihl: translator
Dominic King: photographer

November 8, 2024. Nelson and I left Salt Lake City after work and drove our trucks straight to San Diego. We added 40 gallon transfer tanks since the last leg to each truck which gives us a range of 750 miles in our 2004 Tacomas. We utilize these on the drive to minimize time spent at gas stations and to not worry about timing of fillups. In San Diego, our team has flown in and made their way to a buddies house where we rendezvous and spend the night. It’s good to be together with friends and the anticipation for tomorrow’s border crossing and the week ahead is heavy.

On November 9, we cross the border at Tijuana. This is a first for each of us and we are surprised that no one asked for passports, insurance, TIP, title or registration. They want to see inside the GoFast Campers and then they send us on our way. This is it, the first step into the unknown for us. We spend the day meandering south, eating Tacos, sourcing water and looking for beaches to surf at. We find camp 2 hours south of Ensenada and point our campers towards the beach. First impressions: Mexico is magical.

November 10. Upon leaving camp we are passed by a couple Baja trucks and we make a stop at Coyote Cal’s for breakfast.

The exhaust bolts holding the cat back to the cat have disappeared from our truck Bountiful so we are on the hunt for replacements. In San Vicente we find them and make a 30 second repair that will save us from hours of drone induced headaches.

In Valle De La Trinidad we had tacos that all the way to Ecuador would be considered the best tacos we have encountered. Even considering that they keep produce on the restroom floor. In San Felipe we meet up with good friend Kurt Williams and his buddies who are down here to race the Baja with Kanguro Racing. It’s a really cool experience for me to meet up with friends so far from home.

At this point in the night the locals are leaving the beach and a man in a new to him Durango has high centered himself on the beach, burned his transmission up and is just really stuck. Lucky for him, between our two trucks and Kurt’s truck we have enough recovery gear to move mountains. Getting him out is quick work with Kurt orchestrating the equipment and me behind the wheel of his Durango. We make a road out of our maxtrax and pop the truck out and up using the winch of Stacey. The rest of the night we hangout around the fire.

Nov 11. We head for Bahia de Los Angeles today. And on the way we make stops for Taco ingredients including fresh Carne Asada and fresh Tortillas bought by the Kilo. These are now a staple of my diet for this leg of the expedition and a really convenient snack while driving. Too convenient.

Between San Felipe and Bahia De Los Angeles is a Seguaro Cacti forest that is as dense as and conifer forest I have ever seen, perhaps millions of cacti as far as the eye can see. I never could have imagined something like this on the Baja peninsula and am so pleasantly surprised by this sight. We pull off the road and spend about an hour here walking around the cacti and enjoying the scenery. Day four is 214 miles long.

Nov 12. Today I was once again woken by dogs barking. This time however, they were right outside the tent. We camped on the beach and two healers found us and decided to hangout with us while we packed up.


On leaving our camp we stopped at the local bodega and grabbed a junk food breakfast.

On the road. We had to backtrack 50 miles to the main highway. This road is pitted as all hell so it’s a chore to avoid the pot holes.

We stopped after about 80 total miles to run through a group of buzzards. Maybe 13 in total. I have never seen so many vultures in my life. Besides Pelicans they have been the most prolific bird sightings on the peninsula.

Just north of Guerrero Negro we came across some white sand dunes we initially passed but turned around to go play in. 4-low with locker engaged, we tooled around a little before each taking turns getting stuck deep. All it took to get unstuck was breaking out the maxtrax and doing a little digging. Easy outs for both trucks. We spent about an hour at the sand dunes running around and playing and jumping around. After summiting the highest dune we were all surprised to see that it wasn’t just a little cluster of dunes but rather a vast sand dune desert that went for what seemed like miles out to the sea.

We next entered the lower state on the peninsula - Baja California Sur. The first town we encountered here was Guerrero Negro. We stopped after for tacos in a cement building that has not been completed and has been taken over by a man and his daughters. There are no floors, windows, doors or paint. They have used plywood to block off an area for the kitchen where they make what I believe to be the world’s best shrimp tacos.

