Seattle, Washington..(3-more pictures)
Nord-Cargo could freight the Jeep over to the USA. It would take about 30 days at a price of approximately $3000. Because of strikes that usually occur this time of year, we anticipated a problem. We were sure that everything was going to fail, but suddenly an offer came through from SAS Cargo. (By luck we had seen a newspaper advertisement in which SAS Cargo had advertised that they could carry every kind of airfreight, including cars, in their Boing 767s to USA.) Håvard Dahlen at SAS Cargo was our contact person and he was a great help in seeing the arrangements through. This was unusual freight for SAS Cargo, and although they had freighted a car before, it had been many years ago. SAS was looking forward to the operation and we finalized a deal. They freight to three large cities in USA: New York, Chicago and Seattle. As we were going to California we of course chose Seattle, it being the closest. But as Seattle was not our final destination, it meant we had to drive 1040 miles to finally get to Georgetown, CA. Driving the whole journey of 3100 miles in the USA wasn't going to be any problem at all and as it turned out, taking the Jeep by air worked out to be actually cheaper than if we had freighted it by boat.

Custom and assurance..
Everything went okay at customs. We made contact with several custom brokers in USA before we went there and our choice was Kintetsu World Express Inc. Our insurance was provided by American International Underwriter (AIU), the price varying with what type of car, the year and value. And the price of the insurance was not bad at all.

In Seattle....
The big question was, would everything go according to plan? Yes, so far everything was okay and going quite easy. First, down to Kintetsu World Express Inc. to pay them for their work and then take the receipt to SAS Cargo. They get their paper and I get my Jeep, as simple as that. But before we left, we had to put the Jeep together. We had a flattened package. Our Jeep was only 61.8 inches high, but after 1½ hours we were on
our way.

So many things to see...(2-more pictures)
We began our tour heading north towards Canada. We finally arrived at Bellingham, Oregon where there was an offroad store we had to visit. Unfortunately for me, they only sold parts for Toyota Land Cruisers and Pick-Ups there, which my friend had, though, and they had custom parts for Chevrolet V-8's that he could put into his Toyota. We left there with good memories, but less dollars. We left Bellingham and headed south towards Enumclaw, where the first thing we saw there were several Jeeps in front of a 4X4 store. As we drove down, my Jeep drew attention from everyone there.
And while we were shopping there, the storeowners asked us if we were interested to go with them on a Jamboree the next day, which was exactly what we wanted to do.

Rednecks & Rug-rats 1st Annual Poker Run. (6-more pictures)
They had organized something they call 'Rednecks & Rug-rats 1st Annual Poker Run'. We stayed there most of the day, and had a lot of fun. It isn't everyday we are on a Jamboree arranged for the first time. And this was their 1st annual Poker run. We drove back towards Enumclaw looking for a place to sleep for the night. We passed a funny little town on the way which was having a parade while the sheriff hid behind a big placard like in the movie "Smokie and the Bandit", trying to nab people who drove too fast, funny. We finally found Ridge Motel, a stop for desperate travelers. The floor of our room, 40-inches from the wall, was falling apart and we could almost see right down to the basement. Also, if we got problems with the TV, we could call the manager, who could then come and hit it, knowing exactly the right spot to fix it.

Snow....(2-more pictures)
We drove Highway 410 south and over Chinnoc pass we got a little homesick. We saw
snow, even though this was in July. Seconds later we had forgotten Norway again. We drove through the Rocky Mountains and the scenery was fabulous. Lots of small towns where time had stood still for years. Many things to see for those looking for old cars and other objects.

Georgetown, CA..(9-more pictures)
After 7 days and 1040 miles we were finally in Georgetown, CA., a small city with less than 2000 citizens. This was great, people all over. Lots of Jeeps wherever we looked. Some people were laying in sleeping bags under their Jeeps and everyone seemed happy. There were also many companies lined up down the road advertizing parts and lots of other goodies for Jeeps. There were actually so many Jeeps there that we had to park at the gas station down the road. And it was rumored quickly that there were someNorwegians that had taken their Jeep airborne to this event. We met lots of people and it was easy to get to know folk there. Some drank beer while others fixed their Jeeps. Someone asked us if we had metric tools, which we did. He had a problem with his alternator, and we were wondering, 'can he fix this Jeep?'. Pretty soon we were helping him. He had an alternator with a different pulley, which we had a problem to get off, but after a while we managed. A new pulley was installed, and after 2 hours we tried to start his Jeep, which wouldn't charge, as the belt was too loose. We realized that the belt was going in the wrong direction, so we had to look at another Jeep, and then we got it right. We had to pushstart the Jeep, which then ran nice and finally charged. At it was at this point that his wife thought 'there is something strange here' as only her husband was talking, realizing then that we were from Norway. They insisted on inviting us to dinner and we ate a feast of Chinese food that evening. We had a great time and we hope to meet that couple from California again. Early Friday morning at 4 o'clock we left our motel and drove to Georgetown to get some breakfast before heading out for Rubicon.

Uncle Tom's cabin...(5-more pictures)
We left Georgetown with a group of 25 people. The first part we drove on was a dirtroad, but it could have been worse (which, for us, would've been better). Uncle Tom's cabin turned out to be an old hunting lodge that had money plastered all over the inside. After a short drive further, we came onto a paved road heading towards Loon Lake. Here at the lake, there were at least 75 Jeeps waiting to drive to the camp. The first part of the trail was a little difficult for some, but everyone got through eventually and most of the way from there on in was quite easy. We had lots of time to look at the spectacular scenery up there, and there were lots of people taking breaks to get some pictures.

The terrain is changing...(4-more pictures)
The terrain was changing as we travelled and after many hours we could smell food. We came to Buck Island where we could see several people having difficulty with their Jeeps. It was here they could get help to fix anything wrong before they drove the last final miles to the camp. Finally at 6:30pm we reached the camp, and I can tell you that an ice cold MGD was welcome. And by the way, everything was as we find it here in Norway, meaning friendly people all over the place and no problems, as we left our camping gear outside the tent and our keys in the Jeep and no one took anything. The only differences were the terrain and the fact that we were the only ones speaking norwegian. But I really feel that most of the people knew we were there, because they had heard about the norwegians that had flown their Jeep to this spectacular event.

Saturday evening....(8-more pictures)
Saturday, a great day to do........nothing, just relaxing. Take a dip in that ice cold water when it was too hot. We had a great time with our air mattress and we made lots of new friends that day. After water-logging ourselves, we took a walk to have a look at the other Jeeps in the camp. We didn't realize that the camp was so big, and they told us later that there were 1024 people and 508 Jeeps there. That was incredible! They were serving lunch and we decided to grab a bite. While we were going back down to the water, we suddenly saw Rubicon Pirates playing with their Jeeps. There was seven of them standing in a large pile. Awesome. A rumor floated around that there were 35 people in 20 Jeeps heading towards the camp. It is Norwegians, Danes and Swiss people who are coming. These Norwegians were salesmen for the Jeep companies in Norway and had participated in a contest where for 10 of them, this was the prize. They didn't know about us being there and when they realized that there were 2 others from Norway that had flown their Jeep to the Jeepers Jamboree, they was thrilled. One of them was the main dealer for Jeeps in Norway and he said that it was great that we did what we did and yes, if anyone should do something like this, of course if had to be us two. I bet every Jeep dealer in Norway knows about us now. Saturday night and the band were playing good old rock'n roll. One of our salesmen friends from Norway had his dream come true. He got onstage, singing Elvis songs and the people loved him. He had a great time. The band stopped playing early, as many people were leaving early the next day. The people we met in Georgetown told us that it would take approximately 3 hours to get down to Lake Tahoe, but as it turned out, it took a longer time. A lot longer time.

Wait on line …..(2-more pictures)

We should've left early the next morning, but our clock thought differently, as we didn't hear it. We were on the road 8:00am, and it didn't take long before we met the line of other jeeps. It was so long that we could sleep between the times we were able to move a few feet. Our friends told us that it would definitely take more than 3 hours. It took us more like 11hours to get down.
Cadillac hill was a little difficult. And someone had rolled a Jeep here. Luckily he is alive; he broke an arm and minor injury in his head. But it is worse with the Jeep.
When we were almost down it begun to rain and it was a little bit chilly. And suddenly it begun to hail, and it was some very big hail also more like lump of sugar.

Farewell to Jeepers Jamboree….
We said good-bye to the Jeepers Jamboree after a good meal at the South Elk Lodge. We then found a warm Motel 6 and took some time to rest. Actually, most of our clothes were pretty wet and dirty, too. The next day we should've made Loon Lake again for another trip around with some friends from the JeepShot group, but my partner was so tired that he could only say no, no, no. And what could I do? I couldn't leave him there for 4 days alone. We didn't have access to my e-mail, and couldn't tell you what had happened… sorry guys. So in the end, we decided to rest for a few days and head for Moab, Utah on that Tuesday.

