RMP&O
Expedition Leader
Hey all, I am a bit early on this thread but figured why not get it going now!?
I have been on the forum for awhile, built a lot of trucks and have done two drives down to Panama and back. Here is my two trips I did reports on here on ExPo.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/40676-The-Ultimate-Road-Trip!
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/53384-Pan-Am-Bum-Rush!
The pictures and videos are gone from those threads but the blogging is still there. After the last trip I knew I would go back but I didn't know when or how. I went down on the second trip to look at business opportunities which didn't really pan out but the trip(s) did plant that seed. On the ten or so day drive home from the second trip I made up my mind about some things, such as; I needed to finish up things here at home in the truck build department. And there were other things I needed to focus on as well. At that time, I had pushed things aside in my life for at least the last two years in order to travel and was feeling the need to complete these things I had started. I also needed to clear out debt, get myself the right truck and come up with a solid long term plan. Well I have been working on all that since the spring of 2011. I got side tracked a bit (mostly in the truck department) but this year decided I am buckling down and getting this all going. Some lifelong and best friends passed away recently and this really motivated me to get it all going, not in another year or two but now.
I have pretty much liquidated one of my businesses and am in the process liquidating the other. All of my stuff is being sold and I have sold a fair amount already. I am clearing out all my personal possessions and will only keep a few small boxes of family stuff that a family member will hold onto for me. I am moving out of my house that I have been renting for the last 13yrs and I am giving my 14yr old dog to a good friend. I have six years in my passport and over 40-pages. All I am keeping is what will fit into my 2000 UZJ100 Land Cruiser. The vast majority of this take with me stuff is adventure gear. For most of the summer I have been setting up my Land Cruiser for this trip.
Here is the truck build thread,
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/160576-UZJ100-built-for-the-long-trip-south
I am not married and have no children. I own a couple small businesses but to be honest am burnt out on these careers. I have been self employed for 17yrs and have been working in the same career and industry for most of my life. I have friends in the adventure tourism industry and have dabbled in it myself a bit but this is a completely new career for me. That is a big move at my age to take up a completely new career but I do have vast experience in business, travel (overland) and the outdoors. I can also fix most things on any Land Cruiser fairly easily, I have been building trucks for over a decade. I am also furthering my education and obtaining certifications that fit this new career. I am an outdoors guy who has always enjoyed active outdoor activities. Ya know, kayaking, surfing, snowboarding, rock climbing, fishing, backpacking and more! So I have decided to start an adventure travel company down in Latin America. I have named this business "Overland Adventures" which will be providing small group adventure trips via overland. I will be using Toyota Land Cruisers as my fleet vehicles. This thread and trip report will give you a clear picture as to what my trips are all about and what is offered with Overland Adventures. We will literally be designing and building active adventures on this trip and in this thread.
However, I won't be starting the business immediately, there is much work to be done on the ground down south before I am running a full on adventure tourism business. That is what this thread is about. The first trip will be exploration, route finding and setting up contacts. There is much to be done in these areas before any trips are being offered to the public. For the most part this thread and trip report will be just like any other where we share our adventure we are on. I won't clutter it with the business side of things to much, that is stuff for me and the people I will be working with not you the reader of our adventure.
I was in Baja the winter of 2014/15, we pulled down onto the beach at Cabo Pulmo early in the day and there was a pair of Mexican guys camped in the ruins on the beach. It wasn't long before the younger of the two (it was a father-son pair) was hanging out at my truck drinking beers and telling stories. Turns out this young Mexican guy had just crossed the Sea of Cortez with his father on a sit on top sea kayak! They had also weathered a class 5 hurricane on an island huddled in a cave for three days. Needless to say the stories were amazing! This young guy also had a way about him that I don't often encounter in people in their early 20's. I have stayed in touch with this guy and he is joining me on this first trip to start a new life. He has already committed to at least 3yrs for the adventure, journey and working with me in the company.