We know we will be in BFE tonight so we stop for groceries to make a tin foil dinner. Once we’ve gathered these we head to the tortilleria for some fresh flour tortillas. Across the street from the tortilleria is a turf soccer field that’s beautiful. A nine year old boy named Michael is playing and we ask to join. Before long his friends Brian and Edwin have joined. They all have soccer practice in a few minutes but we play 4-4 with Sam on their team. It was so fun to have a moment like this with these kids we will never see again. I know I will be thinking of them long after we part ways.

A two hour drive south and east has us on the beach tonight. We name this beach Tortuga Muerta due to the dead Sea Turtle we pass on the way in. There are more seashells than I have ever seen anywhere. 5-10 to a square foot. We each prepare our own tin foil dinner and sit by the fire sharing stories and enjoying the company.

For the 4th night in a row we are camping on the beach. Baja is earning a special place in my heart and I find myself spending a lot of my time thinking about my wife and how my experience would differ with her here. I know she would love it. There are so many different ways to explore this planet and I’m not sure there are any wrong ways to do it but there are some that are better than others. The best way, I am learning, is to go with the people you care deeply about.

Half way through our Baja Leg I feel a huge sense of adventure. Things are going well and we have been able to resolve any issues we have encountered. There is a huge hill to climb still in terms of mileage till we get to Argentina but if it goes like the first 4 days in Mexico have gone it will be smooth sailing.

 

[Spencer for Hire]

Funny, At first glance I thought it said finding Fenway as in Boston's Fenway Park which I have visited on many an occasion.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Funny, At first glance I thought it said finding Fenway as in Boston's Fenway Park which I have visited on many an occasion.

Yep. That's what caught my eye.

I was about to say that "Finding Fenway" was an ample title to the story any time I stumbled out of the ol' Cask and Flagon.

But this is far more epic!

 

[oakleymiller]

Baja 2 of 2

11.13.2024 - Day five.

We wake up on Tortuga Muerta to no waves, at least no rideable waves so no surfing here. There is a little fishing resort down the road that is closed, but has operating bathrooms that we take advantage of and use to clean ourselves up. It takes 60 miles of backtracking this morning to reach the main road where we turn south again. We aren't on this road for long before we come across an older American couple who are in a well loved RV with boat trailer in tow. The boat trailer has an axle that is actively breaking in half. We have no welder, but we do have a couple spare ratchet straps and a scrap of 2x4 that we use to pull the axle back into shape and send them *slowly* on their way into the last town where I know there was a welding shop who could get them sorted. I still don't know if they ever made it back to town but I hope that they did.

We soon pull through Heroica Mulege which is now one of my favorite towns on the Baja Peninsula. The name Heroica was given to the town when the citizens repelled American forces looking to occupy the town during the Mexican-American war in 1847. It is an oasis (literally) on the Sea of Cortez with a population of 3800 people. In the middle of the town is a mission that was founded in 1705 by the Jesuits looking to convert the natives to Catholicism. You get a wonderful view of the palm trees, river and town from the mission. I know there is a lot to do here including swimming in more remote pools and some hikes but we unfortunately do not have time for these.

Before we leave town, we stop at the tortilleria and buy a kilo of tortillas.

The destination for night five is Concepcion Bay. The tailgates of the trucks are six feet from the water tonight. Concepcion bay is shallow for quite a ways out. The moon is bright, the water is warm and all conditions make for a great night swim. We light the camp fire before heading into the water and after 30 minutes in the water it is a welcome way to dry off.

In my journal for the day I write "I had a great day today. It’s hard to internalize and memorialize these events that seem so insignificant but are so beautiful. I really believe that these are what make life worth living though" and I still hold that sentiment to be true. When you spend days or weeks in a row having incredible experiences it is really hard to internalize any of them. As a result I believe that journaling when on once-in-a-lifetime adventures is so paramount.

11.14.2024 - Day 6.

When we leave on these expeditions we do so having flights home booked which means there is a deadline for us to arrive in the towns that we will fly out of. We fly out of San Jose del Cabo on the 17th. This leads to mileage minimums each day. These minimums are flexible in that if we drive less one day then we need to add those miles to the next or vice-versa where if we drive more one day we can slow down the next. Today started as a petal down rally day. We woke up to blue water literally off the bumpers of the trucks and had packed camp last night so that we could get out quickly this morning. By the town of Loretto we have to stop at the Doctor. Nelson has developed an ear infection that is crippling him. The Doctor in Loretto has an office attached to the pharmacy and lets the stray dogs around his building to share the air conditioning in his office. Things here aren't as sanitized as they would be in the U.S.A but they work and we get the medicine that Nelson needs.

At around noon we pulled over to relieve ourselves. Not thinking much of it because this would be normal in the USA. The local police pulled in and were not happy. He started aggressive. They “took photos” of the pee puddles and he pretended to call his supervisor (we could see his phone was not actually making a phone call. He said we could pay $4000 pesos ($200 usd) each or go to jail for 36 hours. We were being extorted. Sam talked him down to $3000 pesos and tried to talk him lower but he wouldn’t budge. We didn’t even have $1200 pesos between the five of us at this point. I was firm that we were not going to pay anything. I messaged some individuals familiar with situations like this on the inreach and was told to not give our licenses to him, and be prepared to wait it out. I had photocopies of our licenses and let him see those, I told Sam to let him know we would be happy to go to La Paz and pay the judge. We asked for his badge number and that is when the mood shifted. He bacame much less aggressive and softer spoken. Ultimately we waited for 45 or so minutes and the four of them told us to takeoff. I gave them each a Finding Fernway sticker and we left.

In La Paz I found a tackle shop that would trade me a new rod and reel set for a deep sea rod that I had brought from home (which I had gotten for free). Our camp for the night was on a beach on the north side of the La Paz Peninsula. The water looks like blue gatorade it is absolutely beautiful. The first thing I did after arriving in camp was to cast a lure in the water. I am not exaggerating when I say I think the fish caught my hook in the air on the first cast. I was able to land a rooster fish. We cleaned him and cooked him in some Dos Equis. This is our last night camping, we will be in an Airbnb tomorrow so we all enjoy sitting around the fire and reflecting on our time in Baja. The next few days before we fly out consist of preparing trucks for storage, organizing documents and exploring Cabo so I will omit them and end this entry here in La Paz.

Honestly, I was very nervous to drive through Mexico. Everyone at home regularly expressed concern over where we were headed. But, I was so pleasantly surprised by all the people we met, the food, the scenery, the roads, the beauty and all that this wonderful part of the world had to offer. At no point, even during the extortion did I feel unsafe. I firmly believe that everyone who considers themselves an "overlander" should take a trip down the Baja Peninsula and that they should do it with the people they hold closest if possible. Scott Brady says that to be an "overlander" you need to cross borders. Not everyone will agree with that sentiment but I generally do and I think Baja is such a great way to get your feet wet in the world of international vehicle based adventure travel. Even now, as we approach the end of our Pan American expedition and begin to plan the next big international adventure for the Finding Fernway trucks, Baja is probably the first place I will return with my wife and children in tow. Viva la Baja!

 

[FrenchieXJ]

Hi Oakley Miller,

First I like your writing ability, I wish I had that talent. I just recently ran across your thread. I had left Expedition Portal for about 3 years and returned around 6 months ago.

Who am I? I have spent since 1972 4 wheeling and making a living a from 4 wheeling. I have finally started slowing down, when I was working averaged 250 days a year on the road (off-road) related to 4 -wheeling / overlanding, though I still get out and led groups of friends. I am under 100 days a year now.

Baja is wonderful and holds many hidden gems. You need to find the local people who know the off of the beaten path to see the special places. I understand not everyone has the time to find these places on their own. If I may suggest that you explore the cave paintings of Baja for a start. The history is limited, of the "First Peoples". With over 50 years of exploring Baja I still have not got tired of traveling to Baja.

From where you left the vehicles you are only a paddle away from getting to "Copper Canyon" (Barrancas del Cobre) in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. This is a special place for me. With over 100 overlanding adventures into, around and through the Barrancas, I still have not come close to seeing all of it. If you have not been their or heard about it, I find it is far more interesting to myself. When you get back on the road traveling again you may want to consider this as a general location to explore. I do not think you will be disappointed with Copper Canyon.

You can get a lot of information as well as BS from the internet. From my experience about 50% is written by people who have not been their before or been their only for a day or two.

If you have any questions I am happy to answer them.

May your road have the bumps and your life go smooth!

Frenchie

 

[jdlobb]

I love seeing somebody else using Fernwey in a sentence.