From Alaska To Brazil - Brits do the Americas

[Markprior]

Hi All,

http://fromalaskatobrazil.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/thebeastatmurphyscove.jpg?w=250

We are just starting out on our almost 2 year adventure to drive from Alaska down to the bottom of Argentina.

We collected our truck from the port in Halifax a couple of days ago after shipping it across from the UK. We've just had a couple of days in a Nova Scotia campsite to get our thoughts together and organise the camper and then we are off on our way to Alaska (slow way).

We are driving a 1992 ex-military Leyland DAF GS 45/150. This has been converted to a camper by a UK company called Overland Vehicles (http://WWW.overlandvehicles.co). I think we're the first people in North America with one of these trucks but I may of course be wrong.

We are blogging about the whole trip on our website www.fromAtoB.org (http://www.fromatob.org).

The journey to this point seems to have been really hard work with lots of paperwork and admin. This is where it should get fun.

6413864137

Enjoy the blog,

Mark and Sarah

WWW.FROMATOB.ORG (http://www.fromatob.org)

[xdt]

I read your blog with interest and hope you have a fun and interesting trip. With that, welcome to Nova Scotia and Canada! If you're staying on the Trans Canada Highway from Truro to the New Brunswick border keep your coins handy as you will have another toll to pass.

[haven]

Welcome to ExPo, Mark and Sarah!

As your journey continues, post your travel plans. I'm sure ExPo members would be interested to meet you and share ideas about local routes and sites to visit.

If you're willing, please tell us how much you paid for the RORO shipping from England to Nova Scotia.

[Markprior]

Hi,

We did get stung for that toll - oh well.

The cost of shipping the camper was all told about £4k.

We had to ship the camper empty so we also shipped a 1m cubed crate which was about £500 of the £4k. We also got insurance for camper and crate which was around £750. In addition CAD600 were the port costs incurred in canada (including charges from a customs broker). So its quite expensive all in but we could have done it a bit cheaper.

Our plans our to head to Algonquin provincial park for a couple of days and then to Niagara Falls. After that we start the long trek across the country up to Alaska.

Regards,

Mark

[Christian P.]

Mark,

welcome on the forum! you are going to meet a lot of curious/interested people on your road as Overlanding is becoming more and more popular in North America!

[deepmud]

subscribed. keep us posted when you are in Alaska.

Interested in going offroad ? :elkgrin:

Erik

[racingjason]

Drop us a line if you need anything when coming through Alberta. Should be a great trip.

Cheers,
Jason
camspam"at"mac"dot"com

[Markprior]

Thanks for the offers guys.

We are a bit tentative about taking our baby off-road at the moment. Slow is good though and it can cope - low range in a campsite gave us bags of control. So maybe we should !

We are currently on route to Niagara before heading West.

Mark

[deepmud]

We'd keep you off the soft stuff - and yeah, slow is good :D . I think you could run up Perches if you can climb a few steep sections
https://profiles.google.com/108397469736257076894/photos/5075647290811343553?hl=en&tab=ih



https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sdLWAOv85qE/RnBSbK375EI/AAAAAAAAAsM/buo_WnvSV_o/w432-h324-k/PA059932.JPG


I'll ask about specific hard-bottom trails suitable for expedition rigs - I know we have some where you could get off to some real backcountry. Otherwise, might as well have an RV lol .

[mervifwdc]

I've subscribed also - Nice blog!

When you are going through the prairies, in Winnipeg on Sunday nights at the "Pony corall" bar (there are a few, I'm not 100% the name of the correct one) they have custom car get togethers, with rat rods, hot rods, old trucks, bikes and such like. Great atmosphere, and a huge bunch of friendly people. If you can make the Sunday evening happen (Every sunday all summer long) it's well worth stopping by.

Merv.

[Gren_T]

Hi Guys, I'll be following your journey from sunny wales..

bonne route

[Markprior]

Hi Gren,

Sarah says a special hello as her hometown is corntown just next to you in Bridgend !

Regards,

Mark

[amit_shimla]

Good luck guys, eagerly waiting for the updates and pics.

[Markprior]

Hi Erik,

Sounds like fun. We'd be up for doing this if you could show us where. Half the problem is finding tracks where you know you went get it real trouble and have to reverse out. Not so easy when you are as big as us.

Mark

[Justin & Nadine]

Hey Guys!

Sounds like an amazing adventure you are on. Just read some of your blog and we understand about going slow - forced to go slow. Our top speed going up a hill is about 30 m/h - if we're lucky! One thing we've learned is that it never really matters what speed you do - they all just pass you anyway!!

Enjoy Canada, maybe we'll run into you on our way home!

Happy travels, look forward to following your blog!

Justin and Nadine

[Markprior]

hi Justin and Nadine,

Thanks for posting - I have now started reading your blog and it gives us some great tips of what to do - or not. Really enjoyed reading it so far.

We'll keep tabs and if we get close to each other we'll give you a shout.

Mark and Sarh

[deepmud]

Hi Erik,

Sounds like fun. We'd be up for doing this if you could show us where. Half the problem is finding tracks where you know you went get it real trouble and have to reverse out. Not so easy when you are as big as us.

Mark

So - I've been checking on our local board for ideas - it depends partly on you, and your limits :D For starters, there's the Denali Highway - just a dirt road, but 125 miles of it (I recommend it for anyone coming to Ak), but there are trails that shoot off in a few places that would get you a bit more remote, and are beyond what a regular RV could do. There's Hatcher's Pass, just a few miles from me here in Wasilla, 14 miles of narrow switchback - reminds me of Scotland and Wales, really. Sort of "greenlaning". It's a do-able with a normal RV too - Now, Perches Trail is off Hatcher's - that's the trail in the link I posted earlier - pretty serious steep trail in a few spots. I could take a big rig on it, but I'm kinda' crazy :D and you plan to get all the way to South America - I am assuming you would be pretty conservative?

[Paijanne]

That sounds just exceptionally intense.

[Markprior]

Hi All,

We have made it to Alaska now and are in Fairbanks. Tomorrow we start heading North to do the Haul Road. Warnings range from You'll be fine to You're crazy. Looking forward to finding out which.

Erik - thanks for the tips. We are definitely going to do the Denali highway - we will look to see if we can get off road a bit. We are going to be conservative though as we don't want to trash the truck before we are even halfway !

Mark

[deepmud]

You'll be fine - DO pull over for oncoming semi truck - they roll along at a good clip, and their tires throw rocks. DO wear eye protection - shattered glass is no fun hundreds of miles from a hospital. In an emergency, the Alyeska Pump Stations will help - they would rather you pass them by, but in a real emergency they have phones, medical techs, helicopters - not trying to scare you, I really do think you'll be fine - just be prepared. It's very pretty up north, you'll have a blast :D The company I work for maintains the fiber optic cable that runs along side the Pipeline, and I've driven it from Prudhoe to Valdez multiple times. I've never even had a window cracked - but co-workers have had a side window blown into the cab by a rock - another time a BIG rock- the size of a melon- got thrown thru the headlight/grill on our full-size truck - a few inches higher and he would have had it in the cab with him.

I'll pm you where to turn off the Denali Highway for a few miles of off road travel - a recommended "hard trail" so not swampy. I recommend coming down the Richardson from Fairbanks usually, then when you drive across you face Denali for miles and miles - then come out the other side and turn left towards Anchorage. Hang a left in Willow for Hatcher's Pass - you could stop and camp anywhere along the river if you like. Hatcher's is where I could show you Perches Trail - or not :D and once over the top there is Independence Mine, Archangel road branches off as well if you like (a few miles of pretty views ending at active mine) and it's paved from there to Palmer, a very nice little town, where you can get a great coffee at Vagabond Blues Cafe. Also there the Valley Hotel Cafe is a 24 eatery if you happen to be in at an odd hour.