I am aiming for leaving around December 1st. I have family in Oregon (also grew up there) and also in California. So I plan to spend most of December in Oregon and California visiting with family and friends. By January 1st though I plan to be in Baja, I have already been to Baja mutiple times but there is still much down the peninsula for me to explore. I am taking at least one of my uncles with me at the start of the trip. My uncles used to go down to Baja with my grandfather decades ago but I have never been down there with them. The first couple weeks will mostly be family time and taking it easy with my uncle. I will also be connecting in Baja with my Mexican friend to start our long journey. We will spend at least a month in Baja before heading to mainland via the ferry. After Baja we plan to do some exploring in the Altar Desert. From there we will just head south to the Mex200 and drive it from Puerto Vallarta to at least Puerto Escondido. Beyond this there is really no solid plan other than to go slow, explore and start doing what is necessary to set up trips and structure the company. Every country on the way to Panama will be explored and possible trips designed for these countries. Once we feel we have explored Central America enough we will ship the truck to Colombia and continue on. My eventual plan is to drive nearly every country in the Americas and reach Tierra del Fuego. The plan is to eventually have the company operate in all of the Americas but this will take more than one fleet of trucks and also more than a year or two to set up. This is my "end game" plan and how I plan to spend the rest of my life. I am 43yrs old so figure I got a solid 20-25yrs to build up this business, set some roots and live the dream to the fullest. As such I am in no hurry to get to TDF.
Under 90-days now to my planned departure date. Lot's left to do. It is not a huge deal if I don't make my Dec. 1st departure date, I am just wanting to be able to use as much of the good season down south as possible before it is over and the rainy season starts. I know from experience I can easily take six months to get to Panama. I will just see how it goes, some truck builds for clients may hold me up a bit as well as one last truck of my own. I need to get this truck of mine finished up more in the build and then sell it off. I have already sold several of my trucks along with my main business and other things as well. So I am making progress but don't feel the need to push myself to hard to get going. This is a big move I am making and I should be ready to go when I leave.
Every day on this trip we will be following a life of adventure. We will be scouting rivers in a white water boat, exploring the coastlines in sea kayaks, finding remote surf breaks, backpacking into the jungle and wilderness, rock climbing where ever possible and fishing anytime we are near a body of water. Cities, ruins, culture and natural history will also be part of our trip and daily activities. It is to be a grand adventure for sure that will lead us to a life of adventure doing what we love to do. I hope you will follow along as my Mexican friend and my self take a long slow drive south and build a business as we go!
Cheers
I have been on the forum for awhile, built a lot of trucks and have done two drives down to Panama and back. Here is my two trips I did reports on here on ExPo.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/40676-The-Ultimate-Road-Trip!
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/53384-Pan-Am-Bum-Rush!
The pictures and videos are gone from those threads but the blogging is still there. After the last trip I knew I would go back but I didn't know when or how. I went down on the second trip to look at business opportunities which didn't really pan out but the trip(s) did plant that seed. On the ten or so day drive home from the second trip I made up my mind about some things, such as; I needed to finish up things here at home in the truck build department. And there were other things I needed to focus on as well. At that time, I had pushed things aside in my life for at least the last two years in order to travel and was feeling the need to complete these things I had started. I also needed to clear out debt, get myself the right truck and come up with a solid long term plan. Well I have been working on all that since the spring of 2011. I got side tracked a bit (mostly in the truck department) but this year decided I am buckling down and getting this all going. Some lifelong and best friends passed away recently and this really motivated me to get it all going, not in another year or two but now.
I have pretty much liquidated one of my businesses and am in the process liquidating the other. All of my stuff is being sold and I have sold a fair amount already. I am clearing out all my personal possessions and will only keep a few small boxes of family stuff that a family member will hold onto for me. I am moving out of my house that I have been renting for the last 13yrs and I am giving my 14yr old dog to a good friend. I have six years in my passport and over 40-pages. All I am keeping is what will fit into my 2000 UZJ100 Land Cruiser. The vast majority of this take with me stuff is adventure gear. For most of the summer I have been setting up my Land Cruiser for this trip.
