Tosh William's Trip Around the World
May 17, 1998
Through the living room window, we watched the big orange sun set slowly into the Pacific Ocean. “When the top rim of the sun passes down into the ocean, sometimes there is a bright green flash. It happens in an instant, so don’t blink your eyes or you may miss it.” Roger (Tosh) Williams was explaining a phenomenon that he had witnessed about three times in his life.
 | ||
| Green Flash at Laguna Beach |
The view from Tosh’s window in Laguna Beach, California was magnificent. The outline of hills on Santa Catalina Island could be seen on the horizon. As the sun began to set, the silhouette of a ship at sea was revealed against that round ball of light. With the sun in the background, the ship -- many miles out at sea -- traveled from the right edge of the sun to the left side. This evening we were not privileged to see the flash of green light. But, what the heck! We sensed the excitement in Tosh’s voice and knew that the odds were against seeing it. We also did not see any of the grey whales that Tosh often sees as they migrate to and from their winter feeding grounds in the Gulf of California. It was a tranquil setting and I felt a sense of peace. No great adventure here – just an old friend and I remembering our youth.
 |
| Tosh, Win and Pat |
 |
| Tosh and his first wife, Pat
Tosh’s Russian wife, Nina and my travel mate, Pat lounged in Tosh’s living room as I sent and received email. Photos of my niece’s ( Alisa Hutton at tttango@aol.com) trip to Jamaica appeared on the screen. Over the last several years, Tosh and I have exchanged lots of emails. He received copies of my “gentle adventure” stories, while I received copies of his reports as he traveled around the world in an RV. Maybe there are more exciting RV adventures than Tosh’s, but I have not heard them. Our RV travels to Alaska, Puerto Penasco or Nova Scotia are very tame adventures compared to Tosh’s. He drove his 4-wheeled Dodge truck (Bubba) -- with a camper on the back -- down through Mexico, Central America, and South America. Then he shipped Bubba to Australia through Singapore. Next, he went to Japan, across Russia, through Europe, and much of Africa before returning to the United States.
Tosh has considered writing a book about his travels. I would be the first in line to read the book. Most of us lack the courage or daring to undertake such a trip – not Tosh! He still has it! While hiking in the hills above San Juan Capistrano, Tosh and Nina chose to cross a rapidly flowing creek on wet, slick rocks of a rickety rock dam probably built by kids. Pat and I took off our boots and waded across. The point is that Tosh is not afraid to take chances. While most of us only dream of adventure, Tosh pursues it enthusiastically. Even as children in Edinburg, Texas, we shared adventures. I remember racing our tractors – Tosh in his Ferguson and me in my Ford. With the gas lever on full-throttle, if we leaned way out of the seat and reached around to the carburetor, we could lift the lever on the governor to go faster and faster. Thoughts of hitting a bump and falling under the wheels of this speeding tractor scarcely occurred to us. Somehow we survived tractor racing, hunting, guns, dogs, and unsupervised swimming in the canals. One of the memories is burned in my brain and the evidence can be seen in my teeth. Tosh once hit me in the mouth with an axe handle. I still have a knot in my top lip and 3 chipped front teeth that trigger my memories of this event. We were simultaneously chopping on a tall stump, when Tosh's axe "slipped" out of his hand and hit me in the mouth. Tosh said that it was an accident. I wondered. |
Later we both joined the Marine Corps but under different circumstances. I joined with a couple of my high school buddies. Tosh became stranded on a trip to Alaska, with no money to pay for his return trip. The only way he could figure to get home was to join the Marines and they would pay his way. Not content to remain a “grunt” (a Marine who carries a rifle and digs fox-holes) he applied to NAVCAD, was accepted, and became an officer, gentleman, and pilot. He landed on a few jillion carriers, flew combat missions in Viet Nam, then flew commercial jets. He bought a horse ranch in Idaho and some property near Austin, TX. The Texas property was later sold for a large development – making Tosh moderately wealthy. His investment luck turned sour as he invested in a ship to haul fruit to Central America and in some other properties. He concluded that one should not make large investments with friends or relatives. Anyway, when he retired from the pilot business and was playing golf every other day, he became bored and decided he needed a little more adventure in his life, so decided to drive his RV around the world. Obviously, it is impossible to really drive a wheeled vehicle around the world because water separates various land masses. So he shipped his RV when water interfered with his travels.
Notes
The following tidbits are from notes I took as we chatted about his trip. They are a somewhat sad commentary on my note-taking abilities and lousy hearing, so they are incomplete and somewhat jumbled -- but thought that some of you might find them interesting anyway.
