The Ultimate Road Trip!

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March 9th: I spotted an old Nissan Patrol walking my dog so we stop on our way through town and I take a few pictures. I sooo love seeing these old Patrols when I travel! We stop into a rafting business so Jaime can inquire about local conditions and such. We then hit up a bakery and stock up on baked goods and get a smoothie. We drive back towards David stopping along the way at a waterfall. Jaime goes for a jump and swim but I opt out, to lazy to put on the board shorts! We hit the border fairly early and it is painless, easy and cheap. A porter who helped us on the way down (not the guy in the video taking the bribe) greets us and helps for a small tip, less than $5. Didn’t really need his help but he is just trying to make a living and is a nice guy. Seeing the same porters on my way north turned into being a regular thing!

We decide to head out near Rincon along the Gulfo Dulee. We decide to find a place to stay out here for the night. Not 20ks off the main HWY towards Rincon we stop at a comedor to get a few cold beers. We had one beer down and had been there maybe 30mins when all of the sudden a white unmarked Hilux pulls up. Out steps three official looking people with guns on their hips and badges around their necks! These were not your typical Costa Rican police! They check out my truck and then come over to the comedor and ask if that is my Taco. Yes I say, what’s the problem. They ask to see my vehicle docs. I show them that and my passport. They are polite and say thanks and then leave, giving no reason for the check. It was odd because they drove in from the HWY and then checked me out and then turned around and drove back out to the HWY. Somebody must have reported me for who knows what at the border or coming into Costa Rica. That or a green Taco was stolen in the area recently!

We spend the afternoon driving out on the Peninsula de Osa. I have heard there is some of the best surfing in Costa Rica out here but we don’t really have time to explore. It is a remote region, the road is bad and it would be at the least a 3 day trip out here to surf. All we have is one night! We make it out past Rincon a ways, stop and stock up on Bavaria beers! We check several different places to stay for the night and settle on a restaurant along the road that has some cabanas. We can get dinner here and it is nice set back off the road in the jungle. It also has a nice view of the bay. We drink lot’s of beer and have a few shots of vodka. We get deep into some heated discussion that night, it was cool to do that since Jaime and I were to part ways very soon, no idea when I would see him again.

At Hostel Verde in Boquete...

The old Nissan Patrol I spotted in Boquete...

The waterfall near Boquete....

Video from Costa Rica near Rincon and on the way to San Jose....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0HIlD-AjBo"]YouTube- The Ultimate Road Trip - Back to Costa Rica[/ame]

Pictures from Costa Rica....

Costa Rica's best beer!

Our cabana for the night....

I loved the floor jack on the front of this very well used old FJ40!

One thing is for sure....Costa Rica is beautiful!

 

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March 10th: We get up and have breakfast at the restaurant and then we drive from Rincon to San Jose on the CA1. This was the most beautiful stretch of road I saw in Costa Rica, up over the mountains through the cloud forests and down in the valley where San Jose is located. We hit San Jose right about rush hour but now are experienced travelers and navigators so we don’t get very lost. We stop in at an internet café for a couple hours. Figure out a place to stay and find it on the internet. I check my email and see I have a reply for the embassy here in San Jose, sweet looks painless to get new pages in my passport tomorrow! Directions in hand we head out and go to Gaudy’s Hostel. It is a nice hostel with secure parking for one small or medium sized vehicle out back. They let my dog stay there if he stays outside. It has a locked gate out back! A bunk bed runs us $9/night. I do a huge load of laundry, it was long overdue! Jaime and myself hit up a casino not far from the hostel for dinner. We have sushi and it was excellent. Not cheap, most expensive meal on the trip but hey we deserved it at this point! Jaime’s flight is at like 5am back to Belize. We say our goodbyes that night, I am sad to see him go. I got to say and give credit to the man and my friend, Jaime…without him I would have never been able to do all of this trip. He truly helped make my trip one I will never forget, thanks bro! He leaves at like 330am and I hear him go. This is it…just me and Buddy now and a long ways from home. San Jose to Wyoming….I had been not looking forward to it but now I feel different. I am ready to go home, mostly because I am not even sure if I have enough cash to make it!

Video from San Jose....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypDAyJrtRFE&feature=related"]YouTube- The Ultimate Road Trip - San Jose, Costa Rica[/ame]

Into the cloud forests....

On the way up and over the mountains....

San Jose....

 

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Ok so from here on there is a big lack of pictures as I traveld north through Central America. My friend Mike in Santa Catalina said it best....Ian you are doing a cannon ball run back home to the USA! That is exactly what I did, drive all day and not sight see, just head for home. It was not without some adventure though but no more pictures or video until I am in Mexico.....

