Greetings from Estrillo Este on the Pacific coast of
As you all know we arrived in CR about 10 days ago and expected to get going in a few days.
Little did we know the frustration of the last 10 days to get the Land Cruiser (“LC” aka Elsie) prepared for the expedition.
Without getting into too much detail, the workmanship was so poor that things that were added or repaired had do be redone on numerous occasions, most of this in a variety of backyard workshops of
We were fired up to leave yesterday morning but first the brakes needed to be bled as they were rather squishy and the reverse lights redone because of some short in the wiring.
Finally LC was done and with great excitement we loaded her up in a hurry that we could ‘burn some rubber’ and make some distance.
This turned out to be more true than we imagined because we had done less than a Km to realize the rear suspension was too soft and the new tires were rubbing against the vehicle body that it would not be possible to drive any further this way.
Long story short, we found ourselves again in a backyard, huddled in the rain while the dudes extended the rear shackles and inserted an additional leaf into the rear springs.
In the process it was discovered that one of the leaves was clean broken and a replacement had to be cut and fitted, this after we assured by the same guys a day earlier that it would be just fine.
Finally we made our second departure with revived excitement and headed to the mountain passes that would take us to the coast.
Not long into the passes the rain came down, some of it trickling through the back of the dash over our feet making puddles on the floor and shorting out our alarm and whoever knows what else.
Apart from getting used to driving a slightly top-heavy vehicle, we traveled well until the car in front of slammed on brakes to avoid some road digging that was not cautioned and LC was fishtailing all wheels were squealing and the same with the vehicle behind us.
The vehicle in front of as pulled over in his skid giving me enough time to recover and get around the obstruction safely.
Because we departed late we decided to overnight in a small beach hotel for the night instead of the place we had planned on camping at.
Today Sunday, we have decided to take a day off once we get to our camp site and decompress after the last too may days of frustrations.
Tomorrow, Monday the 12th we will be on the road again and be meeting up with our first appointments and hopefully we will have no further vehicle hassles.
Keep checking on this blog for more updates on our progress.
Paul and Angelika
No comments:
Post a Comment