To the Arctic Ocean via the Dalton Road

[cellularsteve2]

Thanks again for taking us along for the ride. I very much enjoyed reading your posts over this period. Looking forward to your post-trip report on highlights, lowlights, and things you have learned.

Thank you!

steve

 

[Christian P.]

I can't believe it's already over and we haven't even had the chance to meet up!!!!!

I guess we'll have to meet on the Silk Road then....

I totally agree about Overlanding being very different in Africa vs Central/South America. It was one of the lessons learned at Panama Passage...

 

[haven]

Many thanks for your detailed and thoughtful blog. The photos are excellent, and help the reader share your experiences. Can't wait for the sequel!

I was happy to see that you ventured off the Panamericana during your trip. Too many travelers just focus on reaching Ushuaia. Perhaps it's time pressure.

There are places in South America that are analogues to the African experience. Eastern Bolivia, for example, is similar to east Africa (minus the large game herds, of course.) Dusty tracks, isolated villages, Maned Wolf, Jaguar, lots of pristine areas untouched by development. Central Brasil has areas that feel like west Africa, with lots of difficult muddy tracks, unregulated "wild west" resource extraction activities, and a sort of "Heart of Darkness" attitude. Northeast Brasil has thorn forest and dry lands similar to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Brasil's Pantanal has similarities to Botswana's Okavango Delta (no hippos, though). And so on.

 

[geovalue]

Where to Next

Thanks so much for all the comments. It is lovely to know that folk enjoyed traveling along with us.

We have been incredible busy seeing everyone, going to look at houses to buy, looking at cars to buy and getting over jet lag. It feels good to be home although Tom said to me this morning.

Tom "I am not sure where to start there is so much to do."
Me "yes we need to get organized"
Tom "Are you sure you don't just want to drive across Asia first it would be easier for me to organize that"

I wonder how long before we hit the road again. I just wondered if travel addiction is a medical condition or whether we are going to always want to be somewhere else.

We will continue to share our thoughts and discoveries on overlanding.

And we are back to driving on snowy icy road augh!!

 

[username]

If you tried to sell the vehicle there, what would happen?

 

[seahaul]

Amazing Tom & Janet. An inspiring and great read as I sit in my desk in downtown Calgary... One question though, how did you get out of the truck?

Cory

 

[geovalue]

If you tried to sell the vehicle there, what would happen?

If you are referring to selling the truck in South America it is complicated. As selling a vehicle that is a foreign registered vehicle usually means the vehicle has to be imported before it can be legally sold. If we sold it to a Canadian we could change ownership easily, but selling it to a foreigner could mean lots of paperwork and in some cases it is not possible.

 

[geovalue]

Amazing Tom & Janet. An inspiring and great read as I sit in my desk in downtown Calgary... One question though, how did you get out of the truck?

Cory

Pleased you enjoyed reading our blog on this very snowy day in Calgary. And to answer your question the driver climbed out the car window and over the front. Easy as that. An easier exit than our shipping from Panama to Colombia

 

[JCMatthews]

I have loved following this adventure thank you for posting. I have one question did the driver have to stay in the truck? It did not look like there was enough room to even climb out a window. I know of course that he got out somehow, but it could not have been easy.

 

[geovalue]

I have loved following this adventure thank you for posting. I have one question did the driver have to stay in the truck? It did not look like there was enough room to even climb out a window. I know of course that he got out somehow, but it could not have been easy.

It was a tight squeeze but here are some pictures of the truck being loaded and persons standing next to truck in container

On Back of Tow Truck to Get to Height of Entrance to Container


Wooden Planks make bridge between trucks


Nissan Reversing into Shipping Container


Man Standing Next to Truck. Driver climbed out of Driver window


Because the widest part of the rig is actually the camper and not the Nissan truck it looks worse than it really was for the driver to get out. He could not open the truck door wide enough to get out so climbed out the window and was fine.

We are now anxiously waiting to make sure the Nissan makes it back to Canada safely. We have lots of future travel plans for it.

Safe travels

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

This has been one of my favorite threads to follow on EXPO

One of the things that make me smile most about it. Folks on here spend months upon years getting their vehicle ready to make a few weekend trips around the country. You both took a vehicle, which other than a few well thought out mods, is stock, and drove it from Canada to the neither regions of South America. Kudo's to you!

I was part of the panel at the EXPO10 that talked about fulltime travel. One of the most asked questions was "What is the #1 vehicle mod we'd all recommend?" All of us on the panel laughed and basically said the same thing, "You could go out today and buy almost ANY of the trucks right off the lot and drive it around the globe with very little if ANYTHING done to them!"

More folks should read this thread from start to finish and learn from it. I know I have!! Thanks again for sharing your journey/adventure and cant wait to see more from future travels.

Merry Christmas and looking forward to 2012

 

[geovalue]

This has been one of my favorite threads to follow on EXPO

One of the things that make me smile most about it. Folks on here spend months upon years getting their vehicle ready to make a few weekend trips around the country. You both took a vehicle, which other than a few well thought out mods, is stock, and drove it from Canada to the neither regions of South America. Kudo's to you!

I was part of the panel at the EXPO10 that talked about fulltime travel. One of the most asked questions was "What is the #1 vehicle mod we'd all recommend?" All of us on the panel laughed and basically said the same thing, "You could go out today and buy almost ANY of the trucks right off the lot and drive it around the globe with very little if ANYTHING done to them!"

More folks should read this thread from start to finish and learn from it. I know I have!! Thanks again for sharing your journey/adventure and cant wait to see more from future travels.

Merry Christmas and looking forward to 2012

Many thanks for your supportive comment. You are so right about almost any truck making a great overland vehicle. We have seen so many overland vehicles from the most elaborate and sophisticated to the simplest. We really loved our set up it was perfect for the Americas and the Nissan's off road capabilities really impressed us, it was great. We are looking forward to more adventures in the future.

Wishing everyone the best season greetings.

 

[cgalpin]

Can you share more detail about the inside of the camper and how you have it setup? I don't recall seeing any pictures of the interior at all.

 

[geovalue]

Can you share more detail about the inside of the camper and how you have it setup? I don't recall seeing any pictures of the interior at all.

Well you are right about no inside photos. We thought we had some but went through our photos and "nada" nothing. So when we get our camper and truck next month we will take some photos and explain everything we did to the interior to make it comfortable and livable. It was a small space, not bigger than the box of the pick up truck. Now imagine living in that space and still being able to laugh together after 17 months. Actually I think we should make a video, a virtual tour of the interior. Yes we will do that.

All the best for the festive season.

 

[d0va]

Great story, love the titan... if you dont mind I want to share this in a titan forum titantalk.com

it looks like beside the airbag and leafspring nothing else went wrong with the truck... Glad you guys made it home....