OurBiggerPicture

We’ve been back in the U.S for over 2 months now. Finding the discipline to finish this blog has been difficult. Taking myself back in time to our road life requires putting myself in a different headspace from where I am now. It requires writing about the past while the present clouds my thoughts. I’m still catching up so it won’t be until the next blog post that I explore our reentry. Time is catching up to me faster now, that’s for certain. As I reflect on our last few wee

After weeks of research and copious emails to various shipping brokers, we finally found an agent in Chile that could help us get LoJo back home. The wheels were in motion for an early February ship date to Oakland out of Valparaiso. I found great flights on frequent flier miles to California and booked them. So that’s it. We are heading home. The realization that the trip was coming to end leaves us a little sad but excited. The end definitely feels bitter sweet and we don't

For the first time in 25 months, the little digital compass readout on our rearview mirror (a mirror rendered otherwise useless with our huge camper in the truck bed) shows an N instead of an S. We are heading north. Yet getting back into the rig after hitting our goal of Ushuaia, and then Antarctica, feels a little anticlimactic. I don’t have the energy to psyche myself up for the long drives anymore, and John isn’t as enthusiastic for them either. We’ve been in mostly cold

Patagonia. The land of the explorer, the outlaw, the exiled – people drawn to the sheer enormity of its physical space. This is where the rivers run turquoise and lakes are so clear you can see right to the bottom. Where condors fly overhead and wild guanacos join you for breakfast. It is also where the wind blows incessantly. Patagonia is one of the crown jewels of our journey and we were excited to finally get here. Patagonia covers about 260,000 square miles in size—roughl

I started this blog post writing about penguins. And eventually it will be about penguins. I have gone back and forth on writing about this here. But this week I woke to news so disheartening, so...disturbing, I have to deal with the emotions that are clouding my days now as we sit in one of the most remote places on earth. I woke to the news of the election, and as if I were a watching some “end of the world” movie - the evil villain had actually won. I don't recognize the c

We didn’t start out on this long drive just to end it in BA. We are going to Ushuaia, to the end of the world, and it’s time to make some pr

Sometimes I feel like we are on the run from the law. Like we’re fugitives. We move locations every couple of days making us hard to track down. A stash of U.S currency is hidden in the bowels of our truck, and every few weeks we find little bits of some other country’s currency in pockets, wallets, or behind seat cushions. No one in their right mind would hang out in some of the towns we sleep in so they are perfect cover. Endless police checkpoints make us sit up, expecting

After the incredibly beautiful moonscape that was the Salar de Uyuni, we were off to our next destination (or planet) depending on how you viewed the landscape – the Lagunas Route through the Eduardo Avaroa Preserva. The next several days were for me (as was the Salar) a highly anticipated mini adventure. During the years leading up to our 2014 departure from Marin, I read many blogs and lived vicariously through those travellers. I would follow their travels and make notes o

The Southwest corner of Bolivia is a harsh and intimidating landscape. The Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia and the Southwest circuit (also known as the Lagunas Route) are on almost every Overlander’s bucket list. We tackled the Salar first. The largest salt flat on earth, the “Salar de Uyuni” spans more than 4,000 square miles at an altitude of 12,000 feet. It is an other worldly place - vast, austere, like being on the moon. This beautiful moonscape is where temperatures can swin

So, we are back in Lima! After a long flight from Amsterdam, we gathered our bags and head out of the airport to meet up with overlanding friends Ben and Emma (www.flightlesskiwis.com). We met and traveled with the Kiwi’s way back in Mexico and they FINALLY caught up to us in Peru. They rented an apartment to accommodate Ben’s parents who weren’t set to arrive in a couple of days and graciously offered us a room for two nights before we headed to Cusco. It was great to catch