Shachagra- Family of 5 traveles Europe and Turkey, International 7500

[lblampman]

So true- travel the cruel world, vigilant against theft and you get robbed anyway, back home! One consolation is that there are 6 crooks in jail right now awaiting trial. Went to a bond hearing today- hint to criminals, don't steal from active duty military deployed overseas- judges don't like it.
Thanks so much for the prompt to write a book. I had planned to do it, gave myself 3 months to get a good start before giving it up. I gave it up yesterday! I'll have to give it another try. Thanks for the motivation.

I write enough to know that the task of book writing is a daunting one but it's made even more difficult when the author has in mind that he (or she) is writing "for the masses" and will somehow be judged in that light. I say phooey with that. Just write the story as if it's for your grandchildren (and their children) to read someday. Write what you'd like them to know about your trip and the adventure.

My dad is a 92 year-old WWII vet that started as an E-1 in the Navy in 1937 and retired as an O-6 37 years later in 1974 having chased Nazis in Panama, flown torpedo bombers in the Pacific in WWII, commanded squadrons, commanded ships (including a deep draft), and is still going strong. What I wouldn't give to have a book he's written to pass on to my kids and my grandkids (5 of them now). He keeps telling me he's not a good enough writer.

But when he was a middle age teenager living with his grandmother her father (who was in his 80's at the time) was living with her too. And he (her father) fought in the civil war. So here in 2011 I can still talk directly to someone (my dad) who talked directly to someone (my great grandfather) who fought in the civil war. Unless I can get him to start writing (and he types well) those stories are going to get lost. I remind my dad what he wouldn't give to have stories written by his grandfather, and they wouldn't have to be masterpieces to enjoy them.

So write Capt. You can self-publish on Amazon or do it whatever way you want but get the story out there! I for one would love to read how you thought about the trip, came up with the design, got your wife and kids to share the dream, planned the vehicle, built the vehicle, and then made the trip with your family. I can't tell you over the years how many voyaging sailing stories I've devoured and loved every one of them. Your story about your experience of building Shachagra and the exploits surrounding that will be fascinating to the vehicle based expedition folks and if word gets out, by travel geeks in general.

I'm pretty sure it won't make you wealthy but I can pretty much guarantee it will make you rich.

All the best,

Les

 

[1leglance]

I second the motion to say please write for the sake of your kids & grandkids down the road.
And as was said with all the self pubilish options now days you don't have to worry so much about commercial success as just getting something printed to preserve.
It is amazing how many little things fade from memory with time, get ink on paper even if it in journal form.

As to this thread...
I would really like to hear about what planted the seed to do this trip?
What pushed you from dreaming to doing?
What was the wife's reaction and then the kids reactions?
What thoughts kept you going when things were tough?
And while it might be crass, I know many of us want to know how you fianced the build? $171,000 is a chuck of change when you don't have anything to put on a loan application other than "planned RV build"

thanks again for sharing anything you are willing to and for letting us have a look into your family adventure

 

[x banana boy]

One thing with writing - if a person doesn't like to write, get them to talk about it and record the sessions and have those transcribed.

@lblampman - do this with your Dad. Sit down with him and ask him questions. He should be able to talk freely. Even video it.

 

[Entropy]

One thing with writing - if a person doesn't like to write, get them to talk about it and record the sessions and have those transcribed.

@lblampman - do this with your Dad. Sit down with him and ask him questions. He should be able to talk freely. Even video it.

X2! We did that with my grandmother about 20 years ago and we still love to listen to the tapes today. Unfortunately, my Dad won't talk about his WWII experiences.

 

[shachagra]

Definitely get him to discuss his experiences on tape, video or audio. My grandfather wrote a self published book on his life that I absolutely cherish. Thanks for the advice and motivation. I do think the thing that was daunting was writing for the masses, not my grandson Doug (yet to be produced-... I hope)
My father-in-law never spoke about his Korean War experience, except with his buddies at reunions. One day I was doing some genealogy research, going through old pictures and just asked him. I wish I had had a tape recorder- maybe I need to get that down as well.

