November 30th – December 15th (Canada & US):

As I write this, I’m sitting in a cheap but nice little apartment in San Carlos in the state of Sonora in Mexico. Unfortunately, my universal joint broke, causing the front drive shaft to come loose and knock a hole in the side of my transmission. I’m sidelined in San Carlos while I wait for parts to arrive from the US which means in all likelihood, my car will be ready just before Christmas. Thankfully I’ve been adopted by the ex-pat community here who are looking after me and keeping me entertained. And while I’ve been here much longer than planned, it’s a place I’ll regret having to leave.

I’ve now covered a total of 13,000km, met some amazing people, caught up with old friends, had some down time with family and crossed the threshold into Latin America. My Spanish is passable and improving. My confidence in my truck is a little rattled for now and I’m discovering that finding parts for Land Rovers south of the border will be harder than I’d imagined. I’m behind schedule and will need to make some decisions shortly about cutting out some places I’d hoped to see along the way.

Nevertheless, at each setback, I’ve landed firmly on my feet and the issues have presented opportunities for both improving my mechanical knowledge as well forcing me to take some time to rest and spend time with some great people.

The Route:

This post covers my drive south from Edmonton in Canada through to the Mexican border. During this segment, I’ve seen Jasper, Banff, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Loveland (Colorado), Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion and the Grand Canyon. The route has seen me through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Arizona.

This section has been approximately 5,000km (like driving from Melbourne to Perth and half way back again which is my mental benchmark). Again, for a live update of what I’ve covered, you can see my route and location here - https://aus-share.inreach.garmin.com/longdrivesouth

Phase 2: Almost 5,000km through Canada and the USA which represents about 1/6th of my total planned miles

Jasper & Banff (plus Edmonton & Calgary):

This stretch starts in Edmonton where I met up with a friend, Amber, from my local pub – The Kingston - in Melbourne, Australia. After narrowly missing the Anchorage and Dawson Creek earthquakes by 24 hours and 2 hours respectively, I had my most challenging drive through a snowstorm into Edmonton. With visibility of not much more than 10m and traffic that seemed insistent to continue on at 90km/h despite a distinct inability to identify whether there were one or multiple lanes on the highway, I pushed through and kept broadly to my plan of arriving for dinner. With my windshield icing up, running out of washer fluid and running out of fuel and needing to fill up from a jerry can on the roof, I eventually made it to town unscathed. Was great to be cooked dinner, not be in a motel, to see a familiar face and share some stories of our travels.

The next morning, after receiving my replacement wiper blades just in time to hit the road (thank you Fab!), the next day was a pleasant drive out to Jasper and checked in at the Athabasca Hotel where it was a cool -12C. My sister kindly provided me a checklist for the next day and how to see the beautiful stretch of road between Jasper and Banff.

Jasper to Banff included some amazing sites like the Athabasca Glacier, Athabasca Falls, Lake Louise and the Chateau Fairmont, Johnston Canyon, great switchbacks and a good amount of blue sky. I could quite happily say that this may be one of the nicest days of driving I’ve ever done.

Intending to catch up with an old backpacker friend from Calgary that I travelled with in Poland more than a decade ago, unfortunately a sick child resulted in a last-minute cancellation and I opted to head back up to Amber’s in Edmonton (hence the loop on my route for those that noticed the). Another snowstorm had the highway littered with cars spun off into the snow banks and I crawled my way there in traffic. But it was worthwhile as Edmonton was completely covered with fresh snow and a real Christmas feel. We made snow angels, cooked dinner, ventured out in the cold at a chance to see the Northern Lights again (unsuccessful yet gain) and watched Christmas movies.

My best ever snow angel (St Albert, near Edmonton)

Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and Jackson Hole:

Crossing the Canada-US border at night and arriving at a hunting cabin with literally not a single person there (my key taped to the front door), I’d left my first country behind and arrived in Babb, Montana. Driving through Montana was another stunning drive and I finally understood the phrase ‘Land of the Big Sky’. Pulling out to a few fishing spots, I was disappointed to learn that I was a few days out of season to catch some trout along the way.

Landing in Yellowstone, I learned that I’d awkwardly arrived at a very brief window of time where the park was inaccessible. Once the roads get enough snow, they close to public traffic. Winter in Yellowstone can then be seen on the snow roads by snowmobile and snow coaches. I’d arrived at the transition period between the two which I think was only around 10 days while they prepare the switch over. I’ve resolved to go back here some time to remedy this – it remains a place I’d love to visit someday.

