6000 miles in an MJ

[GonzoTheGreat]

We stayed in the Nicoya peninsula for a few days, in the same area as last year, then moved on to Nicaragua. The nature there is incredible, but the socialist dictatorship thing is a little spooky. There are flags of the Sandinista party EVERYWHERE, and they have a ridiculous amount of bureaucratic bull---- to enter and exit the country. Regardless, we enjoyed the people and the places. We stayed in Granada and Managua for a few nights.

 

 

Everything in that area is very volcanic with a few active, and a lot of dormant volcanoes. we drove up a crazy dirt road to the top of a caldera outside of Managua, which is some kind of state park. The grounds-keeper told us it's the "second-most dangerous caldera in the world." My Spanish is not good enough to clarify that detail, so I have no idea where that statistic comes from, but it sounds like if you swim in the lake, you die.  We did not confirm this fact in practice.

 

After that we went down to the Bay of Fonseca for a few days where there is another volcano, where you can see Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador from the top. We stayed in a little fishing community there where I was actually pretty shocked to find a disc golf course.

 

 

It would have been nice to spend more time exploring the country, but the protest-delay in Panama set us back a few weeks, so we had to hustle a little bit. Next up: Honduras.

 

10 minutes ago, Pete M said:

looks like you having fun though   

 

It's been a good trip!

[89 MJ]

22 minutes ago, GonzoTheGreat said:

I'm way past due for an update, so if people are still following along, I'll post some progress.

I’m still following along. I love these updates. 

[GonzoTheGreat]

On 8/21/2025 at 6:52 AM, 89 MJ said:

I’m still following along. I love these updates. 

I'm glad to hear it! You never know on a webforum. There's no instant gratification like on social media, but I much prefer it this way. 

 

Honduras was my personal favorite part of this trip. Super nice people, a wide variety of natural environments, the best craft beer scene, and coffee at every gas station. That's honestly all I need in life. Ironically I didn't get a lot of pictures there. We entered at the furthest west border crossing, which was again on the pan-american highway, but this time we shot straight up to Tegucigalpa, staying in a mountain lodge just before the city. We explored the city a little bit, but we're not really city folk, so we headed up to Lake Yojoa, about halfway between Tegucigalpa and the Atlantic coast. That was a really neat spot. We spent a few days at a brewery/hostel and enjoyed the lake life. It felt like almost a temperate climate, but still full of wild palms and cultivated cacao and pineapples.

 

 

After that we went up to the Atlantic coast for a couple days, stopping in San Pedro Sula to check out the craft beer scene. Shout out to Lupulos for being the best brewery in Central America.

 

Then it was on to Guatemala. We aimed north this time and found a place to stay where we could easily get to Flores, Tikal, and the Belize border. Flores was Pleasant, but very touristy. Tikal was super cool. Deep in the jungle it's a seemingly endless chain of Mayan ruins. We spent a full day there, but that was barely enough time to see it all.

 

Also sometime during the border crossing I picked up a tek screw in the right rear tire. Shout out to Safety Seal AGAIN for saving the trip... well, saving me significant headache at least.

 

 

It would have been nice to stay longer, but but now we had a concrete plan and a schedule to keep, so we headed for Belize.

[GonzoTheGreat]

Ok, I had a rough first impression with Belize. Apparently it's illegal to bring beer into Belize.  Fruits, vegetables, narcotics, assault rifles, nuclear warheads, and unregistered human remains, I understand, and we made sure to avoid taking those items through EVERY boarder crossing, but beer was a surprise, and for those that don't know it, I tend to like beer, and I had planned on sharing local Central American beers with my family and friends when I got home. Long story short, I had 26 beers "surrendered" at the border. I won't confirm or deny if that was ALL of the beer that I was carrying, but it was a traumatic loss regardless. To top it off, I did some research and found out that it's not even about taxes or religion, or anything I can understand or respect. The guy who founded the largest brewery/bottled-water/cocacola plant in Belize was also a senator, and used legislation to build his business into a monopoly. 

 

I tried not to let that ruin the Belize experience. We saw some more Mayan ruins, and visited a small cacao farm run by a present-day Mayan family. We spent a day in Placencia to do the tourist thing, and overall, our time in the country was actually pretty nice.

 

 

I also made some progress in my side quest of crossing increasingly sketchy ferries.

 

 

This one was a four-car capacity river crossing barge with HAND-CRANK cable on drum propulsion. Not gonna lie, I didn't need to see the pyramid on the other side. I just wanted to ride the ferry.

 

After Belize it was time to wrap up this leg of the trip, as the budget demanded.  

 

We crossed into Mexico and spent a couple days at the "Lake of Seven Colors" just over the boarder, then went up to Cancun. Cancun is in the state of Quintana Roo, which, like Baja, is a duty-free zone, meaning I can drive my foreign-plated vehicle there for as long as I want, no local paperwork needed, as long as I have insurance, and my MA registration is good. This avoids all of the silly storage shenanigans I had to deal with in Costa Rica last year. I can now store the truck privately, where I want and when I want. So I found a Quebecois dude who runs an overlanding business just outside of Cancun, and he offers a very reasonable vehicle storage service.

