Overland travel is all about staying in the roughest, most unforgiving environments. Ignoring personal comfort. Shunning the trappings of a tourism. Seeking out discomfort and… no! Wait! Screw it. Today it is all about luxury.
Sometimes we find ourselves standing in places which really remind us what an amazing journey we are on. In these moments we stop, we take a deep breath, we look at each other and agree that we are truly fortunate to be here. That the decision to quit our jobs, sell our stuff and move into a 4Runner with a roof top tent was the best decision we have ever made.
It was only a matter of time before we were sucked into the vortex that was Mexico City. Although driving around the country of Mexico you soon realise that locally, the city is simply referred to as ‘Mexico’, or ‘DF’ (Distrito Federal). The signs simply say ‘Mexico’.
There isn’t much to report about our time in San Miguel de Allende. It was a place where we finally did get to stop, relax, set up the tent and stop moving for a bit. We even got a little work done—how productive of us! Luckily we took one or two photos and a video of some magical dancing birds to keep this blog post interesting.
After our time in Durango, we were craving a little outdoor time, some peace and quiet to enjoy the clear skies and solitude. Luckily, in Mexico, you are never far from a national park of some sort. The Sierra De Órganos National Park was a short drive south of Durango in the state of Zacatecas.
They let two Kiwis loose in the Nation’s Capital. I guess someone wasn’t paying attention:
From one strange town that appeared from the dust of the Nevada desert to another. Las Vegas seemed like the obvious next stop after a week at Burning Man. At a glance they might seem similar. Both springing up out of an otherwise barren desert. Both full of bright lights and constant action, events and people, always something happening. But in reality they are two polar opposites.
Kam Wah Chung & co is a time capsule from the 1940’s with some of its contents dating back even earlier.
It had been quite some time since we had been through a big city. Some would argue that Vancouver, BC doesn’t actually fall into the category of big city, but for us it was certainly a change of pace.
Since we were taking so long to get to the official ‘start’ of our journey in Deadhorse, Alaska, it made sense to delay a bit longer. The starting point of our trip South is also the starting point for the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline. This pipeline finishes in Valdez, in Prince William Sound. So we thought it sounded like a plan to start where the oil finishes and then drive to the source. Confused?