Many of our friends have noticed a slight pause in our posts, and have wondered whats up. While we were down in La Paz preparing to take the ferry to the mainland, we got a phone call with a great opportunity. A good friend in the U.S. had been awarded a film contract, and wanted to see if we were interested in a paid gig. The only catch is that we would have to return to the U.S. for about a month to film it, but we could do the editing on the road.

We were conflicted. On one hand it was a great opportunity to earn some cash (as a reminder, we both are volunteers for Filmmaker For A Cause). On the other hand, it was yet another delay in getting off the peninsula. After months of living in La Paz, I was ready to go, and Pat’s Spanish had proven itself in the editing of the FMFAC Project. After a lot of discussion and debate, we decided it was worth it to head back. We set 4 categories of goals, film work, MogTug Tweaks,  friends/family, and shopping.

The film job was pretty straight forward, and that would take us to Chicago for a few weeks. The work is for a great client and one we have worked with before, so it was set to be a smooth experience.

We had a blast getting back to our old stomping grounds.  
On MogTug, we decided to seize the opportunity to make some changes and improvements, based on the last 6 months of living in him. We will cover all the work in another post, but the big projects were to remove the rooftop tent and replace with storage boxes, change out the toilet for a composting option, move the battery bank, upgrade our network storage,  and switch the roof top vents to different models. We will cover all details in another post. We have scheduled just a few days to get it all done.

With regards to friends and family, we wanted to check in with our people while back in the US. Which meant a trip to Michigan and Virginia, to spend some time with the families, and some late nights in Chicago partying just a little.

The last big bucket is shopping. While it’s perfectly possible to go shopping in Mexico for some items, others are significantly cheaper in the U.S.. Also, we learned a lot about ourselves and what we like to do in nice warm weather when we aren’t filming. So we went shopping for some new toys. Whether is was to support new hobbies (e.g. Ham Radio gear), or fun diversions (e.g. a Kayak). The credit cards and amazon.com got a good workout.

To get everything done, we traded MogTug for a Toyota Prius with 50 mpg, for an estimated 7000 miles of driving. We hatched a plan with our good buddy Scott to bring MogTug to his ranch in Santa Barbara, and leave him there, while we scooted across the country. This dropped our cost significantly, even when factoring in the rental car.

Quite a change  While you can take the over lander out of his truck, you can’t take the overlander out of him. We packed the little Prius with a cooker and still insisted on making our meals out of it. We got some funny looks each morning in the parking garage in downtown Chicago while we are our cereal.   

We are now in the final stages of prepping to return to Mexico and continue our adventure. The rental car is returned and now it’s time to do some upgrades on the mog!