What’s the point in planning if plans rarely work out, eh? There we were… taking a leisurely pootle towards the Outer Banks islands, ‘planning’ a summer overlanding the east-coast cities of DC, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and up the north-east coast. Then, it turned out, we needed to pick up the pace a bit, making a dash to Nova Scotia to ship out… pronto.
The route east out of Texas leads us through a whole load of states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and finally to the North Carolina coast. On the way we investigate Bonnie and Clyde, we test some great American Parkways, we see a Titanic attraction, and we have a tech snag with Cuthbert…
It’s always good to return to Texas. After a 3,000km dash from central Guatemala, through the whole length of Mexico in just four days, we’re chuffed to be welcomed by friendly US border guys into Texas. Not in our 9+ years of overlanding have we ever travelled so fast!! The real reason we dashed here at warp-factor-sneeze was for a bit of Texas Rocket Time… the imminent launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship rocket. Exciting, eh? Then we enjoyed catching up with some lovely friends here, and we took a trip to Paris!
Semana Santa is the Easter week celebration. It’s a biiiiig thing here in Antigua, Guatemala. Every year, over a million people descend on this very cool, historic town at the foot of Volcan de Agua to see the Semana Santa processions at Antigua Easter. So what’s our outsiders’ insight into the world’s largest Easter celebrations? And how do we end up doing a post-Easter overlanding rocket-blast all the way north through Guatemala, through Mexico, to Texas?
We could regale you with exciting tales of derring-do, travelling the Mexican mainland, following crazy remote routes and being chased by bandidos through the Sierra Madre, but we’d be telling fibs! This wasn’t one of our wildest rides. Instead, we’ll regale you with tales of a fun pootle through Mexico, featuring a Pueblo Magico or two, a new windscreen (finally), some Nun’s Farts (yes, really), and a bit of ‘road-block palaver’ on the way to the border.
Baja California is ‘good’, right? Looking back over our time in Baja it would be very easy to rave on… and on… about how awesome it is. After three months of overlanding there with fabulous beaches, delicious food, sunny skies and great company, we’re finding it hard to leave. But is there any ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’? We found a bit of over-crowding and had a run-in with Mexican corrupt police. Read on for what we hope is a balanced view of the Baja California bad side.
Wait… 2022… over already? Where does the time go? Another overlanding year behind us. After six years driving up the Americas from Argentina, our mission of 2022 was to complete the Pan-American Highway by reaching Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. With that mission accomplished and our US visas expiring, we came to Mexico for some winter sun. What started as a round-the-world trip nine years ago has stalled a bit in North America since Covid. It’s about time we bucked ourselves up and got on with the business of circumnavigation! So now, from a series of lovely beaches in Mexico with overlanding friends, we ponder overlanding 2023 and the big question of our time: ‘Where next?’
It’s been a while since the last blog. What can we say… overlanding life just gets in the way! We’ve been spending the last few weeks back overlanding western USA, hanging around the Reno/Tahoe area. We saw more California coast, had a palaver with a crankshaft seal, visited M*A*S*H*, and waited for a windscreen (yes, another!!!). Oh… and we had a look around Air Force One!
The curious thing about overlanding the USA is that it’s full of curiosities. For some, the USA is all about the iconic Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon or Yosemite. And they’re great. But if you’re lucky enough to have the time to snoop around, you’ll find countless curiosity spots. History, culture, science and general ‘well I didn’t know that’ stuff in some of the most unlikely spots. Across south-east Idaho, north-west Utah and central Nevada we’ve found some overlanding curiosities – potatoes, a ‘world’s only’, a steam train, a crime scene, a stony spiral, some rockets, a clean museum, an awful lot of salt, a lonely road and an ostrich race. Folks… you couldn’t make this stuff up!
