Oct 15th, 2007: San Francisco - Inuvik - Puerto Toro - Buenos Aires

[Quixote]

In a few months we will be leaving for an extended tour of the North and South American continents. We have setup a website to track our progress at:

http://www.alongdrive.com

The proposed route and dates of the expedition are located at:

http://www.alongdrive.com/about/

The preparation and build-up of the truck can be found at:

http://www.alongdrive.com/fj-cruiser/

We expect that the trip will last about 15 months - if any of you are going to any of our destinations we would love to hookup! This will be our first 4x4 expedition any feedback or suggestions will be welcome!

 

[stevenmd]

Nice! I am about an hour east of you in Ripon.

 

[Scott Brady]

Fantastic! Please let me know when you come through Arizona.

This is a nice mod:

 

[Mlachica]

wow, that is a nice cargo barrier to fit the sweet FJ. I like the dual tanks as well. Is it hard to fill with the neck in that location? Very covert, I like it.

Now I gotta see your itinerary to see if you're coming through my neck of the woods.

 

[Quixote]

wow, that is a nice cargo barrier to fit the sweet FJ. I like the dual tanks as well. Is it hard to fill with the neck in that location? Very covert, I like it.

Now I gotta see your itinerary to see if you're coming through my neck of the woods.

The filler neck is a bit tricky to get to but all in all the solution is pretty nice.

 

[Desertdude]

Real nice Blog site, and a great FJ for the trip, well done.

Going up then heading down, what a fantastic trip :safari-rig:

...a bit of blogging on our North to Alaska trip in 06







::::

 

[Quixote]

...a bit of blogging on our North to Alaska trip in 06

::::

What a lovely adventure with nice pictures! Beautiful FJ80 - I still feel a twinge of regret whenever I see a nice one.

 

[Christian P.]

Congratulations on the beginning of your adventure!
Starting at Burning Man is an excellent choice. It will help making the transition between the rat race and the traveler's life...

I am actually going to work on our art car tonight!



I am in San Francisco myself, so if you ever have a going away party or something let me know!

bye

 

[Quixote]

Hello all,

The expedition took a huge step forward last Friday when both my wife and I resigned our posts in the computer industry. Since then we have been working full-time getting our vehicle ready and putting all our things in order.

It is now only three weeks to our departure date of October 15th and our To-Do list is long! We're now working harder than we ever did at our regular jobs - really shows that if you do something that will help you achieve your goals you can put in long hours.

 

[dmc]

must be an exciting day to walk away from the job and know that the future is on the road. i have a month of work left and needless to say i'm pretty much a worthless employee. if i didnt' need the q4 bonus i'd be gone already. i'm lookign forward to running into you on the road.
dmc

 

[Desertdude]

Awesome!

Nothing on earth feel as good as being right where you want to be, and with whom...

 

[Quixote]

must be an exciting day to walk away from the job and know that the future is on the road. i have a month of work left and needless to say i'm pretty much a worthless employee. if i didnt' need the q4 bonus i'd be gone already. i'm lookign forward to running into you on the road.
dmc

The last six months at my company were hellish. They (I guess I no longer have to say 'we') were going through so much turmoil that I felt that any work I did would just be wasted. But they were paying me a salary and in return I wanted to give them value for their money spent. But what kind of value can I produce when I know that anything I made would be irrelevant the instant I made it?

On the other hand working on the car and the expedition was so rewarding and fulfilling - but it pays nothing. Or maybe it pays in currency other than money...

 

[dmc]

Shreesh,

i see from the blog that the departure date got pushed back from tomorrow until friday. i'm hoping i can avoid similar issues but believe me I understand the challenges. Shoot me an email before you leave with the best way to contact you. if you get a chance. i'm on a bit more agressive agenda than you but i'm sure we'll stumble across each other. good luck with the last week of prep.
dmc

 

[JPFreek1]

Very cool trip! I definitely look forward to reading the updates on your site. also, just out of curiosity, what made you choose the FJ for the trip?

 

[Quixote]

Shreesh,

i see from the blog that the departure date got pushed back from tomorrow until friday. i'm hoping i can avoid similar issues but believe me I understand the challenges. Shoot me an email before you leave with the best way to contact you. if you get a chance. i'm on a bit more agressive agenda than you but i'm sure we'll stumble across each other. good luck with the last week of prep.
dmc

Dave,

I most certainly will. We thought that this month preparing would be filled with light packing/prep days and plenty of time to sit around cafes with out friends. Ha! It has been 12+ hour days, every day!!

I am sure we will meet, somewhere sometime...