Pan-American Highway

[flyingQ]

Hello All!

We are novices in all California things and at the end of next week we are embarking in our big driving adventure from the north of Alaska to the south of South America, a total of 20,000 miles. The Cali is well on its way along the Pacific in its cosy container and, if anyone is interested, our blog is http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/j ... /tpod.html.

Have a great summer!

Manuel and Jill

 

[BerndRos]

Oh gosh.......

That's something I want to do.....can you post details of shipping procedures and costs of re the Cali........

 

[Linda]

Amazing! Safe travels- couldn't do it in a better vehicle I think

 

[flyingQ]

BerndRoss,

Afraid the answer is not straightforward - in fact very little of it has been straightforward!

To start with it depend where you want to send it to. We sent ours to Vancouver because it fits better with our plans, others have sent theirs to the east coast which is considerably nearer. You can send it in a container (which we did) or send it RoRo (cheaper), not an option in our chosen route. We have used Phoenix-Cargo.com, Terry Pittaway is probably the most experienced person in this sort of thing, get in touch with him for an idea of your planned route - afraid it's expensive, the fuel surcharge alone for the beginning of April came to over £900!

Good luck!

 

[Andy]

Good luck with your trip, sounds great,am very envious. Shal read your blog with interest.

Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ewan]

Sounds fab ! Will be really interested to hear how you get on.

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

What a great adventure! Shall be following the blog.

dan

 

[flyingQ]

Hello all from Rio Verde, Ecuador

Just an quick update now that we have passed the halfway point:

Our Cali, aka the Red Burrito, has been performing splendidly despite being fed sometimes with some pretty dodgy diesel. We have now covered just over 16, 000 miles of all types of road - and believe me, some of them were very rough! Nothing has fallen off (except some screw from the camping chairs) and the only preventive unscheduled maintenance consisted of both rear wheel bearings, impossible to get in the USA but supplied with great speed (2 days!) By Listers iof Worcester.
One of my doubts regarding performance, in fact my main doubt , was how if was going to cope with altitude - there was no problem, we have climbed up to 15, 260 feet and it performed extremely well. Starting after being parked overnight at 13, 000 feet took a bit of persuasion, but it went at the third time.
More details in our blog as per the original entry, diaries 25, 35 and 38 have a strong bias to driving and travel irritations.
All the best

flyingQ

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

Enjoyed the latest post on Peru.

 

[Pete Wilkins]

Wow,
What a great blog you have done ,and what a journey and adventure. We look forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.I would love to do what you have done.
Good luck and safe traveling.
Pete & Gina

 

[flyingQ]

Thanks Pete, the road doesn't go away and it will wait for you! I should also say the Cali, sorry, the Red Burrito, remains our best choice for the trip!

 

[flyingQ]

Hello All,

Here we are back in Worcestershire, trip concluded after over 28,000 miles!

The Cali, aka the Red Burrito, performed fantastically well and proved itself as the best choice of vehicle for what we wanted to do. We never actually broke down and the few problems we had were not too hard to solve, even if the supply of parts in some countries has been less than good.

For those that might wish to read the blog and some of the pictures we took, the address is:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/j ... /tpod.html

Later in the year and as with a previous adventure, I will be giving illustrated talks around the country and if anyone here is so interested I am available!

The Red Burrito should be now in a ship that just left Buenos Aires and we are looking forward to being reunited with it towards the end of February.

All the best

flyingQ

 

[calikev]

Wow what an amazing adventure well done

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

Enjoyed following your journey.

Maybe give your talk at Calis on the Farm?

dan

 

[Ewan]

I also enjoyed reading about your adventures. What an experience !

 

[flyingQ]

A talk at Cali's on the Farm would be a nice idea, trouble is that these talks are part of the way I make a living... open to offers at a preferential rate!

 

[flyingQ]

We are doing this and maybe if you are near Worcester you might be able to come - we would love to see you there!

flying

 

[Kirk]

I would love to hear this, I wish I was nearer!

Are you going to Cali's on the Farm? Maybe the admins can arrange this talk one evening , as I would happily donate to charity to listen to your story

 

[flyingQ]

Thank you Kirk, not too sure how July is shaping up - we will have to see how we can make it work!

 

[Martin]

If you can get there flyingQ it would be great to have you along to do a talk, I will send you a PM

 

[ibis64]

Just looked at the blog for the first time what an awesome trip journey of a lifetime.

 

[flyingQ]

The Red Burrito will be at Cali's on the Farm in July and we will be telling out tale, looking forward to meeting you all!

 

[calikev]

Looking forward to it

 

[Martin121]

Inspiring travel blog. Fun double meaning of burrito too. I've been having the idea for a while now and have been looking online at a lot of options. Nice to see you already did it the car I'm focussing on and in a similiar time frame. Really nice to see it's do-able (border crossings and all) Thanks for the trip breakdown and things to focus on before departure. It could help to convince my wife ...

PS I'm not in the UK so can't come to the farm and ask in person but could you give a rough number for the trip budget you spend (excl.the side trips, niceties and wine).

Muchos gracias.

 

[flyingQ]

Thank you Martin, you won't regret doing it!

Money - that annoying inevitability! We set ourselves a budget of US$ 500/week all included apart from shipping, flights and repairs and it worked.

Your wife will be as keen as yourself to live the experience.