Goodbye Wendy - Hello Big Blue & Beluga

After hitting the deer we’re hoping to try and get Wendy fixed before we ship her home so head to San Diego first thing and try and find a place that could help.  We try 2 and the consensus is Ford parts are taking forever to source (in the US really but yes really!) so we’re best off shipping her home.

Our next stop is to meet up with Carlos and Olivia whom we’ve been talking to about buying their truck camper.  We had originally planned to take Wendy on the whole trip down to South America, however after much research we found you can’t fully insure cars or mohos beyond Guatemala - you buy liability insurance at each border for the South American country but this doesn’t cover theft/fire etc so we’d have to be prepared to lose the total value of Wendy - which we’re not!  After further research with independent insurers that will cover Mexico none will cover us further south.  So back to the drawing board and we decided an older truck camper is the way to go.  These things are weird and we don’t have them in the Uk - it’s a pickup truck where a separate camper slides into the bed.  We decided to go for one of these as they generally have good ground clearance (a must for the dodgy roads where we’re going) they’re not too huge but still have beds for the 3 of us a little kitchen and loo too.  We could also go for something a little older and more battered ideal for going under the radar a bit more in central and South America and easier to fix and source parts for than more complex newer vehicles.  This also means we will ship Wendy back from Baltimore in America rather than Veracruz in Mexico.  We looked at where to buy vehicles and it’s incredibly difficult to do this as a foreigner sensibly in Mexico or the first few countries we plan to visit so determine it has to be in the US where we buy.  This also means we’ll have US plates so selling again at the end of our journey should be easier.   After looking at what we wanted and needed and talking to fellow travellers on the pan American travellers Facebook groups, finding a suitable old rig we agree to meet Carlos and Olivia with a view to buying their home on wheels. All being well we’ll buy the van and they will drive Wendy back across country for us (they are heading back to Connecticut as Olivia is pregnant).  

We arrive in San Diego at the Carlsbad beach campsite (man California is expensive!!) we’ve agreed to meet at, I’m still a bit under the weather and it all feels a bit hard!

We meet Carlos and start looking at the car and camper, initially things look good as we look inside, but we soon realise that one whole side of the camper has clearly had water ingress and is squishy. Then Guy climbs on the roof and sees the extent of the issues and we realise this camper may not be structurally sound due to the extent of water damage.  We are very disappointed that this hadn’t been flagged to us by Carlos previously, so we head to the beach to reflect and work out what to do next.  We decide to have a look at a couple of campers nearby at the same price point and see what options we really have and to proceed with a test drive to see how the truck is to drive.

We check out an old lance camper at Rancho Santa Margarita rv.  They’re meant to be a good brand and it has the electrical solar setup we really need and the space and shows no evidence of damp or structural issues and the dealer assured us they have a relationship with the seller whom they’ve sold previous rvs for and will do a full inspection.  We decide to buy it and now we have to find a truck for it to go on - relief that we have another option! Guy still test drives Carlos’s truck and finds it needs a new gearbox so not only was the camper buggered but so was the truck.  We feel sad as they’re a nice young couple but back out of the deal as neither the truck nor camper are fit for what we need. 

Some endless research on marrying trucks onto campers and what truck can pull the weight of our new camper and have appropriate centre of gravity so it drives ok.  We narrow it down to 3 (long 8ft bed trucks at least 250 models) to go visit around the la/San Diego area, the first is in such bad condition it looks as if someone has dropped it on its roof then battered it with something so we move onto the next which ticks our boxes, has been well looked after drives well in test drive and is from a reputable dealer.  We haggle and get a decent price hoorah we have a truck and a camper agreed! 

We go back to relax a little by the beach which is broad and Sandy with serious surfers waves and Alex loves bodyboarding (the Californian surfers are out in force!).  

We also pick up a home depot order we’d put in for Solar for the new camper that’s not needed now so most goes back bar the little paddle-board we finally managed to get for Alex - he’s over the moon!

We have endless calls to sort money for the truck and camper, and to organise the equipment to attach the camper to truck (who knew it would be so complicated - tie downs and turnbuckles baby!)

We reward ourselves with beers and pizza watching sun go down and listening to live music the singer murdered ticket to ride so I couldn’t forgive him but we got to see a Rocket launch which was unexpected and simply Amazing (it was a firefly alpha from vandenburg airforce base on a victus nox mission 24 hr notice launch for the us space force).

It’s then onto desperately trying to sort out insurance for the new truck and camper and how we can transfer ownership. We’ve had to create an limited liability company in Montana and buy the truck in the name of the company to allow us to buy a us vehicle without a US address and to avoid sales tax as there is zero sales tax in montana. Nothing is easy buying used vehicles abroad which is why we’d hoped to avoid it! We finally sort the insurance, have a clear ownership transfer process, the money has cleared for the truck and the camper, and the parts to attach the camper to the truck have arrived! 

We hace a little fish from the beach and Alex manages to catch a little surf perch in the rough waves before we deal with logistics. Brilliant watching him scamper back and forth trying to cast at just the right spot and avoid being knocked off his feet.

We pickup the truck (Guy drives it) , and I drive Wendy on the 7 lane crazy highways of LA to Armando at the rv place ready for him to sort the camper and attach it. We sort out temporary plates whilst we wait for the new ones to arrive (in the us ownership transfer means new plates too).

The work on the camper won’t happen over the weekend so we find a spot to stay with Wendy at San Mateo for 3 nights (it’s been tough with availability in California - the sites get booked up months in advance, especially at the weekends and there is no boondocking anywhere as it’s illegal). After getting settled we cook up Alex’s little perch and some salmon - yum!

The next day we walk to the beach and watch surfers and pelicans diving for fish, it’s a bit chilly and we grab some simple Mexican for lunch before heading to San mateo where we find 8 families have gathered for a get together and we’re in the middle of it and Alex is soon playing with the kids. They even project the lego movie onto one of their vans and invite Alex to join and give him some dayglo light sticks - he’s happy!

We’re right next to the huge marine base of Camp Pendleton so we hear their exercises and canons firing - exciting!

We have a relaxed Sunday whilst Alex carries on playing with the kids and then it’s a trip to find a mattress for the camper from Walmart and a starlink as we’ve missed reliable connectivity. We’re amazed when we test it out at the campground how quick capable it is - amazing! Alex enjoys one more evening of fun with the kids on site and it’s soon Monday so we head to the rv place and we do a little packing whilst waiting for our new truck camper to be ready. We give it a good clean and get the new mattress in whilst the team finish off their checks of the camper systems. We decide to christen our truck “big blue” as he’s a chunk and the camper “beluga” as she’s white and a bit of whale!

Guy drives to San Clemente beach in big blue and beluga and I drive Wendy and we park up the 2 next to each other - the new camper is not quite Wendy! We decide to do first proper night in her next day when Guy has gone as he drives Wendy across country to ship her home and I’m on my own with Alex (eek!!)

We sleep in Wendy together for the last time and realise how brilliant she’s been - completely faultless a joy to drive, comfortable and very economical on fuel. We then start the huge job of moving house from Wendy to beluga and discover some new neighbours in the form of loads of ants!!

By mid morning Alex and I are in and set up and it’s time to say goodbye to Guy as he drives across the country to deliver Wendy to Baltimore. Wendy is empty (ish) and looks very weird. After we say goodbye to Guy and pack him some beers ready for his long journey.

Emma