It would be bonkers to visit USA’s most popular national parks in peak summer season, wouldn’t it? Well, yes it would. But it’s a matter of timing, you see. We have to be somewhere for the summer. In 2022 that somewhere turns out to be the epic Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Sure, there will be crowds. But, as the saying goes, we’ll just have to ‘suck it up, princess!’ 😉 We learned that even in peak season, overlanding national parks is still a good idea, and we learned some tips on bagging a camp-spot at the parks. But in-between the parks we visited a State Fair, saw a big-time rodeo and a real-life mermaid!
Overlanding Alaska is an epic route. Far more than the sum of its places, it’s a whole experience, and it’s unique. Yes, it bears some similarity to Patagonia, but the culture and history here set it apart. It’s a very long way from anywhere, so is it worth the schlepp? Here we do a bit of general pondering our lessons learned about Alaska, and our dash through Canada en-route.
Alaska does glaciers and stunning scenery rather well. We saw this on our tour around the south of the State. Now we’re overlanding central Alaska – the middle bit – seeing more of the same old scenic stuff and hiking to a glacier… again (yawn 😉). But wait, there’s more! In central Alaska we do some cultural stuff too: we experience our first 4th July, watch our first Eskimo Olympics, and enjoy not a chicken pie, but a pie in Chicken….
The Dalton Highway is one of those iconic routes that many world overlanders have on their wish-list. It runs through northern Alaska, up to the Arctic Circle, over the remote Brooks Mountains, across vast tundra, ending at the industrial oil-fields on the Arctic Ocean. So why do it? And what do you do when you get there?
Alaska is on the way to nowhere. It’s not the kind of place you drop into accidentally. And the drive to get here from anywhere is nothing short of a schlepp. But for us, overlanding Alaska has been well worth making the considerable (second) attempt to get here. The wildlife, the scenery, the nature and the wilderness are stunning. The adventure activities and opportunities are endless. And we’re having a blast meeting up with other overlanders. Here’s our tale of a scoot around the much-driven southern half of Alaska, stopping to do a bit of fishing, to see the wildlife, and to ogle at the odd glacier or two…
The decision’s made. We’re going to Alaska. Well… we’re going to try again at getting to Alaska. We’re in Yuma on the US/Mexican border and our GPS tells us it’s exactly 6,640 km to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. By anyone’s measure, that’s a loong way. Here’s our Operation Reach Alaska, a gentle trot through California, Oregon and Washington, then a frantic gallop through BC and the Yukon…
The Wild West is a legendary piece of US history and worth a bit of attention by the traveller. As we drive across southern Arizona, overlanding the wild west, we see a cheesy show, ponder the age-old air-con dilemma, and looking ahead we contemplate another stab at Alaska…
Hey world… things continue getting back to normal for us overlanding people. Travel restrictions are easing, borders are opening, quarantining is being dumped. It’s time we did a trip back to Blighty to visit our families. But although ‘rona virus rules might be on their way out, we still have the old logistical and legal rules of parking Cuthbert unattended for a while. Here we ponder some overlanding rules, our time in UK, and why Mexico is always a good idea!
We like deserts. Which is fortunate really, because there are lot of them to explore in south west USA. Mojave, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego, Death Valley etc… etc… etc. Here are our tales of overlanding deserts, featuring dune-climbing, a balloon festival, dinosaurs, aliens, an international forest of cars, movie sets, struggling through snow (yes, in the desert!) and catching up with lovely friends.
We end 2021 with Operation Seeking Sunshine from Wyoming to Arizona. Over the last two years we’ve done more than a bit of Canadian-style wintering. This year, we’re looking for a bit of winter sunshine. In our final blog of the year, we skip Yellowstone Park, cruise down from Wyoming through Colorado to sunny Arizona. On the way we do a few tourist hot-spots and catch up with some great travel friends.
There are some monumental things to see in USA. Some of them are truly on the way to nowhere… just so damn far out of the way, they’re a real schlep to reach. Incorporating Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park or the Devil’s Tower into your average holiday trip to the USA is a stretch. After a slow start to our time in USA, we’re making the effort to see as many USA monuments as we can, but winter’s coming and some places will soon become inaccessible. So the race is on…
