Looking Back: Our Best Ideas for the Road

Are few of our best ideas. Stuff that’s made the trip a little easier and we’d recommend to anyone thinking about getting gone.

Going Low Pro	Driving a vehicle that doesn’t get a lot of attention. We’ve been particularly happy not to have been given a second look by cops or anyone else as we’re driving around. It’s already easy to a feel a little “exposed” far away from home in a different country. It doesn’t take much to feel pretty darn flashy down here and sometimes it’s nice to just blend in.
Staying Flexible	There’s gonna be ups and downs on a trip this long. Keep the schedule and communication with your travel partner open. Everyone’s going to have different levels of comfort and your needs are going to change as the trip progresses. On one level, you’ll feel more comfortable everyday as you get used to the constant sight of guns and fireworks going off all around you. But there will be times when you just need to shut yourself in a decent hotel and watch reruns of Friends in Spanish.
Installing a Kill Switch	Go to your dealer or a junk yard and find a basic on/off switch, best if it’s for an accessory you don’t have in your model but a duplicate works. Think defogger or rear windshield wiper. Have someone (or do it yourself) wire it to the fuel pump relay. When off, the fuel pump won’t get power and it’ll seem like the car’s out of gas. We never worry if our truck will be there when we get back.
Bringing a long extension cord	At most campsites, even parking lots or hotels, you can run power to your truck. Particularly great with a fridge that will override DC when it has access to AC. Also nice for “Saved by the Bell” marathons on DVD.
Bringing a spare set of sheets	Whether its cleanliness or comfort, there are times when having your own sheets is well worth it.
Installing a window break sensor	Surprisingly few alarms have them these days, they can often be added. Get one with a calibration that allows you to control sensitivity. The alarm is pretty much useless without it.
Securing everything	It doesn’t have to be Fort Knox, just make sure everything you don’t want to walk off is behind at least two levels of security. If it’s on the roof, lock it on. If it’s inside the car, put it in an Action Packer with a padlock through a chain around the seat post. All it takes is a window to be smashed and your backpack’s gone. Add at least one more step for the bad guys and you’ll have a little more confidence when you have to leave your vehicle.

Vehicle

We chose to drive a 2004 Nissan Xterra with a roof top tent, a built-in storage system and everything we’d need to camp at a hot springs for a week while retaining the ability to pull into a garage underneath a hostel in a crowded “centro.” You can check out our thought process behind going with the Xterra, but the general idea was something small, reliable, capable and low profile. In making decisions about modifications and what to bring, we tried to ride the line between planning for the unknown without packing so much gear and spares that we’d end up breaking the suspension and needing the extra set of springs we strapped to the roof after all!

Check out blog postings labeled Vehicle or scroll down to see our modifications and preparations. For specific gear like the tent, fridge etc, check out the Gear page.

  

   

Better safe than sorry…

Our general approach to the security of our belongings on this trip has been to 1) not make ourselves an obvious target, 2) make it as inconvenient as possible to take things, and 3) not bring anything we couldn’t bear to lose.

But, even in light of number three above, we will have a laptop and some electronics equipment that we’d really rather not part with. So, taking a tip from number 2, I’ve been doing some thinking about how to bolt some kind of “safe” into the truck.

First research led me to the Sentry and First Alert fire safes but they’re incredibly heavy and their fireproof walls are so thick you lose all your internal storage. A little overkill. My next thought was an ammo can that could be bolted in but dealing with the swing open lid and finding one that would fit both laptops seemed cumbersome.

Finally, a web search led me to the DormVault. Obviously intended for college kids to bolt to their bunks for secure storage of laptops (or more importantly so their roommates don’t bogart their stash), this steel clamshell was just the shape and size I was imagining.

