thanks to a suggestion from some friends, i decided to remove the passenger seat of the car. hopefully this will make my car even less of a target. however, the main impetus was to hide my bicycle underneath the carpet…but unfortunately, there’s still not enough space. instead, i have placed the spare tire under the carpet, thus making more space in the trunk. i might even hide some more tools underneath…although i don’t it to be obvious that there’s stuff hidden there.

my parent’s tell me that taxi’s in latin america used to do the same thing (i.e.–old 2-door volkswagen bugs).

Nearly there! …i just hope mexico starts up again soon (link). here are a few things i’ve done in the last week:

1) jerry cans & wheels are now strapped into the trunk. i’ve tested out the DOT approved metal jerry cans and they haven’t leaked yet.
2) all done with the vaccinations; and my first aid kit (with medications) is complete.
3) time lapse camera with CHDK is set up and installed in the car — with some plugs & power regulators, it even runs off of the car’s 12V. i might need to tweak it a bit more (anti-glare film on windshield?). my external hard drive is also now setup to work with my xo laptop.
4) auto insurance application submitted.
5) other: bought south/central america travel books, battery booster (to jumpstart car), usb-ethernet adapter (for xo), SD cards, etc.
6) what’s left: pack, buy medical insurance & mexican auto insurance (these are processed immediately, so can be purchased the day before), decide if i want to risk bringing a bike along (pro: bike, con: i’d have to put the bike in the backseat, which makes the car a bigger target).

FUEL: just got my three 5-gallon metal jerry cans (blitz enviroflow). tomorrow, i figure out how & where to store them safely in the sentra.

MEDICINE: a few days ago, i got my UV water sterilizer (steripen). today i took my first of four typhoid vaccination pills and now have all of the other necessary vaccines covered (hep a/b, tetanus, yellow fever & meningitis). tomorrow, i plan on picking up a bunch of pills for the road trip (malaria, sipro, etc.)

UPCOMING: medical & auto (liability) insurance; photography & storage; more website updates; & little stuff (phone, mosquito repellant, soap, light, etc.)

well, i can cross two things off my list:
1) with some help, i was able to bore out the center hole of my two rims so that they fit on the sentra. i drove back from the peninsula with them on, and no issues (…yet). i also heard today that i’m not allowed to drive around with 3 spare tires in mexico…not sure why, or if they’ll check.
2) while finishing up wiring my old canon powershot s300 for the timelapse photography, there was a loud pop, and the camera won’t turn on anymore (in fact, it now actually shorts when power is applied to it)

next big project will be installing the jerry cans in the trunk of my car next week.

It’s been a busy last few days:

• one pair of new tires for the back.
• greased and oiled (except for the front left CV joint….which has a cracked rubber boot)
• 3 new belts (which took me over 3hrs to install…but at least my car doesn’t squeak when you turn now)
• air conditioning is up and running
• simple kill switch for ignition back up and running well
• replaced upper radiator hose & radiator cap

also, my xo is now setup with dillo (ridiculously fast browser…but it cant load gmail & some other sites, copy text, upload files), ftp and mail. in fact, this is my first post from my xo.

things to come:

• modify rims i purchased from the junkyard so they’ll fit my car
• setup time lapse camera using arduino board
• lasercut emblem for grill of car (my nissan logo is missing)
• replaced lower radiator hose
• setup 5-gallon jerry cans in trunk (not sure when they’ll arrive).

Almost there! Just picked up two complete tires @ the junkyard ($20 each), received my new point-and-shoot camera and a small desalinator (…just in case). I should be getting the belts/hoses and 5-gallon metal jerry cans in the next week…and then it’ll hopefully just be little stuff (shovel, rope, etc.). Still not sure if I can/want to setup one of my old cameras as a time lapse for the entire trip.

Today, Mark helped me tear up the passenger side frame. I had earlier removed the side-paneling from the backseat and revealed some small compartments between the internal and external sheetmetal. I then replaced the clips securing the side-panels with velcro (allowing for easy removal of the side paneling), but the existing metal frame still prevented me from placing large objects in that space. Mark used his cutting wheel to cut away some of the ‘unnecessary’ metal, so that I can put a fire extinguisher and other exciting stuff in that space. note: i use the quotes around ‘unnecessary’, because the sentra may now collapse on itself. We only did one side…and if the car doesn’t break in the next couple weeks…we’ll do the other side too.

This is my first entry into the sentra diaries. I’m going to start filling in the blog with more or less useless information until the trip actually starts. Today I uninstalled my magnetic kill switch…which was awesome, but kinda useless…and had the potential to break periodically. To replace that useless gizmo, I added a slightly more useful contraption: a power inverter (DC to AC) that connects to the cigarette lighter. After blowing out the fuse a few times, I realized that I needed to reverse the polarity of the wires — and now it works like a champ! I took out the coin tray from the center console, and it fits in that slot perfectly