Date: 1st-8th November 2010

Finally we have our vehicles, well at least two of them!

After completing over 24,000Kms from Kuala Lumpa through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China, Tibet, Mongolia, and finally Russia we sent our two four vehicles in two high cube containers from Vladivostok to Long Beach, California.

Our customs broker has been extremely helpful and on the Thursday 4th we unloaded John’s and my vehicle from the container...Unfortunately Bill’s and Michael’s container has been marked by Customs for X-Ray and examination. It was well into another week before that process is completed. Hopefully tomorrow they will drive away. Bugger!

Bugger! Also because the Customs examination cost them an extra US$800 per vehicle over and above the $800 odd for the import process.

During week we managed to get our 3rd Party Personal and Property insurance for the vehicles, a requirement for US roads. The vehicles were also inspected by DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) as per the Customs information we had. They passed the emissions and safety inspections to the extent we could have registered them here in California however that would mean giving up our Australian registration making onward cross border travel more challenging.  According to Customs we needed a ‘Permit to travel on US Roads’ – all three DMV senior supervisors knew nothing of such permit so we put that down to a bureaucratic bungle.

Since retrieving my now very modified vehicle it has been repairs, more modifications and improvements. First was to replace the front main leaf spring and the bottom leaf. Both broke on the final days into Vladivostok, very lucky because the front axle could easily have departed from the vehicle. From my early days of off-roading I always carry a length of fencing wire – here it came in handy.  Once back home in Australia I was able to get warranty replacement leaves directly from Carrol Springs the Australian spring manufacturer. Bett’s Spring Works in Santa Fe, www.bettsspring.com , fitted the replacement leaves whilst I waited and have kept the broken spring so that should it happen again they will make and send to me where ever in the states.

On the list of other repairs include removing the caster kit from the left front wheel hub. Apparently the wrong kit was fitted by the Australian Fuso distributor’s sub-contractor and this has seriously caused wearing of the inside of the front left down to smooth whilst the outside is still good. Camber/Caster kits are fitted in Australia for our right hand drive vehicles to compensate for the left hand drive Japan factory manufacture.

I also bought from Australia a Marine Stove to replacing the cook top that has caught fire a couple of times, and on the list is repairing the collapsed draw system,  followed by lots of little improvements that can only be ascertained by such extended overland travel as we have undertaken. By the end of this trip this will be a great truck!

Our ladies arrived yesterday, so following a full service at the end of this week, we will start touring. North is too cold so it will be Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas before storing the vehicle and returning home for the festive season with family.

Camp 1:    Tower Motel - Long Beach California  

Distance Today: 0 KmsTotal Distance: 0 Kms

Tuesday 9th November 2010:

We were just about to head to Universal Studios when at 2pm we received a call from Bill and Michael that their vehicles were ready to be collected. Thus we changed plans and went to Price Transfer where the vehicles were waiting. The exorbitant customs inspection fees of $1600 had to be paid; unfortunately Price Transfer could not accept any credit cards they had. Nor would they allow access to the vehicles to retrieve some cash they had stored in the vehicles.

Thus the day ended with us all having to once again return to the Tower Motel and try again the next day with cash in hand.

Wednesday 10th November 2010:

The final two vehicles are released and it is less than an hour and spare tyres, rear tow bar and tyre carrier are all back on the two trucks. Michael is heading north to see his brother in Canada; Bill is off to the Canyon Country, and we will catch him up later to jointly store the vehicles.

Our day is spent doing the tourist thing at Universal Studios before camping at the nearest Wall Mart. Here we met a Swiss couple and their two children travelling all of the Americas for 12 months.

Thursday 11th November 2010:

The La Brea Tar Pits are a fascinating experience. As a ‘wanta be’ palaeontologist I found the variety of fossils captivating.

Odd to think that Mammoth, Camels, Lions and other prehistoric creature roamed here where now a jungle of buildings stand. 

It was then on and off the red tourist bus to see Hollywood etc.

Down Rodeo Drive I found my daily driver...I wish!

And just around the corner a stretch Maybach- That has to be the epitome of total opulence!

Later that evening our camp was in the front yard of a friend of John and Liz’s in Carlsberg.

Friday 12th November 2010:

The Canter was serviced at Kearny Mesa Truck Centre in San Diego. www.kmtc1.com  I have to say these guys are really good and following correction with the front alignment the vehicle drives well at 65MPH down the highways. Whilst that was being done a visit to Balboa Park and the Natural History Museum filled in the day all too quickly.

Particularly as we also did the San Diego Zoo where there were lots of wild animals that you could get very close to!

That evening we caught up with John and Liz at the Coastside RV Park in Carlsberg. An only very ordinary park but after a couple of bottles of red wine it began to improve. With all this highway and city travel and the RV park tightly packed experience, we really need to head out into the bush. Tomorrow we head east.

Saturday 13th November 2010:

Said our good buys to John and Liz and we and we will catch up with them out there somewhere. The morning was spent attempting to get wifi connection to Lyn’s new I-Pad. In this land of technology that was proving difficult even with pre paid cards the systems needed either a local address or a Social Security number. Finally at Best Buys we ended up with a Virgin wifi unit connectable to up to 5 units, and $40/month unlimited connection. Sounds great, but we spent 4 hours that night without success to connect so some follow up to be done here.

Finally we are off on our road trip and at dusk, camp is off-road on a track called ‘Lizard Wash’ in the Anza-Borrego Desert.

Here we celebrated appropriately our 39th wedding anniversary.

Camp 2: Lizard Wash

N27*07.546 W116*23.612

Distance to Date: 727 Kms

Sunday 14th November 2010:

Heading east on California 78 it is the playground for OHV’s – Off-Highway Vehicles, a vast sand dune arena to run amuck on.

In Oz the greenies would go crazy and would have already pressured the government to close and protect the area. What they forget is the millions of dollars that all these people are spending boosting local business, RV purchases, quad bikes etc, whilst they enjoy themselves. Besides, I would have had a ball in the comp truck out here.

Crossed the Colorado River, changed to central time and on into Arizona.

Camp is in the Cacti Country of-road, 10 or so miles south of Quartzite.

Camp 3: Cacti Camp

N33*27.590 W114*12.498 

Distance Today: 318 Kms

Total Distance: 1045 Kms (649 Miles)