 

It’s a dangerous world out there…

No, I’m not talking about the steady flow of reports about decapitated bodies being hung from bridges in Acapulco or inmates being armed and released from Mexican prisons to carryout executions, those all seem to be pretty well isolated to those somehow involved with one of the warring drug cartels. I’m talking about the four car windows (two on the Xterra) we’ve had smashed right outside our front door, the two stolen cars recovered across the street, and the two broad daylight muggings in the open space near the house. Add to that the shootings in the “civil gang injunction zone” five blocks away on the other side of Caesar Chavez, the crossfire shooting of a German tourist in Union Square, and the news that Oakland (15 minutes away across the Bay) is the fifth most dangerous city in the US, and you start to wonder whether anywhere we’re going is really more dangerous than where we live.

Hoopty Whoopsy

Spent the weekend up in Tahoe doing a little wedding planning but also wanted to take the truck out to get the tires dirty. I’ve been exploring some of the fire roads around Truckee on the motorcycle but wanted to get a better feel of what the Xterra could do. After a closed gate 3.5 miles in on the M6 road, Mt. Watson was no longer a possibility so we headed across I-80 to the Prosser Dam OHV.

It was a dreary day with a intermittent spatter of rain drops on the windshield, but the views up to the last snow of the season were clear. We followed signs to the Prosser Pits area where we’d played around riding 2up on the bike and remembered a nice little descent with a small water crossing. We walked down to check it out. Let me be clear; this little section would be NOTHING for regular four wheelers but we thought it looked exciting. (I also have another thing to say; I had to look up this site to confirm the correct use of a semicolon. Nailed it!)

Colorado TrackPads

You know when you get on an online tear, madly clicking link after link, delving deeper and deeper into a topic, refining your search again and again until you can barely remember where you started or how you got there? Well, I went off on one of those the other day trying to tick an item off of my trip prep checklist. That entry simply read “traction aid.”

Not to long ago, Overland Journal did a test of a variety of traction aids ranging from sand ladders to boards covered in nuts and bolts to inflatable bags. The solutions varied in price from a couple hundred bucks on up to a thousand or so. They put together a great video documenting the tests. Of course, the full review is in the magazine.

What’s in your drawers?

Jeeeeez, I mean your storage drawers! After seeing some great ideas in a thread on The ExPo, I started sketching and listing equipment, taking measurements and before long had a general plan for a unit that would completely fill the cargo area behind the seats of the Xterra. The design was based around two Action Packer storage boxes and the Engel 17 fridge and featured two tables that would slide out from beneath it for food cooking and food prep. Behind the ActionPackers would be an area for our personal gear (clothes, etc) accessible by folding forward the rear seats.

In addition to keeping things organized and accessible, the unit would be fully lockable and keep everything out of sight of curious eyes. As a compromise between weight and strength, I opted to build the unit out of 1/2” plywood but with plenty of support from the various dividers.

Shrock Work

The idea was to add a rear spare tire carrier so we’d have a backup in case of a two flat day. Research on the ClubXterra web site pointed towards two options, the Shrockworks and the Calmini. To me, the Schrock just looked a little more beefy and specifically mentioned a locking latch which I figured would create an extra layer of inconvenience for a would-be thief to work through before they’d get into the back of the truck (swing out tire, rear hatch, and locked storage unit inside).

Ordering an $800, 200 lb item over the internet is a strange feeling. “Okay, I know my card’s gonna be charged and then I guess they have it figured out how to get this huge thing to me.” Sure enough, after 12 weeks, our new bumper and spare tire carrier arrived in two large boxes, each of which I could barely move myself. I set aside an afternoon for the installation and laid all the parts out behind the truck, but the first order of business was removing the factory trailer hitch and bumper. I was worn out after even that step.

[Sorry for the image quality, these are actually screen captures from a video I ran with the idea of putting together a timelapse of the installation]

 

When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange…

After the slow speed blow out (never quite happened actually) of the front left tire, we’ve been driving around with the spare on. You may also remember that we ordered an extra rim to mount on the Schrockworks rear bumper and tire carrier. Well, we figured it was time for a trip to the local tire shop.

