We set a world record being the first to drive a US School bus the full length of the Pan-American Highway (Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina) - living in the bus and filming a documentary with strangers from around the world!
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You may have seen my post last year about driving a school bus from Alaska to Argentina, and, well, we did it! 234 days later we completed our journey from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Fin Del Mundo, Argentina. It certainly was a challenge and we faced many hurdles along the way but we had an incredible team. For those who didn't see my post last year, this was a community-funded expedition with the goal of documenting changes in the landscape, infrastructure and life on the Pan American Highway.
After researching the Pan-American Highway and coming across Richardson’s Pan-American Highway Expedition, we decided that we wanted to attempt driving the entire length of the Pan-American Highway. Richardson’s team of three was the first to ‘drive’ from the USA to Argentina in 1940 in their Chrysler Plymouth. Fascinated by their story and predictions for what the Pan American Highway would turn into, as a team we decided that we wanted to do a similar route and take an iconic American School bus, creating our own challenge; Being the first American School bus to drive from the Arctic Circle to the Fin del Mundo, Argentina.
You can follow our entire journey route over on Polarsteps:
polarsteps.com/GlobalConvoy/8269764-panamerican-highway-alaska-to-argentina
Our goal was to analyse key changes in landscape, infrastructure, and effects of tourism on this intercontinental route, documenting our findings along the way. Upon completion, the goal is to create a feature-length documentary intertwining original footage from Richardson’s expedition and our own.
As we are a small team, we are looking for partners or teammates who work within Film/tv who may be interested in joining the project as we begin to build our documentary.
Below are some short videos we produced along the way:
Alaska to Argentina (Pan-American Highway) in a School Bus!!
Driving a School Bus to the Arctic Ocean! 😊
Surviving the Dalton Highway!! (Alaska to Argentina Week 3)
We've been living on this bus for 1 month...
American School bus drives into Mexico
This was the most incredible journey and we could not have done it without the support of our community and teammates.
Now that our journey is complete it is time to sit down and start sorting through our footage and get to work on the doc! If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or wants to become part of the project then please reach out.
Thanks for watching!
epic road trip!!!
Really… what you and the team achieved with such limited resources is amazing! Bravo!
It’s one of my dreams to join the Global Convoy one day and be a part of your adventures.
What was the most challenging part of the journey, and what did you wish you packed before you started out?
Thank you, it truly was epic and I really hope you can join us one day!
Honestly, I think the most challenging part was not physical, it was mental. Keeping group morale high in circumstances out of our control was very difficult when it was unclear what our fate would be. We had a few moments where we thought 'this could be the end', due to countries entering 'a state of emergency', or protesters shutting down roads. Trying to stay positive during this time was very challenging, especially when you are not in your best frame of mind. Living on a bus for 8 months in such close quarters is both rewarding and mentally challenging.
As for packing, there is not too much that I felt I was missing, because it was pretty easy to pick things up along the way. But I think something that would have been useful, would have been to bring our Jet boil and Aero press. Whilst we had a great kitchen set up that catered to 14 people, it was sometimes a little cumbersome to set up to make a quick coffee or tea. It also meant that when we were away from the bus, we had no form of boiling water.
What an adventure. 8 months on a bus with that many people must have been pretty trying but no doubt worth it!
I remember asking you about the Darien Gap last year. Did it all go smoothly getting the bus on a container?
Looking forward to checking out the videos later.
For sure! Yes it was fairly simple. We used a local company called Overland Embassy based in Panama City and they managed to get us on a flat rack, so it wasn’t as much as roll on roll off. In the past we have done the shopping ourselves and it’s always been complicated so this time we thought we would pay a little bit more to have someone take care of it!
A great adventure and fun to follow. Well done to all involved. I've driven overland before and vehicle logistics are challenging to say the least.
It truly was amazing! Where was your favourite place to drive? Driving the bus certainly took logistics to the next level but it was so worth it, we loved it.
The Karakorum Highway in northern Pakistan was spectacular!!