March 11th: I wake up at about 6am and organize all my docs since it is a mess from the trip down. At 730am I get a taxi to the embassy and get new pages sewn in my passport. I am back at the hostel and all set by 1130am. Out of there not 15mins later! Lucky for me the CA1 is just a few blocks away. I follow the CA1 and head back for the Nicaragua border at Penas Blancas. Not far from the border I get stopped by cops for doing 80k in a 60k zone. The ticket is $400! I don’t have that to spare man, at all…I end up talking my way out of it, the cops were not bad, just stern with me. After this I break zero speeding laws all the way home to the USA! I can’t afford it!! I am across fairly easily and painlessly…it turns out to be that way going north and is much easier than coming south! I head for Granada, it is late afternoon. As I drive north the sun sets over Lago de Nicaragua. Since I know a good place to stay for the night that is cheap with secure parking in Granada that is what I head for. I get in about 830pm and head to the Oasis Hostel. On my way to the hostel driving through Granada I guess some guy jumps on the back of my truck and hitches a ride. I don’t see him but when I stop at the hostel a cop on a bike comes up to me and is talking about it in Spanish. It turns out the cop is ok and just wanted to make sure the guy didn’t steal anything from me or make any problems for me…I didn’t even know he was there! I walk around town by myself and get some dinner and drink a few beers. Buddy gets a walk before bed and has to sleep in the truck. I spend a couple of hours before bed at the hostel talking to an English chap who has been staying there for several months. I recognize him from my trip down. Turns out he has been traveling for nearly a year, free lodging for him at the hostel because he has been painting murals on the walls and helping out around there. Very nice guy, great chatting with him!

 

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March 12th: Get up really early and grab a shower at the hostel before leaving. I get lost for an hour near Granada trying to get on the CA1 north. A bunch of locals are very helpful getting me back on track! I always had good luck with this. Even if I asked the most dirty seedy looking guy on the street. No body ever steered me wrong or sent me the wrong way on the whole trip! Before I get to Managua I go on a detour through Tisma so that I can avoid Managua as I head for Tipitapa. I drive all day to get to the Honduras border. It is a fairly easy and painless crossing with no bribes paid. I am greeted by a porter who helped me on the way down, he is a nice guy and you can see him in the video when we headed south. He takes care of me at both sides of the border for less than a $10 tip. He also gives me the name & phone number of his buddy at the El Amatillo border crossing on the other side of Honduras. It is mid afternoon when I get across and am on my way, it takes maybe 1 ½ hours which is great time! I make good time though through Honduras, I only get stopped by a few cops heading north and they don’t hassle me to much but the do ask to see my fire extinguisher and triangle! No bribes paid and no hassles! I head for Nacaome since I know a good place to stay and it is close to the border. My plan is to hit the border first thing in the morning. I get to Nacaome fairly early, about 430pm. I get a room at the Sunset Hotel which runs me $25/night. I get some food in their comedor and drink some beers. Mess around a bit, take a shower and then end up falling asleep very early.

 

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March 13th: I sleep all night (about 12hrs!) and get up early, about 630am. I am packed and at the border before 8am. At the first police check point coming into the border is the friend of my guy at the last border and this guy waiting for me! I tell him no big tip, if he helps me, it goes quick and it is painless his tip will be bigger. If it is a hassle his tip will be small! He agrees. I see a bunch of the guys who hassled me coming down but they don’t hassle me so much. It does cost me $50 to leave Honduras and that is supposedly with no bribes! Oh wait I paid a $10 bribe to the cops at the end to not search my truck, geez if I was a drug smuggler this would be easy! Kind of funny to me in a way. It is painless to exit Honduras and fairly fast. It takes a bit longer to get into El Salvador but less than 2hrs which is much less than when we came down! I see a 4-Runner on the El Salvador side with Montana plates so I introduce myself. Ben & Megan are heading north so I suggest we caravan. They are up for it but clear customs quicker than me and then wait for me. We meet up and then head north. They had gone to Costa Rica to live, taking their 6 month old daughter and 3yrs old daughter plus two huge dogs with them. Bens dad moved down there a while back, bought some property and opened a bakery. After a month in Costa Rica though they didn’t like it so were headed home! El Salvador is very strict when it comes to vehicles. I didn’t get the same border crossing on my docs as Ben & Megan but had no idea if this would be a problem.