 

 

It was a little sad to say goodbye again, but this time I know the truck is in good hands, and I can keep in touch with the storage guy whenever I want. Not sure exactly how long it'll be this time, but hopefully just a couple months. I will be sure to post an update when I return. 

[fiatslug87]

Return from where? Are you just staying local? When you get back to it please post up a few picture of your camper set up if you don’t mind.

[GonzoTheGreat]

11 hours ago, fiatslug87 said:

Return from where? Are you just staying local? When you get back to it please post up a few picture of your camper set up if you don’t mind.

I just got back to Italy for a few weeks of house-sitting, taking some courses, and wrenching on this turd again:

 

 

Then I'll work a temp gig or two. I'm a yacht engineer (mechanic), and the summer season will be winding down in the Med, so I'll be somewhere between here and the Caribbean until I've saved enough to feel comfortable going back to the Comanche.

 

I'll definitely take a few more pics when I'm back to the truck, but the camping set up is pretty rudimentary. 

 

 

There's four identical totes that make a flat surface to sleep on if the weather is bad, but we try to use the tent, or more commonly, cheap apartments. You can get a decent apartment on booking or aribnb for like $20-30/night in a lot of places with a kitchenette and everything. so for me, if I can camp for $15 or have a full apartment for $20 it's a no-brainer. The only time it makes more sense to camp is in the touristy areas where the prices change severely.

 

One of the totes is just kitchen, one is cleaning/showers/etc. and two are personal belongings. I also have a decent sized Coleman 12V fridge that is powered by the service battery which is in the toolbox. The toolbox is sizeable and separate from the rest of the cap on the driver's side. We only have a "pocket rocket" style camp stove, but it's perfect for espressos every morning in the moka pot (Italian-style ), or to prepare basic one-pot meals. The new addition of the PVC shower is a big improvement on the pile of plastic bottles we were keeping for dishes, etc. It's not luxury, but it's comfortable. Compared to the crew-quarters on a lot of yachts, the 6' bed is actually really spacious.   I've already got a million ideas for a long-bed in the future with a high-top fiberglass shell, better drive-train options, and bed-drawer storage, but for now, this is the truck that I have, so we'll enjoy it while we're there. 

[GonzoTheGreat]

Okay. The eternally evolving itinerary has brought me back to Quintana Roo, and I have retrieved the Comanche. I don't have a lot of pictures yet, but I think that's ok, because the forum is dealing with storage issues right now anyway.

 

 

This is where it sat. I'm again, a little sad to see the result of storage in a tropical jungle, but all in all, things weren't too bad after a good deep-cleaning. I spent a couple days cleaning and organizing, slapped some crisp Michelin blades on my '97+ wiper arms, and headed for the border to get my permit to drive it.

 

 

On 8/22/2025 at 3:26 PM, fiatslug87 said:

please post up a few picture of your camper set up if you don’t mind.

I'll work on this as soon as we get it presentable  But here's a pic of the "office" 

 

I wouldn't call it ergonomic, but it's saved me quite a bit of hassle having my own printer on-board.

 

Here it is after a bath. We just finished the documents yesterday, and hit the road. Stay tuned for updates. I'm not sure what the timeframe is, or the destination for this leg, but for sure we'll cross Mexico, and eventually get back to the states, then who knows 

[Skylynx]

Oh man, just saw this now! i'm in Monterrey and i have a SWB, 4.0, 2wd, 88 comanche that i'd love to see in a picture with yours! we'll get some beers to replace some of the ones Belize took!

 

[GonzoTheGreat]

On 3/24/2026 at 1:52 AM, Skylynx said:

Oh man, just saw this now! i'm in Monterrey and i have a SWB, 4.0, 2wd, 88 comanche that i'd love to see in a picture with yours! we'll get some beers to replace some of the ones Belize took!

Oh no! I wish I had known just a couple days sooner! We just crossed from Reynosa into Texas. I'm way behind posting updates on this thread. I'll try to do that later today. We stayed in Monterrey on the trip down. It was super beautiful up there in the mountains. If i come back at some point, i will 100% let you know.

[Skylynx]

On 3/25/2026 at 8:40 AM, GonzoTheGreat said:

Oh no! I wish I had known just a couple days sooner! We just crossed from Reynosa into Texas. I'm way behind posting updates on this thread. I'll try to do that later today. We stayed in Monterrey on the trip down. It was super beautiful up there in the mountains. If i come back at some point, i will 100% let you know.

Gosh, the most imperfect timing ever! that’s okay, i’m glad you guys are back up in the states already, safe travels and absolutely! Lmk whenever you’re around and we’ll set up a meet!

[GonzoTheGreat]

Ok, I'm long overdue for an update, so here goes.

 

From Quintana Roo, we cut across the yucatan peninsula, and spent a little time on the gulf coast, then continued up through the lowlands of Veracruz.