Bubba
Remaining from one of Tosh’s investments was a 4-wheeled Dodge truck that he outfitted for the trip with a camper on the back. He named his truck, “Bubba” -- a name that became familiar to some school children in many parts of the world.
Insurance for the first leg of his journey through Mexico, Central America, and South America was obtained from AIU of Baltimore. He took lots of spare parts, loaded up and headed south from California.
 | |
| Pat, Tosh and Bubba by Kyle Field |
Global School House
For those of you interested in the detailed reports of this trip, they can be found on the Internet address: www.gsn.org/roger/index.html. A school teacher at Los Naranjos School put all the reports together for the Global School House which was started as FREDNet by a fellow named Al Rogers. This was in the days (1986) when the Internet and computer networking were in their infancy. Its first goal was to provide a place where educational material could be stored. When they heard that Tosh planned to take this world trip, they decided that school children could learn about geography and cultures from his reports. The organization had only about three staff members when Tosh became involved. Later they obtained several grants, maybe about $130,000-140,000 from MCI. This grant supported Tosh’s travels and various costs of the Global School House. Tosh had already reached Australia when MCI became involved. They asked Tosh how much it would cost. He replied that about $25 a day would cover his future expenses. MCI agreed to this request plus the cost of 1000 gallons of diesel that he had used in his travels to Australia and $10,000 for shipping the vehicle to Australia.
Mexico
On January 14, 1994, Tosh entered Mexico at Nogales. He presented his transit visa -- which he thought was the appropriate documentation -- at the “Aduana” immigration checkpoint south of Nogales. “Where are you going?” he was asked.
“Guatemala,” Tosh replied. At that point, he found out that the transit visa was not sufficient documentation. He was asked to post a $50 deposit that would be returned if he left Mexico from the Nogales port of entry. Then the official wanted to know what was in all the bins in his RV. Tosh replied that it was enough equipment to fix his truck for three years. A long discussion ended when Tosh explained that the purpose of the trip was to educate children by email about the cultures and customs of people in Mexico and other countries. The official quickly granted him permission to enter. This was the first of many such adventures at the borders of the many countries through which Tosh passed. Sometimes they hinted at a “mordida” – a sort of bribe or “shake-down” to simplify entry into a country. Tosh usually refused to pay the “mordida,” but was as careful as possible to have his paperwork in good order.
Trip Research
It was very difficult to find all the maps, road conditions, RV parks, exchange rates, entry permits, etc. for his entire trip. He gathered as much of this information as he could find, but decided to just “wing it” as he entered each country.
One of the best sources of information was an Automobile Guide from each country. Like AAA. The automobile associations of each country have reciprocal agreements with the American Automobile Association. Thus if you are a member of the AAA, it is often possible to obtain free maps -- but some charge half price. Another source of information is the Tourist Bureaus of each country located in the embassy. Many countries probably now have websites that can be queried. At a consulate, Tosh would be directed to the tourist bureau or the auto club. This is true even in Kenya and South Africa.
RV Parks
Mexico has lots of RV parks; Guatemala has one in Guatemala City; and south of that, there are none all the way to Argentina. At least none with hookups. One RV park in Santiago, Chile had hookups. Argentina had several RV parks, but none in Buenos Aires. No RV parks in Brazil, but the safest place to stay is the truck stops. They often even have free showers, especially in Panama. Tosh stayed in parking garages there while trying to obtain insurance. Brazil truck stops are large and have TV rooms and showers that are very clean. He obtained insurance through Zurich International.
There is no road after about 140 miles south of Panama City to Columbia. It is necessary to take a small “coaster” ship to Columbia. Tosh used a container ship. He recommends not shipping without a “carnet” – a commercial document given to importers to guarantee that you will not sell your vehicle -- so you don’t have to pay duty on it. When leaving the country, you will be reimbursed the cost of the carnet.
Guatemala
Rumors were that Americans were kidnaping children and bringing them to the USA, killing them and selling their organs. One lady patted a couple of kids on the head. The locals -- with the help of the local police -- thought she might be trying to kidnap the kids, so they beat her severely – almost killed her. She was just a tourist who was trying to be friendly. Students from St. Mary’s College were raped last year, so it is a little unfriendly now.
Nicaragua
When he drove across the border from Honduras into Nicaragua, it was like going from a first- world country into a fourth-world country. Great poverty and terrible highway conditions greeted him. Twenty years of civil war between Sandinistas and the Contras (Samosa’s folks) is apparently responsible. In a town south of Managua, he was stopped by a cop for crossing a double yellow line. He paid the $10 fine to the cop and happily left Nicaragua the same day.