At Larkin Brothers in SF, we showed them the warped wheel and after several assurances that the General Grabbers we no more likely to do this than any other brand, we agreed that we needed two new tires, one replacement and one for the extra rim. I started to hand the guy the keys to the truck to which he responded, “Just leave the extra rim and the warped tire and take your car. You can pick up the wheels with new tires on ‘em in a couple hours.” It’s clear that he sized me and Ann up right away as the type who were no strangers to mounting a few tires. Pshhh…

After some further thought, I realized that it’d be best to have the two new tires on the rear (drive) axle. But, if we were going to take off the spare, we might as well move the two tires currently on the rear up to the front as a pair since they’d been wearing together. Yup, that meant a changing all four tires.

We put together a little video for your enjoyment…

It’s not a TUMOR!

I know of at least two Arnold Schwarzenegger tribute bands that play songs like Get to the Choppa, If It Bleeds We Can Kill It, and of course, It's Not a Tumor based on the Governator’s movies. While I personally prefer ArnoCorps, you may prefer the Austrian Death Machine’s harder-edged sound. Regardless, there was a problem with our right front tire and it was not a tumor.

Happy Happy Hippo

We went back and forth on whether we needed one of those beefy front bumpers on the Xterra. While these things are commonly referred to as “cow catchers” or “bull bars,” for our purposes, they came to be known as “hippo deflectors.” Ultimately, we decided that the extra weight and flash wasn’t worth it, especially since we chose not to mount a winch. After watching this video, I think we made the right choice. What’s the big deal?

Roof rack grinder attack

With the addition of the roof top tent, we lost the ability to carry much stuff on the roof (an option I wasn’t too excited about anyway for security reasons) including the trademark plastic storage bin above the driver. In fact, because of the wide spread of the crossbars needed for the RTT, I’d had to remove the storage bin completely to mount the crossbars.

 

Not wanting to lose any space, I set out to modify the stock storage bin to allow for the crossbars. 5 minutes of measuring and 2 minutes with the grinder and I had notches cut out where the cross bars would attach to the stock rack.

 

Sticky Wheel

Does this wheel look like it would fit on a Nissan Xterra to you?

After informing the seller of the snafu, he quickly figured things out and is sending my wheel out with a return label for the Honda wheel I got. No problem but glad we’re taking care of some of these things early.

Picked up the roof top tent

This Saturday, Ann and I drove “the expedition vehicle” (as we’ve tongue-in-cheek started to call it – “Should we take the expedition vehicle to Walgreens?”) to pick up the roof top tent I’d ordered a couple weeks ago. Though it was just a weekend errand, I think we both couldn’t help but start to feel like we were already on the trip. We mounted the GPS, queued up some podcasts and discussed the various options for organizing our cockpit as we made the hour or so drive north to the warehouse in Sonoma.

We arrived to find a gentleman who seemed to expect us but was neither of the two guys from AutoHomeUS I’ve talked to on the phone. He jumped right into action tearing into a HUGE box that contained our new tent. Ann and I could see it in each other’s eyes as the doubt set in. How big was this thing going to be?

 

Southern Spare

Just bought a spare spare for the rear tire carrier from a salvage yard in Mobile, Alabama off eBay. $65 with free shipping for a 16x7 alloy wheel matching the stock ones seemed like a good deal.  I’ve definitely read (although for some reason I can’t find it again anywhere) that a second spare is basically essential in Africa. I guess two flats in a day out in the middle of nowhere is a real possibility. Considered going with a steel wheel like the existing spare but figured that if we destroy a rim somewhere along the way, it would be nice to have a replacement with us. Plus I’m planning on stealing a really good idea I saw for a fold down table mounted on the swingout rear tire carrier.

Craigslist is a dangerous thing

Nowhere else can an idea from casual to costly so quickly. After sending each other Craigslist links for a month or so as we waffled between Landcruisers and 4Runners and Land Rovers, rationalizing that we should be buying the car as soon as possible to equip it and get familiar with it, we came across an ad for a silver 2004 Nissan Xterra XE 4WD with 55K miles on it. “Maybe we should just go check it out. I’m sure it’s not the one we’ll end up with but will be good to drive as many as possible before deciding.”

What to drive?