We head across El Salvador and make decent time. Luckily we get the bypass around San Salvador. We stop and compare docs and decide one of us has to go to a different border than it says on the docs if we want to stick together. After checking routes and asking locals we decide it will be me who goes to the wrong crossing. None of us could imagine it would be a problem since we were just leaving the country heading home. We head for La Chinamas even though my docs say San Cristobal. On the way we go through a police check point and I ask the cops if it is cool if I cross at a border other than my docs say. They are super nice guys and there is about 10 of them, one calls the border to check for me. Ben & Megan’s girls get a ton of attention from all the police! After 15mins or so they tell me at the worst I will have to pay a $50 fine, perhaps it is a bribe. We head out and get to the border maybe an hour before dark. Turns out I can not cross here unless I want to pay well over a $1,000 fine! Making no progress with the official who speaks no English I just decide I have to go back. Since it is late I split in a hurry and head for San Cristobal alone. We say our goodbyes and wish each other well. I haul ******** back to the other crossing, it takes me over an hour and a half. By the time I get there it is pretty much dark. The crossing is painless though and takes just over an hour. I ask around at the border where I can stay for the night that is safe. I don’t want to push on to Guatemala City, it is just to far and now dark. It is suggested to me several times to stay at the border but I don’t really want to. Not far is Jutiapa so I head for that. I misunderstand and think it is just a few Ks to the town. So I stop along the way at a roadside bar/hut type thing. Super friendly but fairly drunk young Guatemalans greet me. I drink a few beers with them and try to talk to them in Spanish, I find out the town is only a little ways down the road. I head out and stop at a gas station in town. I go in to buy a few beers and some kind of food, out the back door I smell and see they are cooking street tacos and tortas. So I head on out and fill my belly for $4!! Right next door is a soccer field with a game going on, I think it was a Friday or Saturday night. I am asking locals where is a good safe place to stay. One guy says wait a minute and comes back with a guy who speaks fluent English. Super nice people who told me a really safe and cheap place down the road to stay the night. I grab some beers and head out. I stay at the Sand Mill Hotel which runs me $9/night and has secure locked gate parking for my truck! It is 10pm by now so I drink a few more beers and fall asleep.

 

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March 14th: I get up early and drive across Guatemala. I expect Guatemala City to be really bad, I heard rumors it was. I stop outside the city in a gas station and ask some cops which is the best way to go pointing to my fairly bad maps of the city. It seems like the CA1 is not hard to stay on and leads right through the city. I cross the city super easy and never get off the CA1...it was nothing like I expected! I follow the CA1 across Guatemala and it was a super long drive. Yet, it was a super awesome drive, very beautiful. Over the mountains and through the clouds, the road was excellent and was all new over the mountains. After coming down the mountains I drop into a valley and the town of Huchuetenange. From here the road follows a river through a canyon towards the Mexico border. It was so beautiful, some of the best country I saw on the entire trip! I head for La Mesilla and Chipas in Mexico. I get to the border about 5pm, it is a super easy and painless crossing. Only takes me about 1hr! I just use my Mexico vehicle permit again since I had it from my trip south. From the border I head for Comitan in Chiapas. In a way it feels good to be out of Central America and in Mexico. All I have to do now is cross Mexico and I am back in the USA! I get into Comitan and get a hotel outside town. It is super nice and I get rock star parking inside the build with a locked gate. It costs me $15/night! I get dinner across the street and grab some beers from the local beer shop. I get a nice hot shower and crash out fairly early.

Right after I crossed the border from Guatemala into Chiapas, Mexico.

The sun sets over Chiapas...

My rock star parking at the hotel in Comitan...

 

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March 15th: I get up early and fuel up. I take a wrong turn in Comitan, (hate them Mexican road signs!) It costs me 1-2hrs extra drive time and 175k plus the 2nd worst road I saw on the trip. The road meanders through the farms lands and crosses a large, heavily guarded dam before coming into Tuxtla. I get lost in Tuxtla for a good hour but get on the right road and drive for the Gulf Coast! It is a nice and beautiful drive across Chiapas. I use the toll roads and make great time. I spot a super nice decked out late 1980's 4-Runner with SFA on the HWY with California plates headed north and he is hauling some serious tail! We exchange waves. I head for Veracruz, get there and drive through town. I end up driving through the city and take the long way (nothing new!) There are cops everywhere and I can see they are nailing people. I drive super slow and break no laws and don't get pulled over. No idea how I made it through the city without getting pulled over, there was at least 8 speed traps and other random police check points. It even says in my books Veracruz is horrible for cop shake downs. I drive through a super ugly industrial area north of the city that is very polluted, Simex plant I believe. Funny that there was upscale gated resort type communities right next to it along the dunes. It is now late afternoon and I head up the coast. About 730pm I call it quits and get off the road near La Litera. I get a room at one of the only hotels in town. It is rather expensive but I don't care I am shooting for the USA tomorrow! There was super cheap and great food right next door. About $4 for 4 servings of multiple types of dishes! There is a vet a few doors down who is open late. So I stop in and talk about Buddy and his mange or skin issues. By now Buddy has lost some fur on his back and has nasty welts all over his belly. The vets looks at him and doesn't think it is to serious. He gives me some pills plus a shot to help with Buddies itching. All up with meds and late night vet visit it ran me about $12! The vet says it could be mange or just skin infections or he is irritated since he has changed food in the last couple months. Very nice and helpful guy…

