The Logistics..

On a trip like this there are obviously some very specific needs we have, especially since we plan to live out of a Jeep the whole time. We have worked countless hours planning and working on the Jeep to bring it to tip-top shape before we leave. On the road we will be able to fine tune how the Jeep is going to work for us. Since this is more than just camping out every night, we wanted to make sure what modifications we did to the Jeep were of great quality and upmost sensibility/practicality. 

One question we get a lot is how we are going to have three people sleep inside the vehicle every night. Well, for one, we are bringing a one person tent (not that we plan on using it every night).  Other than that, Seth has invested in a roof top tent (RTT) that has actually replaced the roof of the vehicle, with a roof that now includes a tent inside it! It is made by this wonderful company called Ursa Minor. We can pop up this tent in less than a minute from the inside of the Jeep just by pushing up on the ceiling. A panel scoots out of the way and we climb right in! Simply put the panel back in place, swing down a support bar, and BAM! It's ready to sleep in. Two people will sleep up in the RTT, while one person gets to sleep inside the vehicle. We have removed a section of the back seats and replaced it with a wooden platform. This platform is large enough that Mat (who is over six feet tall) can sleep comfortably with a three inch thick sleeping pad and sleeping bag. 

Another aspect of the trip is water storage. On board (part of the sleeping platform) is a built-in water tank which holds 15 gallons of drinking water. On the rear end of the Jeep there is an Aqua bumper. This is a bumper which holds 7.5 gal of water (not meant for drinking). This is also pressurized for spraying off things if they get dirty. 

As for the storage system, it consists of two drawers that pull out the back hatch. One side has a pullout drawer containing a two burner camp stove and a refrigerator. The other side of the unit has a pull out drawer for the mess kit, and other supplies needed for the trip. If you open the back passenger door, there is another drawer unit built around the water storage (which is accessible through this same location, positioned slightly to the left). All of this makes up the sleeping platform! 

There is a retractable awning attached to one side the Jeep as well! It is roughly six feet wide and eight feet long with walls we can add to it if we want. This creates a barrier up against the side of the Jeep so we will have a place to escape bugs, change, and shower with our handy dandy HelioShower. 

For some of the more mechanical things, we have a dual battery system (so we literally cannot have a dead battery), winch, upgraded sway bars, upgraded shocks, 15 extra gallons of fuel (on a hitch haul), lighting system throughout the Jeep (including two LED lights inside, and two large multi directional lights out the back), a vehicle diagnostics reader (so we know everything happening in the computer of the Jeep at all times) and much much more. Probably message Seth if you have any more questions than that...

All of this really would not have been possible without the help of Seth and Mat building and planning all of it. Many hours have been spent researching on expeditionportal.com or sifting through reviews/threads about which systems are the best and most practical.

You're Doing What?!

As you can imagine, we've heard that from a lot of people when they first listen to what our travel plans are. When we say we are going to travel South America they usually think the average trip length, maybe a bit more, like two weeks. NOT FIVE MONTHS! Yep, that is exactly what we are doing. The three of us (Seth, Mat, and I) will be not only driving, but living out of a Jeep Wrangler for the next five months starting June first. First, we will drive from our home state of Wisconsin to the tippy top of Alaska in the Arctic Circle, called Dead Horse in Prudhoe Bay. From there we will drive down the west coast of the U.S. into Mexico, where we will follow the Pan-American Highway through Central America.

This long stretch of road we will be following is called the Pan-American Highway and is the worlds longest highway. There is no true single route through the U.S., just highways that will connect to the main route later, but once we hit Mexico on our way down from Alaska we will be traveling on the true Pan-American highway. It will take us through all of the countries in Central America (Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Belize, and El Salvador). From there we will be jumping over the Darien Gap between Panama and Columbia where the drug cartels have taken over and is super unsafe to travel for first timers like us. Then, we will continue on down into South America where we will visit Columbia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Ecuador. We haven't decided yet if we will got to Suriname or Guyana, because we don't plan on driving through the middle of the rainforest in Brazil just to get to Rio. My vote is to take a different route.

We originally wanted to travel Europe in the same way, but decided that the cost of shipping our Jeep was too much, and the route would have been too hectic due to restraints of how long we could stay in certain countries. Hence, the Pan-American Highway! This was all originally Seth's idea and Mat and I joined in. It works out perfectly with Seth moving back home, and before Mat and I move out to California. We quickly renovated our house with the help of some amazing family and friends, sold it, and quit our jobs! We wanted to do something many people never get to do in life, and that is TRAVEL! Except ours might be on an obnoxiously large scale..

Throughout our travels I will be posting about the daily life of the trip. Anything from where we are, who we meet, and things we see will all be included. And, as many of you may wonder, yes, I will be posting pictures! How could a photography major not take zillions of photos on this once-in-a-lifetime trip?! I will post this onto my Facebook whenever I make any updates and feel free to leave comments/questions below the posts. Follow along with us as I update along the ride!

"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods