Just back from Central America

[J-man]

Great trip, enjoyed reading your stories. That ford is a prime candiate for doing a 4x4 conversion. Then it would get you everywhere you wanted to go with no worries. Go check out what quigly 4x4 converisons uses for parts and since you seem like a very mechanical guy, im sure you could do it.

My truck was just a stock, used ambulance that I found on the internet. I picked this truck because of the single rear wheels and the narrower width than some ambulances. We removed all the ambulance "stuff" and made it into my version of an "expedition camper". My son's gonna use it for a road trip when he gets out of college for the summer and then I'm gonna start renovating it again to add a raised/lifting roof, sink, stove, etc...
If you check the old posts on my blog, you can see how it transformed from an ambulance to "Curious George".

 

[asteele]

That telescoping hard-sided top is something I've never seen before...great...I Googled "Fincke" (with camping/germany/raised roof etc) but came up empty...do you have a website address for them? thanks

I really enjoyed reading the summary of your trip...very informative and inspirational. thanks

Here's the website:
http://www.expedition-cabin.de/en/home.html

 

[VikingVince]

Here's the website:
http://www.expedition-cabin.de/en/home.html

Thanks...BTW, I really dig your rig...It's going to be fun to see future changes.

Also, your comments on 4wd and SRW vs. DRW were thought provoking. I had pretty much been "brainwashed" into thinking DRW were a poor choice. While that is probably true for offroading, your comments made me realize it's less true if you're primarily overlanding. However, do you think you would have gotten through the places you got stuck if you'd had 4wd?

 

[asteele]

Thanks...BTW, I really dig your rig...It's going to be fun to see future changes.

Also, your comments on 4wd and SRW vs. DRW were thought provoking. I had pretty much been "brainwashed" into thinking DRW were a poor choice. While that is probably true for offroading, your comments made me realize it's less true if you're primarily overlanding. However, do you think you would have gotten through the places you got stuck if you'd had 4wd?

We could have easily gotten through those places with 4WD, no problem. And, as mentioned in a previous post, we got stuck a couple of times, right next to a standard Class C motorhome with dual wheels that had no problems. My truck is set-up to convert easily to dual wheels so I'm gonna give that a try and see what difference it makes.

 

[psychohawk]

learn the language

Learn Spanish ... what made Americans "gringos" as compared to the other travelers in Central America was that travelers from everywhere else learned the language before they came while the majority of Americans expected everyone to speak English.

I would suggest this is due to the large Hispanic population living in our country and not learning our language or culture ... To respond, please Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

i finally got through ya'lls trip. Taking notes when I can. You guys definately helped point out a few places I need to go on my upcoming trip through the Americas.