Has anyone ever driven from north america to south america?

[bigfatnick]

Hi all, I wasn't really sure where to go for advice, but i'm obviously googling it wrong so i was hoping a few people on here might have done the trip we're planning.

Basically, a few of us are ski bumming it in canada. We have visas that run out in septemberish (so after the mountain bike season) and then we were thinking about driving as south as we can. A friend already has a ford econoline minibus which isn't worth enough to sell. So we were thinking about driving down the coast, surfing down the states, and mexico and from then, just get as far south as possible.

I know we'll have to ship the van around the darrien gap, but after that, i know very little, i have no idea if theres a preferred (safe, but interesting) route down, which countrys you need visas for and which countries are wise to avoid. What to watch out for, awesome things to see and where to get reasonably priced flights home/back to europe.

Any experiences/words of advice/information recources would be really appreciated!

Thanks

Nick

[Nobby Diesel]

There is some British fella doing it for a BBC doc. He's on a bicycle, but the route may be worth a look; you would hope it's been well researched.
Might find something about him of the BBC website. The Radio 1 DJ Greg James has a feature whereby he speaks to the chap from time to time - might be worth checking his page.

[maser_spyder]

Yup, I've got a friend who cycled it.

He did a ski season in Banff, then got on his bike and cycled to Tijuana.

Had a great time by all accounts, very interesting stuff on the way.

[Puggit]

I didn't know the Darien gap existed - thanks!

[v15ben]

A few of the guys on www.advrider.com have done the trip from the north to the south of the Americas. They'v done it by bike rather than car of course, but still some very good tips and amazing ride reports on the forum

[Plotloss]

No but I really fancy it.

Have done half the West Coast and Seattle to South Dakota but never the whole bit.

I've always wanted to do Labrador to Chiuaua on a quad avoiding roads where possible. Proper life long dream that is.

[Nobby Diesel]

Nobby Diesel said:

There is some British fella doing it for a BBC doc. He's on a bicycle, but the route may be worth a look; you would hope it's been well researched.
Might find something about him of the BBC website. The Radio 1 DJ Greg James has a feature whereby he speaks to the chap from time to time - might be worth checking his page.

OK, so just heard the chap on Radio 1.
Scottish guy called Mark Beaumont. There is a blog, complete with maps at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/cyclingtheamericas/
Hope it's of use.