The year was 1974. The rig, my dads 1973 Land Rover series 2 left hand drive. Shipped Form England to New York when he can back state side from being stationed there.
Me? I was just a little guy 3 years old. We picked the rover up in New York and off to Florida we go. My dad had water rescue training there. I go to go see micky mouse of course.
From there we were off to Missouri. I got to meet my grand parents for the first time. While we were there my dad and Grandpa out fitted the rover with what she would need to for the next part of our trip.
A big wooden storage box was built on the back, a sleeping platform inside and 5 gallon jerry cans were mounted on the front ( i actually still have these cans). After our visit we were on our way. Our destination ....Alaska
The trip its self was uneventful. Me being 3 i remember none of it , but it was my first overland trip and the start of many to come.
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Very cool you got to do that, and even cooler you still have the jerry cans!
My first solo adventuring:
Though I'd been traveling long-distance to camp and cultural spots via hitchhiking since I was 15, my first long-distance cross-a-border type vehicle-based adventure was to Nova Scotia from the Ohio River valley in the early 1970s. I wasn't yet twenty years old.
I went up there a couple times--once solo and once with a girlfriend--staying at an abandoned airfield in the Poconos and visiting Acadia NP in Maine on the way up, driving through New Brunswick and taking the ferry over to Prince Edward Island--this was before any bridge went over to PEI--where I met and stayed with some folks and went to what they called a Pig-n-Whistle, which was a Saturday night dance deal for the town. Then from there over to Nova Scotia on another ferry--large enough for several rail cars and semis on the lower deck--and up around the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton. Just wandering and getting to know the people and history.
No definite stops in mind, no definite time I had to be back.
I had a Chevy Carryall (forerunner of today's Chevy Suburbans) that I'd built a platform bed in back with long sliding drawers underneath. Yeah, was doing long sliding drawers and cooking in my adventure vehicle almost fifty years ago
Blew the engine while I was up there solo one time and managed to limp into a service station in the Whycocomagh/Baddeck area on Bras d'Or Lake. They took me in, fed me, had me stay at their place, and escorted me 'round to the MicMac Indian Res where I bought an old '65 Chevy for $65.00 Canadian. It had the same engine, but a broken u-joint in the drive shaft.
Every time we went down a dirt road on the res to a creek and back up, the drive-shaft would pop out. Then we'd stop, jump up and down on the hood and trunk while someone underneath popped 'er back in place so we could continue on.
Put that engine under the hood, put the bad one in the back in a big green garbage bag, and continued on my way adventuring.
I'd buy fresh Cod right from the boats when they came in at night. They'd filet it for me right on the dock. I'd pick up a few potatoes and cook it all right on the shore. I loved that place. Very good memories.
I grew up traveling and camping all over Europe. Must've hit me at the right stage of development in my life, because it's about all Ive done ever since; hitting the road whenever I could, camping and adventuring and traveling solo while exploring an area and its people.
Thanks for asking!
Stay safe, stay clean, stay positive!
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Roaddude - Traveling Photographer/Writer/Artist On the Road In North America. Gear, reviews, people, places, and culture.
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