Leaving Chiapas and heading for the Gulf Coast...

 

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March 16th: I wake up a little late, 8am and get going asap. I drive through Poza Rica and then Tuxpan. I see a lot of cops but none hassle me, at this point they can kiss my rear if they think I am paying any bribes. I am to close to the USA and way to short on cash! Really though I hadn’t paid a bribe to a cop since Acapulco and not to a border official since entering Panama, errr I mean Honduras. So I felt like that was not going to be happening to me any more! I obeyed all traffic laws! I want in the USA today but it is super slow going up the coast. I make it to Tampico and driving through the city a traffic cop stops me. He didn’t even have a car he was just standing in the road. He steps out in front of my truck and says pulls over! I am like What The F%$K FOR!? He checks every bit of my docs including my dog papers, this was a first for Mexico. I can tell he is looking for some reason to give me a ticket. He says no front plates, one ticket amigo! I had my front license plate removed and it was between the seats. I say yeah I got them check the front, while he goes to look at the ARB bumper I toss up my plate in the window! He comes back, no plates one ticket amigo! I say look in the window man, plates right there! HAHAHA, it was sooooo good to see the look on his face. He gets mad and frustrated, hands me my docs and says Vamos! I push north hard as it gets to be mid day and after clearing my last big city before the border. As I am driving up the last stretch of coastal road I come to what I think is a traffic jam due to an accident or construction. It takes an hour or more to move up through it. As I get farther up I see a bunch of guys with sharpened sticks and machetes and it seems like they are getting money from people but I can’t tell for sure. There is heavily armed cops and military everywhere, at least 20 are in riot gear. I was kind of like what could be going on here but the cops were not doing anything and nobody bothered me so I just pushed on without much thought. I found out later a bunch of farmers had held up the road and were taking $5-20 from people to pass through. The cops were not doing anything because it would obviously spur violence and the farmers were dispersing after a few hours. I didn’t see much though at the time or think about it and moved fast before they hit me up for anything, I was coming through at the tail end of whatever this was. I am driving through Los Lavaderos about 9pm and who do I see!? Ben & Megan parked in a hotel! I stop thinking they are in bed and I will just leave a note on their 4-Runner. Turns out they just pulled into the place! We hang out in the parking lot for 30mins or so BS’ing about our trips north. They tell me about passing through the farmers road block just a few hours before I did and that they had to pay them 20 pesos or something because four guys with sticks were demanding money! They are going to get a room but I tell them I am not sleeping until I am in the USA again! I know it is only 2-3hrs tops to the border. They decide to join me and we head out caravanning again on our way north! The road gets better the further north we go, we go through one last military check point heading north maybe 100 miles south of the border. We enter Matamoros at about 11pm. By the time we get across town it is pushing 1130pm. We were litterally 1 block from the border crossing when we see another traffic cop. I say to myself he is going to flip a U turn and pull us over. Sure enough he does it! Ben is following me so he gets nailed. I stop and get out and the cops has a super filthy truck! It had been raining and man the whole town had super nasty sewage smelling slop everywhere in the streets. This cop had it all over his truck, could hardly tell it was a cop truck! He has no gun, not even a night stick or radio. I tell Ben screw this guy don’t give him a dime! He tries to give Ben a ticket for his rear luggage rack that rides on his receiver. Ben is not having it though, he tells the cop I been all through Mexico twice and all through Central America and you are the first guy to give me a hard time about my luggage box! Ben is a fairly good sized guy and has a deep booming very commanding voice. They cop is just shrinking in front of Ben! He starts shaking while he holds Bens license! It was hilarious and I laughed out loud! The cop hands Ben back his license and we are on our way. We pull into the border and it is now 12am. It was a super long day for all of us and we were beat. The gate is closed, I was bummed out not wanting to sleep in Mexico that night. A guy is in front of us waiting at the gate. He is an American. It turns out there is a 24hr crossing not far way but after sharing some booz with the guy waiting there (his booz!) we opt to just crash out and cross at 6am or whenever they open. I sleep in the truck and it was the first night I felt cold since northern Baja!

