Almost to Mexico!

2-9-09
Greetings from the Arizona desert. It’s been a busy 24 hours - we’ve packed the vehicles, met the group and driven to the desert outside of Tucson. We’re being hosted on the property of Jim & Roseanne, two friends of Scott (and contributors to his magazine). I enjoyed a delicious steak tonight and between the last two nights, I’m ready to eat something besides beef (delicious, delicious beef).

Much of today was spent behind the wheel - my dad and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast with my grandfather at the The Good Egg in Scottsdale, AZ. TGE prepares delicious biscuits and gravy by the way. The next two or so hours were spent working some kinks out of the air suspension in the Jeep and packing both of our vehicles. Soon enough, we drove out to Mesa, AZ to pick up my mother who arrived from Cedar Rapids. After a supermarket sweep at AJ’s Fine Foods with the rest of our group (James, Stacey, Scott, Stephanie and the Nordstrom clan) we drove to the fine homestead I am currently typing this from.

In the last update, I said I would provide a little bit more information about the training session we completed. Here it is. The program began fairly simply, with a safety lecture. We learned the importance of inspecting your vehicle before each trip and every day while on an expedition. After this we got to the good stuff: driving. The first activity involved pulling a vehicle as close to an orange cone as possible, this was designed to get us familiar with the dimensions of our vehicle. The group then spent time driving uphill on sand, airing down tires, and completing more elaborate driving maneuvers. Equipment is very important during an expedition like this so we familiarized ourselves with advanced four-wheeling options like rear and front lockers, disconnecting the sway bar, and climbing hills at an angle.

After we completed day one, it basically rained until the next morning. Day 2 was spent learning rescue techniques. Once we hit the muddy roads of Central America, this could be super important when one of our trucks gets stuck..

One quick note: this entry will probably be posted much earlier then I can post the photos of our training. The rural nature of my travels prevents me from having the necessary internet connection to upload a lot of my photos - but I will get them up when I can.

In more exciting news, you my up to date location at this link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0GRNI8dEoTsmJMyHcgvfn6hCTYV4uWYET

My dad has a GPS transponder that transmits it’s location to the link posted above. It’s a great way to keep tabs on exactly where I am. The link will be added permanently to my blog.

That’s all for today, keep checking back for more updates and photos. Tomorrow we cross the border!

Reed - I hope the pillow industry is treating you well. Think of me when you're stuck in traffic on the LA freeway.

Mike & Gina - Good to see you're following the blog. I'll definitely take your advice!

Chuck