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Planes, Trains and Automobiles (kinda)

A very quick drive through the Pennsylvania coal country with miles and miles of slag piles,  and more hills than I knew PA had, and a round about route into Lorton, VA to avoid the DC madness, we boarded the Amtrack Auto Train for the 17 hour ride to FL.  We splurged and got a double bunk room, a very smart decision, but if we did it again we would get the slightly larger room so Darrin doesn’t have to sleep on the top bunk😎.

For 17 hours we read, slept, and stared out the window.  We even had a wonderful dinner with a very nice couple from Delaware  (I hope I’m remembering the state right).  It was a nice change from the marathon drive to get to the train station. 🚇

The people working the Amtrack Auto Train were amazing, from the nice guy who checked us in and reassured us that the Rover wasn’t too tall (88 inch limit), the 2 other guys who measured it again just to make sure, and the head guy who reached his hand up and bet the younger coworker $500 that it would fit just fine, to the steward who kept us hydrated with lots of water, relaxed with his good sense of humor and his great service to make us feel pampered.

We highly recommend taking the train if you want to get to FL quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

The really nice guys loading the Rover onto the train  cars (the round horse trailer looking things in the background).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is she going to fit?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She made it with inches to spare.  The solar panels didn’t even scratch the top.

Sorry, no planes.  I just liked the title😊.

In fact, we are trying to do this trip without any planes.  🛫

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We are finally off!

Well, we did it!  We are off on our adventure.

After a frantic few weeks of final preparations on the Rover and last minute loading we finally said goodbye to friends and our housesitter and drove out of the driveway

With mixed emotions and a few tears we left our home state and headed south.

 

 

 

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Pack, repack and repeat

Question of the day.   “What are you taking and how are you going to fit everything in?” I guess that is actually 2 questions😁

The short answer is 1) only what we really need and 2) very carefully😁

The longer answer will take several blogs and months as we pack,  repack, leave stuff behind we thought we would really need and find better options for stuff that isn’t working. The most important thing we have learned from years of backcountry camping and motorcycle travel is that in such a small space,  everything needs an assigned spot.

Today I’ll just focus on our staging area and what we think we might be bringing.  Most items will need to have several uses and no items are above being cut before being loaded into the Rover or even after.

Here is a picture of our staging area:

Packing - staging areaIt probably looks like a mess, but is actually very organized.

From the left:  Cold weather gear and rain gear, bedding, freeze dried food (plastic garbage bag – this will be reduced and is for emergencies only), a tent for camping away from the Rover or lodgings with suspect bedding, packs and satchels for days hiking or walking around town, pee bottles for night (a lot of places you don’t  want to get out at night in the dark), towels and toiletries, art supplies and knitting needles, med kit, regular water bottles(not to be confused with the pee bottles), travel hot mugs, large water bladder that is great for hanging on the side of the Rover for gravity feed water or warmed in the sun for a quick shower, and a military grade water filter.  The whole right side is the kitchen.  The wooden drawers all go in cabinets in the back of the Rover. These are for our pots, plates, dutch oven, food, etc. Not in the picture: journals, maps, chairs (actually you can see one against the back wall), binoculars, etc.

That’s it, except for the huge clothes pile we are still weeding through.

This needs a lot of work.  I’ll get back to you as that progresses.  (And just to be clear, all those shoes are Darrin’s😎)

So, that is the quick tour.  I’ll post more pictures as we weed, pack, repack and find we packed stuff we really don’t need.

Back to packing!

 

 

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Yellow Fever, Thyphus, Rabies, oh my – Update!

Round 2 of our shots are done and they still haven’t given me a lollipop for being a good patient. I didn’t even bite anyone:)

To make up for it, we stopped at the candy store on our way home and treated ourselves!

Everyone get out there and have a great day!

Say hi to someone you don’t know or hold the door open for a total stranger.

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Fissures and pinky twinges

Something that has come to light during our journey of living differently is the State of Fear that surrounds us. From the nightly news to friends, family and even strangers, we are constantly told to be afraid.

From the simple mom statement: If you go out with wet hair you’ll catch your death.