Back to the truck
I have always wanted to sail around the world. Read the book "Dove" in 3rd grade and never looked back. We were planning on a sailing trip upon retirement, but realized there was little opportunity to do the "Grand Tour" and see the famous sights from a boat. We considered vagabonding, but school supplies alone were more than we could handle on our backs. I should explain that my last job in the Navy was the director of all US Navy interactions with European Navies, staff talks, joint exercises etc. so I was able to travel Europe and just ask folk the best way to visit and learn about their country and culture. And also wether it was a good idea to travel there in the first place. We decided an RV was the way to go and rented one in Spain for two weeks. Loved it. Then the search was on.
There was never much of a sales job to get everyone onboard with the trip. The children were already pretty well traveled and enjoyed it. It was something we knew we were going to do, but the question was how.
After 6 months searching I decided to build- it was liberating. I decided to fly back to the states on terminal leave while the family stayed in Italy to finish school. They joined me and an RV shell 3 months later. I was so proud of the progress, and only the other day did I find out that the family was mortified at how much was left to do.
What kept us all going was the thought of leaving an unfinished 171K money hole in the states while we traveled with our backpacks.
Dollar wise we are very lucky. My wife is also a retire Naval Officer and we have been saving for this (or something like it) for many years. We financed the Truck- an interesting process, and payed cash for the materials. Money is tight now but we get by better than most so we are very grateful.

 

[Entropy]

Doug,

Did you have any issues shipping the vehicle without a clear title? From what I've read if you don't own the vehicle outright then you need to get the lien-holder's permission to ship it overseas.

 

[shachagra]

Shipping

Doug,

Did you have any issues shipping the vehicle without a clear title? From what I've read if you don't own the vehicle outright then you need to get the lien-holder's permission to ship it overseas.

No problem, i had a letter from the bank saying I could ship it, seems they had done it before and had a form letter ready. Had to be an original signed letter. No such requirement on the way back. Shipping was a huge worry that ended up being very easy in hindsight. I'll give the details of what I did in a post soon.

 

[rblackwell]

That size of vehicle is no problem in Europe. It is about the same size as a 7.5t truck which is the standard delivery truck size for cities thoughout Europe. In tiny villages there may be roads where the width will be an issue but there are no roads you are likely to pass through where the length will be a problem. LWB vans (mercedes sprinter, ford transit, iveco daily, etc) are used throughout Europe by couriers and tradesmen and are about 22 - 23ft; they get absolutely everywhere and I can't remember ever having been somewehere where they would not fit. The width is only likely to be an issue in residential roads with cars parked on either side. 45ft long, 8ft wide articulated trucks are commonly used to collect and deliver to farms all over Europe and have no problems with the small country lanes.

In older cities there may be low bridges to worry about, but you do not state your height. In London there are many low bridges but there are always ways to circumnavigate them and double-decker buses at over 14ft get everywhere. If you try to stay under 12 foot you are unlikely to encounter any problems at all.

You don't state your weight but the most common restriction on vehicles in rural areas of Europe are old bridges with weight limits. 17t is common in the UK but there are almost always wasy to get around the weak bridges.

Thanks, very helpful information and confirms some of my speculations Our vehicle is not complete yet so a final loaded weight is no known. However I expect to be 25-28,000 lbs (call it 14,000 Kgs).

Thanks again
Rob

 

[rblackwell]

I love your website! There is so much info there. I tried one for our trip but it didn't last long before I somehow killed it, then we just started to update family and friends on Facebook. We met some Belgians that were doing something similar to your plan, they were in year 3 when we met them. I will forward you their E-mail address.

Thanks for sending your Bel friends our email.

I can understand giving up on a website - it certainly becomes a task master in its own right from time to time.

On the topic of writing - I have never written a book - but 500 odd daily journal entries over nearly 2 years give me some experience. You have to have an audience in mind (or at least I do) and a specific personal audience.

