How would you like to drive 16,000 miles through 14 countries in 14 days? That’s an average of over 1,000 miles a day.
It is just what two Germans and a Spaniard plan to do in the next two weeks. They are driving a 2011 VW Touareg TDI the length of the famous Pan American Highway from Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world, to Deadhorse in Alaska. It is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the longest road in the world. They will also donate one Euro for each 10 kilometers they cover to a charity for two villages in Latin America.
The team had planned to start today but it’s snowing in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina and there’s volcanic ash in the air so the start has been delayed a day or two, according to the website where you can follow their progress (http://www.tdi-panamericana.com)
The current record of 24 days for the journey was set by Tim Cahill and Gary Sowerby driving a 1988 GMC Sierra. It’ll be interesting to see if this Touareg team will be able to lop ten days off the record.
I’ve been on stretches of the Pan-American Highway in Central America and Chile so I know much of it is a crowded two-lane highway. Additionally it often takes hours to cross borders between countries in Central America.
Worst of all there is a 54-mile stretch, called the Darien Gap, on the border of Panama and Columbia where the road does not exist. The team has not stated how they will traverse this missing link, which is in dense jungle. There is a ferry and, of course, they could have a helicopter carry them that short distance to save time!
It’s an adventure I’ve always wanted to do. How about you? Would you like to undertake a road trip like this?
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