Tag Archives: sequoia

Better Late Than Never

December 17, 2008 – 4:59 pm

Well, I guess I can not really say never, because we did get the trucks blessed by some kind and generous monks in Thailand, so maybe you can consider the blessing of the trucks in Copacabana, Bolivia an after-the-fact kudos to the powers that be.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Bolivia, Events, Interesting, Road Conditions, Trucks | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

How To Drive Through Chile Without Breaking The Bank

October 27, 2008 – 9:18 pm

Even with the rising value of the US dollar and the dropping prices of oil worldwide, when you are on an overland expedition, you still need to be a little creative in order to conserve your budget. We have been on the road for about 20 months now and during that time, we have become pretty good at coming up with ways to stretch our money.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Argentina, Border Crossings, Chile, Interesting, Observations, Trucks, south america | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

A short window into our 6 week delay.

October 22, 2008 – 2:49 pm

I am still hard at work on the blog regarding the exact details of what happened with the trucks in Buenos. With Fernando’s help we are putting together a blog that will give a better researched insight not into just what happened to us, but more importantly, why it happened the way it did. More importantly we want to give everyone an insight as to why it is such a tragedy that Argentinean government treats not only us this way, but treats all of the citizens in Argentina the same.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Argentina, New Videos, Paperwork, shipping, south america | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Cape to Cape: Check

July 14, 2008 – 10:10 am

In the United States, you may not have heard about the driving the “Cape to Cape” run . I guess there may be some scenic drives or highways that go from Cape A to Cape B, but the Cape run I am talking about is the drive from North Cape, Norway to Cape Agulhas, South Africa. It is a drive that overlanders dream about and only a handful actually complete in their lifetimes. There are obviously more direct routes to drive from the northern most point in Europe to the southern most point in Africa, but for us, the journey covered roughly 17,000 miles, spanned about 110 degrees of latitude, took us through 29 countries and lasted approximately 6 months.

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Six months ago, we were in the far northern reaches of the Arctic

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As we made our way to Cape Agulhas, instead of reindeer, we were on the lookout for turtles

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Although chilly, it was a bit warmer at 34.5degrees South latitude

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The marker in Norway was nicer, but where else can you swim in two oceans at the same time!

We are not the first people to drive the Cape to Cape run, but it is definitely a small number of people, mainly Europeans… I can probably extrapolate a bit further, hedge a bet from our experiences and say that most of the members of the Cape to Cape overland family are either Dutch, Scandinavian or South African. Now add some nutty Americans to the group. I am fairly certain that we are the first Americans to complete the Cape to Cape run as part of our overall expedition. We received a lot of support and encouragement along the way. In fact, some South Africans we met in Angola shouted enthusiastically “finally, some Americans with some balls,” when we stopped on the side of the road to chat. The road was very tough at times, but we made it and looking back it was well worth it. We still have a good portion of the trip left, but this was a major segment of the expedition and one that we anticipated would be one of the toughest. I am sure South America will hold some surprises in store for us, but our experiences here in Africa will help us to prepare for what the next continent throws our way.

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By Steve Bouey | Posted in Africa, History, Interesting, Norway, Road Conditions, South Africa, Trucks, Updates, World News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

New Photos - North Cape (Nordkapp)

July 7, 2008 – 8:29 pm

In the far far north of the northern part of the north European country of Norway, there lies a cliff encircled point called North Cape.  This is the farthest you can drive north in Europe and a truly majestic site.  With giant cliffs, tunnels, ice covered roads and little to no light, the drive up to here is a true adventure in the middle of winter.  The sub zero temperatures, snow storms, wind and incredible hunger that abides when darkness is far more common than light nearly drive you mad as you count the number of days since the sun has actually shined on you.

On our speedy journey to the north and the little information we could gather about making it all the way to the cape led us to a closed gate just 12 kms from the finish line.  After a day of driving around trying to find the right people we were able to get a convoy with a snow plow and safety car to take us to the top, but at a cost…it ended up costing $1000 for that last 12km, and although that $1000 is still sitting on my credit card accruing interest…to all of us it was well spent.  We drove all the way from Cape Otway Australia, over 30,000 miles through jungles, deserts, mountains, rivers, rebels and more to make it there and nothing would stop us.

Considering the safety truck was less prepared than we were if something was to happen and the plow had already been up that day so the road was already clear, the price was for little more than the Norwegians making yet another dollar off of us. Expensive for nothing, but worth it.

Link to Flickr

Link to TWBR Gallery

The open plains no longer support tree life at this latitude.It is unbelieveable that they went to the trouble to build a road all the way up here along the side of these sheer cliffs.The usual 2pm loss of light, you cannot really call it a sunset since the sun never rises up here.There is more light in the tunnels than there is in the middle of the day.The roads are 100% solid ice for the last 1000km approach to the North CapeThe colors from the polar night are reason enough to come up hereThe tunnels have doors up here to prevent them from icing up.1000s of kms later we realized that the Norweigans will never miss a chance to add another fee.Without a convoy of snowplow and safety car, you cannot drive the last 12kmsThe final town before the last stretch of road to NordKappWith screaming winds and sub zero temperatures, a day of fliming only allows minutes outdoors before frostbite sets in during thThis was one of the coldest moments of the trip trying to film for 30 seconds with the wind blowning strong enough to knock you This is a true life shot, no posing, just pure cold.The is the end, after the run with the snow plow and safety truck we finally reached the farthest north point.In my Mongolian Dahl, I setup shots of the trucks with the last bit of light.The giant cliffs around NordKapp are breathtaking.The parking lot is not quite all the way to the point.So we had to walk the last few hundred yards to the globe.Thousands of miles of driving, countless nights sleeping in the trucks, and three tired crew members later, we were there.Inside there are photos of what the midnight sun looks like, circling the sky in summer.Time to leave the cape.Here is the $1000 plow that we had to pay to plow a total of zero inches of snow for us, and the safety car? Less equipped thatThere is nothing like this moment. We made it all the way north...in winter!!

 


By Steven Shoppman | Posted in New Photos, Norway, Road Conditions | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)