[Markprior]

Hi All,

Well we survived the Dalton - took 5 days to get there and back - did the tour and I even managed a dip in the Arctic. Catch up on www.fromatob.org (http://www.fromatob.org)

Next up we are driving down to the Denali Highway and across to Denali itself. Hopefully we'll outrun the rain that is coming down in Fairbanks right now.

We will look into getting off the beaten track a bit on the Denali.

Mark

[deepmud]

:D nice drive.

[evans.family]

Hi Guys,
I have just found your thread, great to find another Ed Perry special truck being used for adventure travels.
We took delivery of ours 2 weeks ago, really happy with it. Hopefully I have attached some photos (new to site)
Planning some similar trips to your so we are watching your progress with interest. How is the truck performing?

Tony and Karen

[Markprior]

Hi Tony And Karen,

Good to see another one of Ed's trucks roll of the production line. We've certainly caused a stir over here with ours - every other person wants to talk to us about it - and a good few want to buy one.

We've been going 8 weeks now and a few observations:

We had a couple of leaks so before setting out I'd recommend pouring water over it and seeing what happens. Easier to fix before you go. The flat roof seems to allow water to pool.

Be aware that your speed uphill is going to be slow - on steep hills we can get right down to 10-15 miles per hour.

One thing to think hard about is tinting the windows. Both in the back and the cab. There is a reason all RV's over here have tinted windows and that is both privacy and to keep temperatures down. In the cab the sun can be very strong on you and we will get a full tint before going into Central America.

Overall we have settled into living in our truck very well and there are only a few things we would modify/change in an ideal world.

I'd love to hear more about your trip - do you have a blog ?

Mark

[meanderingvan]

Hello Guys...

Sorry to read about your current mechanical problems...they sort of reflect our tour around Europe and North Africa last year...within 12 months we had 3 rebuilds on the transmission on our German built van, new clutch (fitted amongst the chickens in Morocco), replacement brakes flown by lear jet from Italy (hence the cost!), 6 new tires in Germany as ours were not roadworthy and a totally rebuilt boiler at no small cost (these repairs were the tip of the iceberg)...After 12 months our final breakdown was 400 miles from the ferry at Santander (which would take us home to Portsmouth) and do you know what...all we ever talk about is what a great trip it was!!

Being believers in ying-yang, we arrived in the States in May and bought an old RV for £10K in LA, travelled via all the Western National Parks up to Alaska and dreamed of our dream trip to China...we searched the internet for a suitable vehicle and found the company in Suffolk where you bought the Beast...it looked perfect for our future adventures...we could not believe it when we saw the Beast parked 10 vans away from us on the spit at Homer...you were obviously out doing stuff and hence we were unable to talk to you...but we managed to locate your blog via WWW..your trip sort of mirroring our travels to date...

We took the ferry from Haines through the Inside Passage via Juneau and Ketchikan, BC, Washingston State, Oregan and are currently in Idaho about to head south to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona..

We have only met 1 other British couple on our travels...who have being travelling around the US for the last 10 years off and on in a 5th wheel that sounded like it got pretty much wrecked in Alaska...

We hope your luck changes with the Beast and if you are travelling through Arizona/New Mexico/California towards the end of the year maybe we will get a chance to hook up...

Keep on trucking..
Best wishes on your epic adventure..
Tara and Dave and RV Monty...

[evans.family]

Hi Mark and Sarah,

Its been great following your adventures, we are looking forward to the time when we can start our own trip.

I thought it a good idea to try out our truck "Jabba" on some serious off roading. I have done a lot in a Land Rover including competitions and a north to south Austrailia trip but I have not tackled 7.5 tons of Leyland Daf!

