We realize that not everywhere in Central and South America has unsafe drinking water. But we also know that many places do. We didn't like the idea of chemical sanitizers like bleach or buying all of our drinking water. So we needed some sort of filtration system.
Pete and I are both pasty white so have a space where we can hang outside and be protected from the sun was a must. Lately we've been thinking in terms of costs for camper/truck modifications vs. lengthening our trip. The less money we spend;the longer we get to travel.
Last time we were in Baja the temperature reached 107 degrees so we thought it might be a good idea to get a second Fantastic Fan. We had read on another overlander’s blog that the Four Wheel Campers were prewired for this. We contacted Four Wheel and they confirmed it.
The second project we decided to undertake was putting in a new floor. The old floor was fine. It was the original vinyl floor Four Wheel Camper installs. It had a few scratches here and there but was perfectly functional. Regardless, we decided to replace it.
Since we've decided to do this overlandig trip we keep running across this saying from other camper owners. It's really starting to sink in that this will be our only tiny house for over a year and we want to make it as homey as possible.
Deciding we wanted to take a 15 month road trip from Tennessee to Argentina was the easy part. Deciding what we wanted to live in was the hard part. We knew wanted a truck camper from the start, but there are SO many companies and SO many opinions.
Today, we're ditching diving in favor of exploring the island on two wheels! Many of my favorite memories from our bicycle tour involve riding scooters or motorcycles with Pete and Natasha. On this bright, sunny afternoon in Roatan, I'm thrilled that we're on a brand new two-wheeled adventure with them. Backpacks stuffed with water, sunscreen, bug spray, wallets, lenses, and a map… we're ready to roll! "Roa-TAAAN" we shout into the wind!
Over the past three days, Tyler, Pete, Natasha and I have been pursuing our PADI Open Water Certification at Sun Diver on Roatan. It has been a thrilling, tiring, and nerve-wracking time, during which most of us have had some pretty intense bouts of being anxious and uncertain about the whole breathing-under-sixty-feet-of-water thing.
We probably shouldn't have taken this vacation. After all we are saving for a lengthy, expensive trip to South America. Pete was hard to convince, since he's the pragmatic one. I used the fact that Roatan was an excellent place to get scuba certified and that we HAD to get that done before we left on our trip.
After our first meeting in Southeast Asia, Tara and Tyler have made yearly trips to Tennessee to visit. When they bought their land, we were super excited for them, partly because it was the beginning of their homesteading dreams, but mostly because we were thinking "Heck yeah! Vermont's cool!! We can't wait to visit them every year!"
The sky is clear and blue, the air crisp and warm; rare oddities during the last two weeks and perfect for our final day on the Ring Road. After coffee, pastries and a little fermented shark meat for breakfast; we drive west with our tiny car sandwiched between the monstrous Snæfell Glacier and a scraggly coastline.
his morning Pete and I woke with different plans in mind. I wanted to spend the next two days circumnavigating Snæfellsnes. It is a southwestern peninsula that is a geological hodgepodge of everything Iceland has to offer. Pete's the one that planted the seed in my brain a few days earlier and the more I researched the more i wanted to go....
The entrance is marked by a rusted iron shark. The farm looks like any other with a field of horses and chickens roaming the yard. A jovial grey haired man wearing a flannel shirt and striped suspenders greets us at the door. He is the owner of this place and a producer of hákarl, fermented shark meat.
The sunny days of our arrival in Reykjavik are long gone. The green carpeted hills have quickly turned into a vast whiteness severed only by the stark black Ring Road. It's snowing like crazy and I am a happy gal........
This unpredictable Icelandic weather has us stranded. I want to drive on, but Pete, the sensible one, with the help of a gas station attendant, has convinced me that it might not be in our best interest to continue during this windy snow storm that may make several mountain roads impassable. I pout and whine, because I know the days are dwindling away. Soon we will be home, back at our jobs and there is still so much to see.......
As we are paying for our meal the waiter casually mentions that the Northern Lights are out tonight. WHAT!!!!??? HOLY SHIT!!!! We say, almost in unison. I want to hug this fella, throw our money at him and run outside, but I hold my composure until we step out into the darkness......
Myvatn is a lake in northern Iceland created by a volcanic eruption 2300 years ago, and its shoreline is where we made our home for three days. The plan was to stay for a day or maybe two, but the forces of nature and booze kept us longer.........
I keep making fantasy novel references. I can't help it. It's the nature of this place, with its tall green mountains, towering waterfalls, fields of volcanic rocks and shimmering glaciers. I know with a modicum of certainty that an armor clad knight will soon ride up on his gallant horse, a tiny winged fairy will get smashed by our windshield, or a giant troll will appear around the next bend......
The warm, sunny weather holds as we head east. Green field dusted with horses and sheep morph into silky blue ponds covered with bevies of swans. I am amazed at how many there are; white dots as far as the eye can see. Every time I think the scenery can't get more beautiful, a new landscape amazes me........
Through a dreamy haze I hear someone calling my name, telling me there is something I might want to see. This better be good, it is 6:30 in the morning and I am not ready to get up. Slowly I rouse and peak my head out of our condensation covered tent. The sun is rising over the Skaftafell Glacier. It's beautiful and not something I get to witness everyday, so Pete is forgiven.......