Somewhere on the Gulf Coast, south of Veracruz I think...

At the Mexico - USA border where we spent the night....

 

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March 17th: I wake up at 530am to some border guards banging on my truck! It takes us until 1030am to get out of Mexico. Turns out my tourist visa was no good and I had not gotten a new one when I came in from Guatemala, or so they say. So I had to pay for that to leave Mexico. My tourist visa should have been put on hold when I left mexico and went into Belize. Then I could use it again when I came back, or I should have gotten a new one when I came into Mexico the second time. I am really susprised no cops discovered this and got me on it on my way north....just goes to show how clueless the traffic cops are! Into Brownsville I get two visible searches, a K9 search and x-rayed! I didn't care though because I was back in the USA and of course didn't have anything to worry about! I am happy to be back in the USA...Ben, Megan and myself hit up Ihop in Brownsville, I go overboard and buy 3 breakfasts and eat all of it! We drive from Brownsville to Beeville in Texas where Megan has family. We stay at Megan's cousins house and I sleep out under the stars in the back yard. It was cold but I had my good warm gear out by now.

Ben & Megan in Brownsville after breakfast.

and driving north from Brownsville in Texas....spring flowers along the HWY!

 

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March 18th: I sleep in, up at 9am! It had been a long week and I needed a good nights sleep. I grab a shower in the morning and we leave Beeville fairly late. We hit up DQ on the way out of town and I get a very greasy burger and a huge Blizzard! I am really concerned about cash because I am down to like my last $400!! We drive from Beeville, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Just outside Carlsbad at about 1130pm we just pull off the road and go to sleep. It was nice to be back in the USA where we knew we could just pull over anywhere and crash out with no worries!

March 19th: We get up fairly early and go to breakfast in Carlsbad. After breakfast I say my goodbyes to Ben & Megan and head out on my own. After calculating mileage I realize I am not much over 1,000 miles from home. I want to try and do it in one shot, I am sick of seat time in my truck and ready for my own bed! I hit a nasty spring snow storm 125 miles south of the Colorado border in northern New Mexico. It lasts all the way till just north of Denver. I make it all the way to Sinclair, Wyoming but can't go any farther by about 12am. I am beat tired so I pull over in a rest stop and crash out. It was cold but I had a bunch of gear, I think it hit single digits this night.

 

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March 20th: I wake up at 6am and head out for home. I get maybe 5 miles and see my temp gauges is nearly pegged out to hot! I pull over and check it out. Turns out my coolant is freezing in my radiator since I have a very light mixture of anti-freeze. Remember I dumped most of the anti-freeze in Mexico when I was having throttle body problems. I barely make it to a gas station about 5 miles down the road. I buy a bunch of anti-freeze and dump the water. I then add the anti-freeze and hope for the best. The problem is gone, I was right! I hit some more snow on the way home but nothing to serious. I run out of windshield washer fluid outside Pinedale and can barely drive without it due to slush on the road. I stop in Pinedale and pick up some winter washer fluid. I make it home at about 1pm! Mission accomplished!!

BTW, I pulled into my driveway with less than $100 in my pocket!! How is that for budgeting cash for the trip home!?

Last video of crossing the border into the USA, the snow storm and of me very weary of so many days in a row on the road!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TajQoRzjHDY"]YouTube- The Ultimate Road Trip - The END[/ame]

Picture of my Taco at home in the driveway, I pulled in stepped out of the truck and took this picture!

THE END!​

 

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Since we now can embed videos into posts here on Expo I have gone back and edited all my posts so that the videos are embedded into the thread. Thanks to who ever decided to allow video embedding! :victory:

I have thought about putting the videos together into one long movie. Just all the videos I uploaded onto youtube is nearly 3hrs though! If I do the long version full length movie I will post it.


Someone recently in this thread aksed how much time do I have into this trip report. Geez, I really can't say. Should I count the time spent doing the journal and notes on the road? Without that it is easily 100hrs or more! It takes a lot of time and work to transfer the journal to my pc, do the write up and then edit it. I am old school and didn't take a laptop with me on the trip. You then have pictures resized, 400 or so of them and then uploaded to the internet. Not to mention picking out which pictures to use out of some 3,000 or so and organizing plus renaming them! Then we have some 400 or so video clips to go through, edit and make into short movie clips. That was no small task in its self! Then it all has to be transfered here to a forum and my blog....