Here is the truck build thread,
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/160576-UZJ100-built-for-the-long-trip-south
I am not married and have no children. I own a couple small businesses but to be honest am burnt out on these careers. I have been self employed for 17yrs and have been working in the same career and industry for most of my life. I have friends in the adventure tourism industry and have dabbled in it myself a bit but this is a completely new career for me. That is a big move at my age to take up a completely new career but I do have vast experience in business, travel (overland) and the outdoors. I can also fix most things on any Land Cruiser fairly easily, I have been building trucks for over a decade. I am also furthering my education and obtaining certifications that fit this new career. I am an outdoors guy who has always enjoyed active outdoor activities. Ya know, kayaking, surfing, snowboarding, rock climbing, fishing, backpacking and more! So I have decided to start an adventure travel company down in Latin America. I have named this business "Overland Adventures" which will be providing small group adventure trips via overland. I will be using Toyota Land Cruisers as my fleet vehicles. This thread and trip report will give you a clear picture as to what my trips are all about and what is offered with Overland Adventures. We will literally be designing and building active adventures on this trip and in this thread.
However, I won't be starting the business immediately, there is much work to be done on the ground down south before I am running a full on adventure tourism business. That is what this thread is about. The first trip will be exploration, route finding and setting up contacts. There is much to be done in these areas before any trips are being offered to the public. For the most part this thread and trip report will be just like any other where we share our adventure we are on. I won't clutter it with the business side of things to much, that is stuff for me and the people I will be working with not you the reader of our adventure.
I was in Baja the winter of 2014/15, we pulled down onto the beach at Cabo Pulmo early in the day and there was a pair of Mexican guys camped in the ruins on the beach. It wasn't long before the younger of the two (it was a father-son pair) was hanging out at my truck drinking beers and telling stories. Turns out this young Mexican guy had just crossed the Sea of Cortez with his father on a sit on top sea kayak! They had also weathered a class 5 hurricane on an island huddled in a cave for three days. Needless to say the stories were amazing! This young guy also had a way about him that I don't often encounter in people in their early 20's. I have stayed in touch with this guy and he is joining me on this first trip to start a new life. He has already committed to at least 3yrs for the adventure, journey and working with me in the company.
I am aiming for leaving around December 1st. I have family in Oregon (also grew up there) and also in California. So I plan to spend most of December in Oregon and California visiting with family and friends. By January 1st though I plan to be in Baja, I have already been to Baja mutiple times but there is still much down the peninsula for me to explore. I am taking at least one of my uncles with me at the start of the trip. My uncles used to go down to Baja with my grandfather decades ago but I have never been down there with them. The first couple weeks will mostly be family time and taking it easy with my uncle. I will also be connecting in Baja with my Mexican friend to start our long journey. We will spend at least a month in Baja before heading to mainland via the ferry. After Baja we plan to do some exploring in the Altar Desert. From there we will just head south to the Mex200 and drive it from Puerto Vallarta to at least Puerto Escondido. Beyond this there is really no solid plan other than to go slow, explore and start doing what is necessary to set up trips and structure the company. Every country on the way to Panama will be explored and possible trips designed for these countries. Once we feel we have explored Central America enough we will ship the truck to Colombia and continue on. My eventual plan is to drive nearly every country in the Americas and reach Tierra del Fuego. The plan is to eventually have the company operate in all of the Americas but this will take more than one fleet of trucks and also more than a year or two to set up. This is my "end game" plan and how I plan to spend the rest of my life. I am 43yrs old so figure I got a solid 20-25yrs to build up this business, set some roots and live the dream to the fullest. As such I am in no hurry to get to TDF.
Under 90-days now to my planned departure date. Lot's left to do. It is not a huge deal if I don't make my Dec. 1st departure date, I am just wanting to be able to use as much of the good season down south as possible before it is over and the rainy season starts. I know from experience I can easily take six months to get to Panama. I will just see how it goes, some truck builds for clients may hold me up a bit as well as one last truck of my own. I need to get this truck of mine finished up more in the build and then sell it off. I have already sold several of my trucks along with my main business and other things as well. So I am making progress but don't feel the need to push myself to hard to get going. This is a big move I am making and I should be ready to go when I leave.
Every day on this trip we will be following a life of adventure. We will be scouting rivers in a white water boat, exploring the coastlines in sea kayaks, finding remote surf breaks, backpacking into the jungle and wilderness, rock climbing where ever possible and fishing anytime we are near a body of water. Cities, ruins, culture and natural history will also be part of our trip and daily activities. It is to be a grand adventure for sure that will lead us to a life of adventure doing what we love to do. I hope you will follow along as my Mexican friend and my self take a long slow drive south and build a business as we go!
Cheers
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