The road chose me

It turns out selling the Jeep down here is a lot more difficult that I first thought. Argentina and Chile both have extremely strict importation laws to protect local producers, which makes things more than difficult. The funny side effect is the cost of imported foreign cars here. I’ve found my Jeep to be worth a very large sum of money to Argentines and they’re pretty keen to find a way to buy it. Jeeps from the 60′s sell for US$10k, from the 80′s about $15k and 90′s $20k. Every day I also see various junker death-traps selling for around $3k-$5k that make my Jeep look like new.

Every second person that sees it’s for sale for only $6k immediately asks to buy it. After I politely explain they really can’t (foreigners only) people think of all kinds of crazy ways we can make it work. Most revolve around reporting it as stolen, some involve stripping it for parts and even crazier ideas involve various takes on insurance fraud. Hmmm.

Singing a “Power of Attorney” for an Argentine guy is the closest I’ve come yet. He is to “drive it around” for a little while until I “come back” in a year or two. (cough, cough). At the border leaving Argentina the customs guy catches on pretty quickly to what we are trying to do and immediately puts stop to it, almost having the guy arrested for driving it until he realizes I am there too (Apparently in Argentina the Jeep and I are literally inseparable). Upon re-entry the guy is very formal and strictly checks all my papers twice.
Very quietly, off to one side, he mentions that in two weeks he will be at another border station, alone, and we should talk more there.
My new favorite word in Spanish is Corrupción

About an hour into Argentina we drive through a routine police stop where they very throughly check all my papers, search for drugs and generally waste our time until one officer asks about our intention to import the Jeep into Argentina. Apparently our friend at Customs has called ahead and told them to give us a good old fashioned shake down. This is all pretty funny to us, as we know we haven’t done anything wrong, and they have to let us proceed.

After all this has been explained in great detail to willing buyers, each and every Argentinean tries to buy my tent separately. Then my tool box. Then the spare parts. I think somehow they just want a piece of what they know is selling for super cheap, we just can’t make it work.

I’m sure something will present itself. 

-Dan

The 16th marked three months on the road for me, and I’ve done spot on 15,000 kms. At this rate I’ll cover 60,000 kms in twelve months, which I’ve been thinking is more likely what the trip will wind up being. That’s nothing scientific, just a gut feeling I have. I’m covering a lot of ground because I’ve been zig-zagging and detouring a lot to make sure I see and do everything I want – which really is the whole point.
I seem to be getting more and more efficient with my camping, cooking, directions, activities and resupplying so everything is still getting easier day to day.

I just did another oil change and tire rotation, which gave me another chance to crawl all over the Jeep and have a good look. I noticed a few things:

• My ‘new’ tires are wearing much faster than I had hoped. At this rate I don’t think they’ll make the whole trip, but we’ll see what happens. I picked up another flat a couple of weeks back bringing the count to two.
• The pinion seal on the front diff is leaking again… it really shouldn’t be doing that, but it’s never going to amount to much so I’m going to leave it.
• The passenger foot well is soaking wet sometimes which I think is either the heater core leaking, water getting in between the windshield and hood or a missing drain plug in the floor. I still haven’t figured out exactly when it happens so I need to keep thinking about it.
• Even after 10,000 kms the engine oil was still pretty good, I think it really likes the highway driving.

The Jeep has been running brilliantly, with only one ‘problem’ for the whole trip. I think it was more operator error, but I’ll let you decide
The plastic drain plug on the bottom of the radiator had been leaking a few drops here and there since I flushed the whole thing before leaving. When I was in Skagway, Alaska I noticed it was more than the usual few drops, so I tried to tighten it. Of course I went for too much, and the plug broke off in my hand. I ummed and arred for a while before finally deciding to pull the whole radiator out – I didn’t want any little plastic fragments floating around in there waiting to hit the water pump blades or puncture a hose.
The whole deal took about an hour and a half, and it’s nice to know it’s all fixed properly.

-Dan

Have you ever wanted to do something to find out if you could – to see what kind of person you are?
Have you ever wanted to actually live your dreams instead of watching them hover just out of reach?
Have you ever wanted to do something so crazy you were almost afraid to say it out loud?

Next week, I’m setting out to drive my Jeep 50,000kms on The Pan American Highway from The Arctic Ocean in Northern Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego, the southernmost point of South America.

I’m going to record my whole trip here with stories and photos, but more than that, I want you guys to join in too. Remember those “choose your own adventure” books where you got to make up your own story? I’m going to make my trip the same for you. Whenever I get to a fork in the road, or I can’t decide if I should detour to see some ruins, or stick around another week, I’m going to ask you guys. The choices will be put to a vote – the choice with the most votes wins and I’ll do it.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to hike to Macha Pichu or to drive Bolivia’s “Road of Death”. Here’s your chance. If it gets voted up I’ll do it. You’ll be able to read all about it here with trip reports, adventure stories and photos.

I think the whole trip will take twelve months, but that’s just a guess – let’s say plus or minus six months to that.
Updates will come shortly on my Jeep, gear, medical requirements and more. In the mean time, checkout my completely made-up route north/south and the Jeep looking pretty excited

-Dan

Dan and Jeep ready to go.

Completely made up.

My beloved Jeepadoor has died. The brakes are down to steel on steel, and nothing else is getting any better. A little earlier than I had planned, but it’s time to get into some new wheels.

I kept my eye on the online ads (actually it was emailing them to me every day at work) so I knew when a good deal came up. The example below is a 2000 TJ, 110,00kms, 2.5lrt 4-cyl, hard and soft top, 31×10.5 tires, otherwise stock standard. I checked it out, had a mechanic friend check it out and found it was only leaking oild in 5 places – hey that’s pretty good for a Jeep. Some intence negotiation had her in my driveway for $6250.

It’s the most impractical vehicle I have ever spent time in.

It’s also the most fun. I love it.