“How time flies” as the old adage goes. If you can believe it, this coming week it will have been fully a year that has passed since we hurriedly packed up some necessities, stored our truck/camper in a little town outside Santiago, and jumped on the next plane to Canada – March 21, 2020 to be exact. Readers may recall this image headlining that final ( for 2020 anyway) “Exit from Chile” blog post:
Much has changed in the world in the last 12 months – and who could have imagined it playing out like it did ? While we are not out of the woods yet, with vaccinations in full swing globally, let’s hope we have turned the corner and that life can, in the coming months, start returning to normal.
We’ve been with this pandemic for so long now that it’s easy to forget what “normal” was – remember, life before masks, intermittent lockdowns, social distancing and copious daily applications of hand sanitizer ? It’s also amazed us how quickly everyone has just gotten used to this ( albeit temporary ) “new normal”. Interesting as well to look around the world and see how different countries have tackled it – there have certainly been some surprising outcomes.
It seemed like the one year anniversary of our hasty retreat from overlanding in South America was a good time to update readers on what has since transpired for us, what we are working on, and when we plan ( or should I say, “hope” ) to be back on the road – with 38,000 kms of the Pan American highway under our belt we have about 5,000 kms still remaining to reach our destination of Ushuaia. When it comes to the PanAmerican highway this quaint Argentine town on the island of Tierra del Fuego at the very bottom of South America marks ( quite literally ) the end of the road. Or, as the the Argentines call it, Fin del Mundo – the end of the world.
Given that we have not yet been vaccinated, and won’t be until at least July, travelling right now is not viable. Unfortunate, because now is the ideal time to be in Patagonia and travelling the Carretera Austral considering it’s their summer. It’s just not a place to go in winter ( in fact much of it shuts down ) so if you don’t get there by April at latest one is simply best to wait until the southern Spring – which is October’ish.
That, in fact, is exactly what we plan to do – assuming all is good on the COVID front, assuming we are vaccinated and assuming the world is back to a semblance of normality, we would depart Canada sometime in September, fly to Santiago, pick up our truck and continue the journey. The loose, and I stress “loose” ( if COVID has taught us one thing it’s not to plan too far ahead) idea is to spend 4-6 months travelling to the bottom, then working our way back up the famous Route 40 in Argentina through to Eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, and on to Uruguay. It’s not likely, having lost this much time, that we will loop all the way back up to northern Brazil or the Guyana’s but we will see how it unfolds. When our time in South America is done we will ship the vehicle home and sell it ( unless anyone out there wants to take a great overlanding rig off us in South America and do the reverse Pan American – it can been done ! ).
But, “Why would you sell it Jeff – there is much more of the world to explore, and surely you’ll need your overland rig?”, you might think. Indeed, there is much, much more to explore and we hope to continue overlanding for quite a few years yet, but COVID ( and basically suddenly having nothing to do ! ) inspired Lois and I to start a new project. In what might best be described as a rush of blood to the head, late in 2020 we somewhat spontaneously purchased a Mercedes Sprinter 4×4 and set about camperizing it for future overland travel. The “project” is about a third complete and we hope to have it done by this ( northern ) summer allowing us to travel in it through July and August around Canada. We will then store it here until we return from South America. Future travel will be in the new van. Here is a glimpse of how it looks so far ( we do need a name by the way so send us your suggestions ):
The truck/camper has been fabulous and we could easily have continued on in it but we could not pass up the opportunity to do a van build-out when we had this much time on our hands. Essentially, we just moved the purchase forward a few years – a Sprinter had always been something we had coveted and we were actually very close to buying one when we bought the truck/camper back in 2015.
The wonderful Spring weather we are enjoying in British Colombia right now is a welcome change from the cold of mid-winter ( especially for those of us refitting a van in their driveway ! ). We are all looking forward to the coming summer and ideally a less restrictive life. Wherever you are as you read this, both Lois and I hope you are well and that your community, state, and country is getting on top of COVID. We look forward to starting the weekly blog again as soon as we are on that plane to Chile. Until then, stay healthy, and stay safe !
Postscript:
For those who have wondered ( and some have asked ) this is where our truck/camper is – ours is pretty much right in the middle ( making it more secure we tell ourselves, lol ). It gives you some idea of how many people are ( or were ) overlanding in South America at any one time ( we often speculated on that ). This is just in one part of Chile but there are doubtless thousands of overland vehicles parked in places like this all over South America
of a friendly Chilean overlander
Hi Lois en Jeff,
Leuk om weer iets over jullie te lezen. 1 vraagje; Waarom gaan jullie van een Truck Camper naar een VAN ??? Wat zijn de voordelen? En wat beviel er niet aan de truck ??
Groetjes,
Marco – The Netherlands
Hi Lois and Jeff,
Nice to read something about you again. 1 question; Why are you going from a Truck Camper to a VAN ??? What are the advantages? And what didn’t you like about the truck?
Greetings,
Marco – The Netherlands
Hi Marco,
Thanks for the question, nice to hear from you.
Here is a shot at a Dutch translation :
We houden erg van de vrachtwagencamper, eigenlijk. Het busje geeft ons meer ruimte, een volledige permanente douche, een volledig permanent bed en de mogelijkheid om vanaf de bestuurdersstoel de woonkamer in te lopen (lekker op een koude of natte dag!). we hebben deze functies niet in de vrachtwagencamper. Over het algemeen zijn er nog wat meer gemakken en functies die overlanding op langere termijn gemakkelijker maken. het nadeel is dat het te groot is voor een container, dus we zullen nu Ro / Ro moeten verschepen.