So yeah, an easy 100hrs!

I have a summary of the trip prepared but not edited. Will do that shortly and post it up.

 

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Summary:

General quick summary on everything;

I would do this trip again in a heart beat! It had it’s ups and down but overall was an experience of a lifetime! I had hoped a trip like this would open the door for me to do more trips of this type, it certainly has done that for me because I am ready to do another one soon! This kind of travel is certainly not for everyone. I think you need a very open mind and be ready to take on any challenge that comes your way. You also have to realize when you leave the USA you are not playing by our rules anymore. If you think or act like you are still in the USA this will bring you bad experiences. If you understand every country is going to be different in how things are done you will be fine. Be patient and take everything in stride, try to always keep a back up plan in mind. Like what do I do if my truck gets stolen! Be prepared to be self suffient, capable and ready to do some repairs on your own. Know your vehicle! Try not to toss money around much as it doesn’t help you or help those who will come after you. Hold your ground when dealing with traffic cops or even the regular police. Generally the military, drug agents or federal police will give you no problems. They are there to do their job and basically protect you. Be very polite and cooperate with them and it will get you along much easier. Always seek a safe place to sleep and be very wary of camping alone. Be wary of your surroundings all the time. Pay attention to who might be watching you, if you don’t appear to be an easy target that you are not one! Get in a routine and stay in it. This helps a lot to not do things like lock your keys in the car, or lose them or do other things which will cause you problems. Always watch them pump your gas and attend to your vehicle when at gas stations. Ask for directions from more than one source, cops are often good people to ask for directions or attendants at the gas stations. Use the "3s" rule when navigating. Meaning, 3 things to verify you are going the right way. Don’t break any traffic laws or speed, at the least this may end up with you paying brides! Hold your ground when dealing with traffic cops (don’t get nasty just hold your ground) or other pushy police trying to get money out of you. Refuse to pay or at the least negotiate the fine. Speak little or no Spanish to them. Ask to see the radar gun if they say they have one, or the camera or whatever they claim to have. Usually they are lying and it doesn’t work or they don’t have one. Feel free to play the part of a dumb gringo tourist with them but be careful this can get you in more trouble!

 

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Vehicle:



Tools, the truck, spares, ect;

Make sure you have a good set of tools. I tossed them all in a soft bag which worked great for me. When I say complete I mean complete. Also a high lift jack and a good off road base is just about mandatory for me. A tire repair kit too and an air compressor. I also carried a grease gun and a volt meter for trouble shooting any problems. As well as the ability to light up an area at night to do repairs. Spare parts should also be carried, nothing major but the things that will fail. I carried fuel filters, oil filters, air cleaner kit, belts, spare bulbs, hoses, fluids and other general items like nuts & bolts or wire ties. You can't easily get parts for a Taco down south or other USA spec vehicle. Most major parts will have to be shipped to you from the USA. Get a Chiltons manual for the truck, if you need it you will be very happy you have it! The Chiltons doesn't need to be in Spanish, pointing and such at the pictures will get it done if you have a Latino mechanic who speaks little or no English. Don't be to worried about repairs but be ready for it. There are roadside mechanics everywhere that can fix you up pretty good if stuck somewhere. Parts can be ordered from the USA and sent anywhere via the internet, credit card and or a phone call.

Driving lights can be very nice but I didn't need them myself. I found people will turn off their brights if I give them mine or flash them. My lights are real bright so nobody messed with me on that. A buddy I traveled with a bit had some spot lights and he could really blast the other car so they never left their brights on him very long. Everybody says do not drive at night and that is true. But it is going to happen no matter what. At some point you will have to drive to get to a good place to spend the night. Having spot lights at these times would be really sweet. Make sure when you do have to drive at night you be very careful and go super slow. Better to do a 2hr drive in 4hrs then to have a problem.

Key items are brake pads, tie rods and all steering components, suspension, alternator and starter, electrical and tranny. I did a lot of work to my truck before I left including new brake pads, new alternator, new wheel bearings and new starter. I am glad I did all that too because none of it gave me problems. Flush all fluids very well and put in all new stuff before you leave. Be ready to change some fluids on the road. Good tires are key too, I never had one flat but am running the awesome BFGs. I would recommend locking lug nuts at each wheel. But absolutely do not lose the key for them!

