Home is where you hang your hat...

Home is where you hang your hat. As a nomad I've always been fond of that saying. I've been living on the road for years, and those words have been my truth. I never felt like I was on a "trip" because I was exactly where I was supposed to be. As I was packing for my return to Costa Rica I realized that those words are no longer true. Now my home is wherever Stevie hangs HER hat. And it appears that if I'm anywhere else in the world, my heart just longs to go home. 

Assuming I can fit all the wine and chocolate bars into my suitcase, that reunion isn't far away. But I have no illusions. The airport is really going to SUCK IT. In addition to a ton of luggage, I'm also bringing home a new refrigerator for the Sprinter. The Outdoorplay boys helped me wrap it up for the flight back to Costa (thanks Kody and Tristan). Hopefully I can get it through customs without damage or incident. I give myself a 32% chance of success, but hey, I'm an optimist.


I said goodbye to all my friends in Hood River. I'm a narrow and deep type of person. I don't have a lot of close friends, but I love and value the ones I have. I had an especially fun night hanging out with Maui and his beautiful family. Maui wasn't holding anything back with the wine. We drank a L'Ecole Cab, something in the middle which I can't remember,  and then finished on a Napa Valley Frogs Leap. Then at the end of the night that crazy man gave me a can of Rainier beer. Now that's a baller!


The research for our next vehicle is pretty much complete. We've received well over 50 emails from people offering all kinds of suggestions. Many have pointed out that our Sprinter would make it just fine. You're right. And yes, people have done the drive in old VW busses and vintage cars, but thats just not how Sprinter Life rolls. Buying a vehicle on every continent was another suggestion. But our decision has to consider several important variables. We plan to be on the road for years, not months. So for sanity sake, we really want a place we can call home. We plan to have a kid so we need more room than the Sprinter. We want it to be fully self contained and able to operate completely off the grid. We want a safe all-terrain vehicle. After driving in these insane countries with no traffic laws I want my family in a TANK. And we want the vehicle to have a huge worldwide dealer network. Oh yeah, and Stevie says it has to have hot water and a shoe rack.

I've ruled out a truck camper because I just can't fathom driving across remote far-away countries in a Ford. "Built Ford Tough" is an oxymoron. I attended the NW Sprinter Convention and also ruled out another van. I really like the 4x4 converted Sprinters (shown above), but those things are super custom and not easy to fix. The full RV Sprinters have room, but not enough ground clearance or durability. So I narrowed down our dream home to a Mercedes Benz Unimog U-500, hopefully built by Global Expedition Vehicles. This vehicle is only 2 ft longer and 1.5 ft wider than our van, but it has soooo much more room. But these things aren't cheap, and therein lies our crux. We just need to somehow manifest it.  Let's make it happen. I believe! I believe! TREE