Central America trip

wow!!!
Thanks for all the advise.
I will definitely do my homework the next few months to make sure everything is set for this incredible adventure.

We can't imagine living somewhere else, because the move here has been so much fun! New plants, weeds, pests, and all the other great things-birds, bees, food, and especially the people!

First vehicle we bought here was advertised as having, "New tires." We didn't get it until we started looking at everyone else's tires. We are on our second vehicle here, literally the first thing we did was buy tires. People drive on scary things! Life is SO good!

Talleyho69 wrote:

We now live in Mexico, and even today, while renewing our vehicle registration, it's all an adventure! Easy, but oh so different.

We wouldn't want it to be the same, would we? Then we could just stay home and not enjoy the diversity of cultures, laws, and customs.

Like everyone else, if you've got a good rubber, you've got the majority of what you need. The rest all seems to fall in place.

Tires, tires tires. Now days, pretty much all tire sizes are available south of the US border. Didn't use to be. We ended up putting all new wheels on our Class C so we could get tires that were available here, then carrying two spares.

Homework, homework homework. Check out everything and prepare for it all, and not need any of it. THAT makes a perfect trip!

If you have a problem, and you will, just take it as it comes, consider it part of the adventure and move on.

We now live in Mexico, and even today, while renewing our vehicle registration, it's all an adventure! Easy, but oh so different.

I carry 2 heavy duty tow straps and the correct equipment to atach them to the RV and what ever is towing or being towed, all the tires on the RV includind the spare and all the tires on the toad and yes the spare also have to be new with the stamped date confirmed, getting new tires out in the boonies is not something that you want to happen, I also carry an old fasioned inner tube for the RV and the toad and the spoons to unmount and mount tires, a foot air pump and a 120 volt compressor, if not use one cylinder from the toad with the fuel injector disconected to pump the tire, you need a made hose for this, been there done that.

By the way I did mention straps.

navegator

Some tire sizes are not available
. Carry a spare tire. Do not leave the usa with worn tires
.

I don't disagree with any of the above, but one thing we carry now is a nylon strap. Sitting on a mountain pass at 2500 meters on a dangerous curve with no shoulder, it was a mess.

A good samaritan stopped and handed us a nylon tow strap. A tractor-trailer came at us head on (I had no idea what he was doing) and stopped one meter from the front of the SUV. He hooked up the strap, backed up his semi and trailer on a true hairpin curve, and pulled us out of harm's way.

The first thing I did when we got home was to buy a heavy-duty tow strap. BTW, the transito stopped a grocery store delivery truck, about 35 feet long, and told the driver they had no choice but to pull us to the next town for repairs.

Gotta love this country.

We were gifted a flat 50 foot hose made of that same fire hose material years ago. When we wanted more, I made contact with the manufacturer who immediately told us not to use it and not to buy another one because they are unsafe for potable water.

That meant we couldn't use the hose in the US or in Mexico because we had a great filtration system that allowed us to drink the tap water, only to find out the hose wasn't Ok to use!!

One item that I have found in Mexico and further South is that in the same campground one outlet 2 prong it will be correctlly wired and the one next to it will be backwards, I have 2 very simple testers they have 3 neon little lights and you inset in the socket being tested,and depending on how they light up I can see how the wall socket is wired, why two because on one I cut the ground prong, I used to have an addapter but that turned out not to work too good, I also made adapters to correct the fault, in other words to reverse the way the outlets are wired, it is easier than opening the campgrounds property.

I actually carry 150 feet of electrical extention cords, one 100 foot and one 50 foot on top of the 25 foot 30 amp from the RV and the 50 foot 30 amp extention plus the various adapters for 50 to 30 amp to regular household plugs, I also have a 100 foot hose that is made with the same material as fire hoses only smaller and it colapses onto an orange ladder that is made for electrical extentions (home despot has them) those have proven invaluable when needed, the other item that is useful is a colapsing bucket (for feeding horses) for water or washing muddy kids and the RV of course.

If I remember more good tips I will post them

navegator

On the subject of power, get a fair to good quality multi-meter. Verify power before you connect your rig. When in doubt, use the genset!