The last few months have been an interesting time with some fairly dramatic developments on our adventure!
On 30th October 2017 we crashed our van (after hitting a patch of black ice) in the middle of nowhere in northern British Columbia. It wasn’t a great situation, and one we haven’t completely got out of yet. On the positive side, both Konstantin and I were fine – we walked away with not a scratch to show for it. But, unfortunately, our beloved fire truck was a little worse for wear.
Not the best way to end up, but a good view of the bottom of the vehicle!
The damage didn’t look too bad….
At first we thought it was just a bent frame to contend with, so we sucked up a rather scary towing bill and got the fire truck to the nearest mechanic who could fix us (just a mere 800km away). He fixed us up and we got on our way, only to discover there were more problems. Problems that were more than a quick rebending and weld to fix.
We drove the truck down to the Vancouver area where there were more people available to help us, and that’s where it’s been ever since. The impact of the crash basically crumpled the left-hand side of our drive shaft – and so it needed to be replaced. For one reason and another this has not been a simple case of finding the part and putting it in, and so (as of the 11th January 2018) we are still waiting to get back on the road.
In true adventure and positive spirit we haven’t let this little bump in the road get in the way of us continuing to have an amazing trip. So far our contingency plans have included: 10 days on Vancouver Island (with a multi-day cycling tour); exploring volcanoes, beaches and banyan trees on a little side trip to Maui, Hawaii; and most recently driving down the whole of the West Coast, visiting Oregon, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Yosemite National Park and some bloody amazing Redwood trees.
Hanging out on Vancouver Island
The beautiful coast of Maui
Visiting Maui’s volcanoes
Ticking off the golden gate bridge
Visiting the stunning Oregon Coast…
…which really was stunning!
And hiking the amazing Yosemite!
And so now we’re still waiting to hear whether our truck is fixed, killing time and exploring in a hire car, keeping our fingers very crossed we’ll be back on the road soon.
Just a final note…
It’s kind of hard for us to keep up with instagram, facebook, youtubing, blogging AND having time to just experience our trip. So we’ll be updating here a lot less in the future, and will be putting our more regular updates on our facebook.com/guidiary page from now on – so go and like that page to see what we’re up to.