To the medical prescription ads: If your left pinky twinges at 10am every day, you might have…or if you have taken medicine x you might be able to sue because…

To the nightly news: The war on terror….The extreme weather…The government is going to take away your health care…You get the idea.

Some fear is legitimate: The fact that half the cars you pass show the tops of drivers heads because they are staring down at their cell phone or their navel for all I know.

Some fear is absurd: Read above about the pinky twinging at 10am every day:)

The bottom line is that we are surrounded by fear.

That brings us to a crossroad. Let the fear paralyze us or take a deep breath and live.

We are choosing to live, despite the fear. We chose to ride motorcycles when half the people we met told us how dangerous they were. We chose to rock climb when people told us they could never do that because it was way to scary and weren’t we afraid of falling? And, we are choosing to travel even when people tell us all the “bad” things we are going to encounter.

We are choosing to embrace the fear and live, to find the good, meet new people, see new places and maybe, just maybe, make a crack or a tiny fissure in the state of fear that surrounds us.

 

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Yellow Fever, Thyphus, Rabies, oh my

We were warned about all the shots one needs to travel, but holy crap.

With all the stuff out there that can get you, how in the hell is the world population exploding!

1 set of shots done. 2 more to go.

Then we`ll l be invincible!

 

 

 

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Home below the range

Today, Darrin installed our cook counter and new gas range.

Back door cook counter

On the inside of the back door of the Land Rover he added a drop down shelf. This will be our counter and our stove.

Just inside of the back door will be the fridge (big empty spot) and drawers (far left)for pots, dishes, food, etc. And they double as steps up into the roof top tent.  I’ll post better pictures of those later.

Cook stove

The cool thing about our new counter is the laminate is a leftover piece from when we redid our kitchen.

A little piece of home traveling with us

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New Springs and Frost Heaves

The Land Rover is finally back from the shop with new Alcan springs.  We were quite anxious having it away since Darrin has always done all the work on the vehicle. Without a lift and winter in full swing, we turned to Performance Unlimited in Bridgewater, VT to do the work. After a few scheduling hiccups and miscommunications, they did great work and we are very pleased.

Alacan springs

With our vehicle fully loaded with 2 fuel tanks, extra fuel cans, water tank, extra water cans, the homemade roof top tent and us,  the Land Rover’s full weight came in at 5,000 pounds. Standard Land Rover specs say 4,250 is the max load on their standard springs.  Since we were over, we turned to Alcan for custom springs designed to carry the increased weight.

We never thought leaf springs could provide such a pleasant ride for a Land Rover…even on our frost heave roads!

Thank you Alcan and Performance Unlimited!

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Thanks for the help

As we started to think about life on the Road we went where everyone goes to get information, the worldwide web.  What we found was a vibrant community of people who actually spend a lot of time living on the road. From Susan and Grant at Horizons Unlimited (our original plan was to travel on our motorcycles) to Dan at The Road Chose Me, who is currently traveling in Africa, the web is overflowing with people willing to share their knowledge and experiences.  We are extremely grateful for everyone who has helped us, knowingly or unknowingly, that we want to devote some time on our blog to sharing what we have learned, not a whole lot yet, and what we have done to our old Land Rover to get it ready to head out, and the many modifications we will continue to make as we go.

Some of you following our blog may not be interested in these sections so feel free to skip them and get on to the actual travel bits, which if all goes well should be coming soon.

Darrin just reminded me I forgot to mention Expedition Portal. Another website with a wealth of information.

I’m sure there are others I have forgotten. I’ll add them as Darrin reminds me.

Thanks Everyone!!!

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Destination nowhere

Where are you going?

What do you want to see?

These are questions I am continually asked.

When I answer:

I don’t know. We haven’t made any real plans. We are just going to see where the road takes us.

I usually get a look of puzzlement followed by:

What do you mean you don’t know?

I think people are so used to planning. Where to take a trip .  What to do. How to get the most out of their 2 week vacation.

For us, this isn’t a trip but a change in life style, at least for a little while.  The destination isn’t really important. Of course it would be cool to see something like Machu Picchu, but that is just an added bonus.

Our time on the road will evolve just the way it is supposed to.