October 22, 2001

11:10 AM

Driving home last night I passed a Land Rover. Not just any Land Rover, mind you, but a Land Rover headed from Virginia to the tip of South America and back. Not only did these people implement some considerable alterations to the vehicle, they are blogging the details of the trip along the way. Nice to see some people come out of the 'bubble' with a bit of money and the gumption to chase their dreams.
posted by donkeysuck (18 comments total)

I have not seen this Land Rover, but when I was Alaska this past June there was a Land Rover from Brazil parked near a glacier and it had stickers from every stop in between. Too bad I did not get a chance to talk to the owners of the vehicle.
posted by jessnoel at 11:17 AM on October 22, 2001

OH SWEET JESUS! WHere do I sign up?

I hate my job so much at this very moment for no particular reason other than I want to be this guy.

I thought it was funny that the Canadians wouldn't let him in their country (9/28 entry).
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 11:39 AM on October 22, 2001

A couple friends of mine and I thought about doing this once, but we thought about it at about 5am on an overnight road-trip from Columbus O. to Chicago, so by the time we got there and came back we were no longer so gung-ho on the idea anymore.

Kudos to them for making the commitment, although it smacks a bit of circling the world in a hot air balloon.
posted by me3dia at 11:45 AM on October 22, 2001

yes, this is an sUv (Utility)
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 11:46 AM on October 22, 2001

This site has a much cooler account of a road trip in action. Two wacky Canadians are driving through all fifty states and meticulously recording the details via a laptop and a cell phone.

Make sure and checkout the Six Days at Ground Zero section. They happened to be in NYC on the September 11th and ended up spending six days working as volunteers at ground zero. Great story and good pictures.
posted by peebo at 11:51 AM on October 22, 2001

Wow, this is really awesome. Aside from making me want to do the same thing, it remind me of this one couple who did a similar north end of continent to south end of continent trip, but on bicycles.
posted by Witold at 12:10 PM on October 22, 2001

One of the funniest travelogues I've ever read on the 'net was Axel Essbaum's trip from Austin, TX to Prudhoe Bay, AK and back to TX. The catch is that he rode his racing motorcycle (i.e. made for asphalt and racetracks, not the AlCan highway) instead of a dirtbike. The daily voicemails he left on his friend's machine are hilarious because his friend transcribed every single "um" and "er" and "uh" and you can just imagine your crazy friend calling you with messages from somewhere on the road.
posted by gen at 12:17 PM on October 22, 2001

Tim Cahill's Road Fever is an interesting and very funny story of how he and Garry Sowerby drove a customized GMC Sierra from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in 24 days.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:29 PM on October 22, 2001

Virginia? What is the geographical importance of Virginia? Imagine that someone announced they were going to drive from the southern tip of South America to Virginia and back. Sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?
posted by dithered at 1:03 PM on October 22, 2001

I met two argentinians on the ecuadorian segment of the Inca Trail who were going from Buenos Aires to New York on horse. They'd been at it for a year and planned to get there in another 16 months.
Coolest people you could hope to meet. They used traditional gaucho clothes and horse-gear, up to the silver knife in their sash. They slept on the same blankets they used for saddles.
Has anybody ever heard of them making it? I never found out.
posted by signal at 1:05 PM on October 22, 2001

I dream of shipping my jeep up to Anchorage someday and driving it down the Alcan, over to Vancouver, across the border and down Interstate 5 to Mexico. From thence down the Panamerican, to the end of the road. In my more ambitious scenario I then have it ferried around the Darien Gap and drive it on down to Tierra del Fuego. The machine is certainly capable of the trip; whether *I* could make it is another matter. But I can't see how I could ever get enough vacation time to even give it a try.

Until then, trips like this one fascinate me. As a 4x4 geek I loved the extensive collection of photos documenting the Defender build-up - but I can't figure out why they thought it made more sense to lengthen their D90 instead of just selling it and buying a bigger one...

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 1:22 PM on October 22, 2001

A few years ago either Road & Track or Motortrend or Car and Driver had two articles on interesting road trips. One involved non-stop coast-to-coast driving by two of the staffers. They were sealed into the car and had to do everything inside the car. The other involved the fastest drive through the lower 48 states. That trip involved two SUVs. I was pretty impressed by the logistics involved in the fastest trip through the 48 states. Unfortunately, they did not publish the map for that trip.

The Travels with Rover is a pretty neat site. I couldn't find it anywhere on the site if they have corporate sponsors, or whether somehow BMW or Rover was helping them, monetarily, technically or otherwise.

MeFi's Luke also took a Baseball road trip this year (via MeFi Projects).
posted by tamim at 1:26 PM on October 22, 2001

As a 4x4 geek I loved the extensive collection of photos documenting the Defender build-up - but I can't figure out why they thought it made more sense to lengthen their D90 instead of just selling it and buying a bigger one...

I suspect that it's the Indian Austin Ambassador mentality: when you've got something with a track record of robust reliability, that you can repair in the jungle with a pair of tights and a coathanger, why bother upgrading to a Chevy? (Which is why calling a LandRover a SUV is like calling Justin Hall's site a weblog.)

or whether somehow BMW or Rover was helping them, monetarily, technically or otherwise.

I suspect not: you know that LandRover is owned by Ford now, yes? (BMW then sold off the remnants of Rover to Alchemy, and kept the Mini factory in Cowley for itself.)
posted by holgate at 1:42 PM on October 22, 2001

Well, I can understand why they'd want to stick with Land Rover - what I can't understand is why they went through all that work to turn their D90 into a D110. Wouldn't it have been a better idea to sell their Defender and just *buy* a 110? Are 110s not available in the States, or something?

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 2:00 PM on October 22, 2001

holgate: you know that LandRover is owned by Ford now, yes?

I should've known this one. Or at least I should've been careful to notice this one. I linked to Ford's home page only a few days ago in that 'mother of all F1 comments.' And there, in all its glory, is the Land Rover logo in that site. I should've known this one. Or at least remembered.

For some reason when I saw Rover, all I could remember is Honda / BA / BMW *.

With my head bowed in shame, I go hide in my hole now.
posted by tamim at 2:50 PM on October 22, 2001

Just let me say I hate SUVs and their Starbucks drinkin', Pottery Barn shoppin' owners.

hey now, what's wrong with pottery barn? (seriously.)
posted by lotsofno at 4:54 PM on October 22, 2001

hey now, what's wrong with Starbucks?

Starbucks Now Offering Ciprolicious Coffee Drinks (scroll down)
posted by Carol Anne at 5:31 PM on October 23, 2001