 

 

Outside of the city of Puebla, there is a little town called Chipilo, which was originally settled by a few hundred Italians from Venice back in the 1800s. There are a bunch of "Italian" restaurants that appeal to tourists, but it seems like the genuine Italian descendants are actually all dairy farmers and furniture makers. The old-timers speak a weird blend of the venetian dialect mixed with mexican spanish. It was definitely the most interesting cow town I've ever seen.

 

 

From there we took the "Paseo de Cortes" to Mexico city. This is the route that Cortez took during his final invasion of the Aztec capital. It passes between two volcanoes, which are Mexico's second and third highest points. At the visitor's center at the top of the pass, my dash-mounted altimeter read 3.600m (11,800ft). We could have gone around the volcanoes and taken the highway, but where's the fun in that? Also, Popocatepetl, the southern volcano was actively erupting, and I thought that would be cool to see. As it turned out, the day that we drove through, it was super overcast, and we couldn't actually see anything. 

 

 

Also, about halfway up there, the engine temp started to creep up. The single electric fan couldn't keep up with the high revs, low speed, and hot, thin atmosphere. I pulled over to let it stabilize, and found out that my power steering no longer works at low rpm. That was a bit of a bummer. I have since installed a second electric fan with a toggle on the dash, and have had no more high temp issues, but the power steering remained hit or miss. Generally it still worked until the engine warmed up.

 

 

 

[GonzoTheGreat]

Mexico city was a good time. I've never seen a city with so much green space, and the public transit system is cheap and good. We checked out a couple of museums Including the "Templo Mayor" which is the ruins of the Aztec capital.

 

 

 

Also, apparently Sears is still a thing in Mexico. They still have Craftsman tools, they still have an army of perfume pushers at the base of the escalators, and some locations even have auto centers. This one also had a cafe at the top, with a cool view.

 

 

We also visited Teotihuacan, outside of the city to see the old pyramids. The scale of this place was incredible. I can't imagine what it must have looked like as a thriving city.

 

 

I will also shamelessly admit, I think my favorite part of Mexico city was "Costra." Which means "crust" in Spanish, and is the most incredible street food/after-a-night-out snack. It's a taco, but they put the cheese and meat directly on the flat grill first, until it starts to get crispy, then you fold up that greasy, crunchy goodness in a warm, fresh tortilla, add the condiment(s) of your choice, and mow down. I'm not gonna say it was a spiritual experience, but I can promise you, I will never be the same, and I mean that in the most positive way.

 

 

Also, a quick update on my sketchy ferry side quest, this one is hand driven, by a rope across the canal. No cars, but motorcycles are ok. The floor flexes severely with one motorcycle on board. I saw as many as 4 at once. Three pesos (0.17USD) for pedestrians.

[GonzoTheGreat]

After CDMX we went up into Hidalgo for a bit. We visited a canyon that was made by the same volcanic process that created devil's tower in WY. I also tried "Pulque" which is typical from that region. This is fermented agave sap, which historically was the beverage of the clergy in the Aztecs' religion. Slimy, yet satisfying.

 

 

From there we traveled up in the mountains for a couple days, before coming back down in the state of San Luis Potosi. There was a super cool river that is vivid blue from the mineral deposits in the soil.

 

 

Then we worked our way up Tamaulipas toward Reynosa, where we crossed into Texas, then up to Mustang Island in Corpus Cristi.

 

 

We took the decidedly non-sketchy ferry from Port Aransas to the mainland. I was a little disappointed that I didn't fear for my safety even once.

 

 

We camped in Galveston Island state park, then visited some friends in Dallas. Spent a night in OK City, and now we're setting out on Rt 66. There's still no official timeline for this trip, but my power steering failed completely on the way to Dallas, and the power brakes are asking me for a lot more pressure than they used to. I could try to micky mouse something on the road (I'm close to Disney, OK at the moment), but I think it makes sense to manually steer back toward basecamp for quite a few reasons actually. I'll try to stay a little more current with my updates for this last leg.

 

[89 MJ]

I love seeing updates on this thread!

[eaglescout526]

3 hours ago, GonzoTheGreat said:

Also, apparently Sears is still a thing in Mexico.

This is good to know. At least Mexico can appreciate the finer qualities of good old fashioned American shopping and tools. If they were still around here in the states I’d be there more than I would be at Home Depot or harbor freight. 

[watchamakalit]

I missed sears. Something for everyone. And at one time nice quality stuff. 

[GonzoTheGreat]

On 3/27/2026 at 2:30 PM, 89 MJ said:

I love seeing updates on this thread!

Thanks! I'm glad to hear my vagabonding is appreciated!

 

On 3/27/2026 at 3:56 PM, eaglescout526 said:

This is good to know. At least Mexico can appreciate the finer qualities of good old fashioned American shopping and tools. If they were still around here in the states I’d be there more than I would be at Home Depot or harbor freight. 

 

On 3/27/2026 at 7:29 PM, watchamakalit said:

I missed sears. Something for everyone. And at one time nice quality stuff. 

 

Same. I always loved my local sears. I have a lot of tools from there. It was a real shame seeing them go.

 

It was a weird nostalgic trip seeing this one. It's EXACTLY the same as any sears I've ever been to, just has all the price tags in pesos.

[Salvagedcircuit]

Awesome update