Mark99

Panama is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Panama Canal. RV Trek will be participating while waiting for the ferry from Panama to Columbia. The highway conditions in Mexico, Central, and South America are better than ever and all but 300 miles of the entire voyage is paved. Previously, in the 1990's there was almost 2000 miles of poor and much unpaved roadways, by no means do you need a 4x4 anymore! This year's group will also permit, 2 larger motorhomes (over 30') and the other 8 will be under 30'.... this is mostly for logistical reasons. I am doing a photographic journal of the birds, wildlife, and the fruits and veggies..along the routing of the Pan American Highway....

We returned from Ushuaia, Argentina with a 2010 Winnebago View, and another with a 2008 Chev chassis, and has absoultly no fuel problems. The fuel along the route was sometimes labeled as ECO and others were "sin plomo" without lead, There were no newer RV diesel units that require the exhaust additives - this is still a question. (there is suppose to be a "fix" for this also?),. I would not advise any diesel post-2010, but prior to that it seems that the SA countries are catching up and you can travel at least on the route of the Pan American Highway. The July, 2014 Trekoftheamericas Expedition will be visiting Panama during the celebration of 100 YEARS, it promises to be a great national celebration, and the new German Ferry should be running ( but if not..."Plan B" - back to doing the RO RO again!!! Love It!!! everything in Latin America Has a Plan "B" and "C" and sometimes "D" ! lol I am doing a photographic journal of nature and fruits and veggies along the route of the Pan American Highway. Bon Voyage!

Hi Globalbbi..... I just made a quick trip to Panama in September, returned to USA in mid-October. Please let me know what type of information you are requesting? What type of vehicle are you going to take? and what is your estimated departure date? We had the same routing as the trekoftheamericas expedition uses and as far as the highways and condition of the highways go, all was better than expected. We took the East Coast from McAllen, TX then crossed to Hwy 200 and south on the west coast thru Central America. Be sure not to take the mountain route from Mexico to Guatemala - the Guatemala side has more "Topes" than anywhere I have ever seen...about 800 topes between the border and Huehuetenango....every village has at least 4...I spoke to the officals at the border and they told me that they were UNAUTHORIZED and were built by the natives, who will not let the highway department remove them....there is a plan to do this but when is not known!! If you need assistance or more info please send me a personal message and I will go into details. Bon Voyage!!!!

Would like to know what type of motorhomes may be going with the Trekoftheamericas July 2013 expedition to South America. I have a 7.3 diesel chassis mount and would like to share spare parts, or maybe change my motorhome prior to the July date. It is advisable to carry extra parts, and great if several others have the same vehicle requirements. I also know there is at least one Mercedes Sprinter going on the trip.

This year's South America overland expedition decided to allow over 30' motorhomes, because the new ferry service from Panama to Columbia, will be transporting the Trek RVs! This allows the owners to go with the motorhomes, and also saves about $4000+ is shipping via the overseas transport vessels. The ferry service just started in time for a late August departure from the Texas departure location.

The birds seems to come to your coach....from hummingbirds to eagles... many of the best pictures can be taken right from your coach. BIRDING ALONG THE PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY. Even if you are not a Birder, there are just so many to be seen almost everywhere! I wanted to post some of the pictures from myself and others on the last trip. I am not sure how to post the photos, but here goes: https://picasaweb.go...feat=directlink

SHIPPING your MOTORHOME, by keeping the living area divided from the driver's part, you can have the security of your belongings and food items being safe. This bunker is made for easy assembly and disassembly (less than 30 minutes). It also can be used in storage areas, where your coach may need to be moved and you do not want the workers in your vehicle, only to drive or park it. It was designed for expedition members who ship to south america. my file will not upload, but if anyone is interested i will email the plans to you. It is made out of 3/8" plywood, precut to be reassembled.

Every few months, I use about a 1/2 gallon of "Pine-Sol", some water, and after a couple of days, really flush good before using the holding tank deodorant.....seems to work great! But remember to flush it a couple of times with clean water first! The "old" Terford Agua Kem..is great, but I think they don't sell it anymore, like a lot of good stuff.

Looking for used class C motorhomes. I am going on a RV expedition of the Americas, starting in August 2012, and have a friend from England who is looking for a diesel smaller motorhome. The limit on the trek is 33', but under 30' is advised. Some of the past participants used a BORN FREE motorhome, and the best fuel to use is DIESEL, that is why I would like to locate a used one. The gasoline is sometimes over $5 a gallon, and the diesel is as low as $1.00 a gallon. If anyone has a diesel motorhome of any kind (smaller one) please send the information on it. The year is not important.

THE WORLD'S LONGEST HIGHWAY, A MOTORHOME CHALLENGE! I have traveled in an RV expedition with 9 other RVs from McAllen, Texas to Ushuaia, Argentina. Now it is easier than ever to do! This summer I plan on re-doing this event again... if anyone needs preparation information, please feel free to ask me. I can give technical advise, but do not want to get into any advertising or promotion of any company or products. RV trekking of the Pan American Highway just became easier - finally now the connection between Panama and Columbia (Central and South America) has been made! A new ferry service will begin in a few days on May 10th, which means those traveling on the Pan Am will go directly in hours, not have to load onto a freighter, not have to pay additional airfare, and save several days in hotels in Panama and Cartengena...a savings of thousands of dollars! The dream of traveling in your RV from Albuquerque to Argentina is not a new idea! In Jan 2006 Congress passed the law below and who knows what happened to the development of it? But there still is plenty of good highways now in 2012! The first Trek RVs had over 2000 miles of bad or unpaved roadways in 1994, and now its only about 300 miles, and that is in Panagonia ...a good gravel road..no 4x4 required. By the time of this next years trip in July, it will be even better! HERE IS THE OFFICIAL TITLE: U.S. Title Code TITLE 23 > CHAPTER 2 > § 212 provides for the construction and maintenance of the Inter-American Highway program in cooperation with the Governments of the American Republics in Central America (i.e. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). "Title 23 of the US Code as currently published by the US Government reflects the laws passed by Congress as of Jan. 2, 2006." Under the code, the United States essentially pays for up to one-third of the total construction costs (depending on each nation's wealth): (a) Not to exceed one-third of the appropriation authorized for each fiscal year may be expended without requiring the country or countries in which such funds may be expended to match any part thereof, if the Secretary of State shall find that the cost of constructing said highway in such country or countries will be beyond their reasonable capacity to bear. The U.S. also agrees to provide all the maintenance costs: (5) will provide for the maintenance of said highway after its completion in condition adequately to serve the needs of present and future traffic. The U.S. has cooperated with Latin America on highway systems since the first Pan American Highway Congress in Buenos Aires in 1925, but footing all the costs for infrastructure can't be a good sign for expanded globalization to come.

Good Morning Fellow FMCAers.... this is my first post on the forum, a bit new to the "computer" but it looks like the way to go! When I saw the subject DIESEL PRICES, I couldn't wait to start typing. I hope you all don't think I am on "something"..?? lol $1.01 per U.S. Gallon! I paid this for diesel just a few months ago! While traveling a expedition trekoftheamerica on the Pan American Highway from Texas to Ushuaia, Argentina, we found the normal price of diesel at $1.01 per gallon in Ecuador. It brought back memories, when the total fillup was less than $20.00! I really didn't need to fill up, but when I saw the price, I pulled in, fearing this was not true, and maybe it was only in one place! Fortunately, this price remained throughout Equador! I was actually looking forward to getting to my next fill-up!! Like a kid waiting to get to the ice cream store!!! I had found lower prices 3 years ago, in Venezuela, where diesel was only .04 cents a gallon! I was on another South American Trip, and we shipped from Venezuela to Miami, Florida. I received my RV at the port in Miami, of course, with full tanks of the four cent diesel, and headed northbound. Somewhere south of the Georgia state line, I stopped to top-off the tanks, and there was a fellow filling his diesel at the station. He commented to me, "This diesel is getting too expensive" (at that time it was about $2.70 /gal)..... I sort of smiled to myself, and told him, " Yes it surely is, the last tank, I only paid 4 cents a gallon!"... He looked at me.....I knew what he was thinking...oh well...didn't have time to explain!!! Anyway...the DIESEL PRICES in Latin America (Mexico - Central America - South America) are either the same or higher than in the USA, with the exception of Equador, Bolivia, and Venezuela. The highest we paid was in Uruguay, where it almost was $5.00/gal, but we didn't have to take on much. If you top off in Argentina, you can make it to Brazil, without filling in Uruguay. That is the advantage of having large tanks. This is true for those high-priced areas in the USA and Canada also.