After spending the morning at the bear and wolf conservation centre in the town of West Yellowstone, I moved on to Jackson Hole. The Grand Teton Pass was a spectacular sight and I took some time to pull out the drone for some shots looking down onto the town below. Early December is a strange time to be in Jackson Hole – a little early for the ski and snowboard crowds and well passed the summer / autumn hiking and outdoor types. I passed my evening in the famous Million Dollar Cowboy bar but otherwise was a quiet affair. I can certainly see why people come from all over the country to visit this place.

Duck Lake Lodge; Babb, Montana. Bit strange arriving after dark to find I was the only guest in an unattended lodge

Sadly arrived here a few days after fishing season closed so I just enjoyed the view and moved on

A typical Montana ranch on the drive to West Yellowstone

I crossed the whole state of Montana in a day. Was stunning the whole way across

Quiet season in West Yellowstone. Only one open restaurant and barely a soul in the whole town

Wolves at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Centre

These grizzly bears were removed from local towns because they were coming into the populated areas to scavenge food

Grand Teton Pass coming into Jackson Hole

Arriving through Grand Teton Pass into Jackson Hole

Playing around the drone to break up the drive

This somewhat captures something I had never seen before. As I drove into Glacier National Park at sunrise, the sun appeared as a beam of light rising directly into the sky - like a powerful spotlight at a nightclub pointed upwards. Much more impres… — This somewhat captures something I had never seen before. As I drove into Glacier National Park at sunrise, the sun appeared as a beam of light rising directly into the sky - like a powerful spotlight at a nightclub pointed upwards. Much more impressive in person than the photo

Loveland, Colorado:

Deciding a slight detour was worthwhile to visit with my aunt and uncle, I jagged East to Loveland. I’m blessed to have such a wonderful family in the US and they certainly provided me a comfortable and enjoyable stay while my car was serviced (preparing for my entry into Mexico and a growing difficulty in finding mechanics).

After a couple pleasant days, I moved on towards Moab, Utah. Unfortunately, I wasn’t two hours away when a high mountain pass saw the ‘Service Engine Soon’ light come on. I coasted to the bottom of the hill and plugged in my diagnostic tool to see what the issue was – I was misfiring on two cylinders. Thankfully having rolled into the town of Silverthorne CO with multiple mechanics, I chose what I hoped was a competent mechanic and limped across to the workshop. While intent on fixing the problem and moving on, I realised the weekend was my enemy and the issue wouldn’t be solved that day. Parts were ordered and I Ubered back to my uncle and aunt for what would be another three days with them.

Ultimately, this was a fortuitous event. Not only did I solve an impending problem before heading into Mexico and beyond, I met Brad, Josh and Chuy from Goodway Auto who would prove to be very valuable contacts in my subsequent adventures. They were great in not only getting me back on the road but also offering to assist with parts and mechanical Spanish translation once I’d crossed into Latin America. It would be less than a week before I would call on their help again to solve my transmission issue in San Carlos.

Sunset view from my aunt and uncle’s house in Loveland

My uncle Ger and I got to spend some great quality time together in my Loveland layover

A whole day watching three games of football was quite a treat

It was amazing to watch the lake slowly form a thin layer of ice over the course of a day. The ice blew away the next day but waiting for the lake to freeze is such an enjoyable part of living in colder climates on the water

My new friends at Goodway Auto Repair. Pictured with Brad here who was excited to hear about my adventure and offered his assistance if I needed it down the track (and sure enough I have once already and will probably again). It’s a real pleasure to… — My new friends at Goodway Auto Repair. Pictured with Brad here who was excited to hear about my adventure and offered his assistance if I needed it down the track (and sure enough I have once already and will probably again). It’s a real pleasure to meet genuine, friendly and helpful people like this when you’re in a bind. My sincerest thanks to Brad, Josh and Chuy for helping me out.

Arches, Bryce, Zion and Grand Canyon:

My journey through the parks of Utah and Arizona can be told by the pictures I took. These are some of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen and certainly would recommend all of them to anyone inclined to see the natural wonders of the world. My take away was that they were so grand and vast, I felt a frustration that my photography skills and the limits of the camera equipment I was carrying was simply unable to capture what I saw with my own eyes. It makes one feel insignificant and small, like an ant, crawling around on this huge planet of ours.

