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We are considering applying to teach and sit on some roundtables. No guarantee we’ll be accepted even though we have been roundtable panelists in the past. We were slated to teach a trip planning class and also building a budget class at Expo West 2020 but that one was canceled. We skipped them...

New to the group and will be moving to outside Mountain City this weekend. We just pulled off the road after 7 years. The first four were Alaska to Argentina, the last three bumbling around the US and Mexico. We love the Appalachians so since we’re rejoining regular society we figure there was...

An example of random things saving the day… In late fall 2020 we were in the mountains of TN and the first decent freeze took out our house battery. After 6 years of fulltime use it was done. We prefer free forest camping but the National Forest campgrounds in the area were reasonable so we...

We have a DC to DC, solar, and a high quality AC powered battery charger. For shorter trips we agree that most won’t sit in one spot for more than a few days so less is more…and money saved. On really long trips it’s not uncommon to sit for long periods and, depending on season, sometimes it’s...

We do the same. Once the habit is formed it becomes uncomfortable thinking about any item that is being left out. We sometimes carry a broken chair to be our site placeholder because anytime we need to drive somewhere it looks unoccupied. Long ago we would leave our chairs out but a stray cat...

Thanks Kent! Once we’re settled in TN we will definitely be looking into the meetups and gatherings. There are a lot of Pan-Am veterans in the area…it might be becoming the southeast’s overland retirement home.

We’ve done a lot of miles as well and the advice about how most items don’t need refrigeration is spot on. Even store bought eggs in the US that are refrigerated can be stored outside the fridge for a long time (crack each one in a separate bowl to check them if concerned). We do have an Engle...

That's a tricky question. I try to keep our weight at or under the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of our van (which is 9,500). We have seen and heard of broken frames on many of the smaller trucks but also know of an F250 that cracked its frame twice. The best advice is to do the best you...

Happy birthday! Nica was sort of a miss for us but we hit it during the dry season. Being from the southeast we prefer the wet season so one day we’ll go back. We did extend our CA-4 in Guatemala, we spent almost 6 months there with a month long break in the middle back in Belize, but friends of...

It does and since we haven’t been following you it was a stab in the dark. While we are in a full sized rig we never let that get in the way. Only once did I think I might end up breaking a window but it all went fine. We met others that didn’t want a single blemish on their rig, like you, it’s...

Our van, not a Sportsmobile but it does have the SMB pop top. Port Aransas this past November. Uyuni, Bolivia 2018 Joshua Tree in 2015 The big boys and girls can get it done too!

Congrats. We were helping a family member post surgery and became friends with an 84 year old in the neighborhood. He was asking about our van and he said do it all while we’re young. What we will never forget is his motto: it’s better to wear out than to rust out.

Ha, we actually don’t eat pasta but it was the best example that came to mind. Friends would add pasta to soups, eliminating any waste water. We have an overland friend that came from the boating world and she would long soak rice removing the need to cook it. A little too hardcore for us.

We haven’t watched your videos, we just joined this forum today, but we wanted to add... If you have any reservations about your rig or if you have a growing wish list it’s much easier to turn around now and sort them before continuing on. We drove the America’s in a pop top 4x4 E350 and were...

You have to trust your gut, all of your guts. If anyone isn’t feeling it then it’s a no go. No questions, no convincing or second guessing, it’s a no and time to move on. That being said there are times you will hook up with others to run particular routes or to just have big dinners and...

We've run our Engel 40qt continuously for over 7 years, the only exception was when we were shipping the van. We chose Engel due to how we were installing it, a requirement was to be able to fully open it and remove the basket. At the time it was the only unit in its size that opened from the...

We ran across lots of Iveco Daily's on the Pan-Am. IIRC, the first Iveco service center is in Costa Rica when going southbound. It's a great platform. Use iOverlander to find reputable mechanics if you need one. It's a great trip. Please feel free to reach out anytime if you have any questions...

We have been using an all stainless 10 piece Magma nesting set for over a decade. We took it on our 7 year trip and never had any issues. It's heavy but worth it if you like to cook. The removable handles are beefy too.

The best way to stretch water is through conservation. We use a non-toxic liquid soap and use a dry(er) wash method for dishes. We also don't cook things like pasta that wastes water, unless you like drinking pasta water as friends of ours do. For washing, we pre-wipe everything with a paper...