Equipo Williams

We left home two weeks ago and have arrived at the in-laws. It’s been a busy two weeks: about 2300 miles covered (lots of back-tracking and non-direct routes, see the map!) and we’ve slept in eight different places (including five nights on top of the car, two in a hotel, one on a friend’s floor, five in a cabin, and two with family).

That also means it’s time to handle some maintenance. Most of the day yesterday was spent making modifications to the drawer where we store our cooking gear to make it easier to get the stove out with out unpacking a bunch of other stuff. Now there is a removable bin that fits on top of the stove that carries the cooking gear and can be removed all at once as well as a cut-out to actually reach the stove’s handle. I also fixed a broken cable connector that connects our powered cooler to the car’s 12V system; Jessie was incredulous that I would bring a multimeter with me but so far it’s the only tool I’ve used. I also replaced our factory-equipped dome lights and map lights with after-market white/red LED ones. Jessie has indicated to me that this might not have been strictly necessary but I think they’re cool and when we actually need them she’s going to be impressed.

There were also some things/tasks that we didn’t get around to before leaving home that we have to deal with, mainly figuring out health insurance for the next year. We’re still covered this month, but imagine the misery and confusion of open enrollment but now add that the options for seeing your primary care physician are basically nil and you need to know how they will cover broken bones in Bolivia. Not a fun task.

I’ve also been trying to figure out some things with the blog: I don’t really know what I’m doing but as usual I’m trying to not let that get in the way of actually doing it. I think I’ve got a way of showing maps to track where we have been and I’m trying to clean things up and make it easier for us to post.

Our approach to the start of the trip has worked out well: the intent was to ease into life on the road and the first two weeks were intended to give us some ability to both travel while having the ability to learn from our mistakes and have sufficient time to do something about them. Family and friends have been great: we’ve been able to figure things out, I’ve made good use of my father-in-law’s workshop, and the kids have had family to interact with. We’re learning how much travelling we can handle at a spell and how long it takes us to resupply and replenish.