A few notes on the parks. Both Bryce and Arches are quite simple to see – both take no more than a few hours to see the extent of the parks although you could take much longer if you wanted to sit and enjoy them to their fullest.

Zion is quite different and to see it properly, it requires several days and you need to commit to hiking the many trails to truly see what it has to offer. Not realising this, I feel I only scratched the surface of the park and may indeed go back some time to experience it as it should be.

The Grand Canyon is different again. While you could probably see a good selection of lookouts from the South Rim in a few hours, I’m glad I took the opportunity to experience by helicopter which really lets you take in the magnitude of it all. I booked a 25-minute flight and thankfully was upgraded to an hour. Given that it takes ~10 minutes to fly from the airport to the canyon, I later realised that had I taken the 25-minute flight, I would have only seen 5 minutes of the canyon. An hour gets you in and out with around 40 minutes of flight time in the canyon itself and represents much better value than the shorter version.

Arches National Park:

Sand Dune Arch. The light snow was provided a nice contrast to the red colours of the park and against the blue sky

About this time, I had a coolant leak dripping from a hose onto the hot engine block causing a good amount of smoke from the engine bay. I fixed it once but ultimately needed a replacement hose

I keep looking for 4WD trails and but have only found a couple including this one in Arches. Looking forward to testing the car off-road properly at some point

Bryce Canyon National Park:

Pretty sure the car was red / maroon when I started

Warming up the car in the morning when it’s -15C out. This is just exhaust on a cold morning, nothing sinister

Zion National Park:

In general, I was frustrated at Zion with my photography and inability to capture what I was seeing

The trail head for a handful of the hikes. In retrospect, spending any less than two full days here won’t be enough time to see what it has to offer

Grand Canyon National Park:

One hour helicopter flight around the Grand Canyon. Definitely the right way to see it in my view

Mechanical challenges:

One of the defining parts of this adventure is the challenge of keeping the car alive and well and on the road. Apart from the oil leak issue, a handful on minor problems that I fixed myself and the current (major) transmission issue, I’ve struggled on and off with a coolant leak which now appears to be fixed. The result is that I’ve lost three days in Colorado, an estimated eight days in San Carlos and no doubt other setbacks to come in time.

Parts will continue to be a challenge as I progress south. In general, finding parts for motors appears to be an ongoing challenge for people in the town of San Carlos, and I guess extrapolating – a general issue in Latin America. The choice of car makes that all the more difficult as the Land Rover is not an overwhelmingly popular car in this part of the world.

If I don’t complete the intended route to Ushuaia, the likely cause will be a mechanical failure and lack of parts. My hope is that I can continue to be resourceful and meet helpful mechanics along the way and source the parts I need. But being honest with myself, I know not all problems will have simple or cheap solutions.

Coolant issue being fixed in Flagstaff AZ

Very glad I picked up an OBD2 diagnostic tool before setting out

Foreshadowing the transmission issue in Mexico. That’s my front drive shaft limply hanging from the diff and not connected to the transfer case. The bigger issue it caused was a reasonably large hole in my transmission and required a replacement. I’… — Foreshadowing the transmission issue in Mexico. That’s my front drive shaft limply hanging from the diff and not connected to the transfer case. The bigger issue it caused was a reasonably large hole in my transmission and required a replacement. I’m presently waiting for the parts to arrive in San Carlos and to be on the road (fingers crossed) by Christmas day

Reflections on travelling solo:

I am, and always have been, comfortable on my own. There are benefits – I get to practice more Spanish, I’m more flexible to make last-minute decisions as I go and I’m more open to meeting new people as I go.

There are downsides as well. Things are more expensive – I pay all of my fuel, I often find myself in motels with multiple beds which could quite easily be shared, I often end up with more food than I need (like catching a huge amount of fish but giving most of it to the locals). Probably the biggest downside is that time spent behind the wheel is purely focused on driving and I can’t research where I’m headed at the same time. This is much easier with a co-pilot who can dedicate driving time towards figuring out what the next town has to offer, where to stay and what to do.

My target as I progress is a 50-50 mix of solo / with passenger(s). I’m glad to be entertaining conversations with many good friends and family who are interested in joining me and sharing in the adventure. Between the time with my sister, my aunt and uncle, my friend in Edmonton and the many people I’m now meeting in San Carlos, I’ve certainly had some great companions to share my adventure with.

For now, I’m 40% of the way through my total estimated distance but less than that in terms of time for the whole adventure. Already, it was has been an incredible experience and the real adventure into Central and South America is only just beginning.