|
|
1999 Ford F-350 Super Duty - Costa Rica AdventureGringos In Tico Land From the May, 2007 issue of 4Wheel & Off-Road By Jerrod Jones Photography by Jerrod Jones
|
|
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be famous? Just take a lifted 1-ton Super Duty across a Central American country and you'll get a good taste of it. This past December we ended up in Costa Rica to meet up with the Ford Super Duty we had built ("Building for Extreme Excursions," Apr. '07) for eight days of exploration through some of the most beautiful (and Gringo-friendly) parts of Central America that anyone would be lucky enough to see. Not only that, but we got to experience some of the most outrageous wheeling of our lives. But we'll tell you right now that this is no trip worth risking without a large amount of off-road experience, a good grasp of the Spanish language, a lot of planning, and contacts within the country's borders. Fortunately for us, we know a little about wheeling, and our old college roommate, Cody Qualls and his wife Sunshine, had immersed themselves in the culture about two years ago, picking up the language and making good acquaintances. It all started after we got a call from our friend, Cody. When he'd moved a couple years ago, he'd left behind his '99 Super Duty F-350, and was now looking to ship it down to Costa Rica instead of selling it. But many of the roads down there are treacherous, and Cody wanted to know how we would build a truck meant for full-time life in terrain like this. It took all of two seconds for us to ask where we could find the keys, the truck, and when it had to be on the boat. He wasn't going to build it. We were. We hadn't had a crack at building a true international excursion truck before, and we saw an immediate opportunity to do a little foreign wheeling if we could somehow hide under the backseat while the truck was being shipped. We spent the next six weeks working with Pro Comp, Fab Fours, Dynatrac, Eaton/Detroit, T-Max, Pull Pall, and Daystar to put together something we would feel good about dipping into foreign mud. Everything that was not replaced was inspected or rebuilt. The main goal was to get down there with the truck, but we also wanted the truck and us to make it back alive. Think of this trip as an Ultimate Adventure, without 20 other trucks and 40 other guys to help you out. Oh yeah, and without the utilities, services, and cell reception we have here in the U.S. We knew we were in for an adventure.  As soon as we got off the...  As soon as we got off the plane in Alajuela, Costa Rica, Cody Qualls picked us up in the Super Duty that had arrived the day before after a month-long boat ride. He mapped out a course that would take us over the Panamerican Highway, through a cloud forest in the highlands, under an active (and erupting) volcano, and eventually to Playa Negra in Guanacaste where we would spend the remainder of our days off (uh, we mean working).  The next day we left the city...  The next day we left the city and headed northwest. It had started pouring already and we got our first lesson about waterproof bags, as everything in the truck bed got soaked. Since everything we had was already sopping wet we decided to pop through a couple of river trails instead of taking the bridges across. The alternate routes almost made up for our sopping clothes.  We pulled over for a second...  We pulled over for a second for a quick pit stop, only to get screamed at by a clan of howler monkeys. Man, do those guys make a racket! They're pretty good jumpers as well. And they hate diesel trucks because of the noise. When the howlers get ticked off, they tend to take aim and throw a pile of their own special blend at you.  We have no idea where we actually...  We have no idea where we actually were, but we'd pull off every chance we could to go explore some dirt road. This one brought us down to some slick mud and to the shore of Lake Arenal. Next to Lake Arenal is Volcan Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. In fact, it was erupting while we were there. We thought everyone in the towns below were a little too carefree about the eruptions. But apparently death by lava is kind of rare, so we spent the night below the volcano.  In Parque Nacional Monte Verde,...  In Parque Nacional Monte Verde, we hiked through a cloud forest that eventually brought us to the Continental Divide. We would've wheeled there, but there were no trails and blazing our own is never an option, especially in an ecosystem as fragile as this one...  ...The funky little guy looked...  ...The funky little guy looked to be related to a raccoon, and was obviously fed well by all the tourists.  On the third day, we pulled...  On the third day, we pulled into Guanacaste, the region our friend lives in on the Pacific side. Our clothes were all mildewed, we were already worn out, and we hadn't even hit any deep mud yet. After dropping off the girls and all our gear at his house, we took off to find some mud. Unfortunately the bridge he had always taken to go mudding in his 4Runner was a little smaller with a Super Duty lumbering over it...  ...Besides that, the bridge...  ...Besides that, the bridge was sadly dilapidated. We took one look at our friend and said, "Are you kidding me right now, dude? We don't have a rear winch for when the front of the truck falls through." We can't believe he made it over. The bridge sounded like it was going to snap in half.  The bridge had already put...  The bridge had already put the pucker factor in us, so it was no biggy when we found this giant mudhole. Believe it or not, the rainy season had already passed, and the road still had this in it. Good for us, but bad for anything without a T-max winch, a Detroit Locker, and 37-inch Xterrains.
|
|
|