So on Saturday we did our first serious off roading, We got on really well, the extra weight of Jabba gives much more grip than normally experienced in a Land Rover and the ground clearance is fantastic.
However I made a big mistake!
I had difficulty engaging the centre differential lock but decided to continue anyway. The problem occurred when we chose a steep decent, using first gear low ratio to control our speed we set off without problem, halfway down the slope one of the rear wheels locked and Jabba started to slide. The normal way to deal with this is to accelerate to get all four wheels turning however before I could react the rear halfshaft broke allowing Jabba to gain lots of forward momentum!
I thought we had got into a high speed slide so I did not put the breaks on (breaking is disastrous on steep slippery slopes!) we where moving pretty quickly by the time we got to the bottom of the slope. With a small cliff and several trees ahead I could only chance a high speed 90 degree left turn, fortunately Jabba is very stable and made the turn OK

Phew!

The lesson learned are -
Dont do any serious off roading without engaging the centre differential.
Have some off road tuition before taking on any difficult off road adventures.
Accents and descents need to be carefully considered.
Try to ensure some form of suitably sized recovery vehicle is available. Land rovers are not strong enough!
7.5 ton vehicles go down hill very fast without engine breaking!

It was really good fun (and a bit scary) and I was very impressed with Jabbas off road ability. I learned a lot!

I wanted to share my experience so that you don't make the same mistake with the centre differential

Happy traveling!

Tony and Karen

PS I got a replacement halfshaft from Ed Perry (overland vehicles) he has a truck for spares!

[hdemetrious]

Hey Mark,

I've been reading your blog and it seems like you all are having fun. I wanted to ask based on your experience whether pulling a vehicle behind you would have made your life easier or its unnecessary? Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Hani

[Markprior]

Hi Hani,

Towing a vehicle behind us would have been a serious problem for us. It would make a lot of the spots we've managed to get through much harder - particularly some of the towns we've been through so far in Mexico. Also off road it would diminish our abilities. In Mexico it would have doubled the cost of the tolls we have paid.

However if we had our time again we would mount a motorbike to the back of the truck - and move our spare tire onto the roof of the cab. This would give us the ability to park on the outskirts of towns and explore without worrying about finding parking or getting stuck. We have almost done this a couple of times but backed off because of cost of buying the bike and mounting.

Mark

[hdemetrious]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the reply. If you had a motorcycle how often would you use it? I'm trying think what situations you would use it in, would it be seriously used or a luxury, and would a bicycle do the job?

Happy Trails,

Hani

[Markprior]

Hi,

There are three main things we would use a motorbike for:

1) Scouting a route through a town to make sure we avoid roads that are too narrow - not got good enough clearance.
2) When the towns have small streets and we can only camp outside town - getting into the centre.
3) Visiting things in the vicinity of the place your camping so you don't have to move the truck.

No.1 is definitely a luxury and you can get by without it.

The other 2 you can definitely use a bicycle but often we are 5k from town - and its a steep uphill one way. Sometimes you want to go on a 15k round trip to see something and a motorbike would be easier.

We have bicycles but often feel uncomfortable using them on narrow roads with traffic - a motorbike feels safer - I'm not sure that makes any sense though !

Mark

[tacr2man]

dont forget :smiley_drive: 4. you can use a motorbike to go and get spares, help if stuck etc

[Markprior]

Ok so we're in Guatemala hanging out by Lago de Atitlan. We haven't met anyone else doing the Pan-am in months. Is there anyone else out there ?

Mark

www.fromatob.org

[Ruined Adventures]

I believe James and Lauren from Home on the Highway (https://www.facebook.com/homeonthehighway) are in the Lago de Atitlan area...I'm actually really surprised you guys haven't bumped into them yet, you keep hitting the same areas around the same time!

We were hoping to catch up to you guys, but we're falling pretty far behind so far! Maybe if you stretch your legs a lot it will happen :sombrero:

[Markprior]

Hi,

We're on a bit of a schedule at the moment. We need to get to Quito by 20 May for a Galapagos trip that we booked before we left. Currently in El Tunco, El Salvador frying nicely in the heat. Once we've been to the Galapagos we will slow down for a bit.

Mark