We considered a lot of options for what type of vehicle would be best for this trip. As a wanna-be adventure motorcyclist, the bike was an option... but pretty quickly ruled out when we started to think about long-term comfort, the ability to have friends join us along the way, the desire to have a guide at times, security, safety, heat, cold, wet, etc. There's a pride that comes from exposure to the elements on a motorcycle trip, but that's not what we're after here. I think we've got a big enough challenge as it is and will be exposed to plenty...

So with the bike out of the picture, ideas ranged from something bad ass like an old Toyota Landcruiser FJ40...

I’ve always loved these things. Basically all the reptilian appeal and machismo of the Hummer without the whole “being-a-douche” part. But they’re also pretty basic. Not sure how comfortable one would be for 50,000 miles or how warm, cool or safe they’d keep you. Or how quickly a top speed of 50 (downhill loaded with rocks) would get old. Finally, it’s a little small for the possibility of having friends or a guide along.

There are a number of Toyotas and Land Rovers that have been used for this kind of thing that are not really available in the US.

And then some people just go a little overboard…
But we do have similar options with a little more comfort and space…

This Landcruiser FJ60 would be great too. But, also no airbags, ABS, etc. And a car that’s already 25+ years old and likely has 200,000 miles. Then again, it’s a Toyota and would likely be a vintage that’s more common in the areas we’ll be traveling through than a 2010 whatever would be.

Then thoughts turn to something novel. How about a Prius?

If we continued the trip and made it all the way around the world, would it be the first hybrid circumnavigation? We could grin smugly as we glided silently through shanty villages with flowers coming out of our tail pipes, watching as the locals seemed to implicitly absorb our message relating the value of conservation and with prosperity from eco-tourism… or as they looked at us with puzzled expressions as we asked them for “uh, un, uh… servicio para coches electricos?”

Okay, well what about something a little less advanced but still modern and interesting?  

We’d seen one of these Honda Elements with an “ecamper” conversion driving around the bay area. When we googled them, we eventually came across a blog called “The Darien Plan” in which a couple chose one of these for their drive to Tierra del Fuego. It’s a great trip story (just coming to an end around the end of 2009). Check it out.

Though the Element is AWD, if we do end up making it to Africa, we’re worried that the low clearance and lack of low range 4WD is not going to cut it. Sure we could avoid areas that required that, but being able to take (almost) any road is part of the adventure.

Okay, so 4WD with airbags (it’s a lot of miles – likelihood of someone bangin’ into us increases quite a bit). Newer Landcruisers get airbags in ‘96 but are decidedly “mom-y” by ‘98 or so (proof below).

Plus they’re HUGE. 4Runner’s follow the same evolution but are a little smaller. There could be a perfect model year in there somewhere for us.

While we were looking at Honda Elements, we kept seeing Nissan Xterra’s and briefly mistaking them for each other. We realized the tall cargo area made for a lot of useable space, they weren’t too big, and they had a real 4WD system with low gear. Looking at model years, they were launched in 1999 with the bugs worked out of the first generation by 2004, the last year before they changed the body shape (bigger) and added a buncha heavy, electronic crap we didn’t need or want.

A 2004 would have airbags, anti-lock brakes, and about 60K miles on it for just over $10k. This compared to a 4Runner or the like with 150K miles for about the same price.  A nice mix of comfort, capability, safety, space, and reliability with just a splash of attitude. Plus, the name adds a fitting romanticism for the trip.

So it was settled. A month of watching CraigsList and we found a base model 2004 with 4WD and 55K miles (not pictured). It had been a certified preowned Nissan used as a second car for the past couple years and had barely been used.

We had a “mobile mechanic” come out to take a look at it so we could look over his shoulder and start to understand what made it go (or not). He seemed interested in the plan and we decided to do the 60K service together just before the trip and have him come up with a comprehensive list of spares and repairs we might need along the way. Oh and to give us his pager number…

The Xterra also has a few active online owners groups which are always helpful when diagnosing a problem or looking for solutions. We’re getting more familiar with Club Xterra, Xterra Firma, NewX, and the Nissan forum on the Expedition Portal.
Check out the Vehicle section for more info on modifications we’ll be making to the truck.