Jocelyn Broyles. Often referred to as "Beebee" or "Bb". She is the one who got this whole ball rolling by insisting we leave our day-jobs and head down to Costa Rica to start something that would be better for both of us. She left behind a content-producer/editor position at the online subsidiary of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Now she is running her own jewelry design company, which involves an unfortunate amount of business travel in the states. She's got another blog where you can read more about the life of a jewelry designer living in a small tropical beach town, trying to make it in the big city. Steven Broyles. Bb calls him "Fish", everyone else pretty much calls him Steve. People in Central America often settle on Estif, or Esteban. Steve left behind a Junior Consultant position at Environmental Busines International. Nowadays he does most of the maintenance of the Sandcruiser blog but spends most of his professional life working in Real Estate and Development here in Tamarindo. He is also working on a new startup company (we don't even have a website yet) that is focusing on helping developers and home-builders to implement green technologies. Sandy. The original Sandcruiser. She's an '84 FJ60 (long wheelbase, 4dr) Toyota Landcruiser that we bought in California in 5/1999 Significantly modified by us for the trip. She's been a fantastic companion on our trip. As of May 2004 we are still trying to figure out what to do about her legal status in Costa Rica and trying to convert her to diesel. Buttercup. The 2nd vehicular addition to the family. She seems to be a '73 or '74 FJ40 (short wheelbase, 2 dr, gas motor.). She is a beast: Awful ride quality, questionable reliability, plenty of rust... but she got us where we needed to go at a price we coudl justify spending. We bought her in Costa Rica in 8/2002, then sorta sold her to some friends, who eventually mostly sorta paid us for her by sorta selling her off to someone else. We haven't actually transferred ownership (as of 9/2008) but should do so at any moment. Signing off on the title will be a bittersweet moment. She had a LOT of problems, but we still have a soft spot in our hearts. Calypso. Our opinion is that she is the best dog, ever. Period. But we are biased. She is a sweet little 53lb (22kg) pit/lab/boxer/rottweiler mix-breed that was born across the street from us and foisted upon us. She likes sticks (the larger the better), chases cats with a passion bordering on mania, doesn't much care for most food, and cuddles really, really enthusiastically with nearly anyone who is willing. She's a pretty ferocious guard dog too when the mood is upon her, but mostly she would really rather wag than growl. Louie. The penultimate addition to the family. Our first diesel-powered vehicle. Wow. Talk about slooooooooow. Our buddy calls it the 2huh motor (2H). But great fuel economy, uber-reliable motor, and the added convenience of being able to move all sorts of parts over from Sandy (same body/chassis/drivetrain). With some regret we are also selling Louie. We just don't need two Landcruisers right now, but we do need a garage, and it just so happens that selling Louie will give us about the amount of cash we need to build a garage. We bought him in Costa Rica in 12/2004 Walter the hd-t80. Our latest Landcruiser. We don't love this truck. By virtue of being an 80-series, it has a coil spring suspension (cushier), an upgraded interior, and some other creature comforts. Due to having been seriously re-worked by some Costa Rican mechanics, he's got a lot of issues. The biggest problem: we bought him from a friend and Steve stupidly trusted that everything was "great" just like the friend said it was. Okay, mostly what happened is that the seller was willing to let us pay down the purchase over time. Last year (Nov 07) when we bought the truck, that was a big selling feature. Now that it is paid down... the warts seem a lot more significant than the easy payments! The best part: he has an hd-t motor. That means it is a 6-cylinder, turbocharged, 4.2liter, direct injected diesel motor. Strong. But super-quiet and smooth. GREAT motor. Problem is, he started life as a gasser and the mechanics who converted him were electrically inept. Endless fun. Crisonja. Actually Cris Roberston and Sonja Percival, but more convenient for us to say as one word. Crisonja lived across the alley from us in Mission Beach when we first married and were the first people to really suffer through hearing about our far-fetched plans to travel Central America in a 4x4. Sandy's very first off-road adventure was with Crisonja down to San Felipe, Baja California. Also the first time we got