Thanks Rob

 

[rblackwell]

Here is a google Earth map of all the places we spent the night on the trip. Vlad to Europe and Turkey is a huge expedition, that will be amazing. Do you speak Russian? Turkey was the highlight of our trip, huge open roads, beaches, friendly people and cheap. We didn't get to Georgia because of time, we loved every spot so much that we would linger. The roads in Eastern Turkey started to get worst, and the Military Attaché in Georgia told me they were horrible there. We weren't afraid of getting stuck, but its a brutal ride over long distances. We didn't go to Russia because frankly I don't think they abide by the rule of law that everyone else does. Bold statement, but I did my last Navy tour traveling Europe and have worked with the Russians, and they recommended I not travel there with the family- not to dampen your enthusiasm, but speaking Russian would really help.
Let me know if I missed something.
-- Campgrounds, we didn't stay at many, but were only told once they couldn't handle a big rig. The RV parks pride themselves on being able to handle "American" RVs.

I have to go through your website. Great trip! Looks like a perfect rig for Europe. We are planning to head south and I'll have to pick your brain.

I agree that some Russian will help sometimes - at least that would be consistent with our South American experience. I will spend the next year taking Russian lessons but don't expect to get very far. Its a difficult lesson to learn I think.

We have been to Russia and Centra Asia before but without a vehicle. That experiences suggets that our planned journey will have some challenging days - I expect the worst part of our planned trip will be police on the roads and the "on the spot fines", followed by border crossings.

Thanks for the comments about Turkey - I am quiet excited about seeing more of that country.

And THANKS VERY MUCH for the map

Would be happy to tell you about central and south america, just send me an email if/when you have questions.

Regards Rob

 

[Entropy]

Doug,

I'm curious how your japanese-style bath worked out for you. Did you recycle and filter the bath water? I'm not really familiar with this style of "showering" and would be interested in learning more and how it worked out for you.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Doug,

Please keep the information coming. I do not have any specific questions at the moment, I just want to know more. Any details about anything would be great, whatever you feel like writing about.

Think of the book project in the same terms as a long trek. If you look at the whole thing and all the problems and trials that will be faced it is totally overwhelming. But if you just take the next step, and then the next, things will start to come together. (Personally I think the best step at this point for you would be to start writing a long letter to your grandson, and let things fall into place as you go. If all you end up with is a 50 page letter then that is better than losing all the memories. If it keeps going and you can self publish or get picked up by a distributer all the better. I know I would buy a self published book of your journeys. Good luck!)

 

[shachagra]

Doug,

I'm curious how your japanese-style bath worked out for you. Did you recycle and filter the bath water? I'm not really familiar with this style of "showering" and would be interested in learning more and how it worked out for you.

I am going to post on building the shell tomorrow- I intend to take this through to the end. The tub saved my sanity- I have been a soaker since we lived in Japan for 3 years, have to have my bath. The rest of the family used the shower, and not the tub. The water is pumped through a hot tub filter and then through a secondary coil in the hot water heater, so the water was filtered, reheated and reused. Without chemicals or some form of ozinator, the water still needed to be replaced every 10 days max- which was about the endurance of our main tanks. We emptied and refilled the tub when we filled the main tanks. we had a tight fitting cover that sealed the tub when we were driving.

 

[shachagra]

Let me just say that I am in total awe by this build and journey. I can't even wrap my head around this build, let alone the time frame in which it was built in. .

I can't be modest here, I look back and I too am amazed that we got it done in basically four months. It takes me a month to clean the garage these days. Its like it was someone else that did it. But I have a theory as to why....
I spent 30 years moving continuously, unable to tackle any large projects, but I spent my time doodling and designing houses and boats for someday. 30 years of foreplay, with the RV as the climax. It was quick, it was amazing, now I just want to sleep......

 

[NeverEnough]

30 years of foreplay, with the RV as the climax. It was quick, it was amazing, now I just want to sleep......

Best line I've heard in a long time!!!! Too funny.