You need to know your vehicle and have at the least basic mechanic skills. Can you do a trip like I did withoout any mechanic skills? Of course but it is much better with peace of mind knowing you can at the least trouble shoot and perhaps repair things yourself. I figured out my throttle body was failing, ordered up a new one and had it shipped to Belize. I installed it myself and was back on the road no problems! The throttle body on my truck has not given me a single problem since!


What I would like to change on my truck after the trip:


I would like to do some new things to my truck before another trip south of the border. My tranny is acting up a bit so that will need to be dealt with. At the least I would like to upgrade the valve body and torque converter in it. I am considering a whole new built tranny since I have a lot of extra horse power and carry a heavy load. My front end is still tight, amazingly! But I would like to go through all the steering and replace anything showing wear. Brakes in front need to be upgraded, they just are not good enough for my liking with a heavy load. I would like to do the Tundra brake upgrade in front. More than likely leave the rear brakes alone but rear discs would be sweet. I need to replace my air bags and get them mounted better. I would also like to valve them so I can adjust them together. An in cab system would be sweet for my air bags. I like using airbags, they just need to be quality and set up right. I would like to replace my rear Deaver springs with a set of OME with an overload spring in the pack. The Deavers are just to soft for the kind of stuff I do in the truck. My front sway bar is out since lift went in, I want to put it back in because I don't need flex in this truck I need it to handle very well. I get the dreaded Taco thump from axle wrap in the rear. Not as bad as with stock rear springs but I still get it. So a traction or ladder bar is in order to get rid of it. If I have room in the rear a sway bar may be in order too since I am after good road handling in this truck. It is far better now than with stock suspension but it is not exactly what I want. I would like some custom built skids or the Budbuilt ones. Front skid, full belly skid and perhaps diff skids. More than anything to handle road hazzards not off-roading! A winch in the ARB is on my list but not really needed. I would like to have an air compressor hard mounted instead of using a portable one. Some more bar work would be sweet but not sure I will do that or not. I plan to put an intercooler on my engine and also do a Safari snorkel. An A/F gauge would be nice as well as some additional gauges. Last would be to maybe upgrade the radiator, with my engine mods it would be nice to be able to have a bit better cooling system. That is about it....everything else I can think of is either rnot needed or just dreaming.

 

[RMP&O]

Safety:


The Truck;

Use a steering wheel lock. I like the Master Lock one because it has a light on it and has duel hooks at each end not a single. Use the steering wheel lock everywhere! Make sure you can lock up the entire truck well at all times and that you have spare keys. Never let anybody see where you keep the spare keys or for that matter your stashed cash.

Money;

Don't carry to much cash but carry enough to get you out of any situation. The accident in El Salvador cost us $500 even though it was not our fault. We were given a choice to either settle it on the spot with the person who hit us with no police involvement or to go through a big hassle and process with the cops and all that. The girl was nice and only asked for half or what the mechanic called to the scene said it would cost o fix. So we handed over $500 and if we had not had the cash I am not sure what we would have done. Possibly find an ATM but having cash on hand is key. Border bribes and the cost to cross them you also need cash on hand. Don't carry to much though, maybe max $1000 and keep it separated and stashed. I was robbed by the cops 2x in a row and I think the second time was because the first cop saw my wad of cash and called his friends to shake me down. Almost everywhere you will go requires cash. Some hotels and most gas stations will take a credit card, use one when you can. Carry a variety of cash and always keep USA dollars on hand. Also always have lots of each bill...$1, $5, $10, and $20. Sometimes you have to pay with exact amount and in USA cash at borders.

Gear;

Go light. Don't take to much gear. Just take what you will need and pack as light as you can. Once in warm climates you won't need warm clothes or warm camping gear. Be ready for rain though! The truck will be loaded and this is going to effect braking and handling of the truck on the road. It will also work the tranny and or clutch hard. So pack as light as you can! Keep your stuff locked down and don't leave it out for easy thieving. I kept my kayak locked to the rack on my truck with a Master Lock heavy duty cable lock. I also kept the surf boards locked ot the rack. I never left gear laying about unattended, no camera out on the seat or dash, ect. Be smart and your stuff won't get stolen!

