The Adventure Finally Begins!

My Sprinter at Port of Baltimore, alongside new friend for the long journey south.

Finally, I was ready to go. I had moved out of Maine and put my belongings in storage in Pennsylvania. I had to bounce back and forth a bit to get both my Nissan Xterra and van to PA, but made it happen. I had hoped to have a real shakedown trip out west in my van, but, just did not happen and instead took a leisurely cruise from Maine, through New Hampshire and Vermont and into the Adirondacks. Was nice "camping" in my van, really liked my memory foam mattress. I also was able to stop for a quick visit with my good friends Randy and Grace Fuller who now live a few miles from Hamilton, NY; he is a professor at Colgate, which I attended as an undergraduate. Van ran great, except on the hills, but I was happy to be on the road.  Spent some time living with friends, Doug and Sheila, in the town where I grew up, Grove City, PA (thanks guys!), while organizing my gear and getting some mechanical issues taken care of with the van. I also finished the conversion, painted the desk, bed platform and cabinets, installed the roof rack and awning, and constructed and install the observation lounge. Then, on the 2nd of September, we were off to Baltimore to drop off the van at the port, then spend the night in Baltimore, check out the Inner Harbor, drink a few beers, and eat some good seafood. Things went very smooth with the drop off, showed up on time, met my escort, drove around the huge port grounds in Baltimore, and dropped off the van, no problems.  Doug, Sheila and I then checked into our hotel in Baltimore, had an enjoyable evening, before heading back up north to PA. I was a bit surprised how easy things were with the drop-off; too bad things on the other end were just horrible. Then the next week, they picked up my gear, loaded onto a truck to head to the Port of New York.  Again, I had to ship my van RoRo, which meant that my gear had to ship separately, costly and as you will learn later, created a real nightmare in Peru. And finally, on the 15th of September, Doug drove me to the Pittsburgh Airport, and off I flew for Lima, Peru. The adventure, and nightmare, had begun.

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