stuck. They put us up right after everything got stolen, and Cris was with us when we crossed the border into Mexico to start what he calls "our movie". Update: Crisonja came down to visit us May, 2004. We had a great time with them. Tony and Ginny. From Australia and England, respectively. We ran into them in Baja and spent a couple of weeks together. Had a great time camping with them and endured what all of us likely remember as the least comfortable night of sleeping ever in Mulege. Axel Schwartz. Bb's best friend from UCLA days. Came and visited us in 2001. Was a champion to put up with us at the tail end of a long roadtrip for us. Todd Maes, aka: Todr. Good friend of ours from San Diego, Todr was going to drive down through Mexico with us for a couple of weeks but our theft and ensueing delays ruined that plan. He did put us up at his house for a few weeks after the radiator explosion, and let us use his driveway for the lion's share of the repairs, even loaning us his Blazer to get parts and whatnot. We finally got to travel with him when he flew down to Managua to meet us and rode with us into Costa Rica and spent a week with us before heading back to the states. Brian Sullivan, aka: Super-B or Soop. He has become one of our closest friends, largely due to his never-ending patience when it comes to helping us fix our cruisers or listen to our ever-changing plans. He's the kind of guy who helps you replace your clutch on his lunch break. He has spent more time working on Sandy than any other non-owner and helped fix a ton of random defects on Bubba when he came down to visit us in Feb, 2003. He even shared some of his journal with us (and you!). Steve and Soop did a really fun road trip through Utah in 2008 Keith Studley, aka:Keef. The best man at our wedding and Steve's best friend from UCSD life. Keef came to visit us in Escazu and he and Steve ran off to poke around Monteverde and the Nicoya Peninsula together for a few days. Mom and Dad Broyles. In addition to flying down to Mexico to go ruin-hopping with us, they've also let us live (and do car repair) at their home and store a bunch of our junk underneath their house while we travel. They usually visit us down here about once/year. Kelly and Lori Dagley. Jocelyn's brother and his wife. They were the first people to travel in Sandy with us, they flew down to meet us in Antigua, Guatemala then we all went to Honduras and the Bay Islands together. All in all they spent six weeks with us in Central America and had an absolute blast. Previously we had spent several days at their wonderful home in Boise, Idaho. We had a great visit with them in 2006 as well. Christian. Unfortunately we don't recall his last name. Nice guy we met in Coban, Guatemala and with whom spent a day driving out to some beautiful limestone bridges and back. Doug Jeffrey, aka: Douggles. Steve and Doug were in a fraternity together at UCSD but didn't really become close friends until the three of us started rock-climbing together after our marriage. Doug has been a constant source of support and friendship for us. We had a blast visiting him in Guadalajara, Mexico, twice and also climbing with him over New Years, 2001. Simonessa. Actually Simon Bolivar and Vanessa Cavallini. We met Simon out on the Islas Murcielagos in Costa Rica. We ended up living with them for week or so, then finding an apartment near them in Escazu. They were also kind enough to store a ton of our junk for us for over a year. Most recently we've been spending a lot of time at their place in Atenas. John Pomeroy, aka: Cocktoaston (Fletch fans should get it). Gave us a ride to the bank in Flamingo, Costa Rica, became a friend. He introduced us to the "Party house" in Flamingo and has been an incredibly patient sounding board for our hotel ideas. Ted and Jess. Kindred spirits that we met in Santa Cruz, CA. We are planning to meet up with them at some point in the near future for some Central America exploration. Ted makes wicked grilled oysters. Håvard and Katerine While they didn't really travel in Sandy with us more than just a very little bit, they did borrow our tent and hang out with us for a few days in Zipolite, Mexico a few weeks after we met them in Tornabe, Honduras. Fun people, we would have enjoyed more of their of their company. Joe and Nicole. We invited them to stay with Vane when we learned that they had been robbed of everything. Sad story with a happy twist at the end. Gimpy. Our "off-road" trailer. Complete peice of junk. To this day if you say Helder Manufacturing (the folks that made the lousy trailer) around Steve he gets a knot in his stomach. We sold Gimpy at a loss but were still very happy to get rid of it.