Road Trip Adventure Blog

We are very pleased to have Baja Designs as the newest sponsor of our adventure road trip.

When we went looking for auxiliary off road lights for the rig, we spent a great deal of time researching the various technologies, available products and the companies behind those products. What we found from painstakingly analysing our offroad lighting needs and asking for input from a number of experts is that Baja Designs has been developing top quality high-end aftermarket lighting systems for the off road industry for 14 years. Baja Designs also offers a 3 year warranty on their Soltek Fuego 4″ and LaPaz 8″ lights. These guys stand behind their products. Legendary quality lights, warranty protection, crystal clear optics, one-of-a-kind tool free aiming system and guys that know the Baja like the back of their hand, oh yeah these lights are for us.

When we contacted Chris Chapman at Baja Designs, asking for assistance and sponsorship support we were ecstatic to hear that they would help us out. These are the same guys who are the official sponsors for the American Honda’s off-road team; we are in good company.

Over the coming weeks look for install and how-to posts as we discuss the lighting basics and mount our two Fuego 4″ HID Lights on our Rig’s bull bar and four 8″ Soltek HID Lights on the roof.

Everyone knows the old joke… A tourist pulls up to a man on the corner and asks: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The man on the corner says “Practice… practice… practice”

That is good advise and especially important when you are stuck on the trail. This is not the time to unwrap your shinny equipment for the first time and try to figure out how to use it. More than likely when you get stuck it will be dark, rainy and muddy or sandy, glaringly hot and windy (isn’t that what you went out to find). Stuck in these conditions is exactly what recovery equipment was designed for and when used correctly, will make easy work of a tough situation.

One of the most versatile and low cost pieces of recovery equipment is the hi-lift jack by the Bloomfield Manufacturing Company. The hi-lift jack can be used to lift or pull a rig out of the mud. It can be used to break a tire bead or push a panel into place. The hi-lift jack can even be used to change a tire. However, it can also put the rig into an unstable and unsafe position if the directions and safety instructions are not followed.

If you understand and practice how to use the hi-lift jack properly it can be one of the best pieces of recovery equipment you have with you on the trail.

So you’ve got your great adventure driving through Chile all planned out. You’ve tuned up your rig, dug up all your gear, and mapped out your route. Now you’ve just got one minor problem: that big red dot marked “START” on your map is at the foot of the Andes, while your rig is getting the neighbor kid’s basketball bounced off of it in your driveway in Hoboken. Getting your vehicle to your launch point can be a challenging task, but given the proper time, preparation, and precaution, this process doesn’t have to be such an adventure.

Before you even start to look at how you are going to get your rig to that big red dot, you should make sure that doing so is actually feasible. Every country is going to have its own vehicle standards and import regulations. A good starting point when researching these issues is the State Department’s list of Web Sites of Foreign Embassies in the U.S. These usually have links to the relevant regulatory entities in each country. Make sure that your vehicle will be street legal and that you will have the resources and parts to make repairs.

By Land
So now you’ve done a little homework, and it is time to figure our how you are actually going to get your trusty rig to the origin. Your adventurous instinct might tempt you to just pick up and drive all the way to Chile, but chances are that time, money, and your spouse may push you to look for other options. Travel can get expensive, and every border you cross could present you with any number of surprises. If you get delayed, you might not make it in time to complete your Chilean quest.

If you aren’t going to move your vehicle from behind the wheel, you are probably going to be looking at paying someone to do it for you with some combination of land and sea transport. This is where advance planning is going to be critical. The more flexible you can be with your timeframe, the more affordable shipping should be. If you are lucky enough to live on the coast, you should be able to save some time and money by getting your rig to the docks yourself. Otherwise, you are looking at some domestic shipping, which in itself could require about a month of advance planning. Some international shippers will be able to cover this domestic leg of the trip as well, and this consolidation of services can simplify the process considerably.

By Sea
Your vehicle will likely spend the maritime portion of its voyage in an enormous box shipping container with other vehicles. If you are extremely protective of your rig, you may want to shell out some extra cash for a private container. One other high-end option is a cruiseferry. This is essentially a combination of a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) freight ship and a luxury cruise liner. In addition to a steep price, this option also may leave you with little flexibility regarding timing and destinations. As an advantage, however, this option also moves something else you will need on your trip: you! If you can swing the cash, you’ll be able to ride in style.

There are any number of companies that provide international auto transport. When choosing a shipping carrier, make sure to do some research to ensure that they are a reputable company with the necessary registrations and licenses. Find out what parts of the customs process they can handle for you. Shipping brokerages and auction sites can be useful in finding the right shipper for your needs.