"The loneliest road in USA"…... (10-more pictures)
We are now driving toward Moab on highway 50, "the loneliest road in the USA". We found a motel in Austin, a quiet little town. Austin was voting for a new sheriff and we saw one of them ingratiating himself with the people in the restaurant. That night, it was early to bed, as it would have to be early up the next morning so we could drive before the weather got too hot for my Jeep.
More bad weather, luckily!!
We began to drive 4:45 in the morning and it was almost too cold. But the sun was rising and the day got steadily warmer. We drove up to Lehmans Cavern, which I can tell you, was no disappointment. It was one the best caverns I have ever seen and took us almost 2 hours to see it all. When we drove back down to Baker, suddenly it began to hail. We had to park the Jeep against the incoming weather to keep the hail out of it.
It was really cold now, so we decided to drive on instead to find a motel in Baker. We passed between two adjacent showers managing to stay dry and finally crossed the stateline into Utah, which welcomed us with the sign "still the right place".

1945 miles….to Moab.(2-more pictures)
Everything went faster once we drove on Interstate 70. We were cruising nicely and measured the fuel consumption. 13 miles per gallon. Not bad when you think about air resistance on a Jeep. We had driven much longer then we realized, 1945 miles, but it was great to be back in Moab again. We didn't use the Red Stone Inn because, this time, we wanted a motel with a swimming pool. We gave ourselves a lot of time for relaxation, good food and of course, beer.

Delicate Arch….(5-more pictures)
Early the next morning, we headed for Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. I have been here 4 times before, but there is always something to be seen each time I'm around. We took some pictures from the road and as I usually do, we walked the rest of the way up to Delicate Arch. We were lucky with this trip. It was cloudy when we started up, but sunny when we reached the top. We thought about driving Tower Arch Loop on the way back, but it would've taken us 2 hours to drive this 22.5 miles trip, so we decided to do it the next time we come to Moab.

Lion's Back…(4-more pictures)
Yes, this is a vacation! No particular plans for today, so why not drive up to the Lions Back. We did just that and took some pictures. While we were there, some guys in Toyota pick-ups came by and asked if we wanted to hang out with them, and why not?
They seemed to know where to wheel, but after a couple of hours they were lost. After a big lunch, we found our way back to the trail again. We finally reached the backside of Lions Back. Again this year, I chickened out to drive up the Lions Back. Maybe I'll have to get Dan Mick to help me drive this hill.

We meet Dan Mick again….(1-more pictures)
As we drove back to our motel, we decided to look for 600 Millcreek Road, to visit Dan Mick. (We knew Dan from last year, as he was our trail guide when I brought 24 other people with me to Moab). After 2-3 attempts we found him.
He was really surprised as lots of people say they will bring their Jeeps the next year and visit him, but never do, and we actually did it. We had a lot of things to talk about and we were there for quite awhile.

Yellowcat Trail…..(9-more pictures)
We decided to try that new Yellowcat trail. They write about it in the newest Petersen's 4 Wheel Drive.
The first part was difficult, but became an easy dirtroad after a while. At one point we came across some huge caves in the side of the terrain which can open up into galleries 20-40 ft. high. It was a long day, but the scenery was pretty and those big caves were awesome.
The next day we drove up to Dead Horse point. I have driven here 4 times before, but always with rental Jeeps and didn't have a picture of my own Jeep on this trail, so here was my big opportunity.
It was going to be another hot day (100ºF) and again, we hadn't started early. We headed for Potash road, made Long Canyon and then up to Dead Horse State Park. We eventually got into trouble from the heat as it became too hot for the Jeep, so unfortunately, the trip ended up being a short one. The next day, we planned to leave Moab early and head for California.

123°F in California……
This was going to be a really hot day. They had reported 116ºF, but luckily a cool breeze was helping a lot. But when we came out of the valley, it got hotter.
We could feel that hot air blowing across the plain. It was reported 119ºF in Lake Havasu for the next day and as luck would have it, that's the way we were going.
And it was hot! 114ºF is fairly hot for my Jeep too and we had lots of trouble with the fuel. I think it was too hot in the engine compartment and the fuel was boiling.
And it was going to get hotter. Imperial, Ca. had reported 123ºF.

Still too hot..…(9-more pictures)
One more day and we would be in California. But today it's just too hot to drive. We came to Barlow, Ca. at 2:00 in the afternoon and had to find a motel with a swimming pool. While we were driving around looking, it was so hot outside that when we stretched a hand outside the Jeep, it was too hot to hold it there for more than a few seconds. It had to be at least 120ºF outside. The thermometer read 107ºF, but I doubt it.
We had to buy a new gear-cable that day because we were having trouble with the old one. We also bought a new 160ºF thermostat. We visited Currie Enterprises again, where we were welcomed as we always are there. I talked with John about my problems with the ARB Airlocker for my 9-inch, and he informed me that the first generation ARB's, which I had bought, were being recalled. There was something wrong with the sealing inside. On Monday they would change both my ARB Airlockers with new ones. Great!
We had a free weekend before Currie would get my Jeep, so we went down to Belboa Beach. Not a lot of people, but that's okay with us.
We stayed in a Motel 6 in Costa Mesa for a couple of days. On the Saturday, we drove up to 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers but visited Off Road Unlimited first. As we left there, suddenly I couldn't get my Jeep in gear. My gear-cable had melted and the wire had come straight out of the wall. Luckily we had bought a new one. It took us some time to change it and when we was finished, we drove to 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers, but they were closed. Damn. It was Saturday, and they had closed at 4pm. We drove "home" and went for the swimming pool.

Without my Jeep…..
We didn't have any luck today. I had delivered my Jeep the day before and as it wasn't finished, we would have to go back the next day again. But it was an experience to drive on a bus in the US. We had never done that before, and it was pretty different than what I'm used to back home in Norway. There, the buses follow winding routes and are very expensive, whereas in Los Angeles, they stick to main streets and are comparatively so much cheaper. All in all, it took us 2.5 hours to get back to the motel. And no time at all to get into the swimming pool again.

Currie Enterprises….(2-more pictures)
A new day and we are going to Currie Enterprises, again. I hope they are finished with my Jeep by now and yes, thankfully, it is finished.
We were there approximately one hour, and they told us to feel at home and take as many pictures as we liked. Go anywhere we wanted and if we were curious about anything, not to hesitate to ask. As we were leaving, Kent Anderson asked us if we had some plans for the rest of the day. We hadn't and he invited us to join them for lunch before we left. Of course, we had time for lunch. Kent's grandfather is from Norway and he loves to hear about our country. Maybe he will come to visit us sometime in the future, who knows.

Downey, Dynatrac and other……(2-more pictures)
Okay, now we had my Jeep again and it was time to visit some other stores. We drove up to Downey to look at some Toyota parts, but of course they had to take a vacation the same week as we were there. (And this was the 2nd year we had tried)
But we had more people to visit, so we drove down to Dynatrac. Before that, though, we stopped at Powertrain Drivelines and talked to the people there. We were interested in what they make and they were, in turn, interested in my Jeep. Suddenly, it was 15 minutes to Dynatrac's closing time. We rushed over, got a short briefing of what they were doing and were shown some new stuff that would be soon coming on the market. We had a great time.

California Overseas Shipping……
After we had visited a friend from Sweden in Huntington Beach, we drove to California Overseas Shipping. This was this company that would be shipping my Jeep back to Norway. We found the place easily, but our contact person was not there. In fact, he wasn't there most of the time. But his friend, Mel Leeson was running the business and it was no problem for him to help us with sending my Jeep back home. We negotiated a deal where I could leave my Jeep in 2 days and they would take care of all the necessary paperwork to get my Jeep home.

Huntington Beach……(5-more pictures)
Two more days and we would be back in Norway, so this day had only one objective, the beach. We went to Huntington Beach, a great place and as it usually goes with us, we got sunburnt. We forgot that the sun is brighter here and the girls are prettier, so after 5 hours, we were well done. Damn, this happens every year.

We are delivering my Jeep to Stanton…(1-more pictures)
This is a sad day, as we are leaving my Jeep to California Overseas Shipping in Stanton, Ca. Mel Leeson has done all the preparations, and I only have to sign a paper and my Jeep will head for a container.
We took a bus a to Los Angeles airport to find out where we should check in the next day. When we had everything under control, we took a taxi to a motel nearby. Early up the next morning, everything went okay and after a 20-hour tour in several airplanes, we were back to a rainy day in Norway. But I will have memories for the rest of my life because of this great tour. I have met so many new friends and some old friends and will definitely be back with my own Jeep sometime again. But I don't think this year. This year it will be a rental car, but I still look forward to see again many of the places I visited on this trip and try to meet up with my new friends.

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