Camping;

You can sleep many places along the road if you can't find good camping. The toll road booths in Mexico are good places to sleep in the truck, lots of cops around and many other people sleeping here late at night. People always say borders and border towns are seedy and dangerous. After crossing them all in Central America I don't think that is right. They are dirty and seedy yes, lots of swindlers around but they are safe. There are lots of cops around and military too. You can stay in a border town or at the border if you need a safe place for the night. Just ask around to either truckers or border officers to find a good place to stay. You are best to sleep in a well lit up area if you camp. No back streets or dark alleys! Be careful camping on beaches in remote areas. You can often pay half price or less in an RV park or hotel parking lot to camp. Or behind a restaurant or even a locals house, like I say just ask around. I recommend you don't party with locals to much when camping, they can get real wild when very drunk. You will have plenty of chances to party if you want but be careful. I had a few close calls drinking with locals but using a good head and not being to drunk saved me. If you get lost ask directions from more than one place. I always got good directions at gas stations and also from police. Random people on the street were also almost always very willing and helpful when I got lost. Asking around also helped me find a good place to stay on more than one ocassion.

Police & crossing borders;

Traffic cops are really bad in Mexico, Honduras and maybe Nicaragua. Make sure your vehicle is all good and legal and your documents are all in order. Always, always obey traffic laws. Never speed or do things like cross a double yellow line even if other people are doing it. Cops are always and I mean always looking for a reason to pull you over and shake you down for a bribe. It will happen no matter what so when it does just don't give in to them and hand over much cash. Negotiate your way out of it and give them the least amount of cash possible. I had really bad problems with the cops going down and they got me for a lot. But coming back I up I felt much more experienced dealing with them and so never gave up any more cash. I simply put my foot down, spoke no spanish to them and said nope I am doing nothing wrong and my papers are good you get no money from me! You can also tell them you have no cash only credit cards. I know people that use that and it works for them. If cops can not find any reason to give you a ticket which will equal a bribe then you shouldn't have to pay one. In Honduras it is law that you have an orange triangle and a fire extinguisher in the vehicle. If you do not have one you will be paying a lot of bribes. You want these things for Nicaragua too. Borders are different, not much standing your ground or negotiating the bribe possible. Just pay it and get through the border asap was my policy. Be careful with porters, they often have scams worked up to get your money. If you use a porter agree on how much you pay them first, $20 is more than enough at any crossing.

General stuff;

You need to know a little Spanish. Take a dictionary if you don't speak a lot of spanish. Hand signals and pointing at a map or repair manual will get you far.

More than anything try to take your time. My budget got blown out of the water a bit with the repairs and bribes paid. I also had no idea what crossing borders or toll roads would cost me. In the end all these things added up a lot. Fuel and other expenses were about what I expected. I didn't have much cash reserves, luckily what I did have was gear to sell and people I knew who would buy it. Time wise 13 weeks was hardly enough! Baja is an easy month plus in it's self. You could easily spend a month surfing and hanging out on beaches down the Mex200. I did the whole west coast of Mexico in about 10 days. It wasn't enough time for what is maybe the best areas in Mexico! Central America can also eat up a lot of time. Countries are small but many places to go and things to do. 13 weeks would probily have been enough if all I did was Central America. But with Baja and mainland Mexico tossed in I crammed a ton into 13 weeks. In the future I think I will focus on one area at a time so the pace is more mellow and I have more time to explore. Then again I am considering just bee lining it for Panama next winter and spend 3 months really learning how to surf! Surfing down the west coast of Mexico is super good. Drive the Mex200, you won't regret it. The Mex200 is on my top 3 best places in Mexico. Also surfing in Nicaragua and Costa Rica is good but I got to do very little so return trips there to surf are needed. The surfing is also very good in Panama and I am sure in the rest of Central America which I didn't get to check out. I found a couple books very good to use for surfing. They are called Wave Finder: Mexico & Central America. Get them if you are on a surfing road trip, very good to have! I also found a book called A Travelers Guide to Camping Mexico to be good. A few other books were really key and helped a ton plus a variety of good maps. I didn't need GPS, but might try to get it for next time. I was a good naviagtor before the trip but am pretty darn good now!

While I have a ton of pictures and video I really would like to have more. Often I was to busy driving to take picutres. While we had an open schedule we still had places to be by certain dates and things to do. Both heading down and coming back this made for very little time to stop and take pictures. This is another reason in the future I want to take it slower. I may never experience another trip exactly like this again so documenting it for myself is important to me...which means the next one should be more documented! At least on my end taking pictures wise....Jaime certainly did a fine job of documenting things on our way south through Central America.

Most of all keep a good attitude, an open mind and a positive vibe. Realize things down south are not done the same as up here, accept that and you will have a better time.

And that is my trip report completed!! :victory::wings::victory:

I hope you have enjoyed my trip report and look at the bigger picture of Latin America and traveling it by vehicle. The experience you get in your own vehicle is one that you can get very few other ways. I supose you will either love it or hate it....me I loved every minute of it! :smiley_drive: :sombrero: