GANNET2 Update

Had you told me on December 3rd we’d still be in Brasilia I’d have despaired. However with some weeks left to go I am holding my own.  We are hoping to be in the road February first driving to Iguazu Falls on the border with Paraguay and Argentina. Some days that goal seems ambitious but yesterday Alessandro assured us he intends to be finished on the 23rd.  That would give us a week to clean inside and out and sort out our new storage systems. We are getting some drawers.

On the left we have a slide out trash can and below it is our new two gallon gray water tank to catch what comes out of the sink. On the right our troublesome large drawer has been cut down into two. Layne is happy.

The two gallon gray waterctabknreplacesxthdcunder chassis tank we used to have which hit every rock in the road until we got to Panama and removed it. That left us draining to the ground which though it’s only sink water was aesthetically unappealing especially sleeping on city streets or in campgrounds where I had to wield a bucket. This way we can easily vent it in  a toilet or down a suitable drain.

The electrical system is coming along with the wiring ready to receive our new appliances. We have new bus bars and new control boxes for solar energy and the alternator and they are installing a new 220/110 volt automatic selector to cope with any shore power we may plug into. Up next is the arrival of the solar panels expected by Wednesday. Two 430 watt panels should give us plenty of power in sunny South America. 

Alessandro (on the left) is confident he can meet his January 23rd deadline so we are keeping our fingers crossed as he installs a new 12 volt compressor into our fridge to replace the 110 volt original and he’s also building a frame to house our Starlink antenna in the roof. It seems a lot but he isn’t worried. Meanwhile we live in our apartment and plan a deep clean for GANNET2 before we retire our lives onboard. I hate hoarding stuff so this will be an opportunity to clear stuff out which is a bonus.

I have been having some difficulty uploading photographs after my iPhone downloaded a cursed update. I think I’ve solved the problem with one more workaround using Chrome for the blog instead of Safari. If there was any doubt I’ll never use Artificial Intelligence on this page as mine own  seems barely enough as it is.

Cars Glorious Cars

If you go to Nashville and you like history you owe yourself a visit to the Lane car museum.

That was a nostalgia trip seeing cars I had known in my youth, thanks to a friend who introduced me to the place. So Layne found this place near the Brasilia airport. 

It’s actually a Volkswagen car dealer and a Royal Enfield motorcycle dealer. 

You get the impression the dealership that funded the V12 Auto Club was a Chevy dealer as there are lots of them on display. Not my youth. 

And they sponsored car racing, with a Ford logo on their car…lots of irons in fires at this dealership. 

Brazil is known for the  Volkswagens built here under license till 2014 when pollution controls killed them off finally. 

The gray van, the second from the left was one of the last off the production line. Cute but it’s not a Promaster and I had a couple of VW camper vans breaking down all over the place when I was a youth. Not great memories, like riding into snowy Gallup in a tow truck.  

Anyway I walked around and looked at stuff because I am a product of the age of internal combustion. I like traveling by van and I like looking at cars not as status symbols but as objects to make me free.

My first car, a Mini 850. 

The original Fiat 500 Topolino.  I had friend with one and it was an antique even then but great fun to drive with the roof folded back. 

Fiat 500 station wagon. 

A Brazilian sports car, the Lobini. 

From 1948 Jaguar Mercedes and Citroen, postcard European recovery:

Overlanders today love Toyota Troopy 4 wheel drives but Brazil built a Troop Carrier under license the Bandierante, the cult vehicle that has clubs dedicated to keeping them on the road and on goat tracks: 

I’m guessing they used to import Jawa motorcycles from Czechoslovakia: 

Then it was time to call an Uber to take us home to a Rusty who was fast asleep. Slight problem: our phones had stopped working. We had no internet. That was a moment of cold realization how dependent on them we are. After a time  spent staring at  the useless screen I fell back on my youthful training. 

I walked to the curb and waited for what seemed an eternity to flag down a cab. It worked.

At home with the WiFi coming to the rescue we discovered Verizon was having an issue, not Brazil which was embarrassing as I had a bit of a private gringo moment. Bloody third world can’t run a phone exchange. My bad. After dinner service was restored as was my equanimity.

It was a good day.