You can save yourself a lot of hassle by starting your trek from your incoming foreign port. If your origin is landlocked, however, you may need to secure shipping within a foreign country. The difficulty of this task depends a lot upon the level of development in that country and your comfort with the foreign language. In more developed areas, you may be able to arrange something online, but in a developing nation, you might have to make some arrangements in person.

By Any Means Necessary
If all this sounds a bit too daunting, don’t be afraid to get creative. Does it make more financial or logistical sense to purchase a new or used vehicle at the origin? Maybe you can find a fellow adventurer that already has a vehicle on location. Perhaps you could trek together or use the vehicle when they are done and split the cost of shipping. Find some adventure forums and see what other travelers have done.

Don’t let getting there be the whole battle. Plan ahead and work within your means. You’ll be chugging along towards that “FINISH” dot before you know it.

Written by Adam Greenspan of uShip.com, an auction-style marketplace for Auto Transport.

At Last Great Road Trip we are always looking for ways to thank our readers and bring content that can help our readers be more successful on their next overland adventure road trip. As a result we are pleased to introduce a new category of articles written by industry experts.

By teaming up with subject matter experts we hope to publish information on everything from earning gas money for your trip by carrying packages along the way to better understanding suspension components for your rig and style of wheeling adventure.

You will find these posts tagged as “Expert Guests Articles” along with credit to author and a link back in order for you to follow up with them for more information. Our first guest will discuss some of the points to consider when shipping your rig around the globe in order to start or end your adventure road trip in a remote location.

Our goal is to post articles that will help everyone plan their own great adventure, so please let us hear from you with thought about guest writers and topics you would like to read about. If you are a budding writer with a field of expertise don’t be shy. Let us know how you would like to contribute and help celebrate diversity in the world one blog at a time.

If I hear one more time… so that was not the LAST great road tirp I’ll…

last [last, lahst]
adjective a superl. of late with later as compar.

1. occurring or coming after all others, as in time, order, or place: the last line on a page.
2. most recent; next before the present; latest: last week; last Friday.
3. being the only one remaining: my last dollar; the last outpost; a last chance. final: in his last hours.
4. ultimate or conclusive; definitive: the last word in the argument. That which is ultimate (literally, most remote) is the last that can be reached, as in progression or regression, experience, or a course of investigation: ultimate truths.

The idea of going on great overland adventures came to me while sitting in the ferry line one dark and stormy northwest night as Jimmy buffet played in my head

Just a semi-normal person
Thought he had the future planned…
…Now he’s somewhere over China
Lookin’ down on all the trails
On the mountains lookin’ back at him
It’s a real live fairy tale
Put a little distance
Between causes and effects
Like a day old fortune cookie
Askin’ who or what comes next

For the next several weeks I could not shake the idea of driving on the ultimate (definition #4) adventure. Of course if you are going to measure an expedition’s worthiness you need to have a yard stick to compare it against. A few historical adventurers immediately came to mind including:

• Marco Polo’s spice run set the standard for great road trips
• Sacagawea lead Lewis & Clark on a pretty good trip
• The Oregon trail was another good road oriented adventure
• Apollo 11 lead by Commander Neil Alden Armstrong was far out

That mental exercise set the bar pretty high and what came out was to drive to the ends of the earth. Deadhorse Alaska on the North End and the “Land of Fire”, Tierra del Fuego on the other.

Not having unlimited resources, power or any pull with small militant guerrilla groups the adventure had to be planned in manageable chucks. The first chuck let us concur the northern portion driving up to the Arctic Ocean. In 2009 we will complete the first southern leg through Baja Mexico following the most famous desert race course in the world the Baja 1000. In 2011 we will aim for Belize, officially putting us in Central America. After that, we will see how our militant gorilla connections look and continue to work our way down south.

I know we are not the first to make this pole to pole trek. But we are making this our own by going out of our way to explore and celebrate the diverse cultures along the way. Each leg of the journey offers us a chance to make new friends, involve more readers, and learn how the differences between people can pull us together as we share tales of our lives. Of course we’ll Blog the entire way, sharing the last great road trip with everyone and encouraging each person to start their own adventure and join in the celebration of diversity.

“What the hell did Marco Polo think
When he ran into the wall
Or the crazy Flying Tigers
Doin’ spins and loops and stalls
Just a taste for somethin’ different
Perking up a borin’ day
Now our man from Poulsbo
Feels exactly the same way…
…We’re all somewhere over China
Headin’ east or headin’ west
Takin’ time to live a little
Flyin’ so far from the nest
Just to put a little distance
Between causes and effects
Like an ancient fortune teller
Knowin’ who and what comes next “