Florida, March 2005
(Sunset at Fort De Soto Park, Mullet Key, Pinellas County, FL)
Darrin worked feverishly for many months to prepare his company's newest creation for this Spring marketing trip. The AATREC(tm) Expedition Mobile is a marine-grade ultra tough 4x4 camper built for exploring remote areas like State and National Parks; she is also capable of comfortable highway driving. AATREC(tm) is the only truck-based custom 4x4 camper of this quality and 'componentry' commercially available in the United States.
Between visits to RV dealers, truck body builders and composites manufacturers, and conversations with interested parties in almost every parking lot we used, there was a little time for much-needed R&R. From Florida, Darrin continued his trip north in AATREC. The next stop was Washington, NC. Here's the sunrise, about an hour before arriving in Washington...
Darrin was meeting with a friend of a friend, Vic. Vic's a big composites guy, and is building himself a new power catamaran. He even vacuum bags his own panels. It seemed you could almost drive AATREC under this blue-water cat project!
From Washington, Darrin headed farther east to the Outer Banks, where his high-school buddy Wendell is a radio engineer and volunteer firefighter in Kill Devil Hills. Here's the 5-mile bridge across the Croatan Sound to Cape Hatteras...
Darrin campedin the dunes at Oregon Inlet Campground. It's only 50 yards over the dunes to the Atlantic Ocean. Charlis is not so sure he likes these crashing Atlantic waves. The Gulf waves weren't as big nor the beach as steep when we visited Fort De Soto near Tampa, so Charlis stays well away from the surf here.
From the Outer Banks, we head north to Darrin's parents' home in Baltimore. He fills half of the driveway there, but the camper is nice and safe down in the trees...
Baltimore is "home-base" for a few days, very near to Bridgeport, New Jersey where Mitsubishi Fuso's US headquarters are located. Here's Darrin's dad and Charlis at Fuso, waiting for the "crew" to come out and see this creation. Darrin's built the first high-tech shelter for this Fuso FG truck, and spends hours discussing features with Fuso's advertising agency. On the left of this image, you can see the Fuso "FM" truck. This will be the platform for the next generation of camper from Darrin's business...
From Fuso, it was back to Baltimore for a couple days, then an 1800-mile drive back to Wyoming. There were more meetings along the way with potential business partners to assist with various phases of future AATREC construction. The trip total was just over 6,000 miles in 23 days. The untested AATREC prototype had ZERO mechanical or electrical problems!