What worked well..... and not so well!

I thought I would do a "lessons learned" post to review what went well and what didn't go so well.

First what went well:

• Scientific preplanning
• I spent a lot of time planning out the science behind this trip (where to go and why). This time was well spent as I had absolutely no issues identifying which rocks to sample or finding appropriate exposures. I attribute this success to the extensive use of Google Earth and Street View to visualize the geology and the terrain and to overlay the former on the latter to identify outcrops. This made the work very efficient. Despite having some vehicular issues I managed to collect 17 of my 19 sample locations in just 3 weeks.

• Vehicle Preparation
• Dual fuel tanks were very handy when driving long miles. I never worried about whether I would make it to the next gas station.
• The auxilliary battery and split charge system was also invaluable as I could run my computer and satellite phone continuously and never worried about running the battery down and getting stuck. This allowed me to do things like blog, listen to music and talk to the family.
• Several months ago I installed new Rocky Mountain Parabolics springs and shocks, which have less interleaf friction than a standard leaf spring, giving a more comfortable ride. The suspension worked flawlessly and my decision to use a heavier set of rear spring proved valuable in carrying the heavy load of rocks.
• My bed was fantastic. Very comfortable, particularly in the colder climates.

Things that went not so well

• Navigation software
• I am not entirely enamoured with Microsoft Streets and Trips. The software had a difficult to use interface and often would lose a hundred miles between the route planning and navigation interfaces. For instance, route planner told me it was about 380 miles from Helena to Calgary, a number I directionally agree with. However, when you started navigation the distance to end was immediately 270 miles. Where the 110 miles was lost I don't know.

• Vehicle Preparation
• I should have taken more time to address the persistent miss I had in Calgary before departing. It got worse as the trip went on and caused me stress until the guys in Durango helped me fix it.
• The swivel balls were a known weakness and I should have, sometime in the last 6 years, fixed them before departing on this trip. Other than missing one sample location and a bit of stress this turned out not be big issue.
• Sleeping in the truck in hot climates was not great. A tent would have been preferred at some of my hottest stops as the heat capacity of the truck and its contents kept it pretty warm long after the air outside and cooled off. Perhaps this speaks to the popularity of roof tents in Africa.

Overall I think it went very well. I don't think driving a classic Land Rover around to do this type of sampling is for everybody. However, given the truck is 53 years old and was carrying far more than it was ever designed to I think it went quite well. Now I just have to figure out how to get those two samples I missed.