Here it is in English:
We do like the truck camper, very much in fact. That said, the van gives us more space, a full permanent shower, full permanent bed and the ability to walk from the drivers seat into the living area ( nice on a cold, or wet day ! ). We dont have these features in the truck camper. Overall there are just some more comforts and features that will make longer term overlanding easier. The downside is that it is too big for a container so we will need to ship Ro/Ro now…! Quite honestly, if it was not for COVID 19 and he time it afforded us we would not have bought it at this time. Still a big fan of truck campers…!
Looking good! The new van is amazing!
Thanks Chris……perhaps not quite yet but we hope it will be once complete !
Great to hear from you guys and to know your plans. Hope you can also head this way soon (we’re very Covid-safe 👍🏼 🤞).
Good to hear your adventures continue! Lots to experience in Canada.
Indeed there is Bonnie, and we are looking forward to it. Quite a bit we have not seen as well.
Hello you two! The sprinter is admittedly a great off-road vehicle but it is not for the cold season. here in europe many adventurers move away from delivery vans to truck campers. Why? you notice that immediately when you open the sliding door on the side. then the booth is immediately cold. and also that thing is bad to heat. The heating, for example the Truma Combi 6 diesel, is great, but you cannot insulate the cockpit of the sprinter against the cold. no matter … you already know what for. here in europe we dream of doing such a tour with an apex 8. stay healthy and best regards. Gerd
Hi Gerd,
Apex 8 is indeed a nice unit, you will like it. See my comments to Marco on why we went for a van. The big sliding door is a bit of a negative on vans generally, I would agree but we can also enter by the smaller front doors to limit cold air gushing in when it’s really cold. We will travel in cold weather, but not often so it was not a huge consideration for us.
In almost a year travelling the PanAmerican we met far, far, more people travelling in vans than in truck campers – I would say a 5 to 1 ratio, at least. We felt that as we age and complete our global travel plans the Sprinter will be a better long term unit for domestic travel. COVID just provided a convenient time to buy it and fit it out.
So great to hear from you!
We were wondering what the plans were for you two. We love reading your stories!
Thanks for keeping us in the loop. 💕
Love Mary Anne & Peter
Hi guys,
Nice to hear from you as well…! We hope the stories will become more interesting again, come September !
Good luck with getting back on the road, and with building your new camper! I look forward to reading your next instalment. Philippa
Thanks Philippa and good luck with the rest of your course !
I wonder if all the batteries will be dead and useless by the time people return to their rig?
Hoping not !
Will the batteries still be usable after sitting for over a year without use?
Our host has been periodically starting them and running them so hopefully they will be OK.
Well done for surviving this winter…we all need a medal for passing the Spring finish line – our first winter here for eighteen years! But we’ll have to wait a few months like most people who have the wanderlust before our return to Bali and beyond.
Glad you bought a Sprinter, we travelled in one from Perth to Sydney for 24 days a few years ago.
We’ll be camping ourselves soon in our motorhome, maybe our paths will cross.
Nice to hear from you Garth ( hi to Pam). Assumed you were still in Canada…… lucky it was not a “tough” winter this year. Let’s make sure our paths do cross this summer !
Nice to hear from you! We were wondering what projects/plans you’ve been up to. Hope you are able to get back on some new adventures soon! Take care
Hi Ed/Mae,
Thanks and let’s ensure we connect this summer !
Hi Jeff/Lois,
Good to hear an update from you. The van looks great. I hope things get back to
“normal” and you can continue the trip south. I hope to meet up with you guys at some point. Not sure when I will get back on the road at this point.
Hi Victor !
Good to hear from you – hope this finds you well ( and back in the US I assume ? ). We would love to connect with you as well – who knows where it might be though. Stay safe !
Hey Jeff & Lois,
So good to read your story again after such a long time that flew by at the same time. Still having the same traveling spirit or even more now with the sprinter build. Can we already see some pictures from the inside? Before/after would be nice too later on. I fully understand the change and all vehicles have their own advantages. All the best for now and stay healthy!
Kind regards,
Mark
Hi Mark,
Wonderful to hear from you ! Hope this finds you and your wife both well – are you back in a Holland, or ? Let us know.
I will email you a picture but won’t be putting inside pictures of the van on the web site until it’s all done. I have been ( somewhat loosely ) recording the process so will probably do a series of short videos ( or pictures at least ) on my YouTube channel. I have certainly borrowed heavily from the work of many others on YouTube so I feel a bit obligated to return the favour ! There definitely seems to be a lot of interest in van builds during COVID.
Pretty sure you have our email so send us a note and tell us what you have been doing since we met last connected- hopefully our paths might cross again soon ?
Cheers,
Jeff
Great to hear about your travels, we too are now retired and looking to travel when it’s safe to do so. Are all the towns/cities you’re traveling thru safe, or are there areas of concern that we should be aware of?
Hi Pam,
Wonderful to hear from you, it’s been quite a while!
If you are referring to our travels specifically in South America I would say that we check out places pretty carefully before we venture there and try to get as much information as possible from people on the road who have come from those places. That, plus getting pretty reliable and up-to-date information from iOverlander.com and the PanAmericanTravellersAssociation Forum on Facebook has so far kept us out of harms way 😊. Feel free to call me anytime if you want to chat ( same # as before ). Or you can email through the contact section on our website.
Cheers,
Hi Jeff and Lois,
It’s been great to see you both throughout the neighborhood and to see the progression of the van! It was also great to hear that you’re planning on going back to South American. I look forward to hearing about more of your adventures on the endless road!
At least with all the spare time some of us have had (not me) you haven’t been idle and sitting around getting fat and such. You both have used your time wisely!
I hope you’ll be able to continue your journey soon.
All the best,
Lyle
Thanks Lyle, and we hope to return a soon as possible ! Nice to see you around as well 😊