Costa Rica
Tosh traveled through on the desert side (western) side of the country. Limon is a dangerous place to be. Colon is the same way in Panama.
Shipping
In Brazil, the shipper thought the vehicle could be shipped legally into Singapore. But Tosh found that a vehicle over 5 years old could not be imported into Singapore, which is the most expensive port in the world. He was required to pay $3000 to ship to Australia. Then he paid another $8600 to the Australian shippers for a total of $11,100.
Argentina
RV parks in Argentina are all municipal parks run by the government with 220-volt hookups. He did not realize that there are different operating systems with TV. He rented a cassette player which was incompatible with his tapes. In South American the PAL-M is standard, in Europe it is PAL-N, and NTSC in the United States.
Australia
Upon entering Australia, customs officers asked, “Do you have a carnet for this vehicle?” Officials in Argentina had explained that none was needed, so Tosh had none. “What is the value of the vehicle?”
“About $40,000," Tosh replied..
“You will have to pay about $20,000 in duty if you don’t have a carnet.” Tosh quickly phoned the American Business Association to obtain a carnet.
“You must take your vehicle to Long Beach to obtain a carnet.” Tosh replied that this vehicle was somewhere in the Indian Ocean, about 15,000 miles from Long Beach. “Doesn’t matter,” the man said, “it must be returned to Long Beach.” Then Tosh called the Triple-A and they gave him the number of the Canadian Auto Association and the matter was somehow resolved.
In Australia, almost every town has a “caravan” park that charges $.25 to shower. Bigger cities have plenty of RV parks.
Japan
Japanese RV parks are open mainly in summer, and Tosh was there from February to June. He probably saw only about 10 RVs all the time that he was in Japan. Consequently, he stayed in the rest areas along the freeways. They have toilets with automatic hand washers, toilet flushes, and door openers. Even the rest area toilets are equipped with showers with heated indoor toilet seats.
Tosh was disappointed that schools have few computers in their classrooms. The Japanese apparently worry that computers will replace jobs.
Russia
Fundamentally, Russia has no RV parks. Bubba was the only RV that the Russians that Tosh met had ever seen. There are no fences in Russia. You may find a herd of horses coming down the street. Roads leave the towns in all directions – they seem to follow the cow paths from the city water well.
Huge hot water and steam pipes are found all over the city of Moscow to provide winter heating. It was reported that one woman was walking her dog and fell into a sinkhole created by a leaky pipe and boiled to death. There is no money to repair these things. City streets have holes 2 ½ feet deep. Folks in Bladogovstok are selling the manhole covers for scrap metal, so there is a risk of falling into a manhole. In the countryside, the agricultural equipment appears to be unused and rusting. Most agriculture is now done by hand. City dwellers go out in March and start to prepare their garden plots. About 70% of the produce of Russia is grown in the little plots.
Tosh found the people of Russia very friendly and helpful. He met and married Nina (a Russian woman) and later brought her and her daughter to the United States.
He somehow managed to avoid the Russian mafia during his travels.
As in other countries, you must also register your vehicle in Russia. The difference is that in Russia, you must stand in line in front of five windows to register your auto. A separate form must be filled out at each window, where a separate fee is paid. It may take two days to go through the long lines at the windows. At 4 PM the window closed. Tosh asked for the supervisor, who kindly let him in his office. After seeing Tosh’s documents he replied, “You don’t need to register your car; you are a tourist.”
In some areas, there are no roads between the cities. The only way to get your car from one city to another is to drive onto a flat-car and ship the car by train. For some reason, the car they were on was placed on a sidetrack by itself. Apparently, during every mealtime, they were put on a siding so they could cook a meal. On Sunday a drunk policeman tried to confiscate all Tosh’s stuff. A $30 bribe to the policeman made him happy to leave them alone. About seven days were required to travel about 2000 miles by train. During this time Tosh traveled with an Australian (Sidney) who had brought only cokes and potato chips for food. When he ran out of junk food, Tosh fed him so he wouldn’t starve to death. Four days were required to drive about 600 miles on the very rough roads. The pavement would end and the gravel road would wind out through the forest, only to return to the pavement later.
The Trans-Siberian RR was built across hundreds of miles of swamps.
Tosh continued his travels through Europe. In Romania, he was robbed by Gypsies, who stole his computer and other stuff. Then he traveled through much of Africa. If you are interested in the details of these travels, the wedding, and other details of the Global School House, they were once posted on the web site: www.gsn.org/roger/index.html -- which does not seem to work anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment